I press my palms against my eyes and try to breathe through the terrible ache.
It was all just a dream. Henri isn't Tristan. That's insane.
But my body doesn't believe it.
Somewhere with shitty reception and good coffee.
That's what Henri said in the village when I asked where he'd go if he could disappear. And I knew it sounded familiar. Ihaveheard it before. Tristan…it has something to do with Tristan.
It's not possible.
It'snotpossible.
Find me. I'm right here, Keira.
What if he's been here all along and I've been too broken to see it?
THIRTY
TRISTAN
Something's different about her today.
I notice it the moment she steps into the garden. The way her gaze finds mine across the hedgerows and holds. She's looking at me like I'm a lock she's trying to pick.
I keep my posture neutral. Hands clasped behind my back. Every inch the disinterested guard. But my pulse betrays me as she approaches her usual plot, kneeling in the dirt with movements that seem…distracted.
She's not here for the flowers.
She's here for me.
Her eyes cut to my hands. Linger. Trail up to my jaw, my mouth, the line of my nose.
What are you looking for, Red?
I want to crouch beside her in the dirt and ask what's changed. What shifted behind those pale blue eyes between yesterday and now. But we're too exposed out here.
She keeps an eye on me as I make my rounds.
On her way out, she brushes past me. Close enough that her shoulder grazes my arm. Close enough that the scent of soil and lavender fills my lungs.
Reckless girl.
"Careful," I murmur without looking at her.
"Of what?"
That was fucking bold.
She doesn't wait for an answer. Just keeps walking, her hips swaying with a confidence I haven't seen since I arrived.
What the hell happened last night?
This might beone of my worst ideas to date.
Don't ask me why I'm standing outside the nursery—far from my assigned route and too close to Calder's office. If anyone catches me, I'll need a story. AndI wanted to see my sonisn't going to go over well.
Hale sits cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by wooden blocks he's arranged into something that might be a castle or a spaceship. His brow furrows with concentration. That same crease I get when I'm working through a problem.
