This is Cora, Continuity & Accuracy Editor at Crimson Leaf Publishing. I have reviewed Chapter 4, "Courting Shadows," against the established canon for *Crimson Vows*.

### 1. PROSE EVIDENCE
*   **Early:** "A queen was a structural necessity, a load-bearing column that did not acknowledge the cracks in its own marble."
    *   *Commentary:* Excellent reinforcement of Seraphine’s established architectural voice signature and her internal "perfectionism disguised as duty."
*   **Mid:** "He sat on the edge, his spine still struggling for that iron-forged Thorne posture, but his hands were shaking so violently the blood from his palms began to spatter the fine rug."
    *   *Commentary:* Precisely tracks Aldric’s physical state (tremors) and his "martyrdom complex" of refusing to lean back or show weakness.
*   **Late:** "The obsidian spire shivered. The pitch changed, moving from a scream to a low, frustrated growl."
    *   *Commentary:* Effective sensory description of the Blight’s adaptation, consistent with the "Adaptive" world-state established in ch-05.

### 2. CHARACTER VOICE AUDIT
**Queen Seraphine**
*   **Line:** "I do not have the luxury of viewing people as anything else."
*   **Signature Tics:** YES. Uses architectural metaphors ("structural necessity," "load-bearing column").
*   **Forbidden Patterns:** YES. Avoids contractions ("I do not," "will not," "cannot").
*   **Emotional Register:** YES. Analytical, predatory, and shielding her "wound" (the cellar).

**King Aldric**
*   **Line:** "I do not think I will."
*   **Signature Tics:** YES. Uses singular "I" while vulnerable; analytical of the Blight.
*   **Forbidden Patterns:** YES. Avoids contractions ("I do not," "I did not"). *Note: One violation found (see MUST-FIX).*
*   **Emotional Register:** YES. Stoic but physically collapsing; focuses on tactical assessment despite trauma.

**High Priestess Malcorra**
*   **Line:** "Do not mistake the pulse in your wrist for your own music; it is merely the drumming of ancestors who are waiting for you to fail them."
*   **Signature Tics:** YES. Uses "It is written in the vein" and "the clay."
*   **Forbidden Patterns:** YES. No "I think" or "In my opinion."
*   **Emotional Register:** YES. Operatic and liturgical, treating others as "vessels."

**Captain Kaelen**
*   **Line:** "The King... He is going to fall, Seraphine."
*   **Signature Tics:** YES. Pragmatic and protective.
*   **Forbidden Patterns:** YES. Professional and clipped.
*   **Emotional Register:** YES. Horrified by the Blight, devoted to the Queen.

### 3. STRENGTHS TO PRESERVE
*   **The Cellar Continuity:** The shared vision of Seraphine in the cellar (established in ch-03 as a "known secret" Kaelen carries) is now a bridge between Aldric and Seraphine. "The way his neck... I had to order it. I had to." / "In the vision. You were hiding behind the wine casks."
*   **Specific Tells:** Aldric’s habit of adjusting his signet ring when concealing emotion is correctly utilized: "He was staring at the signet ring on his right hand, twisting it with his thumb—a tell she noted..."
*   **Hemomantic Rules:** The cost of magic is consistently applied as physical drainage: "His skin had gone the color of parchment left in the rain—translucent, grey, and dangerously thin."

### 4. MUST-FIX — CONTINUITY
*   **ORIGINAL:** "they've seen enough of my failures. Perhaps they’d like to see yours for a change." (Late)
*   **PROBLEM:** Aldric’s voice signature (ch-05) explicitly states: "His speech is entirely devoid of contractions... unless he is experiencing a moment of rare, raw vulnerability." While he is stressed, the preceding line ("Let them") is a formal defiance of the ancestors; "they've" and "they'd" break the established rhythmic cadence of his speech.
*   **FIX:** "They have seen enough of my failures. Perhaps they would like to see yours for a change."

*   **ORIGINAL:** "The Union was not a peace, but a vacuum... The foundations of Aethelgard are reset." (Early)
*   **PROBLEM:** Timeline/Location conflict. The context (ch-05) places the characters at the **Oakhaven Outskirts** glass-line following a breach. However, this text describes them on a "dais" in a "Cathedral" within "Aethelgard" having just finished a ritual. Ch-05 establishes Seraphine has hemomantic exhaustion from the Oakhaven outskirts incident.
*   **FIX:** Ensure the text clarifies this is a flashback to the ritual immediately preceding the Oakhaven Breach, or reconcile why they are back in the Cathedral if Oakhaven (the perimeter) was just lost. (If this is the immediate aftermath of the Bind, the location is correct, but the physical status must match ch-05's sensory vertigo).

### 5. MUST-FIX — CLARITY
*   **ORIGINAL:** "I will bracing you," she said, her voice dropping into a low, predatory cadence." (Late)
*   **PROBLEM:** Grammatical error ("will bracing") obscures the intended meaning of her architectural metaphor.
*   **FIX:** "I will brace you," she said, or "I am bracing you."

### 6. OPTIONAL SUGGESTIONS
*   **Voice Consistency (Aldric):** In the line "He was taller than her," Aldric is at "the point of physical collapse." The profile states he "stands as if his spine were made of tempered steel, even when he is at the point of physical collapse." The text says he has "a lack of grace" when sitting; adding a line about him forcing his spine straight even while depleted would sharpen the characterization.

### 7. FORBIDDEN CHANGES / NON-GOALS
*   **Do not change:** Seraphine's lack of sitting back in chairs. "He sank into a heavy velvet chair... He sat on the edge, his spine still struggling..." (Matches both characters' stillness/posture rules).
*   **Do not change:** Malcorra’s "raspy wheeze." This is her imperfection signature when control slips; do not "smooth" it into her operatic voice.
*   **Do not change:** The repetitive use of "structural," "extraction," and "vessel." These are mandatory voice tics.

### 8. VERDICT: REVISE
**SCORE: 82**
**JUSTIFICATION:** The chapter is tonally brilliant and adheres to complex voice signatures with 95% accuracy. However, there are two distinct contraction violations for Aldric ("they've", "they'd") and a major grammatical error ("I will bracing you") that must be corrected to maintain the "AI-native" quality standard. Correcting the Cathedral/Oakhaven location transition is also necessary for timeline cohesion.