I gave him a look. “I didn’t need it.”
“Didn’t say youneededit.” He stepped a little closer. “I said you belonged.”
I tried not to let the heat rise too obviously to my cheeks.
He held my gaze for a beat too long. The smile tugging at his mouth didn’t help.
“You belong in Stonewick, at the Academy, and…” He cleared his throat and looked away briefly. “You belong with someone who gets you.”
“Like who?” My brows lifted.
“Me, obviously.”
“Are you…flirting?” I asked, voice lighter than I expected.
He leaned in just slightly. “Maeve, if I were flirting, you wouldn’t have to ask.”
I opened my mouth to reply, but whatever clever thing I might’ve said vanished under the weight of theway he looked at me. Like I was the only thing anchoring him to the moment.
And maybe, I didn’t want him to stop.
The space between us twinkled, not magically, just in that way charged things do. His shoulder brushed mine. His hand drifted a little too close to mine, and I didn’t move.
“I was going to head back to the Academy,” I murmured. “Check on the disturbance…”
He cut in gently. “Stay.”
The word caught me off guard.
He glanced up the lane. “Everyone’s in town. It’s already dinner hour. You’ve got a moment to breathe, and I’m inviting you to use it.”
“For what?”
His smile turned slow. “Dinner. Just you and me. Not a meeting. Not a crisis. Just… us.”
Something in me steadied.
Yet, I couldn’t help but think about the shimmer, the orb, the circle, all still waiting.
But so wasthis.
I nodded. “Dinner.”
And the way he smiled at me was a promise of warmth I wasn’t ready to turn down.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The little bistro on the corner of Plum and Fairy had only three tables, a menu written in silver ink on floating parchment, and candles that burned without wax or flame. It was merely light and warmth hovering like captured fireflies in glass bowls.
Keegan picked the table near the window, away from the other patrons, and pulled my chair out like a gentleman from another century.
I raised a brow. “Very gentlemanly of you.”
“I do my best,” he said, grinning as he took the seat across from me. “You know, just in case this is a date.”
I arched an eyebrow. “You’re just putting that out there?”
He smirked. “Well, I’ve been told I should be more direct.”
