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Ernest smiled and stepped to the side, gesturing toward the portal. Fern jumped toward me and interlaced her fingers with mine.
I was nervous about going home. Somewhere I longed to be for many nights.
Somewhere I once called my safe haven.
Now I wasn’t sure I even knew the place.
Someone was a liar. Someone was a thief. I had to figure it out and get back to Kellan because I couldn’t go without him. I’d tasted my forever, and I wouldn’t go without it.
Kellan stepped behind me and kissed the top of my head. “You’ve got this, Josephine. Jump. I’ll be here when you get back. The portal will bring you back to me.”
I closed my eyes, hoping he didn’t see the tear racing down my cheek or the fact that I didn’t want to leave him.
I needed to be brave like him.
Sometimes, the heroes in a story weren’t just the prince.
I stepped toward the portal, looked at Fern and jumped into the black void.
Chapter Thirty-One
Kellan
It worked.
She was gone.
My stomach twisted into knots. I couldn’t protect her in a different realm. I couldn’t make sure she made it home. My mind wandered and thrashed with what-ifs. What if she got lost in the portal? What if one of them didn't make it through?
Had I made a stupid mistake? Had I jumped to please her so easily that I let her walk right into her death?
Ernest placed his palms on my shoulders, attempting to calm me because the turmoil growing inside me was obvious. There was a heavy pressure on my chest that weighed me down.
“I shouldn’t have let her go,” I whispered.
The portal whirled debris around us and made it hard to focus on anything other than what I just shoved her through. “It was the best choice for us. Come on, so we can hear.”
He began to pull me toward the woods while I absently followed him. There was a numbness growing inside of me. A similar void that dwelled there before I met Josephine.
Ernest didn’t stop until we were in the cover of the woods. The canopy of trees moved above me and shushed the wildlife.
Ernest’s wise eyes weren’t helping the pain in my chest. “We did the right thing, Kellan. She is the best person to find out who took the spindle. They aren’t going to willingly tell you anything. She’ll have their trust, which is something that you don’t have. Josephine is smart and will figure it out."
I swallowed the lump of anger in my throat. “I ... I need to keep her safe. I'm her protector. What if her family doesn't let her come back?"
Ernest smiled. “Fern and Josephine will be fine. I promise. She'll get away from her family. She's an adult. They can't keep her there." Her father was protective. I doubted he would willingly let her go anywhere. "We need to get closer to her castle. Show me how to close this portal and keep theirs open.”
I shook my head, trying to knock some sense into myself. The negative thoughts swarming my mind would send anyone over the edge.
"If we closed the portal here, it would open near us as long as the other side stays open. I don't know of anyone that can shut it."
Ernest began to waddle toward the field.
Part of me wanted to jump into the portal and follow her. She was safe on Earth. There weren’t hellhounds waiting on her or some Fae ready to pimp her out.
She knew how to survive there. She was strong, like Ernest said. She was safe there.
I cleared my throat. “You close a portal the same way that you open it, with focus.”
