Chapter 12:
Bound By Her Grace
As Grace let Lady Callaire’s hand go, she paused. Just briefly. Long enough to look up at the woman’s pale, strained face. Long enough to let her silence settle like frost.
“Your apprentice is in good hands,” she said softly. “I’ll make sure of it.”
Lady Callaire blinked, the words landing heavier than they should have. She nodded stiffly, unsure whether to feel gratitude or dread.
Grace turned, the hem of her coat brushing the scattered shards of silver and glass that still glittered like frost on the floor. Elyne stood waiting at the entrance, one hand on the door.
“Come,” Elyne said quietly, “we’ll take a break first. I know a bakery nearby. You girls deserve something sweet after that mess.”
Grace nodded. She said nothing else.
--::--
The bakery sat at the corner of Roseview Lane, where the storefronts shimmered with soft warding charms and the scent of sugar floated like a promise. Its name, Petals and Pearls, was etched in looping script across a marble archway, and inside, everything was pink and gold and too perfect to be real.
Lace-curtained windows. Tables carved from pale oak. A crystal chandelier enchanted to twinkle like dewdrops.
They were seated in a private alcove, shielded by a velvet screen. Elyne ordered without asking: cinnamon cakes, honey tarts, fruit-glazed pastries, and warm cups of whipped cacao dusted with gold sugar.
Clara gasped at the treats. Elen blinked. Grace just folded her hands.
The moment the door clicked shut behind the server, Elyne exhaled. Her smile cracked at the edges.
She knelt beside Grace, one hand brushing the girl’s curls with a gentleness that didn’t quite reach her voice.
“Are you alright?”
Grace tilted her head, eyes wide, innocent. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
Elyne hesitated.
Because your brothers are dead, she thought. Because someone tried to hurt you. Because someone almost struck your face and ended up bloodied and broken on the boutique floor. And you stood there. Still. Silent.
You didn’t cry. You didn’t scream. You didn’t even blink.
But she didn’t say any of it. Instead, she reached forward, smoothing a nonexistent wrinkle from Grace’s sleeve. Something to do with her hands. Something to keep herself steady.
“It’s alright,” she said softly. “You were very brave.”
Grace gave her a small, polite smile, the kind that didn’t quite reach the eyes.
Elyne didn’t flinch, but the knot in her chest tightened.
Only Lord Ronan remains.
Those words had echoed in her mind ever since the messenger delivered the news. Grace had lost two of her brothers in a single stroke, and her face hadn’t cracked once.
Now she had watched a boy barely older than her get beaten into the floor. His cheek split open. His ribs bruised purple. His lip hanging like torn silk. And still no tears. Just that same stillness.
Elyne reached for Grace’s hand, squeezing it gently. “That boy… the guards might’ve gone too far. You saw him bleed.”
“I did,” Grace said.
Her voice didn’t waver. Her fingers didn’t tremble.
“He insulted Clara. Then tried to hit me. Elen stopped him. The guards did what guards do.”
“But that doesn’t mean it’s easy,” Elyne pressed, her voice quieter now, more fragile. “Violence like that… it leaves marks. Even if you don’t feel them right away.”
Grace looked up at her slowly. Calm. Composed. And far, far too old.
“People make their choices,” she said softly. “And then the world answers.”
Elyne froze. Not at the words — but at the certainty beneath them. Not childish mimicry. Not a line she’d overheard.
Conviction.
Grace sipped her drink as if the topic had passed. And maybe it had. For her.
Elyne watched her in silence, the weight behind the girl’s small frame suddenly impossible to ignore.
She’s lost two brothers. Only one remains. And now… she’s seen someone bleed for her. And all she’s gained is silence and sweets.
Elyne smiled faintly, and rested a hand against Grace’s hair again.
“I’ll protect you,” she whispered under her breath. “Even if I don’t know from what.”
Grace didn’t respond.
She just smiled — soft and sweet — and took another bite of her cinnamon cake.
Elen hadn’t touched her tart. The gold sugar crust shimmered under the light like it belonged in a jewelry case, not on a plate, and she just stared at it, fingers wrapped around a cooling cup of cacao. The bakery’s warmth pressed around her like a cushion, too soft, too sweet, too far removed from everything she knew. She didn’t belong here. Not really.
Clara fit. The baron’s daughter with her giggles and bright cheeks, giddy at the sight of cream and lace. Grace fit even more, the way light seemed to gather around her without trying, how even in silence she commanded the space like a duchess in miniature. But Elen? She was mud on clean boots. Sword calluses under satin gloves. The daughter of a knight who’d earned her place in battle, not birth.
She hadn’t meant to throw herself between the blow and Grace. It had just happened. One second, the boy’s fist was rising. The next, she was moving. Her shoulder still throbbed from where it hit the brooch table, but the pain wasn’t the worst part. What lingered was how calm Grace had been. Unmoving. Unafraid. Not surprised. Like she knew someone would step in. Like she’d waited for it.
Elen’s stomach twisted. Grace hadn’t needed her protection. She’d stood there, glass-eyed and perfect, and let it all happen. And afterward, she hadn’t said thank you. She hadn’t said anything.
Until now.
Grace turned to her, her voice soft and clean as polished silver. “Your mother’s a battle mage, isn’t she?”
Elen blinked, caught off guard. “Yes.”
“Third Circle?”
She nodded slowly, unsure where this was going.
“You’re not scared of blood,” Grace said. “You moved when it mattered. You didn’t wait.”
It wasn’t praise. It wasn’t warmth. It was just... fact. Precise and cold.
Elen studied her. The neat braid. The pressed coat. The soft smile that never quite reached her eyes. “You didn’t move at all,” she said, not accusing. Just honest.
“Because I knew you would.”
The words landed hard. Like a weight placed in her hands that she hadn’t asked to carry, but had already held for years. It sounded like something her mother would say after a sparring match: efficient, calculating, and completely true. And it scared her.
She looked down at her cup again. The steam had faded. Her reflection stared back from the surface, distorted and quiet.
“You’re not lesser,” Grace said.
Elen’s eyes snapped up.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Not to me,” she continued.
Clara chimed in immediately, bright and breathless. “Of course, you’re not! You’re Elen. You’re brave!”
Elen stared at both of them, something sharp and familiar cracking loose in her chest. She opened her mouth. Closed it. Then forced the words out.
“I didn’t think either of you saw me like that,” she admitted. “Not really.”
“Why not?” Grace asked, genuinely curious.
“Because your father’s a Duke. Hers is a baron. My mother’s a knight. Barely even titled. I’m just…” She trailed off. The rest didn’t need to be said.
Grace didn’t blink. “You threw yourself in front of me.”
Not a compliment. Not admiration. Just the truth.
“No one who does that is ‘just’ anything.”
And that was it. Simple. Honest. Final.
Elen swallowed the tightness in her throat. “Thanks,” she said. Quiet. Real.
Grace smiled, the faintest curve of her lips.
Clara leaned over and squeezed her hand.
And Elen, who had trained her whole short 7 years-long-life to guard her heart like a blade, felt, for the first time, like she was part of something. Maybe not something safe. Maybe not even something good. But something real.
Something that saw her.
Clara’s heart felt too full for her chest.
She sat tucked between the two of them, her cup half-empty, her plate scattered with crumbs of tart and sugar. Her fingers kept brushing the edge of her napkin, unable to stay still, because something inside her was glowing too brightly to be contained.
This wasn’t what she thought today would be. Not at all.
When the invitation had come, she’d stared at it for a full minute before realizing it was real. Grace of Ashford – daughter of the Duchess – had asked her to join a city outing. She had read the letter three times. Then danced in a circle until her older sister told her to sit down before she fainted.
At first, Clara thought it was just politeness. Or politics. Or some lesson their parents had arranged behind their backs. And when she’d walked into the estate for the first time and saw Grace – golden hair, perfect posture, words that landed like polished stones – she thought: She’s not like us. She’s something else.
But then the classes began. And Clara saw the way Grace read ahead of the instructor, how she answered questions without showing off, how she somehow understood things Clara hadn’t even thought to ask. It wasn’t just that she was the Duchess’s daughter.
She was brilliant.
Clara had tried not to be jealous. She’d smiled more, laughed more, offered her notes and tried not to fidget when Grace gave her that strange little smile, the one that felt like a secret being handed over without words.
And then came the moment. The boutique. The boy. The fist. And Grace, calm, composed, terrifyingly still, stood without flinching while Elen threw herself into the blow. Clara hadn’t moved. She’d frozen like a useless extra in someone else’s story.
But Grace had wrapped her arms around her after. Held her like she mattered. Like her fear was something worth comforting. No one had ever done that before. Not like that. Not with such gentle certainty.
And now… here they were. Sitting together, safe, sharing sweets and stories like it was the most normal thing in the world. Elen, too, who always seemed so closed off, so cool and quiet. Was laughing, just barely, over something Grace had said. And Clara had made her laugh. That meant something. That had to mean something.
She felt it now, sitting there between them. The warmth of it. She didn’t just like them.
She needed them.
She had friends now. Real friends. Not the kind who smiled because they had to, or sat beside you because their parents told them to. But people who saw her. Who talked to her. Who listened.
Grace, with her strange little smiles and perfect words and terrifying calm.
Elen, with her sharp glances and quiet courage and that moment — that single moment — when she’d stepped forward without hesitation to protect them both.
Clara had always hoped for this. Wished for it.
And now, here it was.
A seat at the table. A hand to hold. A place to belong.
She smiled, brushing sugar from her lap, and looked between them.
I’m lucky, she thought.
No… more than lucky. I think I finally found my place.
And while the girls were bounding, a carriage arrived at the Ashford estate…
--::--
Ronan of Ashford had never wanted to be the heir.
That right had belonged to Alaric; strong, decisive, bred for command. And Cedric, second-born but no less golden, had followed with the easy grace of a born warrior. Ronan was the third. The quiet one. The one with ink on his fingers and maps on his walls. The one who studied, advised, obeyed. He wanted to be a scholar.
No Ruler.
But now Alaric and Cedric were gone. Names inked in black wax and sealed with a sigil no messenger should have ever carried. Cut down in the north by blades no one had seen coming. No final rites. No glory. Just silence.
And that left him.
The carriage rattled as it turned through the final gate of the Ashford estate. The guards outside moved with perfect precision, not out of welcome, but duty. Eyes sharp. Swords sharper. One in every corner, two at the main doors, all watching him.
He felt like a prisoner being escorted home.
The estate loomed ahead, cold and magnificent, walls carved in white stone, banners of crimson and silver whipping in the high wind. The Crown Hall waited beyond the central court, a fortress of black marble and stained glass. The same place he’d stood two years ago. The last time he saw her.
Liliana of Ashford. The Duchess. His stepmother.
Even now, just the thought of her made his throat tighten. She’d ruled this duchy in the Duke’s absence for five long years – a woman of ice and fire, never raising her voice, never lowering her standards. She hadn’t followed the Duke to court. She hadn’t needed to. She was the court here. The law. The flame. The storm.
And one of the only mages in the kingdom powerful enough to reach beyond the Sixth Circle.
He remembered how, as a boy, he used to watch her walk through the manor halls, red velvet gown sweeping behind her, servants parting like tidewater, her gaze flicking toward Ronan only when his posture failed. She never yelled. She never struck.
She didn’t have to.
Her words were sharper than steel, and her silence, worse.
Now he was returning to her again, not as a visiting son, but as the last heir.
He didn’t feel like an heir. He felt like an impostor wearing his brother’s name.
The carriage came to a stop. The door opened with a soft clack. Cold air rushed in. Ronan stepped out into the courtyard, boots clicking against the stone.
He straightened his coat, then followed the escort through the gate, his breath fogging in the winter air. He kept his chin level, his stride steady, but every step toward the Crown Hall was heavier than the last.
He hadn’t seen his father in five years. Summoned by the king just before Grace was born. Letters had come, occasionally. But not presence. Not voice. Not warmth.
Grace… he barely remembered her. A baby in a gilded crib, one visit long ago when she was barely able to hold her head up. She would be five now. He wondered if she still looked like their father – or more like the Duchess. He wasn't sure which was worse.
The Crown Hall doors opened before him, silent as shadows.
She was already there.
Liliana stood at the far end of the hall, framed by the towering stained-glass window, bathed in scarlet and gold light. Her gown clung to her frame like a curtain of molten silk, black embroidery curling like thorns along the sleeves. Her hands were folded. Her chin high. Her gaze fixed directly on him.
It was like standing before a statue of judgment carved in flesh.
He bowed low, as was expected. As he had been taught.
“Your Grace,” he said.
“Ronan,” she answered.
Her voice hadn’t changed. Cool. Perfect. Measured.
He rose. She didn’t move. Just looked at him, like a master appraising an incomplete sculpture.
“You’ve returned,” she said at last.
“I came as ordered,” he replied.
“You came as needed,” she corrected.
He said nothing. The words rang like law.
“You are the last heir of House Ashford,” she continued. “The only son left to stand in your father’s place. You may not have been raised to rule… but that luxury died with your brothers.”
The words hit like a slap. And still, she did not blink.
“Do you understand what that means?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said, forcing the word through a dry throat.
Her eyes narrowed, just a little. “Do you?”
He hesitated.
Then: “It means I am no longer allowed to fail.”
Liliana stepped down from the dais. Her heels clicked softly on the stone floor, echoing like distant thunder. She stopped just short of him, not close enough for comfort. Close enough for command.
“It means you are no longer a boy,” she said.
She reached out, adjusting the collar of his coat with a single, practiced motion.
“It means this duchy will not break. Not while I breathe. And certainly not with you as its heir.”
He swallowed hard, the weight of her hand pressing lightly against his chest.
“I will shape you if I must,” she whispered. “And you will stand, Ronan. Whether you are ready or not.”
She let go.
He exhaled shakily. “And… Father?”
“Still at court,” she said, her voice suddenly flat. Cold. “Five years. Not a single return. He is a relic to the king now. A pawn. The duchy belongs to us.”
To us. It was the first time she had said it that way.
The words terrified him. But he nodded.
Because to speak against her was to court fire.
Liliana’s hand dropped from his chest, and for one brief, silent moment, Ronan thought the storm had passed.
He should have known better.
She turned from him, the silk of her gown whispering like drawn blades as she walked toward the tall arched window. Her silhouette blurred behind the shifting patterns of stained glass. She stood there, haloed in crimson light, her voice calm and deliberate as ever.
“There is something else you must know.”
Ronan’s stomach twisted. He knew that tone. It was the same one she used when dismissing servants, dissolving court contracts, or ordering someone’s life rewritten with a single sentence.
“I have arranged your betrothal.”
The words were spoken without ceremony. No warning. No pause. No chance to breathe.
Ronan stared at her back; his breath caught mid-inhale.
“You…” he blinked. “You what?”
She didn’t turn around. “You are twenty-three. A man grown. The only heir of this house. We no longer have the luxury of waiting for you to choose. And your father approves.”
“Who?” he demanded, sharper than he intended. “Who did you choose without speaking to me?”
She turned then. Slowly. As if his voice had only mildly inconvenienced her.
“Lady Selira of House Velmire,” she said.
The name hit like stone.
Velmire; a house known for its naval dominance and sharp-tongued diplomats. Rich, ruthless, and famously loyal only to themselves. The match would secure trade routes, southern allegiance, and a wedge between rival duchies that had begun circling Ashford’s weakened flanks.
It was brilliant. It was monstrous.
“You’ve made this decision now?” he asked. “After everything…”
“I made it because of everything,” Liliana said, voice steel under silk. “We are vulnerable. You are untested. Grace is too young. And your father is a ghost in royal colors. I cannot rule forever, and I will not leave this house to fate.”
Ronan felt the heat rising in his chest, but he didn’t let it spill. Not here. Not in front of her. Not with her eyes on him like a vulture measuring weight.
“This is politics,” he said flatly. “Not a marriage.”
“All marriages are politics,” she answered, stepping closer. “If you want love, you may find it between wars. If you want survival, you will do as I command.”
He looked at her, really looked, and saw no doubt. No room for negotiation. No space for appeal. Just the woman who had ruled this land for five years with nothing but silence, brilliance, and absolute control.
His stepmother. His liege. And the architect of his future.
“I should have known,” he murmured, more to himself than her.
“You should have,” she said, and for the first time in years, he saw her smile.
It was not cruel.
But it was final.