Chapter 60 · The Voice Beneath the Stone

"Get your hand off me, Ronan."

Mara yanked against my grip, but the tower seal had her palm pinned in red light. Blood slid between her fingers and vanished into the grooves beneath them.

The speakers above us crackled.

"By order of the Nightglass Council, Mara Voss is declared a bloodline threat. Execution authority is now active. High Warden Ronan Vale is commanded to stand down."

My voice delivered every word.

Mara stared at me. Her face had gone pale, but her eyes stayed sharp enough to cut.

"You heard that, right?" she asked.

"I heard it."

"It sounded like you."

"It isn't me."

"Funny."

She pulled against the seal again. The red light flared brighter.

"You always did sound convincing when you were ruining my life."

A silver bolt punched through the outer doors and buried itself in the stone beside my head. Chips sliced across my cheek.

I shoved Mara behind me.

"Don't," she snapped.

"Stay behind me."

"You don't get to play shield after turning the whole city against me."

"The city was turned against you before I walked in here."

"And your face is still ordering them to kill me.