Page 100 of Awakened Ash and Alchemy

“Right.” Didn’t that make the word purity taste like ash in her mouth.

“So what’s the difference between the Hearthbound women, the Veyllward Sisterhood, and the Continuum Council? They’re all women, right?”

Tamarr nodded. “The Hearthbound are the ones who volunteer to have children with the Vanguard. The Veyllward Sisters are the ones who test them to ensure the magickal bloodlines are a match for marriage. And the Continuum Council… well, they’re the ones who lead the Veyllward. They approve everything.”

Angela frowned. “Approve how? Are they like a governing body?”

“I’m not schooled in these matters, Miss. But I know they’re very powerful and proper, I assure you.”

“So let me get this straight, it’s all done by consent? The Hearthbound choose to…”

Tamarr blinked, as if the question were strange. “Of course, Miss. The Hearthbound can say no and leave at any time.”

Angela’s modern sensibilities recoiled—but this wasn’t her world. It also wasn’t her place to impose her values on a culture that protected magickal bloodlines.

In Angela’s world, there had been the geisha, highly honored women in a role that was misunderstood by outsiders. Temple priestesses in ancient times served in their sacred duties. There were plenty of arranged marriages among European nobility to preserve bloodlines and power, bluebloods marrying bluebloods just to keep all the old money and power that came with it. Each culture had found its own way to balance survival, honor, and duty.

Paradox had the Hearthbound women.

Different name. Same complexity. But for magick.

Still… her fingers twisted the medallion at her neck, turning it over and over. “And their children?”

Tamarr smiled brightly, brushing down her vest with pride. “They belong to the Vanguard, who takes wonderful care of them with schooling and clothing. They never want for anything. And when the child comes of age, they get to choose whether they want to be part of the Vanguard or leave. Many stay. Even those who don’t become Vanguard find some way to help. Like my husband, he’s with the builders’ team that manages the wards in the Keep.”

Angela remembered the tunics and the different colors she’d seen in Magick School. Some students wore woolen shirts and heavily scuffed boots, while the tunics were the same. But there were groups who wore sashes of color and fancier clothes and shinier boots. It all fell into place. “The Hearthbound children have the color sashes.”

“As representatives of their parents’ regions, yes.”

“And those without sashes?”

“From the outer regions of Paradox. They come by choice, after they’ve been magickally tested by the Continuum Council. If they’re approved, the Vanguard sends the invitation. But they have to be tested first,” Tamarr added, as if that were obvious.

“Is the Continuum Council here?”

“No. But the Matriarch, who oversees the Hearthbound, is one of the Veyllward Sisters, she answers to the Council.” Tamarr’s tone brightened. “The last time the Council were here was to bless Bellus’s marriage to his Hearthbound bride.”

A marriage blessed by a council that chose bloodlines like livestock for magick.

“And Zarek?” Her voice cracked, but she had to know. “Does he have a Hearthbound?” A heated jealousy surged through her, that was completely irrational. She squeezed her hands until her nails bit into her palms, trying to push it down.

She had no right.

And yet the thought of him with another woman made her want to scream.

“Zarek, our Great Captain, Miss… he’s never been with any of them.”

The relief that flooded Angela was so intense it left her dizzy. “Really?”

Tamarr nodded with that soft smile she always wore.

“Is it true,” Angela said slowly, forcing the words out, “that Zarek has proclaimed me as his own? As in… mine. In some Claiming?”

“Oh yes, Miss.” Tamarr’s eyes widened, her head bobbing in short, jerky nods. “In the Great Hall when he had come back injured from the Poison Blade, I heard it myself. We all felt the ripple of power, like a warning. It went through the Keep that if any man dared come near you, Lord Zarek would kill them.” She winced. “I was not meant to tell you this, Miss. I’m so sorry, I don’t know why I can’t stop speaking.” She covered her mouth with her hands.

“It’s okay, Tamarr.” Angela placed a hand on the attendant’s arm, guilt twisting in her stomach like indigestion.

But she needed to know.