And the images of Mariselle, stroking book spines like she owned the entire concept of knowledge, ran on repeat through my mind. And just when I thought I might have a moment of rest, my older self was walking through halls that weren't mine.
Keegan moved beside me, and his arm slid around my waist, drawing me closer in that steady way he had.
"Sleep," he murmured into my hair, voice rough with the last edge of wakefulness.
I swallowed. "I'm trying."
His lips brushed my hair, and he went still again.
I listened to him breathe until my own breathing matched his.
And I focused on the present with the warm bed and heavy blankets. The cottage Ward hummed faintly beneath it all, a soft undercurrent in the air.
Finally, my thoughts loosened, slipped, sank, and I was somewhere else.
I knew where I’d landed before I dared to admit it.
The air was too smooth, but the fog too thick.
Shadowick had smelled like wet earth and old grief. This wasn't quite that, but it was close enough to make me question my surroundings.
The trees surrounding me were familiar. Tall pines with ridged bark, buckthorn pressed between the clearing, and a few stubborn maples still holding the last of autumn's gold.
A figure moved between the trunks, and my heart did what it always did when the dream found him.
It sprinted.
Gideon didn't enter a space. He claimed it. That certainty of his that was effortlessly infuriating, that made me want to shove him and also, against my better judgment, listen.
"Maeve," he said calmly.
My name sounded different in his mouth this time. It wasn’t taunting or cold.
I stepped forward before I could stop myself, and my body remembered the Hollows. The way he'd held the line against the orcs like it had never been in question.
And now, he looked tired.
This wasn’t the kind of fatigue people joked about because they had a rough night. This exhaustion was the type that lived under his eyes and in the slight slump of his shoulders.
Even when Gideon was worn thin, he had that sense that the world owed him its attention. The arrogance could never completely be removed from the man in front of me.
But tonight, something else stirred behind his gaze.
He was careful, and the caution made my skin prickle. I glanced around, trying to center myself, but there was no reprieve.
"You're back.”
Gideon's mouth twitched, but it wasn’t quite a smile. "Am I? Did you miss me?"
There he was. The man who knew how to get under my skin and irritate me to the point of no return.
I looked around. "Where is this? It almost feels like Shadowick, but not quite."
"It’s not Shadowick." He shook his head, inhaling, and glanced around.
"Then where are we?"
“Close enough,” he said. “Yet far enough.”
