My face grew hot.Bloody hell, why’d she have to bring that up?“Oxford’s not in my future. I can’t leave Briarwood, Maeve. I can’teverdo that. I made a mistake many years ago, and that mistake binds me to this castle. As long as these walls still stand, I have to be here – a last defence against the fae. The castle needs me, and Flynn and Arthur and Blake and Rowan need me… especially Rowan. I won’t abandon my post the way my parents did. But you… you’re different. You’re going tospace. You’re going to have a amazing life.”
Maeve’s mouth set in a line, her eyes flashing with determination. “Not without you, I’m not. We’re bound together, the six of us. Briarwood is my home now, and you guysare my family. I’m not running off as soon as the immediate threat is gone.”
“That’s not what I want,” I sighed. “I love you, Maeve. I don’t want you to be stuck here just because I’m stuck here.”
“You’re not stuck here, but I don’t know how to make you see that. If you don’t leave, then I can’t leave.” Fresh tears sprung in her eyes. “I’m the High Priestess. I’m responsible.”
Was she crying because she was sad for me, or crying because she’d just realised what her oath meant she would give up?
I shook my head. “You can be the High Priestess and an astronaut. I mean, it’s never been done before, but I bet we can make it work. You’ve been waiting for MIT your whole life. I don’t want to trap you here beside me. Kelly doesn’t want that either, even though it might not seem like it.”
“Corbin, where’s this come from? What’s MIT got to do with Kelly?”
“Come on, Maeve. Youknow.”
She threw up her hands. “I don’t know.”
“Kelly is jealous of you.”
Maeve narrowed her eyes. “She’s not.”
“She is.”
Her laugh raked bitterly against her lips. “Not likely. Kelly’s the bubbly, popular, social one. She’s the pretty one who always says the right thing. There’s no way she’d be jealous of nerdy, dorky, friendless me.”
“High school doesn’t last forever. All her life Kelly’s been counting down the years and months and days until that MIT letter came in the mail, until you got your ticket out of Coopersville. All this time she’s been listening to how you couldn’t wait to leave so you could start your life for real.”
“Yeah. So?”
“So, did you ever think that maybe she felt like she was living in the shadow of your future? That your life with her was justyour way of passing time until your real life began? What were Kelly’s plans for post-high school before your parents died? Did she even plan to leave Coopersville?”
“She…” Maeve looked uncertain. “Of course she could leave. She can do anything she wants. She did leave!”
“Did she really? Or did she just come here to live in your shadow again?”
Maeve’s lips pursed. “You’re saying all this ismyfault. Kelly can go around saying horrible things about me and that’s fine because she’s jealous of me since apparently my life has been sunshine and rainbows and not a fucking disaster where everyone I love dies or just randomly turns up inside paintings!”
“I’m saying that Kelly feels as though she’s been living in your shadow, and as long as she’s here at Briarwood, she’s going to feel that way. And you keeping secrets from her – however well-intentioned – isn’t helping.”
Maeve stood up, shoving my hands off her. “I’mtryingto keep her safe. I took her on a trip all around England. Hell, Iextorted moneyoff her uncle and burned his house down just so she could have a new life. Everything I’ve done has been for her. Well, I’m not doing it any more. I’m done with her. I know you want to solve everyone’s problems and make us kiss and make up, Corbin, but this is one fight that you should stay way the hell away from.”
“Maeve, that’s not what I’m saying at all?—”
Too late. She’d stormed off, taking my heart with her.
CHAPTER EIGHT
NINE: MAEVE
Islammed the kitchen door so hard it split the wooden lintel. Rowan jumped so high he knocked the chopping board off the counter, spraying perfectly-square-cut salad ingredients across the flagstone floor.
“Maeve.” He dropped to the ground, not looking at me as he scrambled after a rolling tomato. “You scared me.”
“I’m looking for Kelly,” I growled.
Rowan’s bottom lip trembled. Corbin burst through the door behind me. “I think you should calm down first?—”
“So Flynn can practically punch a guy on the street and we buy him a pint, but if I’m upset, it must be because I’m hysterical?” I stormed toward the hall. “Kelly came in a few minutes ago. Where did she go?”
