Emotion warred across his face. Indecision. The imaginary board creaked, tilting me toward the looming pit.
A curse slipped between his teeth. Then he reached for me, twisting my hand and tugging until I was in his arms.
My eyes widened.
The board held.
I laced my hands around his neck. The bog was silent; our breath misting in the heavy air.
“Worship you?” His voice broke low like something had cracked open inside of him. The sound scraped across my nerves, setting my skin on fire.
“Gods, Mare.”
Gavin’s forehead dipped to mine, his fingers skimming along my jaw. His thumb brushed the corner of my mouth, and I tasted the earth, this horrible place, the ruin.
He breathed the next words like a confession.
“It’s all I think about.”
Then he tilted my chin up and kissed me.
His mouth met mine, hard at first, like he could punish me for stripping away our defenses. For demanding to be seen. But then it slowed, becoming that aching, reverent kiss I was starting to know so well. The one that was pure Gavin.
It should have been harsh, a brutal kiss in a brutal forest. But it wasn’t. His lips moved over mine, the want bleeding through. Like this wasn’t our last kiss, but the one that launched a thousand more.
When he finally pulled back, his breath was shaky, his thumb still pressed to my cheek.
“Let’s go, hero,” he said softly.
Then he threaded his muddy fingers through mine, and with the shadows deepening behind us, he led me out of the bog and into the openness of a star-lit sky.
Chapter 35
Marin
The campfire crackled softly.Gavin slept on his side, the fire flickering across his features. Exhaustion weighed on me as heavily as my thoughts. But I lay awake, counting the stars until they blurred.
My hair was still damp, my clothes drying near the fire after washing away the mud and filth from the bog. But fear clung to me, a stain I couldn't scrub off, no matter how hard I tried.
Tomorrow, we’d reach the castle.
The shard was almost within reach, and somehow, I was more terrified than ever. Terrified of failing, losing Gavin, losing everything we had fought so hard to reclaim.
And the worst part? Gavin and I had clawed our way back to what we had before. And then earned something more—maybe love.
To lose that now, when we were so close? I wasn’t sure I could bear it. Hope and fear were terrible companions.
My life felt like a broken hourglass, the sand slipping away faster than I could catch it. I was desperate to scoop it back up, to buy myself a little more time.
Even if we made it through the maze, survived the giant, and claimed the shard, the sea queen's curse might still kill me in the end.
I glanced at Gavin’s sleeping form, a fresh ache tearing through me. Would he agree to finish the quest without me? Find a way to return the shard? It might still save Sirena. Maybe even the kingdom.
All of this couldn't be for nothing.
But how could I ask him? A dying wish, maybe. Morbid, but that was where we were now.
How was I supposed to sleep with odds like that pulling me down like an anchor? And worse, every time I closed my eyes, I saw Gavin’s face. His pleading gaze when he knew—gods, heknew—he was going to die, and he’d wanted me to run.
