~Kaida Orion POV~
My heart pounded so hard I could hear it in the dead silence of the registry vestibule. The red-robed magistrate waited. The vine-scribe woman watched from behind her screen, and Biat stood rigid at my side, because the sealed archive lay between us like an infant on display.
"You owe repayment," the magistrate said softly. "Stone quotas unpaid, water rights withheld. The crown demands either the debt or the name."
I pressed my fingers into my palm where the royal microprint blood imprint of Lupus's seal still burned faintly. The pendant under my cloak burned hotter as I composed myself.
"Crown will accept the Silverline name as forfeit,, or you pay two quotas of mine stone," she repeated.
I let my voice stay calm even as my mind spun. "If I resign the name, what happens to my pack rights?"
"Transfer of birth right," she said. "You may still act under Lupus's line, but your blood claim passes to crown, meaning any heir from your line will be heirs of crown."
