They couldn’t lose each other again.
They couldn’t.
Now, they simply had to retrace their steps to each other—again.
Or … she’d ruined everything, and this time, had nowhere to look but at herself.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
STOKE HALL, CAMBRIDGESHIRE, A FEW WEEKS LATER
It wasn’t a glorious sunrise—the dense blanket of clouds had made sure of that—but it didn’t need to be.
It would do.
The point was Bran had roused himself from bed to keep to a daily routine.
He wouldn’t go backward.
He’d come too far to allow the darkness to steal more years of his life.
The trouble was, he couldn’t seem to go forward either.
At the horizon line where earth met sky, the sun was making a valiant attempt to peek out from the unrelenting swath of gray, to no avail.
Wasn’t that just life, though?
Or rather, wasn’t that justhislife?
The part of him that would have rather stayed in bed could relate to that sun.
Whenever the clouds thinned enough that he could chart a path through, they wrapped around him again. How many moments in his life had a future appeared in his sights only for the clouds to close ranks and deny him? Would he never learn?
His first go-around with Artemis … his once-bright military career … his possible career as a horse trainer … His second go-around with Artemis …
It was the final blow that had felled him.
What did anything matter without Artemis?
That was the thing he’d realized.
That military career, as bright and glorious as moments of success had been, had never felt fulfilling. Like a seven-course meal taken for sustenance rather than pleasure. The core of it had ever felt like a void.
And these last weeks without her felt the same—without purpose or meaning.
Worse, it was his own doing.
But hadn’t it been necessary?
Now, the necessity eluded him.
“Oh, there you are,” came a breezy feminine voice at his back.
Bran turned to find Gwyneth approaching, a rucksack slung over her shoulder and a smile curving her mouth. “You’re about early,” he called out.
“Yes, well,” she said, panting a little, “I wanted to watch the sunrise with you.”
“Not much of one, I’m afraid.” He felt glad for the company. Morosity ever had an ability to pull him into its depths.
