Chapter 25

Mara’s POV

The first strike of the bell seemed to knock the air out of the room.

My mother bent sharply at the waist as a red line flared around her throat. It was not a collar, and somehow that made it worse. There was no chain to cut, no clasp to break, nothing visible I could tear away from her. The mark simply burned beneath her skin.

I reached for her. “What is happening?”

Elara caught herself against the wall, one hand pressed to her throat. “The tether knows I’m trying to leave.”

“You are leaving.”

“Mara, if you break it the wrong way—”

“Then tell me how to break it the right way.”

Boots pounded somewhere overhead before she could answer.

Ronan turned toward the doorw