Chapter 75

Mara's POV

Ronan set the hammer against the stair. Dust streaked his cheek, and blood had soaked through the cloth around his knuckles. Without the echo, I couldn't feel the effort it took him to stop swinging. I could see it in the way his chest rose when he reached me.

I put my hand against it. His heart was racing beneath his shirt.

“I thought you were still in that room,” he said.

“I was. Your builders hid a laundry passage behind it.”

“Maeve will claim credit.”

“She should.”

He covered my hand with his for one breath, warm skin and no answer from the stone. Then I moved to the wall beside the barred iron door. My hand found a seam that ran beneath the stair. The old Black Hollow plans Caldor used had relied on channels for water and