Chapter 546

They both looked at her.

“The window,” Nina said, “is not about avoidance or timing. The window is about the fact that going through the door is socially legible and going through the window requires the other person to notice that you’ve chosen a path that isn’t the obvious one. The door says nothing specific. The window says *I made a deliberate choice that took more effort because I needed it to communicate something the door couldn’t.*” She paused. “Everest goes through the door because he’s not ready to be legible yet. The window isn’t available because the timing is wrong. The window is available because the communication is available. He goes through it in chapter twenty-two because that’s when he’s ready to be understood, not because that’s when the window appeared.”

The table was quiet for approximately two seconds.

“That’s-” Jordan started.

“That’s what I was saying,” Ivory said.

“It is not what you were saying,” Jordan said.

“It’s the implication of what I was saying,” Ivory said.

“The implication and the statement are—” Jordan started.

“Nina said it better,” Ivory said. “That’s allowed. Nina often says things better.”

“I don’t usually get credit for it,” Nina said.

“You’re getting credit now,” Ivory said.

“I appreciate that,” Nina said.

“The window,” Kael said, from his position at the desk where he’d been listening to this exchange with the specific expression of a man who’d known it was going to be like this and had decided to be present for it rather than manage it.

Everyone looked at him.

“Is in the book,” he said. “And it’s also in this room. Like Aria said bluntly as usual. And we all know it’s in this room. The question is which window we’re talking about and who it belongs to.”

“That,” Ivory said, “is a significantly more direct entry into this discussion than your usual approach.”

“The book club premise,” Kael said, “was that we could talk about things using the book as framing. I’m using the framing.”

“You are,” Ivory said.

“So which window are we talking about,” Kael said. “Specifically.”

The room went the quiet kind of quiet.

Then everyone spoke at once.

I documented this, internally, because it was one of the most remarkable things I’d witnessed in nine months of being in this pack. Six people — five of them, actually, because Killian was slightly behind the timing – all having an opinion that they produced simultaneously with complete confidence that their opinion was both relevant and worth saying.

–

Silver, in my head, said: *Oh, this is wonderful.*

Ivory said: “The wolf’s integration and the bond channel-”

Jordan said: “The communication gap between—”

Nina said: “The information that’s been held back from—”

Kael said: “The things I told Killian about chapter fifteen-”

Killian said: “My specific situation with-”

All of them stopped.

Looked at each other.

Then started again in a slightly different order.

“One at

ow for Kael specifically. The bond channel. The integration.

ble and haven’t been gone through yet.”

“That’s one window,” Jordan said. “There are multiple windows in this room.”

“Name them,” Ivory said.

Finished

“My window,” Jordan said, “is the thing I haven’t told Nina about what I found in the intelligence files three weeks ago that I’ve been sitting on because the timing wasn’t right.”

“What thing,” Nina said.

“That’s what I haven’t told you,” Jordan said.

“Jordan,” Nina said.

“The timing wasn’t right,” Jordan said.

“The timing is now,” Nina said.

“We’re at the window,” Jordan said. “I’m aware.”

“Then tell me,” Nina said.

“There’s a sub-account in the network’s financial structure that traces back to a name I recognized,” Jordan said. “And I didn’t say anything because saying it was going to open a conversation about the history and we were in the middle of seventeen other crises.”

“What name,” Nina said.

Jordan looked at Kael.

Kael looked at Jordan.

“The name,” Jordan said, “is in connection to the original curse’s commission. The financial record that paid for it.” He paused. “It’s connected to the Blackwood pack’s treasury. About twelve years ago.”

The room was very quiet.

I looked at Kael.

Kael’s expression had gone the flat version.

“Dan

Count held by the previous Blackwood Alpha. Damon’s father.”

d the original curse.”

the curse.” I said.

Everyone looked at me.

“I’m not ” I started. “I didn’t know. Damon never-

“Damon may not have known,” Jordan said. “The account is from four years ago. Damon was not alpha then. His father was alive. The record-”

“His father is dead,” I said. “He’s been dead for years.”

“Yes,” Jordan said. “He died before Kael broke the curse. Before any of this.”

“So Damon’s father hired the witch,” Kael said.

“The financial record connects the Blackwood pack treasury to a payment made to an account we’ve now identified as belonging to Vela’s coven,” Jordan said. “Four years ago. The timing aligns which sets off the first year of the curse later on”

“Why,” Ivory said. “Why would the Blackwood Alpha-”

“Shadowmere’s territory,” Kael said. “The northern border dispute. Twelve years ago we were in a contested period with several packs over the northeast land claims. The Blackwood pack was one of the disputing parties.” He looked at Jordan. “If I was cursed-”

“Shadowmere would have been vulnerable,” Jordan said. “And the territory dispute would have resolved in Blackwood’s favor.”

“Except the curse didn’t incapacitate the pack the way they’d planned,” Nina said. “Because we

“1

“Held it together,” Kael said.

“Barely,” Nina said. “But yes.”

“And the territory dispute resolved in a stalemate,” Jordan said. “Because Shadowmere stayed functional enough to maintain the claim.”