Chapter 5

Acker receives a secret message during a boisterous court dinner and, disgusted by the revelry despite dire war news, reads it privately. The report confirms Maile has ambushed and sunk a third of Strou’s fleet, aided by the Eyun form of Jovie’s shifter, Messer. With border casualties mounting, a mining town occupied, coal dwindling, and spoiled grain, Acker burns the note and anticipates his father’s drunken ire.

Pressed by the king to maintain appearances, Acker retrieves his wife, Irina, from the dais but steers her through back corridors to avoid spectacle. Old resentments surface: Irina’s isolation at court, Acker’s collar, and the memory that his public bid to marry Jovie shattered Irina’s former warmth. Their brittle civility snaps as they near their chambers.

Irina threatens to tell the king that Acker has been having him followed unless Acker lets her leave the marriage and the palace. Acker pins Irina by the throat, warning her that such outbursts could be fatal. In tears, Irina renounces her consort Wesley and offers to have her parents annul the marriage for failure to produce an heir; Acker mocks Strou’s piety and dowry, refusing release.

Irina softens, begging simply to go home. Acker, conflicted yet unmoved, offers minimal comfort and settles her in bed. He explains that publicly denouncing Irina in favor of Jovie was his only way to resist the forced match, then coldly warns her never to threaten him again. Irina calls him cruel; Acker accepts the judgment, choosing control over reconciliation as war pressures escalate.