Chapter 50

Jovie endures a freezing bath before devouring a meal while Beau reports that Jovie’s public laps have become talk of the castle and impressed Commander Imen and his men. Beau adds that her father, the king, has returned and called a council amid tensions: Jovie’s return, potential Roison retaliation, and Irina’s family pressing alliance concerns.

Determined to retrieve her dagger, Jovie reaches for it through her mental link and is pulled into a stark room where the blade rests on a table. When Jovie grasps it, a woman stops her—Jovie’s mother—who tearfully says her name, “Jo,” before the vision ends. Jovie returns holding the dagger, deeply shaken yet comforted by proof of her mother’s presence and care.

Jovie and Beau spend the afternoon reading. Jovie studies a compendium on bonds—born, forged, mental, elemental, cursed, and contractual. She discovers the “blood bond”: unlike a simple blood oath, it uses blood from both participants and kills them if either lies, a practice once abused by monarchs and brutally punished.

Realizing Acker’s recent act was not just an oath but a potentially lethal blood bond, Jovie confronts Beau, who admits she expected Jovie to find it and notes that Acker is unstoppable once resolved. Jovie finds no guidance on long-term effects, only warnings.

Later, in a calming hot bath, Jovie replays Acker’s steady declaration—“I love her”—during the vow. What she once suspected as manipulation now reads as truth, proven by the risk he took. Buoyed by relief and joy, Jovie accepts that Acker truly loves her.