Daniel stopped at the edge of the circle.
And for the first time since I’d known him, he looked hesitant.
Not afraid.
Reverent.
“This,” he said quietly, “is the place my mother brought me.”
I turned to him. “Daniel…”
“Nobody knows about it,” he said. “Not the pack. Not Gideon. Not even Evan.” His throat worked once. “It was hers. And then it was mine.”
The weight of that settled over me like a hand on my sternum.
“What is it?”
Daniel stared at the silver pool like it might answer for him. “My mother called it the Wellspring. She said it was where the Evernight keeps what it doesn’t want stolen.”
I swallowed. “What does that mean?”
“It means it’s old,” he said, and his voice roughened. “Older than this pack. Older than Hollow Pines. My mother said the first Callahan didn’t find this place. The forest found him. Brought him here. Marked him as its guardian.”
I tried to breathe like a normal human being, but the air tasted different here—cleaner, sharper. Like the world had been stripped down to its bones.
Daniel finally looked at me. His eyes were serious.
“I’ve never brought anyone here,” he said. “Not once.”
The significance hit so hard it made my hands go cold.
“Why me?” I asked, and my voice came out quieter than I intended.
Daniel’s gaze didn’t waver. “Because I trust you.”
It wasn’t dramatic. It wasn’t poetic.
It was worse than all of that.
It was real.
“And because,” he added, like it hurt to admit, “I wanted you to see something that isn’t blood and threats and surviving.”
My throat tightened. “Daniel…”
His mouth curved faintly. “Also, yes. This is a date.”
I blinked. “This is?—”
“A date,” he repeated, deadpan. “I brought you to a secret ancient magic pool my dead mother hid from the world. Romance. Try not to swoon.”
A laugh burst out of me before I could stop it. “You’re insane.”
His smile flashed quick and genuine, and it transformed his whole face. “I have my moments.”
“Very few,” I said.
“Ouch.”
