Chapter 21 · He Looked Straight at Me. Then He Pressed

Ronan’s bloody palm slammed onto the console beside my hand.

The room answered with a deep, pounding roar.

Not a heartbeat.

A gate.

“Stop it,” Ronan said.

I spun on him. “You knew.”

His jaw tightened. “Mara—”

“You knew they erased my name.”

“I knew enough.”

“Before you rejected me?”

His silence answered too fast.

My throat closed. “Say it.”

“I knew before the broadcast.”

“You rejected me on live television to protect me?”

“I rejected you because the council was waiting for you to answer the bond.”

“You could’ve warned me.”

“They were listening to every word I said.”

“You could’ve trusted me.”

His eyes dropped to my mouth.

Then they snapped back to mine. “I did.”

“Then why did it feel like you cut me open?”

His breath caught.

The covenant pulled tight between us. His hand hovered near my waist, close enough for me to feel its heat without the comfort of his touch.

I remembered his mouth against mine. The way he’d kissed me like he was starving, then locked every bit of that hunger behind his cold face.

I stepped back. “Don’t use the covenant to make me feel sorry for you.”

“I’m not.