Tears pricked my eyes, hot and unwanted. I absolutely despised having to treat Gideon as if he were worth protecting.
I slipped an arm beneath his, bracing my shoulder against his chest, and tried to haul him up. My muscles screamed, and his weight dragged me back to the ground. I gritted my teeth and pushed harder, trying again, but he was immovable, his body like stone.
“Damn it,” I gasped, collapsing back beside him. My chest heaved with the effort, frustration burning in my throat.
The moss cushioned us both, but it felt like a cruel mockery. The forest had made a cradle for him, wrapping him in softness while I flailed helplessly beside him.
I pressed my forehead briefly to his shoulder, my breath ragged. “You can’t do this to me. You’ve put us all throughenough. At least make something good come out of your wickedness. You can’t leave me here with nothing but riddles and curses. I need you. Keegan needs you. My father—” My voice broke. “Stonewick needs you to finally make things right. Please.”
Now wasn’t the time to mention the circle, but he needed to know that his presence was required.
He stirred faintly as his fingers twitched against the moss.
My heart lurched, and I caught his hand, cold and heavy in mine.
“That’s it. Hold on to me. Just… hold on.”
The silence pressed tighter as the Wilds leaned close.
But he didn’t answer again.
I sat there, clutching his hand, the enormity of the choice weighing heavier with every second. I couldn’t take him back. I couldn’t move him forward. And I shouldn’t leave him here.
And yet, for now, that’s exactly what I had to do.
The forest was a prison, but it was also a shield. If I couldn’t carry him out, maybe the Wilds would keep him safe long enough for me to find another way.
I brushed his tangled hair back again, my touch softer now.
“I’ll come back,” I whispered. “I’ll find a way to move you. I swear it.”
I wanted to add,not because I like you, only because I need you.
My promise echoed in the silence, small and fragile, but true.
I stayed there longer than I meant to, and my knees became soaked from the wet moss.
Not because I liked the man, but I needed him.
I stood with trembling legs and looked down at him one last time.
Gideon, the enemy. Gideon, the tether. Gideon, the man who might decide Stonewick’s fate with nothing more than his absence.
And I swore again, fierce as fire, that I wouldn’t fail him.
Because if I did, I would fail us all.
The moment the Academy’s stone steps came into view, I picked up my pace, cloak snagging against summer weeds as I pushed forward. My breath became ragged, and I realized I really did need to work on my cardio somehow. The challenges ahead only appeared to be getting harder.
I shoved the doors open, and the halls buzzed faintly with students’ chatter. But it all felt muffled, as if I were underwater. My heartbeat drowned out everything else, and then I realized I’d been primed for this moment my entire adult life. I’d spent years pretending that my husband wasn’t going behind my back so I could keep our family together until it became just too obvious. But even then, I pulled myself up by the bootstraps and marched on until I realized there was no redemption there to be had.
And boy was that freeing. I think I hoped for that moment here with Gideon, too. I wanted to prove to myself that his wickedness could be useful or redeemed…or something.
So, hiding a wicked man in the woods while tending to one that meant the world to me inside these walls? Child’s play.
I swallowed that last thought, and I hoped I believed it.
I turned the corner and Nova appeared almost instantly. The sharpness in her green eyes told me she had been waiting for me.
