“Will you wear it?”
The question struck me deep. Because it wasn’t just about the compass. It was about trust. About choosing us.
The thief who was asking for my heart.
Vulnerable Gavin may be my new favorite.
“Yes,” I breathed.
His fingers worked the clasp. Then he leaned in, his breath warm against my skin, and fastened the compass around my neck. I wrapped my palm around it, pressing the cool weight to my heart.
“At the ball,” I whispered, “I was angry you weren’t wearing it. I thought it was proof you’d betrayed me. That you’d found your family and left me behind. But the truth is, even on my darkest day, part of me still wanted you to find where you belonged.”
Gavin framed my face in his hands. “You’re my family, Marin. I found you.”
“And you’re mine.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck. He was like the ocean’s tide, always pulling me back to him again and again. An unmovable force
And that gave me hope.
Because I’d been so sure that I’d won this time. That the future wascertain.
And I was wrong. I could be wrong about the bridge, too. Maybe it wasn’t invincible. Maybe it was a game the giant always won because he anticipated what we would do. Always a few steps ahead.
Like Gavin, hedging his bets.
If we wanted to win, we’d have to play differently.
I pushed to my feet, one hand clutched over the compass, the other outstretched toward him.
“We have to be absolutely silent,” I said, voice steady. “And even then, we’ll most certainly die. End up at the bottom of a pit, crushed by a giant’s fist.”
Gavin slipped his hand into mine, lacing our fingers tight. “Always tempting me with a good time, Mare.”
I glanced at the castle rising like a mountain on the other side of the cloud walk. This was it. No turning back.
But we were hunters. This is what we did best.
And now, there wasn’t just treasure waiting across that bridge. It wasn’t just the key to my freedom. It was the promise of the life I’d always wanted.
All I had to do was outsmart a giant to claim it.
Chapter 43
Marin
The giant was terrifyingeven in his sleep. With knuckles the size of boulders, his hands lay slack against the stone, twitching like he dreamt of tearing flesh from bone. Jagged black nails curved like talons that glinted in the torchlight. His chest rose and fell in a slow, rasping rhythm; the muscles in his chest ridged like slabs of coarse rock.
A broad, crooked nose and sharp cheekbones framed thin, cracked lips that parted with each breath to reveal yellowed, pointy teeth. His snores echoed into the vaulted ceilings, the exhales thick with heat and the sticky stench of decay.
He slept on a bed of bones and vines, skulls like rotting pumpkins scattered around the raised platform. The pit severed the chamber in two, cobblestone tiles jutting over the ledge that emptied into the void. It stretched at least fifty feet across, spanned by the decrepit rope bridge.
Spears of colored light filtered in through massive stained glass windows depicting scenes of carnage. On the other side of the pit stood the arched doorway that led to the treasure room. It looked so easy, just steps away—the treasure beyond like a siren’s lure urging unsuspecting hunters across the bridge.
A chill wrapped around my spine. There really was no other way across. The walls were smooth like polished marble, andthe pit itself was deep, the rock slippery from spouts of steam belching from below. No way to climb down and then back up the other side.
My fingers curled around Gavin’s compass as I tried to ground myself and focus on the mission. But the prickle of dread just made me feel sick.
