Elena Ashmore's Arc

Chapter 5 of 6

Elena returned to her room and locked the door. She needed to think, but the message arrived before she could clear her head. Someone slid it under her door with enough force that it skidded halfway across the floor. She recognized the handwriting immediately. The note demanded she use her leverage against the Brenners now, tonight, before tomorrow's meeting could happen. The woman who had given her those documents expected payment, and waiting was no longer acceptable. Elena walked to the window and stared at the weathered post across the courtyard. Another sealed letter hung there, meant for her. The woman was watching. She'd always been watching. Elena sat on the edge of her bed and opened the moss-lined wooden box the woman had sent weeks ago. Inside lay a dried thorn and a sprinkle of ash. No explanation had come with it then, but the meaning was clear now. The thorn was a reminder of the debt. The ash was what happened to people who didn't pay. Elena closed the box and set it aside. She could expose the Brenners' hidden marriage to the Voights right now. One message, one revelation, and the Brenners would lose their leverage over her. The woman would be satisfied. The debt would shrink. But Elena walked past the post without taking the second letter. She crossed the carved memory bridge on her way to the council offices, reading the names carved into each plank. People who'd made choices. People who'd lived with them. She found a clerk still working late and paid him to deliver a message to the Brenners confirming tomorrow's meeting. Then she returned home and burned the woman's demand in her fireplace. The woman wanted Elena to act out of fear and obligation. Instead, Elena had chosen to keep her word to the Brenners, even though it cost her. The debt would grow larger now. The woman would be angry. But Elena had learned something the woman hadn't expected: leverage only worked if you were willing to use it the moment someone told you to. And Elena wasn't.