We were in uncharted territory, getting deeper and deeper to the point of no return. If it wasn’t already too late. For the first time, I wondered how it would all end.
A shiver of foreboding climbed my spine.
Because nothing good ever came from an ending.
Chapter 18
Bowen
Alayer of frost spiderwebbed the window overlooking the grounds, and I bent to peer through the glass. The scene below was fractured by vines of ice, but even the thick panes and frozen crystals did little to conceal the laughter floating in the air.
Annie ran through the snow, a red scarf flying in the wind behind her. She jerked to a stop, reared back, and threw a snowball at Jacob with all her might. Jacob ducked, but the frosty cannonball clipped him in the shoulder. He grabbed the hit appendage and made an exaggerated tumble into the snow.
More laughter filled the air, this time as both Annie and Liana collapsed into the snow next to Jacob. Their arms and legs moved in wide arcs, and when they climbed to their feet, they’d left behind three snow angel impressions.
“I hope you know what you’re doing.” Gavin’s uneasy voice sounded behind me. He approached, but I didn’t take my gaze away from the window.
“And what is it you think I’m doing?”
He leaned against the wall, staring out an adjacent window. “It doesn’t take much to look at you and know you want to keep them.”
I sighed, and the warmth of my breath fogged the glass, obscuring the scene below. “They’re not a pair of rare broadswords to add to my collection, Gavin.”
“No, they’re not. They can’t be bought, cheated, or stolen. Yet that’s exactly what you’ve done. Liana doesn’t know the truth about how she came to be here, and they’ll probably name a wing after you at the orphanage considering the enormous donation you made to secure Annie’s freedom.”
“You would rather I left that child to fend for herself and likely encounter the same fate as her brother?”
“Of course not.”
“Then what’s your point?”
Gavin crossed his arms over his chest. “The house you’re building is unstable. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you should tell Liana the truth about what we did to her father to bring her here.”
“She won’t understand.”
“Won’t she? The things we do, the darkest parts of us…doesn’t she understand that better than anyone?”
“Exactly!” My fist hit the wall near the window, rattling the panes. “She’ll understand I manipulated her father, had him locked up, and branded him a thief. I took his freedom away as well as hers. It was the worst thing I could have done considering her past.”
“So it’s back to the original plan? Send Liana—and now Annie—back home when the time comes. Destroy the Grimm’s blade and ruin Argus, potentially starting a war between you two. What does that leave you with? Have you ever thought about what comes after your revenge?”
“It never mattered before.”
“Well, it matters now.” Gavin clapped a hand over my shoulder. “I’ve supported your plan from the beginning, even participated wholeheartedly, but maybe we’re wrong. Maybe there’s another way. Think about it.”
I shook off Gavin’s hand and rounded my desk, pulling a jacket from the coat stand. “I’ll tell Liana the truth when I think she’s ready to hear it.” Shrugging into my coat, I crossed the room and stepped into the hall. Gavin’s voice echoed behind me.
“It will be too late then, Bowen. You know as well as I do. You’re making a mistake.”
***
I followed the laughter.
Breathing in the biting cold air, I walked around the side of the manor, boots crunching through the snow. Flurries drifted in the air, light now, but the cloud bank on the horizon promised more to come.
Gavin’s words echoed in my mind. He had a point, but it wasn’t that simple. If I gave up my plan to hurt Argus and told Liana the truth and she still went home, then I’d be left with nothing. After everything I’d been through, I wasn’t sure if I could gamble with those odds.
Of course I wanted them to stay. But at what cost? I’d already lost everything once, and now I was supposed to risk it all again. It was a lot to ask of someone who’d been burned the way I had.
