Chapter 63

Ronan's POV

We were two hours north of Redwater when Tamsin reached us with a rider.

Gideon had left Black Hollow that morning. He had taken the Ironwood road with two Black Hollow guards, a sealed packet from Helena, and a horse that did not belong to him. Tamsin was more annoyed about the guards than the horse.

“I caught him at the stable,” she told me through the speaking stone. “He was planning to go alone. I told him that if he insisted, he'd take company and leave a written route. Then I sent two more riders after him.”

“Why let him leave?” I asked.

“Because keeping a grown man locked in a room to prove we respect his decisions is an argument Maeve refused to help me make.” Tamsin exhaled. “And because Helena recognized the mark on Severin's letter. Gideon's mother hid something in that hall.”<