He finally looked up at me, gaze searing but soft.
“Wemarkthem.”
I swallowed hard.
“Because we need the world to know,” he added. “That she’s spoken for. That there’s a line no one crosses. That her pain, her joy, her blood—all of it—belongs somewhere.”
His fingers threaded between mine.
“She’s not erased,” he said. “She’sclaimed.”
“She never has to look over her shoulder again,” Bastion said. “Because we’re already there.”
“And if anyone ever forgets,” Luca said, brushing a loose strand of hair from my cheek, “the tattoos, the collar,—they’re justreminders.”
“Reminders of what?”
“That she’s not alone.”
I let Luca’s words settle.
Anchors. Not chains. Recognition. Not control. And maybe there was a part of me that wanted to believe it.
That wanted to close my eyes and pretend the collar wasn’t symbolic of anything darker—that it was about protection, not power. But I wasn’t that girl anymore.
I’d spent too long memorizing the fine print to confuse ritual for romance.
So I drew my hand back slowly.
And looked between them—these men who were raised on dominance and blood, who ruled like it was their birthright.
“Crows don’t marry for love,” I said, voice even. “You marry for leverage. So why,” I asked, folding my hands calmly on the table, “would any Crow pledgethat muchof himself—rituals, tattoos, ownership, oaths—if it wasn’t for power?”
The question wasn’t cruel. It was clinical. A truth we all knew, said out loud.
“Because when a Crow gives his name, his blood, hisvow…” His gaze dragged over me, slow and possessive. “It’s not for the contract. It’s not for the family.”
“Then what?” I challenged.
“It’s for the war we’re about to start.”He didn’t look away. “She becomes the line we protect. The kingdom we burn everything else down to keep standing.”
Luca picked up where Bastion left off. “Dynasty calls it power. We call itpossession.”
“You still didn’t answer,” I said. “Why would a Crow goall in?”
Luca’s voice was quiet, but absolute.
“Because sometimes,one womanis worth more than a thousand alliances.”
“But all Crows marry to end wars?” I said it like it was nothing. Because it was. Common knowledge. Dynasty curriculum 101. “It’s standard practice. Everyone knows most Crow marriages are forged to smooth over conflict. To settle vendettas. The bride is a gesture, an offering to stop the bleeding.”
Neither of them denied it.
Bastion’s jaw ticked once. Luca leaned back.
“Common,” Bastion agreed. “If not always the case.”
“Right.” I nodded. “Because there’s always a war. And yet you two sit here. Act like it’s for love.”
