Chapter 310: The Making of a Cuckoo bird
HAZEL
The pamphlet was thin. That was the first thing that struck . Sothing with this much power over a person’s life should have weighed more.
I read the first rule twice before the words fully arranged themselves into aning.
"Rule of Male Oversight. Every unmarried woman of substance within the estate must be assigned a male guardian. Even if she is high born. Even if she is a Luna. She cannot attend etings alone. She cannot leave the grounds without escort. Violation results in confinent."
I sat with that for a mont. I read it a third ti just to be sure I had not invented the words out of shock or exhaustion or the particular kind of delirium that ca from watching a man die and then being handed a pamphlet about etiquette.
The words stayed the sa.
I turned to the second rule.
"Rule of Eye Contact. Won may not hold prolonged eye contact with an Alpha male unless invited. This will be interpreted as a challenge to authority. Punishable by public correction."
The mory arrived before I could stop it. Wenzel’s face leaning toward mine in the gallery. My eyes on his, steady and unflinching, because I had been raised to look people in the face when they spoke to . I had thought that was basic dignity. Apparently here it was an offense.
My fingers tightened around the pamphlet.
"Rule of Voice. The won of Lily of the Valley do not interrupt Alpha deliberations. They may submit written opinions but cannot speak unless asked directly. Disobedience results in confinent."
I read that one again.
"Submit written opinions."
What kind of backward hell was this?
The last prominent rule on the page sat at the bottom of the page printed in red, which should have warned
before I even started reading. Red ant they knew. Red ant they had done it deliberately, because whatever this said, they understood it would land differently than the rest.
"Male Heirs Clause."
The language was careful and deliberate and vague enough to make my stomach twist, the way legal text was always vague when the people writing it wanted room to maneuver later. It implied that a bride who produced no male heir within a set ti fra would face consequences. It did not na the consequences. It did not need to. The red ink was doing that work just fine.
I stared at it until the letters blurred slightly at the edges.
Then I turned the page.
The final rule inford , in the sa elegant script used for everything else, that phones were not to be used after a certain hour because the light disrupted rest cycles and health was wealth and the estate took the wellness of its mbers seriously. It went on for an additional two paragraphs. Two paragraphs about phone light and sleep hygiene and the importance of communal restoration. Alpha Wenzel had apparently deed it upon himself to write an essay about bedti.
I set the pamphlet down on the mattress.
"These people," I said to the empty room, "are completely insane."
I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone.
My mother picked up on the third ring.
"Hazel? How is it? How are you settling in?"
"I need you to listen to
very carefully," I said. "Because I am going to tell you sothing and I need you to not dismiss it and I need you to not tell
I am being dramatic."
There was silence on her end. Then: "What happened?"
I opened my mouth to speak and that was when the door opened.
Delta stepped through first, her eyes finding mine imdiately. Then her gaze dropped to the phone in my hand and her face changed. She did not shout. She did not gasp. She just looked at
with wide eyes and mouthed the words "hide it
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