Chapter 15

Mara's POV

The Winter Oath Hall looked smaller without six hundred people inside it.

At the Winter Oath ceremony, I had stood beneath the stained glass and watched Gideon put my necklace on Vivian. Tonight, he waited beside the same dais with the Unbound registry tucked under one arm. Darius had moved to the archive door; through the open main doors I could still see Ronan at the steps.

My old throne was empty. I knew the hall from beneath its stones as well as I ever had from that seat. The grain tunnel had brought us back safely, but standing on this floor again made my knees unsteady. I pressed one heel against the other until the feeling passed.

"Five minutes," I said. "Then Ronan comes through the door whether you invite him or not."

Gideon's jaw tightened. "You trust him very q