Once he had seen his world with her in it—brighter, vividly colorful and endlessly more alive—he had understood he couldn’t return to the gray existence he’d lived in before.
He did not merely want her.
He wanted to spend the rest of his life beside her. And, when she needed it, a step behind her—steady enough to let her lead.
He looked back at Dash.
“You asked me to see that she was properly accompanied,” Gideon said. “Which involved spending a good deal of time in her company while you were otherwise occupied.”
Dash’s eyes narrowed.
Gideon continued anyway. “And somewhere in the midst of that, she stopped being merely your sister and became Beatrice. The woman whose smile I found myself trying to earn. Whose laughter put me on top of the world. Whose good opinion began to matter far more than was sensible.”
Beatrice went very still beside him.
Gideon kept his gaze on Dash.
“By the time I understood what was happening,” he said, “it was too late to overcome.”
“And you thought to keep this from me?”
“I meant to speak with you weeks ago. But you were rather occupied with your own… difficulties.”
His eyes flicked toward Ambrosia before he could stop them.
Dash went still.
The silence sharpened.
“My difficulties?” Dash repeated, his voice dangerously quiet.
Gideon held his ground. “You had one objective this spring. There was scarcely room for anything else.”
Color rose along Dash’s cheekbones. For an instant, guilt crossed his expression—just a flash—before anger won out.
“You have the audacity,” he said, taking one measured step forward, “to stand before me and suggest I neglected my sister simply because I–”
“No.” Gideon interrupted, still keeping his voice level. “I am saying I judged the timing poorly. I should have found a way to tell you regardless.”
Dash’s jaw worked.
Gideon did not look away. “That is not an excuse. Only the truth.”
Dash’s nostrils flared.
“So what happened tonight?”
“Tonight Hatherleigh tried to shoot me, Beatrice saved my life, and matters between the two of us… clarified.”
Dash blinked once.
“Beatrice saved your life?”
“She did.”
Dash turned slowly to his sister.
Beatrice smiled faintly. “Gideon taught me how.”
