I stood there beside Keegan, holding the silence between us like something fragile, necessary, and safe.
I didn’t feel ready to tell him, but I also didn’t feel alone.
Bella returned like a storm in a cloak, much swifter than I expected, and held a parchment-wrapped bundle in one hand and a cup of something that steamed like broth in the other.
She handed me the bundle without a word, but her eyes had that look that I’d come to love. A mixture of sharp, teasing, and maternal in the way only a fox shifter could be without actually trying shone on her expression.
I opened the paper and blinked down at the contents, which included a warm panini pressed and golden. The kitchen sprites had crisped it to perfection, featuring tomato, mozzarella, and basil.
“Eat,” she said, already nudging my elbow like she’d decided arguing wasn’t permitted.
I gave her a dry look, amused despite myself. “You think I’m going to shrivel away? I have enough padding to get me through more than a few missed meals.”
“Iknowyou,” she said, sinking into the bench beside me. “You get all witchy and withdrawn and forget your body needs things. Like food. Sleep. Not gazing into shadowy corners of the world until your soul unravels.”
“I don’t unravel,” I said, grinning faintly. “I tangle creatively.”
Keegan chuckled next to me.
Bella narrowed her eyes. “Eat the sandwich, Maeve.”
I took a bite.
The bread was crisp, the cheese melted just enough, and the tomatoes were from the greenhouse’s winter yield…sun-kissed, even in February.
“You’re not going to let me disappear into a mist of dried herbs and existential dread, are you?”
“Not on my watch,” Bella said. “You’ve got at least three more decades of weird magical destiny to fulfill.”
“Only three?” I teased.
“Maybe four,” she said. “But I’m not taking chances. You’re too useful. And Keegan would get grumpier.”
Keegan gave a mild shrug, but his lips tugged upward.
“She's not wrong,” he said. “The place runs better when you’re steady and present.”
I looked at them both and smiled. Bella was warm and fierce, while Keegan was steady and quiet. Two of the people who had shown up when I needed them, whether I asked or not.
And behind us, Stella still held court with her teapot, passing warmth from hand to hand like magic made of honey and cloves.
This wasn’t a spell or a shield, but it was something just as strong.
Maybe stronger.
Friendship.
I took another bite and let myself believe, for just a moment, that whatever darkness hovered on the edges hadn’t won anything yet.
And I wasn’t facing it alone.
Keegan stretched his arms overhead until his shoulder blades cracked, then dropped them with a sigh as he leaned back against the wall beside me.
“I’m officially done pretending to be a teacher for the day,” he said. “I’m heading into town to check on the inn and run a few errands. You know…myactualjob.”
I gasped, hand to my chest in mock horror. “You mean to tell me that inspiring magical midlife witches isn’t yourtrue calling?”
He gave me a crooked smile. “I said I’d help out here. I didn’t say I was cut out to explain how spell symmetry works to a roomfull of people who barely slept and think hexes are romantic gestures.”
