The formal recognition arrived on a Tuesday.
Emrick brought it in person, which told Sera it was significant before she had opened the document. He came to Petra's shop in the early afternoon with the quiet efficiency he brought to everything, sat down in the back room across from her, and placed a sealed document on the table between them.
The seal was the Blackthorn crown seal, which she recognized from her limited knowledge of wolf court formalities, a wolf's head in profile over a mountain range, rendered in dark wax with the kind of precision that suggested the seal had been in use for a very long time.
"The Silver Blood recognition petition was formally accepted by the crown court this morning," Emrick said. "Witness statements from Wren have been submitted and accepted as expert
