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“You remember the maze?”

Her pupils dilate. “Yes.”

“You liked running from me.”

She swallows. “Yes.”

The answer is quiet.

Honest.

My hand settles against her waist. “Good.”

Ezra says my name in warning, but I ignore him.

Sage doesn’t look away.

“If this happens,” I tell her, “it happens because you want it. Not because of that ribbon. Not because of this farm. Not because something under the ground decided for you.”

Something shifts in her expression. The fear softens. Not gone. Never gone. But beneath it… Sage.

“I know.”

I study her. “Do you?”

“Yes.”

Her fingers tighten in my shirt.

“And right now?” I shouldn’t ask. I do anyway. “What do you want?”

Her eyes move over my face. Then she smiles dangerously.

“I want five fucking minutes without one of you telling me what I should want.”

I grin.

There she is.

I release her and she blinks. Maybe she expected me not to.

That’s disappointing.

I step back. “Then take five.”

Her expression changes. Something warmer.

Ezra looks surprised. Malakai doesn’t. He understands.

The Reaper isn’t interested if the prey doesn’t choose to run.

Sage picks up her sweater but doesn’t put it on. She walks toward the stairs and when she reaches the bottom, she stops and looks back at Malakai first then Ezra then me.

Her eyes linger. “Cold shower?”

Ezra nods. “Yes.”

She looks back at me.