The Disgraced Obedient Wife of House Marell

CHAPTER 21

Fear doesn’t always feel like panic. Sometimes it looks like someone else losing control when you refuse to.

Jasper slammed the folder down hard enough to rattle the desk.

“You are not going to that summit alone.”

I didn’t flinch. “I have to.”

He stepped back like the words had struck him harder than the folder had hit wood. “You have a choice, Elyse. You don’t need to walk into her house just because she left the door open.”

“She wants me isolated,” I said, arms crossed. “If I don’t show, she’ll spin it—say I’m too afraid to face her, that I’m hiding behind bodyguards and titles. If I make the murder public now, she gets to paint me as hysterical, power-hungry. She’ll remind everyone I was married into the Marell family. Suddenly I’m the bitter ex with a vendetta.”

He stared at me, jaw tight. “So you’re going to walk straight into her trap, just to prove you’re not afraid of it?”

“I’m going to walk into it so she knows I saw it coming—and walked in anyway.”

Jasper ran a hand through his hair, pacing the length of the room like the walls might offer him an answer. “You’re not expendable. This isn’t about appearances anymore. This is about survival. She already removed Calan—and the protections that came with him. You are alone by design.”

“Not alone,” I said. “Prepared.”

He stopped pacing. His voice dropped, quieter but somehow heavier. “You’re the last thing standing between her and full control.”

“I know.”

“She’s not meeting you at that summit,” he said. “She’s measuring you. If you don’t flinch, she’ll come for blood.”

“Then let her,” I said quietly. “I’ve bled before.”

That got to him. His eyes closed for a breath too long.

“You’ve come too far to let her pull you back into her orbit,” he said.

“I’m not circling her anymore,” I replied. “I’m stepping in with my eyes open. If she wants a spectacle, she’ll get one. But I won’t be the one breaking this time.”

He stared at me for a long beat. “You want me to sit this out?”

“I want you to trust me,” I said. “Just once.”

He let out a bitter exhale. “You think showing up alone proves strength? You think it changes the game?”

“It proves she doesn’t control the board. I won’t let her define the battleground and scare me off it too.”

His steps were slower this time as he came toward me. “You don’t have to be afraid for it to be dangerous,” he said. “She staged a poisoning and dismantled your father’s council in the same week. She doesn’t want conversation. She wants your place.”

“I know,” I said. “That’s why I have to go now. Because if I wait—if I keep letting her dictate my movements—I’m already behind.”

His hand hit the wall beside me. Not near me, but loud enough that I felt it in my spine. His voice dropped again, rougher now. “Damn it, Elyse. You’re not just a symbol they parade out for resilience. You’re not a queen on the board—you're the whole damn game. And she knows it.”

“I’m not sacrificing anything,” I said. “I’m choosing the fire so no one else has to.”

He stepped back slowly, searching my face. “You really think she’ll respect you for this?”

“No,” I said. “But she’ll know I’m not her.”

His voice cracked, just barely. “What if I can’t get to you in time?”

“You will.”

“And if I don’t?”

I held his gaze. “Then you finish what I started.”