Chapter 2
Vesper said nothing.
Emmeline backed toward the wall.
I noticed and immediately changed my tone.
“Emmeline.”
She looked at me.
“You can go upstairs.”
Vesper snapped:
“She stays.”
I turned.
“No.”
One word.
Emmeline left.
Good.
Whatever happened next belonged to adults who chose to build it.
I examined the coffin again.
No lock on the lid itself.
Instead, two recessed catches on the outer sides.
Someone outside could secure it.
Someone inside could not release them.
Ventilation meant they did not intend immediate physical harm.
That did not make it acceptable.
“How long?”
Vesper finally answered.
“Twenty minutes.”
I stared.
She folded her arms.
“It was supposed to be part of the wedding.”
“Being sealed in a coffin.”
“It isn’t what it sounds like.”
“That is an ambitious sentence.”
Her jaw tightened.
Then she gave me the name.
“The Blackthorne Vigil.”
I had never heard of it.
Apparently that surprised her.
“You seriously don’t know?”
“No.”
She looked almost angry at me for not knowing my own supposed tradition.
According to Vesper, generations ago Blackthorne grooms spent part of the wedding night beneath the chapel in symbolic darkness.
Old life buried.
New house born.
The bride waited above holding the family signet.
When the groom returned, the marriage began as a union of equal authority.
Beautiful story.
Also nonsense.
My father never mentioned it.
My grandfather never mentioned it.
And Blackthorne men loved traditions so much they invented excuses to wear signet rings at breakfast.
“If this is tradition, why hide it?”
She hesitated.
There.
“Because you would have refused.”
Exactly.
I leaned against the stone table.
“So consent ruins the ritual?”
Her eyes flashed.
“You control everything.”
There it was.
Not tradition.
Grievance.
“You choose where people sit.”
“Sometimes.”
“Which captains enter private meetings.”
“Yes.”
“Which staff receive trust.”
“Yes.”
“And after I marry you, what exactly am I?”
I watched her.
“My wife.”
She laughed bitterly.
“A title.”
That hurt because it contained truth I had not examined closely enough.
Then she pointed at the coffin.
“For twenty minutes tomorrow night, everyone upstairs would have to function without you.”
I understood.
The coffin was not the point.
My absence was.
“What were you planning to do while I was inside?”
May you like
Her silence answered before her words did.
“Find out who obeys me.”
