Chapter 71

Ronan's POV

Silence did not feel peaceful.

It felt like losing a sense I had never realized I used every second.

Grimm disappeared. The pack link vanished completely. Mara's echo went with it.

For one terrifying moment, I could not feel whether she was alive.

I had imagined losing the echo as relief once, back when it first invaded every private thought. I had been an idiot. Silence did not make Mara less important to me; it removed the shortcut. I had to trust the last thing I knew: she was alive when the channel closed, she was capable, and she would expect me to solve the problem in front of me instead of tearing the keep apart looking for her.

Then someone tried to stab me.

That was almost reassuring because it was a