Chapter Ten
I stood there longer than I should have, staring at the shadowed mound of him.
Gideon.
Every instinct screamed at me to turn back. To leave him here, in the Wilds, where he belonged, where he could rot away into moss and memory. My father would have approved. Keegan would beg me to stay away. Nova would warn me that touching shadow left stains.
But I couldn’t.
Because I knew the truth now, even though it was bitter and impossible. If Gideon wasn’t part of the circle, the circle wouldn’t hold. Not with my father. Not with Keegan. Not with me. All three threads were tangled with his, for better or worse. Without him, the weave would fray and tear, and Stonewick would fall.
The Academy wouldn’t survive it. None of us would.
But what was I supposed to do? I couldn’t drag him into the Academy. The students would panic. The teachers would revolt. The Wards would rebel at his presence.
I watched his body barely moving, and I knew I wasn’t strong enough to carry him anywhere.
Plus, the thought of dragging Gideon anywhere near the Academy made my stomach twist. Even if I could have managed it, which I couldn’t, what then? Where would I go?
Keegan was already going to feel betrayed when he learned I hadn’t walked away from Gideon here in the Wilds. To bring him into the very place he’d spent decades trying to destroy… that would be a wound Keegan might never forgive.
And worse still…my secrets. The dragons hidden in the Academy’s walls, breathing quiet fire into the Academy’s magical structure. I had to protect them at all costs.
No. Gideon could not cross that threshold.
I wrapped my arms around myself, shivering though the air was still, the vow settling in my chest like iron.
Protect Keegan.
Protect the Academy.
Protect the dragons.
Whatever else came of this, I had to hold those truths tight.
I knelt slowly, moss damp beneath my knees, and leaned closer. His face was half-hidden by tangled hair, but I could see the hollow of his cheek, the pale grayness of his skin. His breath rasped shallow and uneven.
“Gideon,” I whispered.
His eyelids fluttered, just barely.
Relief cut through me, but it was sharp and painful.
“I don’t know what happened to you,” I murmured, brushing hair away from his brow. My fingers trembled, though I told myself it was only from the cold. “But you need to wake up. Youneed to help me, help all of us. And the only way to go about it is to stay alive.”
His lips parted. A sound escaped that was low and hoarse. It seemed almost more breath than voice. I bent closer, straining.
“…Maeve…”
The sound of my name on his lips made me flinch. It was broken, mumbled, tangled in shadow, but it was him.
“Yes,” I whispered fiercely, clutching his shoulder. “I’m here. I came. Tell me what to do.”
But his words dissolved into garble, syllables slurring into nothing. My heart sank.
I shook him gently, desperation spilling into my voice. “Please. You have to try.”
No answer met me, only the rasp of his breath.
