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“Wait,” Luc called. “Where did you go?” The hedge didn’t have an entrance. “Where are you?”
“Here,” she whispered, as if daring him to find her. Despite the low volume, her voice reached him, and he wondered, strangely, if it always would.
He used his godlight to sneak through the magical threads of the hedge, and his arms passed through, allowing him to grasp Brinna. Using her as leverage, he pulled himself inside.
She squealed—a cute little sound that seemed as if she was trying to be quiet about it—and stumbled into him, her palms pressed against his chest. Heat seared his skin underneath his clothes where her hands rested.
“What are you doing?” she demanded. “Unhand me.”
He did. Immediately. Swiping his hands over the place she’d touched to wipe away the sensation. He hated the added impulse of wanting to wrap her up in his arms.
Ridiculous. He told himself he was curious about this hedge, given he’d never seen anything like it on his Roam.
He walked deeper into an arched passageway that stretched out in front of him with no end in sight, as if it curled in on itself. Surprised by the muted light inside, Luc glanced over his shoulder, where Brinna now stood framed by an arched entrance.
She followed him. “What is wrong with you?”
His internal glow warmed the darkness inside the hedge so he could see her features, which pinched with her frown. He wanted to press his thumb against her mouth, run the pad of it across her lips, but he swallowed the urge instead and looked away.
“If I keep walking, what will I find?” he asked, ignoring her question for one of his own.
“The cottage. Where I live.” She paused, then said, “You truly couldn’t see me? That seems… unbelievable.”
He hummed and looked around. “Perhaps if it wasn’t enchanted.”
“Enchanted!” She scoffed, an unflattering kind of snort, but Luc found it… cute. “You must be mistaken.”
He snorted back at her, incredulous. “I am not mistaken. Not about this.”
“You don’t make mistakes?” She offered a sharp laugh.
He’d begun to think this—trapping himself in proximity to her—was one. “Absolutely not,” he lied. The very large mistake in his immediate past had nearly cost him his brother, but she didn’t need to know about that.
“I highly doubt that.” She crossed her arms, her dark eyebrows arching over her pretty eyes. “Now, why are you glowing?”
“Why is this hedge enchanted?” he countered, realizing he should have doused his godlight so his father wouldn’t know, but he didn’t with her attention finally fixed on him.
They stood facing one another, the hedge seeming to close in around them. He only needed to take a step, and he’d be close enough to draw her into his arms, lean forward, and kiss her. The shrinking hedge and his overpowering urge to touch her made him feel like he couldn’t take a deep enough breath.
“How do you get out of here?” The shrinking hedge unnerved him, even if it was an illusion…Then he realized he couldn’t see the opening any longer. It had disappeared. He was trapped.
“I need to go,” he gasped.
She looked at him with confusion and concern. “Walk.” She reached out and touched him once more, her fingers gripping his elbow. His skin burst alive, energy arcing and racing across his flesh until it collided between his shoulder blades.
“Right here,” she said, gently guiding him in the right direction.
The entrance materialized.
“It’s too tight in here.” He rushed past her and stumbled out to the road, gulping breaths, trying to correct his thoughts. Embarrassing.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
Unnerved by her, by his attraction to her, by his embarrassment, he said harsher than he intended, “Of course.”
“You just seemed…”
“What?”
