Sebastian’s chest tightened. “You can.”
She looked away then, into the fire, and he let her. Some things were easier said when you didn’t have to look the other person in the eye.
“I think,” she said after a long pause, “that’s what I’ve wanted all along. Not grand passion. Not fairy tale ballrooms. Just… someone to sit beside. Someone who listens. Someone who stays no matter what.”
Sebastian couldn’t speak for a moment. Not because he didn’t know what to say, but because what he wanted to say felt too raw. Too revealing.
But he forced it out anyway.
“I’ll stay.”
She turned, startled.
“No matter what,” he reaffirmed. “I know you weren’t asking for promises. And I know this,” he gestured around the lodge, the snow, the flickering fire, “this feels like something outside of time. But if you want someone who stays… Maddie, I would.”
Silence. But not empty. Never empty with her.
Then she whispered, “Even when I’m difficult?”
He let out a breath of laughter. “Especially when you’re difficult.”
“Even when I make potions that smell like vinegar and smelly fish?”
“I’ll breathe them in like perfume.”
And then she shifted, slowly, carefully, until her head rested lightly against his shoulder.
Sebastian didn’t move. Didn’t dare. He only breathed her in and let her settle into the crook of his bodylike she belonged there.
They sat like that for a long time, the fire crackling and the snow pressing close against the windows. Time didn’t move. Not in the normal way. It moved almost in the way that dreams do.
Eventually, she whispered, “You’re very good at this.”
“At what?”
“Making me feel safe.”
He closed his eyes briefly. “I’ve never wanted to be good at anything more.”
A pause.
Then, very softly, “Are your toes still being stubborn?”
She shifted, just enough for her cheek to brush against his shirt. “Yes.”
He turned his head, kissed the top of hers. “So stubborn.”
He knew they would leave this place eventually. That someone would come or the snow would clear, and reality would reclaim them both.
But for now, she was in his arms. And that was enough.
He didn’t need dreams anymore.
He had Maddie.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Maddie watched asSebastian crouched near a low shelf, his broad shoulders blocking her view of whatever treasure he was after. The lodge was warm now, the fire casting shadows that danced along the rugged beams of the ceiling. She watched him curiously as he pulled out a wooden crate, his fingers brushing away cobwebs and dust with care. The motion sent a faint, earthy scent into the air that mingled with the crackle of burning logs.
