Chapter 31

Mara's POV

For several seconds after Severin left the echo, I could still feel him there.

Not his voice. The pressure of him. A cold weight threaded through the connection between Ronan and me, as if someone had opened a door inside my own mind and forgotten to close it.

Ronan tightened his hand around mine. "Mara. Talk to me."

"He showed me the children."

The hall around us went quiet again. Soren abandoned the registry table and came straight toward us.

"Where?"

"A white chamber under the capital. Nine children. Red marks around their wrists." I swallowed. "He said I have seventy-two hours to surrender or he makes them kneel until their hearts stop."

Lucien's expression lost every trace