Chapter 12
The Succession Compact ended.
Completely.
One elder objected.
“Your father believed—”
“My father believed many things.”
Silence.
No spouse required to support a designated heir.
No child assigned leadership before adulthood.
No marriage evaluated by whether it produced sons.
No family authority over whether a spouse was “suitable enough” to be publicly acknowledged.
That last part mattered.
Father had hidden Seraphine partly because she challenged his model.
Claribel hid her because Seraphine threatened hers.
Different generation.
Same impulse.
May you like
Control the woman whose existence complicates the plan.
No more.
