I needed to use this to our advantage, maybe see inside Gideon’s intentions. Find out who I was looking at, my dad or an illusion.
“Oh, sweet Maeve, that’s not how bargains work. You come to me, prove your loyalty, andthenI release him.”
“Fine,” I ground out. “If I must.”
This was my chance.
He extended his hand again, and I gathered every shred of fear and weaponized it.
My face twisted in a show of resignation, and I took his hand. The moment our palms touched, a surge of cold burned up my arm, making me gasp.
His bond was real.
He’s tying me to him.
Panic shuffled through my veins as our worlds connected. This wasn’t part of the plan, but it was what I had to do.
I needed to know if my dad was truly in human form or not.
The runes under the snow glowed again, responding to the magic spike building between us.
My father let out a muffled noise.
Gideon yanked me closer, as if to claim me in front of my dad and Stonewick’s ancient circle.
A sense of violation and disgust churned in my stomach. I wasn’t property to be claimed. It reeked of what my ex did to me before I discovered his affairs.
The experience only angered me more as my attention refocused on Gideon, and I let his illusions flood my mind. He tried to weave his version of reality, but it was too pieced together.
A pressing darkness centered in my chest as the faint echo of my mother’s voice rang down the sidewalk, followed by an image of me returning to Stonewick as some puppet on Gideon’s strings.
There was no way my mom would set foot back in Stonewick. And me coming back under his wings? Laughable.
My soul rebelled.
This was my town, my domain.
The runes flared bright, nearly white-hot. He forced his visions again, and I felt my mind waver.
A hiss of blackness swirled at the edges of my vision.
He was strong.
The visions showed me my father in chains, my father in agony. My heart lurched, nearly shattering my concentration.
But I clung to the reality I’d built.
“Give up,” Gideon said, each syllable a lash of malice. “Your father’s suffering as we speak.”
Come on…that was it. Keep focusing on my dad.
Out of the corner of my eye, my dad lay on the snow, apparently unconscious. My stomach clenched.
And then I saw it…a glimmer of my dad before Gideon had changed him. He laughed at my dad when he swirled the spell and cast him into a human shell of himself. No curse was broken, and that was all I needed.
My mind worked overtime blocking Gideon’s thoughts from mine, and we were locked in a stalemate. Neither Gideon nor I was ready to yield.
I took a breath and opened my eyes to see Gideon studying me. “Change him back and you can have me.”
