Chapter 43. Not a Cage

June's POV

"No," Ronan said. "You're not going."

I'd known he would say it. I'd seen it in his face the moment he read Varne's message out loud in the records room, the way his eyes went flat and far away, like he was already counting walls.

"The Council ordered it," I said.

"The Council can come and get you."

"At my request. With my conditions. In front of five Alphas." I set Wade's phone down on the table between us. "If I don't go, I'm the madwoman Bram says I am. The girl who asked for an examination and then hid from it. Varne will stand up and say it, and he'll be right."

"Varne wants you alone for three days behind a Council door."

"I know what Varne wants."

"Then you know why I'm saying no."

"You're not saying no," I said quietly. "You're deciding."