Chapter 85

Mara's POV

Ronan's letter reached me after breakfast. He had described the fire, the food from the neighbor, and the latch that moved when he imagined me entering. He told me he had raised it again. He hadn't tried to make the frightening fact sound harmless, and he hadn't turned it into an order for me to stay away.

At the end he had written that the second room was dry. That line made me smile despite myself. I took it to Tamsin and asked whether the northern patrol had received his report about the old tracks.

“They have,” she said. “The same scouts were seen near the western pass. We've sent a watchman who knows the ridge. Ronan didn't ask me to send an army.”

“Growth on both sides.”

“Don't make me sound sentimental.”

I had given him two days to fi