Chapter 23 · Don't Call Him

The false Ronan yanked me away from the console.

"Don't call him," he growled.

"Why? Afraid he'll answer?"

His fingers dug into my waist. The tremor running through him had nothing to do with the gate.

It was him.

"You don't know what you're asking for."

"I know exactly what I'm asking him."

I drove my elbow into his throat.

His grip broke. I spun, shoved the moon key into the open core, and felt the whole chamber scream.

Light ripped through the floor.

The false covenant flared across my chest—a web of silver lines linking my heart to his.

For one breath, I saw the real Ronan.

Not the borrowed face. Not the thing wearing his smile.

Ronan knelt in a dark room with both hands tied behind his back. His head hung forward. A strip of black metal had been driven through the mark at his throat.

His lips moved.

I couldn't hear him.

I reached for the image anyway.

"Ronan!"

The false one seized my shoulders. "Don't touch him."

"I'm not talking to you."

I shoved more of my blood into the core.

The console dragged at me.