What is it he said when we were cuddled in bed?I am where I am required.The knife in my chest twists deeper. I don’t want to be a requirement. I want to be a desire, a want, a need. I thought that’s the kind of love we had. Butthat note…
I guess Iwas wrong.
“Look after Moth for me, okay?” Blinking tears from my eyes, I pat Sprout on top of his fuzzy head. He lowers his head with a whine, his big puppy eyes widening as if begging me to stay.
“He doesn’t want me here, Sprout,” I explain, holding back tears. I stroke one of his long fluffy ears as they fall flat against the back of his head. I wish there was some way to help him understand me. “But he’ll have you and his family, and I’m sure he’ll be way happier,” I ramble, wishing anything that came out of my mouth felt true. But his feelings are written as plain as day, and Hollyis right.
Holding my breath, I step through the rippling mirror.
The best thing I can do is sethim free.
Now Moth can have the future he really wants—without me.
22.
Portal travel feels just like stepping through a doorway—a doorway that should have Moth back on the other side of it. But no, he’s back in his real home, I’m faced with a place I thought we’d return to together. The crumbled letter is a weight in my pocket that keeps me pinned on the forest floor. Getting up means walking into the next chapter of a story I thought would have a happy ending with the man I loved.
So, I stay until my tears dry, and the sun has shifted. I stay until the swirling golden portal in the center of the old oak closes.
Sucking my wings back into my body, the pressure in my shoulder blades sends a shooting pain up my spine. God I forgot how much this hurts, but hey, might as well get used to pretending to be anormal human—especially since I’ve lost the one person who could understand.
I trudge through the woods back to the cabin, regret filling my lungs with every heaving breath. Nothing could make this worse—oh fucking hell.
A man with strawberry blonde hair scrolls through his phone on my porch, wearing the sorriest smile I’ve never seen. Two coffees sit beside him.
Chris—the man who has become my nightmare—is smaller than I remember but still towers over me as he jumps to a standingposition.
“Nope! Absolutely not!” I shout, stomping up the porch steps. My monster-hunting kidnapper is the last person I want to seeright now.
“Heather, listen—I amso sorry.”
Not as sorry as he’s going to be.With a kick of my foot, I knock over the lattes I’m sure are meant to be a peace offering. What once would have been a welcome gift makes me sick to my stomach. I can’t believe I used to be so naïve, thinking he washarmless.
“You can’t be here,” I shout, not caring that my fancy fae-made shoes are now stained with coffee. It’s not lost on me that I’m dressed in a literal ballgown while staring him down—but thankfully, he doesn’t say a word about my attire. He probably thinks I was off doing a photoshoot or something.
“When you didn’t respond to my letter, I thought… it’s my last day in town. I just had to see you. Rosie told me notto come.”
“Rosie’s a good friend,” I mutter, crossing my arms. Is he really just going to keep standing here?
“She almost didn’t meet with me at all.”
Maybe she shouldn’t have.
“What I did was terrible. I should have listened to you. I am so sorry—I wasobsessed.”
“So, you want me to forgive you so you can feel better about yourself?” I huff, shaking my head which makes the world around me feel light and dizzy. I utter words I should have said to him a long time ago. “Leave. You needto leave.”
“That’s not it! I know, I know, if you never want to see me again after this, I understand. I’ll go.” He tries to reach for me—a gentle touch to the hand. But I dodge, my heart racing in my chest. “I had to tell you how wrong I know I was … faceto face.”
“Go! Now!” I can’t bring myself to say anything else. All the well-crafted arguments I had imagined, the things I’ve longed to scream at him—they all fall out of my head. I’m not ready for this today.
“More than that, I just had to see that you’re okay,” he continues, the same speech he’s been trying to give since laying eyes on me. “Everything happenedso fast.”
Fast.
The memories of that night flick across my skin like hot coals: the gun in his hands, the fire in Moth’s eyes, the feeling of my whole life slipping away. That night, everything went dark, and I didn’t think I’d ever wakeup again.
“I’m glad that … after everything, you’re still in one piece,” he says with a slight upturn of his lips. Bile rises in my stomach. Does he realize I’m whole after being split into a million pieces? If Moth hadn’t glued me back together, I wouldn’t be standing here at all.
