I folded my arms, heart thudding faster. “Then maybe she’s buying us time.”
Keegan’s eyes met mine. “Or leading him exactly where she wants him.”
I wanted to believe that Luna’s kind heart hid a cunning mind, that her betrayal was just another layer of magic meant to confuse him. But every night, when I passed her shop’s darkened windows, I felt that ache of missing her steadiness, and her warmth. Was it all a rouse? She was one of the people who made this townfeellike home. And now, she was walking beside the man who wanted to tear that home apart.
Keegan must’ve seen the worry crossing my face because his hand brushed mine again.
“She’s not the enemy,” he said, softer this time. “Not until we’re sure she wants to be.”
I nodded, though I wasn’t sure I believed it. “And the shadow?”
Skonk hesitated. “Still tracing. It’s learned to slip around the outskirts. The thing doesn’t cross. Ittests. It presses against the barriers, learns their weight. But it knows about you.”
“Me?”
He nodded gravely. “It paused outside your cottage three nights ago. Right by the chimney. Karvey saw it from the roof.”
Keegan went still beside me. “And you’re just now telling us this?”
Skonk threw up his hands. “I was verifying! I don’t like to panic without proof.”
“Details,” Keegan said darkly.
“Consider me panicked,” Skonk muttered.
I leaned against the pillar behind me, letting its cool surface hold some of the weight settling on my shoulders.
“So,” I said, carefully, “we have Luna and Gideon running along the seam. A shadow learning to walk. And Wards that don’t know whether to keep out intruders or mourn them.”
Skonk nodded. “That sums it up. Terribly cozy, isn’t it?”
“Tea-level cozy,” I said dryly. “Speaking of which, where’s Twobble?”
As if summoned, a familiar voice piped up from behind a tapestry. “Present! And horrified, thank you for asking.”
Twobble stumbled out, half wrapped in velvet, holding what was unmistakably a pastry he’d stolen from Stella’s shop. “I was listening. I didn’t mean to. I just have excellent ears and poor timing.”
Keegan crossed his arms. “How much did you hear?”
“Enough to confirm that we should all invest in locks, garlic, and maybe a vacation,” Twobble said. “Though, really, a proper trap would be more satisfying. Something with sparkles.”
“This isn’t a performance,” Keegan said.
Twobble ignored him entirely and turned to me. “So Luna’s officially cozying up to Gideon, and a mysterious darkness is chasing their romantic getaway. Fabulous. Can I be on pastry duty for whatever rescue plan this turns into?”
I shot him a look. “This isn’t funny.”
“It’s terrifying,” he agreed, biting his pastry. “That’s my coping mechanism.”
Skonk pointed a claw at him. “He’s not wrong. Fear makes sugar taste sweeter.”
“Everything makes sugar taste sweeter,” I muttered. “Sadness, happiness, dread…”
Keegan rubbed the back of his neck, gaze fixed on the floor. “If they’re moving along the seam, then they’re skirting both realms. We can’t reach them there without triggering half a dozen protections.”
“Then we find another way,” I said. “Something she left behind, something we can track.”
“She hasn’t sent any messages,” Skonk said. “But she’s clever. She wouldn’t risk mail.”
