Chapter 7 · Ash Ledger - Chapter 7: Her Signal

"You sent it already."

Mara didn't turn around. Her hand stayed on the window frame, fingers pressed white against the stone. Outside, the eastern ridge was all shadow and broken ground. Somewhere past the picket line, a fire blinked once. Twice.

"I didn't say that," she said.

"You didn't have to." Rowan moved closer, boots scraping over the grit on the floor. The garrison hall was empty this hour, just dust and the smell of old smoke. "Bram told me you asked for lamp oil two days ago. A full skin. You don't need that much to read by."

She turned then, and her face was all hard edges in the low light. "So you're watching me now."

"I'm keeping you alive. There's a difference."

"Is there?" She stepped away from the window, and the space between them shrank fast. "Because it feels like you're deciding whether to put a knife in me or keep me on a leash."

Rowan held his ground. "If I wanted you dead, you'd be in the yard with a noose, not standing here arguing with me."

"Then what do you want?"

The question hung there, sharper than it should've been.