Chapter 103

Ronan's POV

The relay chamber smelled of wet stone and old metal. Narrow plates circled a central console, their inscriptions naming roads to keep clear, wells to protect, and patrols to send out in bad weather. Every order had once belonged to an emergency. They remained long after the people who had given them were gone.

The gold beneath the floor moved toward my boots. I felt the station take the measure of my blood before I touched a thing. Lucien stayed near the door, where he could leave if the pressure reached him; beyond the range of the wire, his riders were taking Ida and Bryn down the pass. Ida had opened her hand one finger at a time. I held on to the memory because the station wanted to show me an easier way to quiet everything at once.

“This was supposed to be dormant,” Lucien said.

“It was. Severin w