“Because Wolfe might not have been the one for me, but we were together for seven years, and I do care about him. I want him to be happy, and I think you might be the key to all of it.”
She turned to walk away.
“Harriet?” I called.
She hesitated.
“Thank you,” I said, and she nodded before disappearing down the hall.
My hands balled into fists at my side as I thought about everything she’d just revealed. If RafeWolfgang thought he was going to just leave, he had another thing coming. If I could overcome my fears, then he could too. I spun on my heel.
Morton poked his head out the library door. “Where are you going?”
“To get that idiot back,” I said.
CHAPTER 33
Niamh
The crisp air nipped at my skin as I rode the horse along the cliffside, squinting at the muddy ground and leading it along the trail of huge footprints that could only belong to one man. There was no way I’d catch up to him on foot, so I’d had to steal a horse from the stables. I didn’t really think Cillian would care, but I was worried if I asked him, he’d insist on going with me or he’d forbid me from going altogether.
“Stupid, stupid, crazy idiot,” I muttered, pulling my cloak tighter over my body to shield against the vicious wind, which I was no longer protected from out here in the open. One harsh blast might be enough to throw me right over the cliff’s edge and down to the foaming water below.
When I found Wolfe, I would wring his neck, and then I’d kiss him so hard he’d never want me to stop, and then I’d wring his neck again, just so he knew I meant business.
I looked out over the sea, stretching far into the distance, the sky blue horizon meeting its dark blue surface.
Towering waves crashed against the cliffside, and I shivered as another gust of wind pushed against me.
I’d never tracked anything in my life. The one time I’d wanted to go hunting with some of the boys in Bergenay, my parents had stressed all the dangers of what could happen: getting lost, bitten by an animal, kidnapped, accidentally injured by a stray arrow, or getting so cold my body shut down and I died. By the time they’d finished rattling off all the things that could happen, I’d decided I would stay in the castle with Princess Ashami and crochet by her side instead.
I gulped, thinking about how it would just take one slip of my foot, one crumbling cliffside, and I could fall right to my death. But then I remembered how Morton had slithered out of that library, all the way to Wolfe’s cabin. He would’ve had to get up long before sunrise and travel so far for such a small bookwyrm. He’d been incredibly brave, and I could be brave now too. I could be brave in a lot of ways, because yes, I might die trekking after Wolfe, but I might not. And that was the thought that propelled me forward.
I didn’t know how much of a lead Wolfe had on me, so I’d need to quicken my pace if I had any hope of catching up to him. I also didn’t know what would happen if I lost his tracks. I hadn’t really thought that far in advance, which seemed very silly right about now.
“You didn’t think this through, did you?” I shrieked and almost fell off the horse and over the side of the cliff.
Morton’s pink head poked out of the pocket of my cloak.
“What are you doing here?” I cried. “Who’s taking care of the library?”
“I closed it for the day,” he said. “I know it’s not ideal, but I couldn’t let you go alone. If you’re leaving, so am I. I knew you’d never agree, so I slipped into your cloak. Amazing what a tiny bookwyrm can do.”
“You’re a little wonder, you know that? Actually, I’m glad you’re here. I don’t know how to track Wolfe.”
“I figured,” Morton said. “Luckily, I’ve eaten many books about tracking.”
No matter how long I’d known him, that phrase never sounded normal.
I frowned at him. “Why did you wait so long to reveal yourself?”
He slithered out of my pocket and up to my shoulder. “I waited until you were far enough away that you wouldn’t send me back.”
I rolled my eyes. “Clever little bookwyrm. Well, you’re stuck with me now, and right after you got your key.”
“The key means I can return whenever I want.”
Unlike me. It had crossed my mind that Fairwitch Isle might not let me back in, but I would be okay either way. I thought about everything I’d learned from Wolfe, from myself, and I knew I could do this.
