But that wish was never mine.
I had only wanted to restore a house by the sea. To walk hand in hand on the beach with the man I loved. Pick sea glass. Tell stories. Not immortal, just living. Every day, with love and family.
Coming here was my fault. I should've pushed Gavin away harder. Made sure that the rail was secure. Tried again. When I stepped off that beach, I should've kept walking and found my way alone. Like I had after my father died.
Gavin was still out there... I could feel it. He said he'd never let me go, and I believed him. But we couldn't be partners again. Because partners risk too much. And I refused to take him down with me.
So I wouldn't search for him anymore. The maze had separated us as if it knew I'd see this through alone.
The way I started would be the way I ended.
The bars stood open before me. A choice this time, insteadof a prison. All I had to do was step through.
And so I did.
The air was as cold as the mines used to be, the rock walls pressing in. I set his cutlass gently on the floor, my fingers tracing the hilt. I could leave another note. Get in the last word like I promised I would.
But what would I say?
If I die…
The rules of our game whispered in my mind. Gavin had never let me finish that sentence. Not once.
If I die… it wasn't your fault.
I stood, empty-handed now. Then I kept walking, eyes locked on the path that would lead to the castle.
Until a shadow flickered ahead in the dim torchlight, and a figure melted out of the dark.
The hunter stepped forward, hesitant and slow, just like the ones in the mirror. Was I watching another grim scene unfold? I almost shouted for him to turn back. To tell him it was useless.
It was too late.
His boots thudded against the stone. I braced for the giant’s roar. For the inevitable. It never came. The man halted mid-step, as if time had seized around him.
Our gazes locked.
And the mirror in my mind shattered.
Chapter 41
Marin
Gavin's clothes were torn,streaked with blood and dust. He stood still, like one of those brutal stone creatures we'd fought, staring at me with a look that could have melted the rock beneath my feet.
“Marin,” he whispered. Just my name, nothing else.
He staggered forward, unsteady as if he was dying of thirst, and I was a mirage in this endless desert of ruin, and reaching for me might make me disappear. His hand hovered in the space between us, almost afraid to dare.
A sob hitched in my throat, and I ran. I collided with him hard enough to knock the air from both of our lungs. Gavin caught me, his arms snapping around my waist, crushing me into him.
He buried his face in my neck. I felt him shudder. Maybe it was me. Maybe it was both of us, shaking from terror and relief, from the only miracle that had ever come out of this maze.
“You fell,” he rasped against my skin. “Youdied.” His voice cracked apart. “I was coming for you anyway.”
So reckless. So Gavin.
“I will always come for you,” he vowed, catching my face in his hands and fusing his mouth to mine, kissing me like he could erase the last hours, the last years—taking us right back tothat very first moment when he'd slipped his foot over a jewel. As if we could rewrite our history with only love and no pain.
