Chapter 16

Ronan's POV

Mara read the date beside her mother’s name until she could repeat the shape of every numeral from memory. Four months ago, someone in the Concord had reviewed Elara Voss’s file and marked her living. The entry was the first proof Mara had seen in twenty-three years that her mother had survived the death reported to Ironwood. It offered no promise about today.

Soren held the registry open for her on the fountain's rim. I stayed close enough to catch her if she fell, though I kept my hands at my sides. Lucien had already given her a clean handkerchief for the soot on her face. She held it without seeming to know it was there.

Behind us, the Winter Oath Hall burned around its broken archive wall. The explosion that had sent Mara after the registry had scattered burning paper through the room; Ironwood fighters were passing buckets int