Silently, he offered me a handkerchief, but I shoved his hand aside.
“You’re not alone in this, even if it feels like you are,” he said, surprisingly gentle.
I sniffed as I looked over at him. “Tell me something, Griff, why do I feel like I know you?”
He paused. “I don’t know, Princess.”
I wrinkled my nose at the title.
“But the feeling is mutual.”
I felt that was not, in fact, what he meant to say. But I let it go, and brushed my eyes with my sleeve, only serving to get dust in them. He offered the handkerchief again, and this time, I took it.
When we reached the exit to the village, the sun was setting, bathing the trees in golden light as I stepped past those onyx stones for the second time. Just as that morning, there was a vividness to the world beyond the border. As though the contrast had been turned up on every color, every noise sharpened.
“This is far enough,” he said, stopping just beyond the stones.
“Far enough for what?”
He glanced down at me. “To transport us back behind the Veil.”
I looked around. We were standing on the other side of the stones, the landscape looking exactly the same as my hometown. “And how exactly is that going to happen? I don’t see any horses.”
“I’m a teleporter,” he said evenly.
I took a step away from him. “You’re a what?”
“I can transport us through space. Arrive almost instantaneously.”
“You’re shitting me.”
He exhaled. “I take it the villagers out here don’t have magic.”
I laughed, only to realize he wasn’t joking. Shit.
“Nope.” I paused, trying unsuccessfully to read behind the mask that he was wearing. “Are you implying you thinkIhave magic?”
“Not just implying. I know you have magic. Have you never felt something bubbling below the surface?”
His words struck some chord in me, a puzzle piece slotting into place. I stared at him, my mouth slightly open as my mind yet again tried to make order out of these scrambled bits of information. I couldn’t have magic. Nana would have told me.
And yet… she hadn’t told me any of this. Was magic just another thing she had kept from me?
“I promise you’ll learn all about it once we get there. If no one else informs you, I’ll do it myself.” He looked at the sky, his brow furrowed. “Are you ready?”
“No,” I replied honestly. “I don’t think I ever will be.”
He held out his hand, waiting.
I balanced on a precipice, judging whether or not I was actually going to make the leap. Taking a deep breath, I placed my hand in his.
That golden thread that had been released this morning blazed to life with a jolt. Something warm spread from deep within me, fizzing through my veins with a burst of heat. If the first moment of recognition had been a whisper, a full symphony now surrounded me. I heard his sharp intake of breath, felt his fingers tighten around mine, as if he was never letting go.
Dragging my eyes from our joined hands, I paused, looking at everything behind me. My past, fading off into the distance.
And I stepped into my future.
Griff’s arms encircled me, tightening, and that warmth exploded through me again, roaring to life like a forge finally given air. He spun us in a tight circle, wind kicking up dust clouds around us. My vision darkened, and we fell into nothingness.
