CHAPTER 71: JAMESON

Jameson arrives in England with Grayson, Xander, and Toby, convinced the Gilded Blade now has all three Candidates. As they drive to Queensbright Stables, Jameson fixates on Avery’s peril and forces himself to focus on their objective.

Using charm, distraction, and stealth, they gain access to Lady Monoceros, a white thoroughbred Tobias Hawthorne named for Alice. Inspecting the horse’s engraved shoes, they find three anagrammed lines. Jameson and Grayson decode them as a list of Ascendants: Alice Hawthorne; Katalin Aquila Reyes (Lyra’s relative, with Katalin spelled with a K); and “Hannah,” revealed by the palindrome “WON’T LOVERS REVOLT NOW?”

Toby reacts violently to the implication about Hannah and storms out—only to confront Duchess Zella, whom he holds at knifepoint. Zella coolly reveals she was Alice’s chosen Candidate for the last Crucible and hints at internal Blade factions, limits to immunities, and dire consequences if this Crucible is deemed a wholesale failure.

Jameson disarms Toby and presses for answers. Zella refuses to reveal Hannah’s or the Watcher’s locations but advises Jameson to seek help from the new Proprietor of the Devil’s Mercy—Rohan—implying potential alignment once they disclose the Omega’s chosen Candidate.

When Grayson assumes the Omega chose Nora, Zella contradicts him. Jameson realizes the only person Rohan truly cares about is Savannah—and concludes Savannah is the Omega’s Candidate, completing the trio with Avery and Eve.