“Star—”
“Oh, don’tstarme. If you’re dumping me, at least use my name.”
“I’m not!” He runs a frustrated hand through his hair, mussing the long, dark tangle of it. “I just need some—”
“Time. Got it. Understood.”
I’m just as frustrated as he is, and probably not making the best decisions right now, but fuck if I have it in me to be reasonable.
None of this is reasonable.
We’ve just spent several veryunreasonable days together, tested this bond of ours in a trial by fire, and the way I feel about him is so very far from reasonable it’s tearing the heart right out of my chest.
“I don’t expect you to put your life on hold for me, Seren.”
“Good. I don’t plan to.” I sound petulant, childish, but Callum only nods.
“And your half of the bounty, I hope it will help you, too. Help you with the life you were searching for when you went to hear the fae queen’s challenge.”
What life?
I never really had a plan for what I was going to do if I won the bounty. I never let myself think that far ahead.
Or maybe, like usual, I was just too caught up in the moment to even be capable of thinking that far ahead. Like I always do, I was so ready to jump in with both feet, not giving a damn where I landed.
Now that Ihavelanded, though, I can’t imagine wanting anything else.
“It won’t be forever,” he says. “There are just a few things I need to get in order, a few things I need to do so I can be—”
“We talked about this. Remember? I get to decide.”
Callum takes a step closer, and I know I should move back. But my feet are rooted to the ground. Even when he stops right in front of me and curls a hand around my jaw, I don’t move.
“I won’t ask you to trust me in this,” he says solemnly. “But I plan to earn that trust. I’ll do everything I can as fast as I can, st—Seren. I promise.”
“When will I see you again?”
He doesn’t exactly have a phone I can just dial him up on. No social media to stalk. Nothing but this stubborn tug of magick in the center of my chest, which I’m beginning to suspect would draw me to him no matter where he was.
“Soon.”
I lay my head against his chest and sigh. “That’s a little vague.”
“Very soon? As soon as I can get away, I’ll find you.”
“What if I’m in the human realm?”
“Then I’ll put my glamour on and come find you there. You’ve still got it?”
“I’ve still got it.” I dip a hand into my bag and pull the ring out.
Callum takes it and stows it safely away. “There. Now there’s nowhere I can’t find you.”
It should be enough. Knowing he’s just got some stuff of his own he needs to sort out. Knowing he plans to come for me when he’s free. Knowing I’m an adult with my own life, who’s perfectly capable of living that life on my own, like I have done for years.
It should be enough.
But it’s absolutely not enough, and the hug he pulls me into feels a hell of a lot like a goodbye. The kiss he presses to my forehead feels like a goodbye.
