Page 50 of Moth to a Flame

I knew that, and I’d let him climb inside my chest anyway. It had been easy—so easy—to pretend that I could keep him. And now ripping him out might be the most difficult thing I’d ever have to do.

“Come on, Mothman. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Flying Lessons

Iglared down at my computer screen, its LED glow harsh as the clock ticked later and later.

I was working on the last stanza.

Yet what she has bound may be restored

The ███ must be cut, the truth is the sword.

Sever each with the ███ laid bare

What comes unbound was always there.

There was one glyph Gertrude and I had been stumped on. It had only been recorded in one place—this ancient song—so we had nothing to compare it to for context. But as I stared it down, it revealed itself to me. I finally saw what it was. Two bodies, tied together by vines at the chest.

Just like the ones that had appeared between Hawk and me.

Now he’d helped me twice.

“The vines must be cut, and truth is the sword,” I mumbled to myself, typing more notes. “Sever each with the tongue laid bare.

“Rosemary or eyebright could be used to bring forth the truth, horehound could be the sword…” I typed them into my final recipe, and my software dinged, a perfect alchemic solution found in my database. We’d done it. We’d finished the spell. My stomach plummeted.

“Uh-oh, she’s mumbling. Must be something big.” Hawk appeared in the parlor doorway, two mugs of tea in his hands. We’d moved the research back inside since he’d finished fixing the greenhouse, and the humidity had returned to an unbearable level.

He sat down beside me on the chaise, pressing the warm ceramic into my hand.

“It is. I think…I think I figured it out.”

The bond went very quiet, and his wings pulsed.

Just once.

“So does that mean you know how to break the bond?”

“There’s still prep work to be done, but…now it’s getting everything set up for the spell. We have the chant, the ritual circle, and now the ingredients.”

“So you’re done?”

My fingers tightened around the mug. “I mean…” You got greedy, Lucia.

“Then let’s go celebrate. Didn’t you say there was a party in town this weekend?”

My heart sank. “The full moon is tomorrow. I don’t think we have time to⁠—”

“Sure we do. Besides, you’ve been working on this nonstop. You need to get out of this house. Just an hour, I promise.”

“You’re such a distraction.” It was too easy to say yes. Of course I wanted to delay this as long as possible. I wanted to keep him just a little bit longer.

But I shouldn’t.

He gave me the saddest puppy eyes I’d ever seen, and that was more convincing than any spell. Like I could say no to that.