CHAPTER 48: ROHAN

On a transatlantic flight, Rohan cradles a sleeping kitten while Savannah and Brady remain awake. Brady presses Rohan for the fourteenth time about the plan, positioning himself as leverage and revealing a forearm tattoo—letters around a spiral decoding to “ROHAN MUST LOSE.” He explains he inked it himself to anchor his resolve and his memory of Calla Thorp.

Rohan weighs Zella’s (the duchess’s) entanglement and Calla’s fate, concluding he can use the duchess’s involvement. When Savannah finally asks for specifics, Rohan outlines her target: a London hotel (built in 1889) with a winter garden beneath a glass dome, where much can be seen—namely, Jameson Hawthorne—likely at midnight near a gazebo. He withholds Mercy secrets but expects Savannah to infer the rest.

To bait the duchess and the Proprietor, Rohan arranges a dark smoky-gray gown mirroring the duchess’s attire from her famed break-in. He admits he trusts Savannah to handle herself, even as he frames this as another wager he won’t define. Savannah recognizes she’s being used as bait but proceeds.

Rohan “arms” Savannah by writing cryptic safeguards on her shoulders: “POTENTIAL MUST BE TESTED” to attract the duchess’s interest and “THE HOUSE ALWAYS WINS” to deter harm from others, signaling prior authority within the Mercy. He cannot tell Savannah where to go or what to say once underground but intends these marks to protect and position her.

Brady notes he could follow Savannah to the winter garden, but Rohan warns him off and keeps him close as leverage, solidifying the plan: Savannah infiltrates at midnight under the glass dome to draw out the duchess/Proprietor and intersect Jameson’s attempt to access the Devil’s Mercy.