Chapter 65

Ronan's POV

Gideon did not ask Mara to sit with him while he read his mother's letter. He asked Helena.

They sat on the low wall outside the infirmary, away from the people bringing the injured in. I saw him unfold the page once, then press it flat on his knee with both hands. Helena stayed beside him. Mara and I found work carrying water because watching a man learn what had happened to his mother did him no good.

Half an hour later he came to the courtyard. His eyes were red, though he had washed his face.

“She wrote it when she knew she might not get me out,” he said. “Helena kept the first page. Father kept the second.”

Mara took a careful breath. “What did she want you to know?”

“That she was leaving with me. That if she failed, I should never bel