Her jaw tightened. I just meant…
I know what you meant. I forced the fire down. Forced control. But the mission makes sense. We can’t be everywhere. Someone has to track the European network.
And I need distance before this destroys me.
She closed the space between us. I could have stepped back. Should have, maybe, to maintain the distance I’d been keeping since that disastrous reunion.
But I didn’t.
Her arms wrapped around me, and for one moment, I let myself have this. Her warmth seeped into me, her magic humming against mine in that perfect synchronization that shouldn’t exist but did.
This was what I wanted. What I couldn’t have. Not like this—not as one of three, not as optional, not as something she fit between the others when it was convenient.
Don’t get killed, she whispered against my chest.
I wanted to say: Then ask me to stay. Wanted to demand: Choose me.
But I don’t beg. I don’t ask for scraps of attention between other people’s claims.
Two weeks, I said instead.
When I pulled away, her eyes were wet.
Good. Let her feel it too. Let her know what it cost.
Keane stood nearby, Wisp flickering at his feet. His deep blue eyes held the kind of understanding I never asked for. He knew I was running. Knew why.
And he’d keep her safe anyway. That’s what Keane did. He protected people, even when they didn’t deserve it.
Keep her alive, I said.
He nodded once.
Elio waited by the portal—my travel partner for the next leg of this war and the illusionist I’d once dismissed as spectacle. Crisis burned through masks fast.
Ready? Keane asked as the portal shimmered open.
No. Every instinct screamed to stay. To tear up the orders. To pull her into my arms and be done pretending I could survive this split.
Ready, I said.
The lie scorched my throat. I stepped through without looking back. If I did, I wouldn’t go. And staying would kill me slower than leaving ever could.
The portal sealed behind us. Paris resolved into sharp lines and cold light, Keane’s secure fallback. From here: trains, false names, a slow crawl into corrupted Europe.
On my shoulder, Ember’s wings were tucked tightly against his body, every feather held in rigid, glowing alignment.
She’ll be fine, Elio said beside me. Keane won’t let anything happen to her.
I didn’t answer. I couldn’t.
Because fine wasn’t the point. She’d be fine without me. That was the point.
My fire burned hotter as we headed for the station.
7
Marigold
