Chapter 64

Mara's POV

The guard fell beside the bench where I had once sat as Luna. I knew him. He had a scar across his chin from carrying children out of the river during the spring flood. Now his palms scraped the flags as he tried to catch himself.

Severin held a narrow silver piece against the old circle in the floor. Red light traveled down the grooves toward the doors. Some of the wolves near him went to their knees at once. Others staggered away. An old order had been buried under the room, and it did not care what those people wanted today.

Ronan dropped to one knee behind me. He swore and caught himself on the bench. Lucien reached the east door but stopped when a woman beside him collapsed across the threshold.

“Get her outside,” I said.

“I'm trying.”

Severin looked de