Chapter 76

Ronan's POV

Every pack voice came back at the same volume. A guard on the north wall asked for bandages; a woman in the kitchens called for her son; two Ashfall riders argued about which gate Lucien had used. I heard them as clearly as Mara asking whether I could walk.

“Yes,” I said, though I had to follow the shape of her lips to keep her voice separate from the rest.

Grimm returned, angry at the noise and tried to put himself between every frightened wolf in the keep and me. I wanted to let him. The old route under my skin offered an appalling ease: one clear command, and every voice would stop. I held on to the sound of Mara's boots beside mine as we ran.

Tamsin and Lucien waited where the passage widened. Lucien's torn shoulder had started bleeding again. He had two of Severin's men bound behind him and still asked about the ba