Chapter 19. The Box

Ronan's POV

She read my name out loud.

Not shouting. Very quietly, the way you'd read a name off a grave.

"Ronan Holt."

Ines took one look at my face and left the room.

"Is it true?" June asked.

"Yes."

"You told the Council I was alone."

"Yes."

"Under oath."

"Yes."

She stared at the paper in her hands. Her knuckles had gone white around it. When she looked up again, her eyes were dry, and that was worse than if they hadn't been.

"I asked you," she said. "In the cell. I asked you what you did after you pulled me out of the river. And you said you went home."

"I did go home," I said. "After I signed it."

She made a sound. Not a laugh. Something that broke halfway.

"Eight days," she said. "Eight days inside your walls. The river. The silver. You