Chapter 107

Ronan's POV

The first time I heard Severin inside the refuge, I was alone in the library. Mara had taken Elara’s journal upstairs, and I was comparing Arthur’s account of the Bridge with Soren’s latest map. The old relay station was marked in red. Three other marks lay farther south, near villages whose guards had reported trembling whenever my name came up.

The voice entered at the end of an ordinary thought.

I was wondering whether to warn Mara about the steep path behind the refuge. Snow had concealed a broken step there, and she liked to use that path when she needed to think. I would tell her in the morning. She could decide whether to avoid it.

Or close it tonight.

The words had Severin’s cadence, measured and almost kind. I turned so sharply my chair struck the desk. A drop of