Chapter 29 · Mara Remembers the Wrong Death

Mara's hand wouldn't stop shaking. She stared at the blood drying on Cass's throat, the thin line where her blade had pressed, and her brain kept screaming that she'd done this before. That she'd cut deeper. That he'd looked at her the exact same way right before he stopped breathing.

Except he was breathing now. Standing two feet away, wiping his neck with his sleeve like it was nothing.

"You good?" he asked.

She wasn't. The memory felt realer than the stone under her boots. Realer than the red glow still pulsing across the quad, carving a path toward the tower. She'd killed him. She knew she had. His blood on her hands, his family ring rolling across marble, and that horrible wet sound when he hit the floor.

But that hadn't happened yet. Or it had happened in a loop she didn't live. Or—

"Mara." Cass stepped closer. "Stay with me."

She flinched back. Her knife was still out. Still had his blood on it.

"Don't," she said. Her voice came out raw. "Don't come near me."

He stopped. Hands up, palms open.