Oren spoke the syllable like he owned it.
The sound did not travel the way normal sound traveled. It did not echo. It did not fade. It landed inside Seed Court as if it had always been waiting there, written into the stone.
Sable felt it hit the seal in her palm.
Pain flared. Not in her skin, but behind her eyes and along her teeth. Her body tried to answer the syllable with the next one. Her jaw tightened as if clamped by invisible hands.
Vessa pressed her fingers harder under Sable's chin, forcing Sable's mouth closed. Sable could still feel the syllable vibrating in her throat, trying to become a full name.
Maera's hand was on Sable's shoulder now, steady and grounding. "Stay with us," Maera said. "Do not follow his voice."
The duplicate's palm was still pressed to Sable's. The thorn crown mark on the duplicate's skin glowed faintly, then dulled, as if it did not like hearing Oren speak that sound.
The duplicate's eyes widened in a way Sable had never seen.
"He should not be able to say that," the duplicate whispered.
Sable forced the words out through clenched teeth. "He made you. He shaped your mouth to it."
The court voice filled the hall, cold and clear.
"Unauthorized claim detected."
Oren's voice answered without hesitation, as if he had been waiting for that line.
"By House and by law, I claim guardianship of the signer."
The light above the black glass bowl brightened. The grooves in the platform lit hard and sharp, no longer gentle invitation. The place felt less like a hall and more like a mechanism switching into a higher gear.
The masked scribe wrote quickly, and the words hung in the air.
GUARDIANSHIP CLAIM ENTERED. PROOF REQUIRED.
Oren's voice came again, closer, warmer, too confident.
"I provide proof."
Something shimmered beside the bench. A shape formed, then a second, then a third, like a doorway being assembled from rules.
A man stepped through.
Oren Vale wore no robe here. He wore plain clothing, dark and fitted, as if Seed Court had stripped symbols from him. That should have made him smaller.
It did not.
He walked like he expected the floor to agree with him.
On his right hand was an iron ring.
Sable's stomach tightened. "Mother Rook."
A second shimmer followed Oren, and a figure appeared only as absence, like the outline of a person erased from the air. The iron ring glinted again, and Sable understood.
Oren had not brought Mother Rook.
He had brought her restraint.
The court voice spoke. "Proof."
Oren lifted his ring hand. "House Vale holds the vault. House Vale holds the chain. House Vale holds the signer."
Maera stepped forward, fury clear on her face. "You held her like property."
Oren's eyes flicked to Maera. His expression stayed calm. "Captain Flint. You are out of your depth."
Vessa's voice snapped. "Do not talk to her like she is a tool."
Oren looked at Vessa as if noticing her properly for the first time. "Cinderbreath. I wondered when your line would stop hiding."
Vessa's flame flickered on her tongue. She swallowed it. "I wondered when you would stop pretending to be law."
Oren smiled slightly. "Pretending is what keeps the realm from tearing itself apart."
The duplicate's palm tightened against Sable's.
Sable felt a jerk inside her chest, like the union had paused to listen to Oren. She did not like that. She did not like how easily his presence tugged at the split pieces.
Sable forced her focus down into her own will. "Court," she said, voice tight. "He is coercion. He is the reason for fracture."
The court voice answered. "Statement noted."
Oren's smile did not change. "Statements do not matter. Proof does."
He lifted his ring hand again and spoke another syllable. Sable did not understand it, but her body did. Her seal burned and the union between Sable and the duplicate shuddered.
Maera's eyes widened. "He is pulling them apart."
The masked scribe wrote.
GUARDIAN INITIATES CONTROL TEST.
Sable's throat tightened. The next sound of her true name surged up again. Vessa's fingers could not hold it forever.
Sable glanced at Jory.
The fox had stopped pacing. His body was low, tense, ready.
Sable said, through her teeth, "Jory. Shift. Speak for your seat."
Jory's ears flattened. He did not want to.
Then the shifter seat on the bench flared brighter, as if reminding him he was here for a reason.
Jory shifted.
It was not graceful. It was fast and ugly. Fox became man in one hard motion. He staggered, caught himself, and looked up with eyes that were too sharp for a court.
He breathed once, then spoke clearly.
"I am Jory Quill of the Skinroads. I witness this. I witness coercion."
The shifter seat flared bright and steady.
The court voice answered. "Witness accepted."
Oren's eyes narrowed. "A courier thinks he can outweigh a House."
Jory's mouth twisted. "A courier carries truths Houses cannot hold."
Oren lifted his ring hand again. "Proof," he said. "I have the maker's right."
Sable felt the union pull again. The duplicate's palm grew cold against her skin.
The duplicate's voice went tight. "He is invoking me."
Sable's heart hammered. "Resist him."
The duplicate's eyes flicked to Sable's face. For a moment, her calm cracked, and Sable saw something underneath it.
Fear of disobedience.
Fear of being punished for choosing.
The duplicate whispered, "I cannot."
Sable understood in a single brutal flash. House Vale had built the duplicate with a leash in her bones. The thorn crown was not decoration. It was a handle.
Maera's voice turned low. "Then we break the handle."
Vessa stepped forward, hands lifted, not flame yet. "Oath silver remembers what it holds. Fire makes it forget."
Oren's eyes sharpened. "Do not."
Vessa smiled without humor. "That is the first honest thing you have said."
She exhaled, controlled and thin, not a blast. A steady heat streamed from her mouth toward the duplicate's thorn crown mark.
The air between them shimmered. The mark glowed, then darkened, as if the skin itself tightened around it.
The duplicate cried out. Her fingers spasmed against Sable's palm.
Sable felt the union lurch.
Memories slammed through her again. A child's wrists held down. Ink brushed into skin. Oren's voice, younger, careful.
"Your name is Sable Vane. That is enough."
Sable's rage rose like fire behind her teeth, and for a moment she almost welcomed it. Rage was simple. Rage had direction.
Then Oren spoke again, louder.
"Guardianship requires custody. I present custody."
The absence beside him deepened. A shape resolved, not fully, but enough that Sable's chest tightened.
Mother Rook's outline. Her hands bound in something that looked like light.
Oren lifted his ring. "She is restrained by my claim. I can restrain the signer as well."
Maera's voice went cold. "You brought her here to threaten you could do it to Sable."
Oren's gaze stayed on Sable. "Not threaten. Demonstrate."
The court voice spoke. "Demonstration accepted."
Sable's stomach dropped. The court was not moral. It was procedural.
Vessa's hands shook with anger. "This court is rotten."
Mother Rook's voice came faintly through the restraint, strained but clear.
"It is not rotten," she said. "It is hungry. Hunger is easier to steer than cruelty."
Sable stared. "Mother Rook."
Mother Rook's outline turned slightly toward Sable. "Do not speak more of your name. Do not give him the ladder."
Oren's jaw tightened. "Quiet."
The restraint brightened around Mother Rook's wrists. Her outline flickered.
Maera stepped forward, voice sharp. "Court. He is silencing a witness."
The court voice answered. "Witness restriction noted."
Oren's eyes flashed with irritation. "Noted again. Still meaningless."
Sable felt the truth of it. Notes did not stop force.
Her seal burned again. The next sound rose. Her lips parted despite Vessa's fingers.
Sable forced her head down and bit the inside of her cheek hard enough to taste blood. The pain snapped her focus back for half a breath.
Half a breath was enough.
She spoke, not the true name, not the next sound, but a rule.
"Court," Sable said, fast. "Guardianship proof. Required."
The masked scribe paused, stylus hovering.
Oren's gaze sharpened. "Do not."
Sable pressed on. "A guardian must protect the signer from coercion. A guardian cannot be the source of coercion."
The court voice went quiet for a breath.
Then it answered.
"Definition accepted."
Oren's smile vanished. "That is not how Houses work."
The court voice replied, colder. "This is how remedy works."
The masked scribe wrote new words in the air.
GUARDIANSHIP REQUIRES NON COERCION. PROOF OF NON COERCION REQUIRED.
Maera exhaled sharply, relief and fear mixed. "Good."
Oren's eyes narrowed. "Fine. Proof."
He stepped closer to Sable and the duplicate, close enough that Sable could smell clean soap and iron.
Oren lifted his ring hand toward Sable's palm.
Sable jerked back, but the grooves under her feet flashed. The court did not let her flee the procedure.
Oren said softly, "You will never win by arguing rules with a House that wrote them."
Sable met his eyes. "You did not write this one."
Oren's fingers hovered a finger width above Sable's seal. "Then I will break it."
Vessa's breath hitched. "Sable."
Maera's hand tightened on Sable's arm. "Do not let him touch you."
Sable could not move back. The court held her in place.
Jory stepped forward, voice sharp. "Court. Interference. He is initiating control."
The court voice replied. "Control test ongoing."
Oren's fingers lowered.
Sable felt the next sound of her true name surge like a wave.
Her mouth opened.
Vessa could not stop it now.
Maera lunged, trying to cover Sable's mouth.
Too late.
Sable's tongue shaped the beginning of the syllable.
Oren smiled.
And the court's light flared so bright that all four seats vanished into white, as if the court had decided it could not risk hearing the rest.