Chapter 39 · The Name He Lost

"Mara?" Ronan pressed the knife under my jaw. "Step away from me."

His voice was flat.

Wrong.

The blade kissed my skin as the core chamber shook. Blue-white water slammed against the glass walls. The covenant burned across his ribs like a fresh brand, and the same heat crawled beneath my sternum.

"You know me," I said.

His fingers tightened around the knife. "I know you're in my way."

"You jumped into a tide gate for me five seconds ago."

"Did I?"

The question cut deeper than the blade.

Behind him, the broken gate spun inside the flooded chamber. Red blood-contract light snapped from Ronan's body into the machinery. Every pulse stole something else from him.

Celia's face was already gone from his mind.

The reason we'd come here had gone next.

I raised both hands, keeping my movements slow. "Ronan, look at me."

"Don't give me orders."

"Then call it a favor. Look at my mouth. Not the gate. Me."

His eyes dropped to my lips.

Heat brushed my throat with every breath he took. Even half-erased, his body knew how close we were. His pupils widened. His grip didn't loosen.

"Your name," he said. "I had it.