With a little time, it’s easy to fall in love with something.
“Then you’ll be excited to return after a break from it,” he says.
My skin itches at a sting buried deep. I’m the Farewitch,I’msupposed to be the deliverer of cures and truths. “My Momaw always said our brains work against us. The magic we’ve got, the power, makes us think we can do anything. So when we fall short of…anything, we’re always disappointed.”
“Sounds like I would have liked your grandmother.”
I grin. “She’d’ve hated you.”
At my smile, a bright sheen of hunger flickers in the look he gives me. The darkness must be playing with my bravery, because I ask him something I’d never ask him if he could fully see me right now. “Who was the last person you loved?”
“Besides Lazlo and Ms. Zeen?” He doesn’t hesitate. “My parents. They were kind people. Complicated. But good folk.”
Deep lines of tension around his mouth emphasize his exhaustion. But there’s a fresh pain there, too. Like he polishes it every day, as much a part of his routine as watering his plants.
“I’m sorry about your parents.”
“Ms. Zeen gave you additional context, I take it.”
“She cares a lot about you. And not out of obligation. Or because sheowesyou. It’s important you know that.”
“I do. Very much so.”
“And you know you can love people without guilt, right, sir?”
My words hang in the damp air between us. He doesn’t answer this time. My hands tremble with the sudden urge to reach for him and… I don’t know what. The possibilities are infinite. Reckless.New.
He swallows. Hard. “You have to stop calling mesir.”
“Tell me your name, then.Sir.”
“I can’t. Not yet. I told you, it’s like giving away—”
“Power or control, I remember. But you even know my middle name now. How is that fair? Are you worried you’ll regret telling me?”
“No.” The word is sharp, decisive. “I’m worried I won’t.”
His voice is like gravel, hard as the cave floor beneath us. I almost shiver, and I don’t know what to do with the way he’s looking at me. At my mouth. The cave has to be playing tricks on us. We inhale the cool cave air together, faces inches apart, his breath on my lips.
Our lantern goes out.
Everything vanishes into pitch-black nothing. That battery was freshly charged, too. Which means—
“That would be the Witch’s way of telling us she knows we’re here,” he confirms.
Closer to the Witch, closer to the solstice.
Abruptly, he stands and spreads out his bedrollseveralfeet away from me. Away from whatever… that was. I’m sure my cheeks are as pink as Spam.
“We’ll switch to a manual flame lantern soon. We should sleep. This will likely be our only chance to rest.”
Right. Sure.
Head and heart buzzing, I stretch out on my own roll and try to sleep. I really do.
But for hours, I’m wide awake, the Warlock just out of my reach.
Chapter Thirty-Two
