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It was a crisp, windless night, their breath curling up before them the way woodsmoke drifted out of many of the chimneys. They passed the bookstore, cafe, bakery, and pub, the shop windows dark and lonely, layers of ice clinging to the glass as if afraid to let go.

The air was still and silent, the sky clear and alight with stars. The two men walked side by side, their footfalls muffled by a soft white blanket of snow.

Gabriel glanced over at Blair, who was wrapped tightly in his dark coat, avoiding Gabriel’s eyes. His hands were shoved in his pockets, long hair tucked under his collar and hidden beneath his knit hat. As they continued down Main Street, the number of buildings dwindled along with the streetlamps, leaving them on a stretch of road surrounded by trees and even more silence.

He thought back to the immediate aftermath of the bathroom incident, praying that he had handled everything appropriately.

After the glass shattered, it had taken less than a minute for a deacon to come knocking. Gabriel, who had ordered Blair to stay inside one of the stalls, had stepped into the lobby to apologize profusely for the broken mirror, promising to replace it as soon as possible. By the time he was finished with that conversation, the service had concluded, and Iris tracked him down in a state of panic. Gabriel assured her that everything would be alright and handed her the car keys. He knew she was expected to help snuff out the taper candles—already, silver ribbons of smoke were coiling up to the ceiling to hover above them like smog—and he told her that he and Blair would walk home and meet her there.

Once most of the congregants had vacated, Gabriel ushered Blair outside, walking along the tree line near the edge of the property to avoid notice. He only hoped that it had been enough to prevent too much suspicion.

They walked in silence for a few minutes more before Gabriel cleared his throat. He wasn’t at all sure how to begin. “I owe you an apology,” he said at last. Blair didn’t respond, but a muscle in his jaw ticked. “I didn’t intend to break your trust by reading your journal. It was an accident.”

Blair shook his head, arms crossed like a protective shield over his chest. “You never had my trust, Gabriel.”

Gabriel was startled by the sting of those words. He heaved a heavy sigh as they approached the brook, the sound of the gurgling water breaking through the still air. “I suppose I deserve that.”

The previous evening, Gabriel had arrived home from work to find Blair’s journal lying abandoned on the living room floor. Gabriel had intended to simply pick it up and place it on the coffee table, but when he’d lifted it, a pale pink petal had fluttered out like a butterfly wing. He’d let the book fall open to an early page, and before he could replace the petal, his eyes had snagged on Blair’s confession.

It had been a terrible breach in privacy; he knew that. And yet, what a relief it had been to read, to realize that—assuming the journal hadn’t been left out as a devious stratagem—Blair was not a threat and never had been. At least, not in the way Gabriel had initially feared.

When they reached the bridge, Gabriel leaned over the railing and gazed into the distance. The brook was an icy, snow-dusted snake, weaving in sinuous spirals through the shadowy trees. Water crashed in a steady stream from a nearby storm drain, breaking through the ice in a jacuzzi-sized circle at the base of the bridge.

After a few moments, Blair came to stand at his side. “Home sweet home,” he said, patting the railing fondly. Gabriel smirked, bemused by Blair’s frivolity. “I never meant to cause trouble, you know,” Blair said quietly, leaning his arms against the railing’s chipped white paint. He stared up at the sky, its face speckled with freckle-like stars. “I only wanted to find happiness.”

Gabriel peered over at him, unsurprised when Blair refused to meet his gaze. “I believe you.”

A lone howl came from the trees behind them. The air was sweet with the scent of the pine, spiked with distant woodsmoke.

“It’s funny, isn’t it?” Gabriel was staring at the place where the iced-over brook disappeared into the trees.

“What is?”

“When you hear of prophecies, you think of these grand adventures, great heroes destined to save the universe. But you?” He shook his head, incredulous. “You get a prophecy that promises you peace and happiness, without pain or struggle. It’s a little unbelievable, isn’t it?”

“You think I haven’t experienced pain and struggle?”

Gabriel tensed, his gloves tightening on the railing. “I didn’t mean that,” he said quietly, a long-ago memory sliding unbidden into his mind. He still wasn’t certain it was a recollection Blair shared, though he had to admit that all signs were pointing that way.

“Anyway, it isn’t that simple,” said Blair. “My mother’s vision didn’t show you hating me.”

“I don’t hate you.”

“Fine. Mistrusting me, then.”

Gabriel sighed, his eyes on the stars. “I was misguided. I apologize.” He met Blair’s steely glare. “I mean that genuinely. I’ve been so afraid of my own demons catching up to me that I forgot what they look like. And what they don’t look like.”

For a while, they were silent, listening as a second wolf began to harmonize with the first from deeper in the woods. Then Blair frowned. “I thought I could handle things, but I was wrong. I should probably leave. I never want to be a threat to you or Iris.”

A few days ago, that kind of declaration would have set off celebration bells in Gabriel’s brain, but after reading Blair’s words, after understanding that his sole reason for seeking out him and Iris was out of hope for love and a found family, his initial sense of joy at that pronouncement made something twist in his stomach.

“I don’t think you’re a threat to us,” Gabriel murmured, his words taking even himself by surprise. “Though you will have to work on controlling yourself.”

Blair’s shoulders tensed as he rested his head on his folded arms. “You think I haven’t been trying to do that my whole life?”

Gabriel considered joking that if Blair was planning to stay, he would also ask that he start paying rent, but he held his tongue when he saw the haunted look in Blair’s eyes.

He couldn’t pretend that reading the journal had completely altered the way he saw Blair. If Gabriel could cast a spell to rewind time, one that would allow him and Iris to go back to the simple life they’d shared before Blair entered the picture, he may have been tempted to do so. But he also understood the quiet, desperate longing to live out a peaceful life with one’s chosen family. And if Blair’s mother’s vision was to be believed, perhaps Blair was always meant to find them, always destined to become a part of their lives.