Chapter 59: Visibility

Malric answered Rowan’s question first.

“You stop hiding.”

The simplicity of the response irritated her immediately. Rowan leaned back against the edge of the conference table and crossed her arms while the monitors along the walls cast muted light across the room. Surveillance photos still covered most of the table between them, including the image taken outside her apartment that morning. Every time her eyes drifted toward it, she barely recognized herself standing beside Corvin. She looked calmer in the photograph than she remembered feeling. Certain, even.

“That sounds suspiciously easy for something everybody in this room suddenly looks nervous about,” she said.

Taryn exchanged a glance with Corvin before answering.

“Because it isn’t easy. It’s visible.”

Corvin stepped closer to the table, one hand resting lightly against the edge. “The Council expected this situation to remain private.”

“Contained,” Malric added.

Rowan grimaced. “That is somehow the worst possible word choice.”

“It’s still accurate,” Corvin said.

“Your commitment to honesty continues to make my life harder.”

A faint shift touched the corner of his mouth before disappearing again, subtle enough that most people probably would not have noticed it. Unfortunately, Rowan noticed everything about him lately. That realization alone was becoming exhausting.

Taryn moved around the table and slid another folder toward Rowan. “If the bond becomes public, every connected faction starts responding differently.”

Rowan opened the folder slowly, revealing photographs from previous Blacke Industries events. Formal receptions. Corporate dinners. Wealthy people standing beneath expensive lighting pretending they were discussing business instead of supernatural politics. Every image looked polished and carefully controlled.

“This is where you want me to go?” Rowan asked.

“A gathering tomorrow night,” Taryn said. “Invitation only. Neutral territory.”

Corvin’s attention sharpened immediately.

“No.”

Rowan glanced toward him. That was the first outright refusal he had given since the conversation started.

Malric noticed too.

“Well,” he murmured, “there he is.”

Corvin ignored him completely.

“It’s too soon,” he said, looking toward Taryn instead. “The Council is still assessing the bond.”

“And that’s exactly why timing matters,” Taryn replied. “If Rowan appears publicly beside you now, the narrative changes before they can regain control of it.”

The room quieted slightly after that. Everything in this world really did sound like corporate warfare dressed in supernatural language.

Rowan closed the folder and looked toward Corvin again.

“You think this puts me in danger.”

“I think it removes your ability to disappear afterward.”

The honesty in the answer settled heavily between them. No softened wording. No reassurance designed to make her feel better. Just truth. If she walked into that gathering beside him publicly, people would stop viewing her as temporary. The Council would stop treating her like an unstable variable that might eventually detach itself from Corvin naturally. They would understand she had chosen a side. The realization should have terrified her. Instead, all Rowan could think about was Jess being moved because strangers decided pressure would work better than patience. Observers outside her apartment. Photos spread across a table. People discussing her life like it belonged to them. Something colder settled beneath her anger at the thought. Every version of this seemed to end with someone expecting her to quietly accept whatever role they assigned to her. No. Absolutely not.

Malric studied her expression carefully.

“You’re thinking about permanence.”

“I’m thinking about how tired I am of being handled.”

That quieted the room more effectively than raising her voice would have. Corvin’s attention settled fully onto her then, steady enough that she could feel it through the bond without even looking directly at him. Not pressure. Not warning. Understanding. Which somehow made this harder.

Taryn leaned lightly against the opposite side of the table.

“You still have a choice here.”

“That keeps getting repeated to me like it’s comforting.”

“It matters,” Corvin said quietly.

Rowan finally looked toward him again.

“Does it?”

“Yes.”

The certainty in his voice pulled the room still for half a second.

Malric looked between them with obvious interest.

“This keeps becoming inconveniently sincere.”

Taryn grabbed a folder and threw it directly at him.

He caught it easily.

“Violence. Very professional.”

“You deserved it.”

“Fair.”

Despite everything, Rowan laughed softly.

The sound eased some of the tension in the room immediately, though the weight of the conversation still remained beneath it. Taryn moved back toward the monitors while Malric flipped idly through another surveillance file. Rowan’s attention drifted again toward the photograph from outside her apartment that morning. She barely recognized the woman standing beside Corvin in the image. Calm, steady, certain enough to stare directly at someone sent to intimidate her. Maybe that version of herself was real too. Maybe she was just finally catching up to it.

“What happens if we do nothing?” Rowan asked quietly.

Malric answered this time.

“The pressure continues privately until the Council finds a way to regain leverage.”

“And if they can’t?”

Corvin’s gaze remained fixed on her.

“Then they escalate.”

The room settled into silence again after that. Rowan crossed slowly toward the monitor displaying the surveillance photo and stopped in front of it. The Council had already seen her standing beside Corvin. Maybe this was not really about hiding anymore. Maybe it was about deciding whether she was done pretending otherwise.

Behind her, Taryn spoke carefully.

“If you attend this gathering publicly with Corvin, every connected faction will understand what that means.”

Rowan glanced back over her shoulder.

“And what exactly does it mean?”

Nobody answered immediately. That alone told her enough. Slowly, she turned toward Corvin fully.

“You really think this changes everything.”

His expression remained calm, but his attention never left her.

“I think they stop underestimating you.”

Something tightened unexpectedly in Rowan’s chest at that. Not because he thought she needed protection. Because he clearly did not think she was weak anymore. The difference mattered.

She looked around the room one final time before exhaling slowly.

“Okay,” she said. “Then we stop giving them reasons to think I’ll scare easily.”

Malric smiled slowly.

“Well,” he said, “that should make tomorrow night deeply unpleasant for the Council.”

Rowan folded her arms again.

“Good.”