Chapter 46: Proof of Life

The next move belongs to whoever can live with its cost.

The pursuit collides with the imperial astronomer who intends to open the sky prison, forcing an alliance that neither Mara Vey nor Prince Caelan is ready to name.

The evidence survives, but reaching it requires a choice that exposes the group to a new enemy.

Mara Vey keeps the larger goal in view: restore the roads between the islands before famine begins. The immediate problem is smaller, sharper, and impossible to postpone.

They disagree without leaving. For both of them, that becomes a more intimate choice than agreement.

Their attraction grows through competence, danger, and the first honest confession.

The recurring signs of maps, constellations, wind return with a different meaning, linking this choice to what came before.

The evidence points toward someone they have both been protecting.