Chapter 54

Mara's POV

Severin's footsteps came down the western stair at the same measured pace he used when entering a council chamber.

That irritated me more than if he had run.

Ronan moved between me and the stairs. Soren stood beside the stone basin, one hand braced on the rim while the last inscription still burned around us.

ALPHA COMMAND WAS NOT BORN IN THE BLOOD. IT WAS PUT THERE.

The sentence should have felt historical. Instead, I saw twelve years of my own life inside it. Gideon had been born into a system that told him command was instinct, duty, protection, even love. I had been taught to interpret obedience as the natural cost of being his mate. Learning that someone had built the mechanism generations ago did not excuse what he had done with it. It did explain why so man