Contents
CHAPTER 98: ROHAN
Overview
Bowen Johnstone-Jameson’s forces extract survivors in a covert, unrecorded rescue. Rohan returns to the Devil’s Mercy, where Zella reveals footage of the Crucible’s end: Freya threatens Avery, Eve drinks and dies, Katalin kills Freya, Alice passes knowledge then dies, and Toby shields Eve as explosions hit. With the Ascendants gone, Zella seeks a Factotum; Rohan refuses and chooses to disappear, ensuring Savannah never learns he survived.
Summary
Rohan and Nora are extracted by a masked, military-precise team that limits press and police, signaling Bowen Johnstone-Jameson’s orchestration of a covert, undocumented rescue. Slipping away, Rohan notes the narrative will be framed as a natural disaster with a curated victim list and no trace of him or Nora.
Rohan returns to the Devil’s Mercy, finding it emptied except for Zella, now Proprietor after her duke’s death. They verbally spar: Rohan accuses Zella of calculated misdirection that enabled Nora’s infiltration and questions the leverage used to deploy Bowen’s resources. Zella grieves Alice, then leads Rohan to an inner sanctum.
Zella provides a video of the final Crucible. At her cue, Rohan watches Freya hold a knife to Avery’s throat, forcing Eve to drink from a marked chalice. Eve collapses and does not rise. The Woman in Black, Katalin, snaps Freya’s neck for drawing blood. Alice, the Woman in White, comforts Avery, arranges Eve, whispers a ritual to Katalin, then drinks and falls dead. A pale-haired woman—likely Nora’s stepmother—slashes Alice’s throat as Avery disappears off-camera. The last image is Toby Hawthorne throwing himself over Eve as explosions begin.
Zella states that publicly only four bodies will be buried, including Toby’s, while the three Ascendants—Alice, Katalin’s heir line leadership—are gone, ending the Kyrie as it was. She declares a new order and offers Rohan the role of Factotum.
Rohan declines, suggesting Kier, and resolves to become “no one.” He confirms that no Hawthorne will know he survived, keeping Savannah Grayson in the dark. As he leaves, Zella prods him about love and courage; Rohan insists Savannah must never learn what he sacrificed, even as Toby’s remembered words press him toward the world and the sky he refuses to claim.
Who Appears
- RohanSurvivor of the disaster; confronts Zella, views Crucible footage, refuses Factotum role, chooses to vanish from Savannah’s life.
- ZellaNow Proprietor of the Devil’s Mercy; orchestrates misdirection, reveals Crucible video, declares Ascendants gone, offers Rohan a position.
- Bowen Johnstone-JamesonPower broker behind the covert rescue; keeps operations unrecorded and media tightly controlled.
- AveryCandidate in the Crucible; threatened by Freya, grieves Eve, escapes unseen during the fatal climax.
- EveDrinks from the marked chalice during the final trial and dies, triggering the collapse of the old order.
- FreyaNora’s sister; threatens Avery with a knife, fails the Crucible, and is killed by the Woman in Black.
- AliceWoman in White; comforts Avery, passes knowledge to Katalin, drinks, dies; throat later slit by the pale-haired woman.
- Katalin (Woman in Black)Enforcer of Crucible law; snaps Freya’s neck after blood is drawn, receives Alice’s whispered rite.
- Pale-haired woman (Nora’s stepmother)Smiles over Alice’s body and slashes Alice’s throat after her death.
- Toby HawthorneThrows himself over Eve’s body as explosions begin; listed among public burials.
- Savannah GraysonRohan’s love; he ensures she will not learn he survived, safeguarding her from his choices.