Iris's ribbon of blood hovered.
The ribbon a hand's width from her sternum did not feel like the ribbons she had watched his lovers accept.
It felt like something else.
The prompt sat in the back of her skull and asked the same question it was asking everyone else. The Bloodfather wished to welcome her into his family. Did she accept.
The answer in her mouth was not the answer her allies had given. The Vex-shaped, pink-cheeked, breathless yes was a yes for women who had wanted to be his wives.
She did not belong in the same answer Vex had given.
Iris's mouth twisted around the start of a no.
Then a voice arrived in the back of her head.
The Child of Reckoning's eyes flicked sideways toward Ayame.
The mental address landed in Iris's skull through [Master's Link] without anyone in the courtyard registering the silent exchange.
