He ran a hand through his hair.
“About thirty seconds after I pocketed the stone, one of her guards walked in.”
Bella exhaled slowly.
“Let me guess,” Twobble said.
“Yes,” Gideon replied dryly.
“He threw me back into the dungeon.”
I blinked. “That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
He gave a small shrug.
“I still had the stone hidden when they dragged me back down there.”
Nova folded her arms slowly. “And then Maeve arrived.”
Gideon’s eyes returned to me. “Yes, and then you saved me.”
The words hung in the air between us.
Nobody spoke as the revelation settled between us all, and I was left thinking about my mother.
Something shifted in Gideon’s expression, almost thoughtful, possibly darker.
He looked around the table, at Keegan, Nova, Bella, and the rest of us, and his voice lowered slightly.
“There’s just one problem.”
Chapter Forty
The last of the tea cups were finally empty.
It had taken a while.
Vivienne, Opal, and Mara finished their tea and gathered their shawls, their conversation trailing off into quiet speculation about Wards and shadow magic as they stepped outside.
When the door closed behind them, Stella let out a small breath and leaned both hands on the counter.
“Well,” she said. “That was lively.”
No one argued with her.
Twobble had fallen half asleep against the table, his head tipped back and crumbs still clinging stubbornly to the front of his vest. Skonk was quietly arguing with a spoon about whether it had been moved when he wasn’t looking.
Nova and Ardetia were already heading toward the door.
“Get some rest,” Nova told me gently as she passed. “Tomorrow will come whether we’re ready for it or not.”
“Comforting,” I said.
She smiled faintly.
Bella lingered just long enough to squeeze my good shoulder before slipping outside into the dark.
