The wind shifted slightly, carrying the scent of leaves and something faintly sweet from the banquet hall behind us, thenormalcy of it all brushing up against everything we had just come from.
“Gideon said something else,” I added.
Keegan glanced at me again. “There’s more?”
“There’s always more with him,” I said quietly. “He told me that whatever is happening… the timing isn’t right.”
Keegan’s brow furrowed slightly. “For what?”
“I don’t know, but it didn’t feel like a warning. It felt like a fact.” I shrugged. “He keeps bringing up how we have something of his.”
“There are times when I think he believesyou'rethat something.”
I rolled my eyes, but I realized he was serious. “Not happening.”
We stood there for a moment, the quiet settling again, but it didn’t feel empty.
I looked at him, really looked this time, at the way he carried everything he didn’t say, the way he stayed steady even when everything around us refused to be.
And something in me shifted, just enough that I knew I couldn’t leave it unspoken.
“Keegan,” I said softly.
He turned to me fully now, his attention settling in a way that made everything else fade just slightly at the edges.
“Yeah?”
I hesitated.
Not because I didn’t know what I wanted to ask, but because I wasn’t sure what the answer would change.
“There’s something you’re not telling me, Maeve.” His eyes stayed on mine, and the familiar sensation fluttered in my belly.
I shook my head and stepped closer as he pulled me in, and I rested my hands on his chest, looking into his eyes.
“It’s not like that. I’m just afraid to ask.”
Keegan didn’t move right away.
His hands rested at my waist like he was giving me the space to pull back if I wanted to. But I didn’t.
I stayed there, close enough that I could feel the rise and fall of his chest, close enough that everything else seemed to fade just a little at the edges.
“Since when are you afraid to ask anything?” he said quietly.
A small smile tugged at my lips. “Since the answer started to matter.”
“You can ask me anything,” he said.
“I know,” I replied, though my voice came out softer than I intended.
My pulse picked up again, not from fear this time, but something else, something that had been building slowly between us without either of us naming it.
Keegan’s hand lifted just slightly, brushing a loose strand of hair away from my face, his fingers lingering for a second longer than necessary.
“You’re overthinking it,” he murmured.
“I always do,” I said.
