Bale continued. “The match belongs between your fingers. Lighting the bonfire makes sure that this tradition comes to an end, whatever that looks like for all of us.”
My fingers wiped hastily at my now-damp lashes.
“But I need to know you’ll both be okay.” My voicewavered with the tears that threatened to break into something even heavier.
Corbin looked at me, not bothering to hide the wet trails over his cheeks. He spoke with a hoarseness that held the weight of a man who was suffering.
“It’s okay, we’ll be okay.” A shaky breath as he struggled to maintain composure. “Bale and I have had a lot of years. Nothing—nothing—compares to the last few days with you. Know that you have been everything to us, and you’ll be exactly what Falston needs.”
The first tears spilled from my eyes as my chest felt like it was seizing up. “Stop making it sound like goodbye.” I tried to sound angry, but instead, my voice cracked under the pressure.
Bale’s hand wrapped around the side of Corbin’s neck, pulling him close in support.
“Goodbye would imply that the seasons would stop changing. Goodbye would be forgetting. No matter what happens, we could never forget you. I know you won’t forget us, kitten.”
I wanted to launch myself into the cruel magic ward that was keeping me from them until it either let me hold onto them for eternity or I died trying.
Hardly able to speak past the sorrow, I croaked out, “I… can’t do this. I can’t?—”
Interrupting the moment was Mayor Dennison’s voice, filled with wonder and too much excitement for the emotional wreckage that lay bare three bound hearts.
“Glorious day! Can it be true? Miss Lenoir, you madeit through Falston’s corn maze. I can hardly believe my eyes.”
Using the back of my hands, I wiped at my face before looking back over my shoulder at him.
How could he sound so happy right now?
Fully turning to face him, my tears were forgotten as righteous fury took root. “You sound awfully pleased for a man that is about to lose everything,” I spat out coldly.
His hand came to his chest mockingly as if I had just wounded him. “Don’t be silly, Harlow. Falston has been waiting for this moment for averylong time.”
A short distance from the large pile of wood that was the ceremonial bonfire, a brass bell was mounted on a beam next to the courtyard’s central platform.
Vigorously clanging the clapper inside the bell, the resulting sound echoed through the early morning sky.
Within minutes, people were gathering in the courtyard. Some were even still in their bathrobes. All of them stared in awe that I had completed the maze.
The mayor wrapped an arm around my shoulders, ushering me over to the towering collection of logs that were fated to burn.
I twisted, pulled out of his embrace, and stood tall with at least an arm’s distance away from him.
All the members of the Town Council were quick to appear, mirroring the excitement the mayor was projecting.
“Long at least! Falston can officially begin a new era. Our annual corn maze chase has been conqueredby the town’s newest resident. She must be a beacon of good luck for the future.” He fed the bullshit speech to the crowd like he believed it himself.
Meanwhile, my eyes kept drifting back to my two guys who stood there beyond my reach. My heart kept praying to whatever deity would listen, that the bonfire would release the curse’s hold over them, and give us our happily ever after.
Gritting my teeth together, I leaned over and spoke in a hissed whisper to the mayor, “Once the curse is broken, all your power and greed will be gone.”
He had the audacity to look amused as he smiled at me like the snake he was. “Will it? Or perhaps it will cement it in place for good—irrevocably running through our bloodlines for generations to come.”
Tipping his head to the side in question briefly before he turned back to face the crowd.
“To commemorate thisveryspecial occasion, we have called upon a dear friend of mine who will bestow the blessing upon this historic lighting of the bonfire. Please welcome the Matron of the Harvest, Noraline.”
A woman approached, slipping through the crowd like water between rocks. When she came fully into view, my heart dropped into my feet. It washer. The woman from the library, the one who had tried to negotiate a new curse to replace the current one.
She stood there with icy blonde hair in tight curls, a black dress that hung loose and could have been consideredfrumpy if not for the embroidery detailing the sleeves and neckline.
