Chapter 31

The command Ronan had been made to speak drove through the council room. Maeve fell against the medicine table. Tamsin caught herself on one knee at the door, where she had been keeping Soren and his guard outside the circle. My mother struck the wall hard enough to lose her breath. Her knees held, but the copper pin she needed lay several feet away.

Ronan's hand was still around mine. His fingers tightened until the bones complained. He looked down at them in horror and pulled away before I had to. The red seal beneath his shirt beat in time with the distant Bell.

“Get the pin,” he told Elara.

His mouth moved again. “Leave it.”

The second instruction came out deeper, as if someone had leaned close behind his teeth to speak. Elara started for the pin anyway. Ronan went after her. He caught her throat and drove her against the