CHAPTER 48: PACTS AND PROMISES. REVENGE AND REDEMPTION

The ward light buzzed overhead with a sterile rhythm. Lin sat on the window sill, hands folded neatly in her lap. Outside, morning touched the city with a thin, colorless sheen. Even the clouds looked muted, as though scrubbed clean of emotion.

Cassian entered without knocking.

He moved efficiently, like a man with a schedule. A document folder was tucked under one arm, and his words came with the perfectly practiced politeness. "Miss Roen, the Councilors would like a brief statement prepared. Nothing formal - just a few lines acknowledging your safety and reaffirming confidence in the Guardian Accord."

Lin blinked at him.

He didn’t wait for a response. "The speechwriters have a draft. You only need to approve it. You can have a look at it after you sign it."

She nodded once, taking the pen that Cassian handed over, signing the approvement.

Cassian continued, "Thank you. We’ll also prepare you for a visual check-in with key department heads. The camera will be angled high, to avoid the injury on your temple. I’ve arranged for hair concealment."

Lin tilted her head slightly, as if considering something, but whatever thought she had drifted away before it could take shape.

Cassian took a slow step closer. "You’re doing very well. This kind of resolve is rare, especially for someone with no political foundation. Councilor Vale is... impressed."

Lin looked down at her hands.

A shadow passed behind her eyes. A faint tug of something unspoken. It didn’t last.

"I will do what is expected of me," she said softly.

"Good." Cassian turned, satisfied. "I’ll return shortly."

The door clicked shut.

Elune stepped out from the adjoining corridor the moment he was gone. She didn’t enter. She only watched.

Lin hadn’t acknowledged her. The light coming through the glass carved her in profile, and Elune saw only the outline of the girl - sharp, still, and wrong. The Lin she knew had always been a contradiction: awkward but self-aware, uncertain yet unintentionally brave. At times. This Lin was hollow. A shadow that pretended to burn brighter than who she was.

Elune’s hand twitched.

She hadn’t told Cain or Abe yet about what was happening to Lin.

The memory of Saen still hurt inside. The re-encounter with her only made it worse.

She needed Luc for guidance. She felt helpless without her Mistress.

Yet, Elune knew that Luc must have had reasons. And leaving her with no orders wasn’t an oversight. It was trust.

———

That night, Lin fell asleep early. Even before the incident, she had been going to bed earlier everyday. She no longer had any late night anxiety that kept her awake. She just felt-

Numb.

———

Lin stood in a flowering courtyard. She hadn’t been here before. The place felt familiar. It was ancient, yet not foreign. Like a memory that had been engraved in her mind before she was even born.

There, under the bowed limbs of a vast silverwood, Luc sat with her back to the dreamer.

Luc was radiant - not in the way of power or terror, but as one who had found rare peace. Her silver hair shimmered. Her shoulders were unburdened.

And beside her, like a spark given form, was a girl.

It was the girl she had seen in the Archive. That felt like ages ago now. But this dream - or perhaps, memory - felt even older.

The girl was younger than Lin remembered. Barefoot. Laughing as she ran circles around Luc.

The silver-haired enigma smiled faintly as she watched the child.

Lin felt a sudden pang in the heart.

She tried to speak. Her lips would not move.

She tried to step forward. Her feet would not follow.

All she could do was stand and feel something unravel behind her ribs.

The girl then spotted something in the distance. Her eyes widened and filled with delightedness. It seemed she found something. Something lucky.

She ran toward it, sat on the ground and studied it. The smile on face confirmed it was indeed what she hoped it would be.

The girl faced Luc again, waved at her, and enthusiastically called her name.

Lin’s heart skipped a beat.

It wasn’t a name she’s heard before. It was a name that wasn’t given to her.

But it was beautiful.

———

Lin woke up in her room.

Her hands trembled faintly on the sheets.

"What...?" she whispered, the word fraying at the edges.

There had been something - something she had just heard.

But it slipped away.

She tried to grasp it, but like smoke, it curled through her fingers.

The silver-haired woman.

She seemed familiar.

No, actually, she knew this woman.

Her heart ached just thinking about her.

But she could not recall her face clearly, nor knew her name.

She felt like she knew her in the dream that she’d just had, but now - everything felt like a riddle she once solved but didn’t know the answer to anymore.

———

Across the tower, Councilor Vale stood looking out of the window. The press release had gone out. Lin’s recorded message was already in editing. The Accord was functioning as intended - silent compliance, consolidated oversight, and no leakage of internal fractures.

Cassian entered.

Vale didn’t turn. "How is she?"

Cassian’s reply came with the coolness of a report. "Quiet. Compliant. Dreaming. No sign of resistance."

Vale allowed himself a rare moment of indulgence. "Isn’t she just perfect?"

Cassian said nothing.

———

Elune stood once more in the garden. She made a silent visit to Lin’s room just before.

Unseen, unheard.

An old wound reopened. A new seed planted.

Elune looked around.

The flowers that were in full bloom around the year in this magical place seemed to be withering.

"I’m sorry, Mistress" she whispered.

"I don’t know if I did the right thing."

A war was already being waged.

Not of armies.

But of names and memories.

A dynasty was coming to an end and new destinies were being forged.

Broken pacts and promises. Revenge and Redemption.

It was all out of her hands now.

They were the damned - the unforgiven.

And everything would be decided by the girl who thought she was a mistake-

Lin Roen.