Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 97071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Is she saying what I think she’s saying? Surely not. “But you want to go home.”
“Of course I do. That realm is the only one I’ve ever known. It’s the only one that contains places I spent time with Bunny.” She takes deep breath. “But unless there’s another portal home lying around …”
I wish I could tell her something positive. I slowly shake my head. “As far as I’ve experienced, there’s a single portal on each island.”
“A portal that’s now destroyed. I have no one to blame for that but myself. But even if it was still open, I find myself in the same position that you are. I can spend the rest of my life chasing my past … or I can move into the future.”
“Threshold is a realm of magic beyond knowing. There’s nothing to say that portal was your only way home. There might be others. It’s not as if I know every secret about this place.”
“There’s nothing to say it isn’t.” She shakes her head. “No. I’m not going to keep chasing a fool’s dream when there’s a very real fight to be had here. One that maybe I can help with. One where I might have a future.”
Hope is a horrible, nebulous thing. If I don’t ask the question then I can stay in this moment of not knowing. There’s magic in ignorance; haven’t I learned that lesson several times over by now? But if I’m going to start being brave and searching for answers, that needs to start now. “A future with me?”
It’s hard to tell in the growing shadows, but I’m nearly certain that Evelyn blushes crimson. She won’t quite meet my gaze. “I don’t know that you want me on your side if you’re starting a revolution. I’m just a witch who also happens to be good at picking pockets.”
The hope in my chest unfurls with a strength that makes me want to howl at the moon. She’s really saying what I didn’t dare wish she’d say. She’s staying. In Threshold. With me.
I gently urge her to face me. “There’s no ‘just’ about it. I want you by my side. No stipulations. No conditions. No caveats. But you are a value, Evie. You ask questions that need asking, and that’s worth its weight in gold. People like you, too. They’re scared of me, but they instantly warm up to you.” She opens her mouth, no doubt to argue some more, and I press my finger to her lips. “I understand if you don’t want to fight. This isn’t your battle. But never say that you’re not valuable. You are to me.”
“There you go again, saying all the right things.”
“I never say the right things.” My laugh feels choked. “Or at least you’re the only one who thinks so.”
She wraps her hand around my wrist and squeezes a little. “Bowen, this feels really big. Like really big.”
“I know.” In the space of a single conversation everything has changed. My heart doesn’t know whether it wants to twist itself up in knots or beat right out of my chest. I can’t catch my breath. “But if you change your mind—at any point—I will help you find a way home. I promise.”
“I know you will.” She releases my hand and slowly stands. “It’s absolute foolishness to fall in love with you, and yet here I am.”
I shake my head sharply. Did she just say what I think—hope, gods, I hope—she said? “Say it again.”
“Bowen.”
“Say it again, Evie. Please.”
She wets her lips, her blush a fearsome thing. “I’m falling in love with you. I’m feeling very awkward with the realization, so please don’t make a big deal about it.”
A big deal about it. Gods, I really do love this woman. Only she would confess something so world-shattering and ask me to pretend like it’s just a normal thing to confess. When I finally manage to speak, my voice is rough. “I’m falling with you. Never think you’re alone in this.”
“Oh. Well. Good. Um. Yes, okay.” She drags her hands through her hair and winces. “Look, I know this isn’t romantic, but I’m kind of freaking out a little and we’re about to embark on a freaking war against the most powerful faction in Threshold and my ex still wants to kill us, so maybe we just let this simmer for a little while?”
It’s everything I can do to keep from lunging to my feet, picking her up, and spinning us around until we’re both dizzy. “Okay.”
“Okay. Great.” She backs away slowly. “I’m going to take a shower and put on some clothes. Don’t touch your wound. I don’t have magic to accelerate the healing beyond whatever has already been done. That spell won’t prevent you from reopening it if you fuck with it.”
It’s only when she walks out of the room that I collapse back against the couch. I’ve never been weaker in my life, more helpless, and yet I find myself grinning like a fool. Hope. Is that the thing I’ve been missing my entire life? Well, hope and Evelyn. Even a perspective change wouldn’t have been enough to put me on this path without her at my shoulder, asking me questions I didn’t have answers for.