And then, finally, he stepped forward just enough that moonlight kissed the lower half of his face.
My breath caught.
Even half in shadow, I recognized him. The lines of his jaw. The sharpness of his mouth. And of course, there was that particular still arrogance that always seemed to sit on him like a tailored coat, even when everything around him was unraveling.
But something about him felt different.
He looked tired. There were shadows under his eyes and a tightness in his shoulders that hadn’t been there before.
Gideon looked like a man who’d been running for too long.
He pushed back his hood, and there was no denying it was him.
There was no smoke and mirrors and no illusion meant to fool us.
He stood just beyond the Stone Ward, and his eyes found mine and stayed there.
For a moment, no one moved, but then Gideon’s gaze shifted to Keegan.
It was just for a second, and that was enough.
There was something that passed between them, and it wasn’t surprise, and certainly not friendliness.
Gideon looked back at me and tilted his head.
“You’re awake,” he said. His voice was low, rougher than I remembered.
A laugh almost slipped out of me.
Of course, I was awake. The night had made sure of that, and so had this early morning.
“I was sleeping, but you kept showing up.”
A faint curve touched Gideon’s mouth. I’d recognized it before. It wasn’t only the Priestess who enjoyed the art of gaming.
But his expression quickly turned to a look of regret.
“I can see it in your eyes. Comparing me to her,” he said.
“I could say the same,” I replied, and he nodded. “Why did you insist on coming to the cottage?”
“Because I can’t stay in your dreams forever,” he said quietly. “And because your grandmother is no longer interested in waiting.”
My stomach clenched at the casual way he said it—your grandmother—as if naming her that way didn’t crack something inside me.
“She’s hunting you,” I whispered.
Gideon’s eyes darkened. “Yes.”
“Why?” Caleb asked.
For the first time, Gideon’s gaze shifted away from me and landed on Caleb.
“You should know why. You were there.”
“Say the reason. It can’t just be the orcs. Why is she hunting you?” I asked.
“Because I disrupted her.” He shifted his weight and glanced at the wolves behind me.
