Chapter 42
Chapter Forty-Two
T here was an undeniable skip in my step. This was my first real leap forward. My magik wasn’t just a fluke anymore—it was real. Tangible. And for the first time in a long time, it felt like I was sprinting toward something that didn’t feel impossible.
The warmth of Maalikai and Sebastian trailing behind me was a constant heat at my back, their quiet presence tugging at my awareness. So much so that I barely noticed Evie until I almost collided with her.
I stumbled, catching myself just before I toppled into her.
“Shit—sorry, Evie. I didn’t see you.”
“Too much eye candy?”she said with a tilt of her head, not missing a beat.
A laugh broke out of me before I could stop it.
“Something like that.”
“I don’t blame you.”She bent to retrieve a fallen basket from the ground, the scent of crushed apples filling the air. “I’m collecting for apple pie and crumble.”
“Want to do something with me instead?”I asked, still half-charged on post-magik adrenaline.
“You want to do something with me?” Her voice barely rose above silence, thick with disbelief.
“Of course.”
“What about the rules?” Her brow arched like I’d proposed murder, not a casual afternoon together.
But it was a fair question. My uncle had been clear—Evie and I were to keep our distance. A precaution, they’d said. More like paranoia, if you asked me. They seemed convinced that the moment we spent time alone, we'd vanish into thin air and rewrite fate.
“You know me,”I said with a shrug. “Screw the stupid rules.”
Her smile was instant. Fragile. Familiar. A ghost of the grin I’d missed more than I’d ever admit.
“What about them?”she asked, nodding toward the two looming bodies behind me.
I turned to glance at the boys—Sebastian already mid-smirk, Maalikai pretending not to listen but clearly catching every word.
“Technically, one of them is supposed to be guarding me,”I said. “So either we bring them along or ditch them. Your call.”
“Oh, we are definitely bringing them.”
“Excellent.”
I turned over my shoulder. “Boys! Give us a hand.”
Sebastian stepped forward, cautious but curious. “What’s going on?”
“Who’s in the mood for baking?” He just stared at me. “Perfect,”I grinned. “You’re on apple duty. And try not to fall behind.”
I linked my arm with Evie’s and tugged her down the path, leaving both boys to scramble after us with a shared look that said we’ve lost control of the day, haven’t we?
We reached the kitchen hall, arms full of apples, shoes damp with dew, and for once, I wasn’t thinking about duty or death or destiny. I was thinking about crumble.
“So what’s the plan?”Sebastian asked, eyeing the baskets like they might explode.
“Apple pie, obviously,”I said, dropping the fruit onto the wooden counter with dramatic flair. “Unless someone’s too scared to peel.”
“Peel? Please.”He rolled up his sleeves with a smirk. “I’ve faced warlords with less sass.”
Evie lingered near the door, her arms crossed tight.
“Are you sure we should be doing this? I don’t know if we’re even allowed in here without your mom or mine?—”
“Evie.”I raised a brow. “Have I ever cared about being allowed?”
She hesitated.
I threw her a wink.
“C’mon. Live a little.”
She sighed and stepped forward like she was bracing for battle. “Fine. But I’m following the recipe.”
“Absolutely not.”I grabbed a handful of flour and tossed it into the air like confetti. “This is chaos baking.”
She squealed and ducked, coughing as the white dust cloud exploded around us.
“Gods, Emylia—what is wrong with you?” But the delighted squeal that followed betrayed her.
“Oh no.”Sebastian’s voice was full of dread. “Not again.”
“Again?”Maalikai asked warily.
“There was a pudding incident,”Sebastian muttered.
“It was glorious,”I added. “Now grab a bowl—we’re having a pie-off.”
“A what?”Evie blinked.
“You and me versus them.”I pointed at Sebastian and Maalikai, who both looked like they were evaluating the structural integrity of the flour sacks.
“One hour. Two pies. Winner gets…”I glanced at Evie.
“A night under the stars, no guards allowed, just a camp-out?”she offered.
“Deal,”Sebastian said instantly. “We’re in.”
“You don’t even know how to bake,”Maalikai muttered.
“No, but I know how to sabotage,”Sebastian replied, grinning.
“If you touch my crust,”I warned, “I will strike you with lightning.”
Evie tried to hide her smile as she reached for the cinnamon.
“This is insane,”she said softly.
“It’s about time you joined the madness.”
And just like that, the room erupted into motion—bowls clattering, apples flying, flour dusting the air like fresh snow. Maalikai, of course, measured everything like we were forging a weapon. Sebastian tossed in spices like he was crafting a love potion. Evie pretended she wasn’t enjoying herself, but her laughter lit up the room. And me? I let myself forget the world for one hour of sticky fingers, cinnamon lips, and something dangerously close to joy.
The pies came out uneven.
Ours was golden, flaky, and a little lopsided—apples spilling out the side like it couldn’t quite contain itself. The boys’ was… burnt. Charred on one edge, undercooked on the other, and Sebastian had somehow managed to leave the core in threeslices.
“What happened?”Evie asked, eyeing their disaster with barely concealed glee.
“It’s rustic,”Sebastian offered, arms crossed. “A deconstructed culinary experience.”
“It’s a crime against fruit,”I said, smirking as I tore into our pie with a spoon. The crust crumbled like heaven, the filling warm and spiced and perfect.
Maalikai frowned down at his creation like it had personally betrayed him.
“We were sabotaged.”
“You sabotaged yourselves,”Evie said sweetly, licking cinnamon from her thumb.
“Admit it,”I grinned. “We won.”
Sebastian groaned, collapsing into a chair. “Fine. You get your stupid night under the stars.”
“Excellent,”I said, dragging Evie toward the door. “Pack light. No guarding tonight. And bring extra blankets—I’m not freezing for victory.”
We climbed the cliff path in near-darkness, lantern swinging between us as the sky melted into violet and navy. The sea churned far below, the wind rising in quiet gusts that tangled our hair and carried the smell of salt and wind.
We found the old spot—our spot. The one we used to sneak to when we were kids, back when life was simpler and the world hadn’t divided us into different destinies.
Evie spread the blanket while I started the fire, coaxing sparks from damp wood with a whispered thread of magik. The flames caught as easy as breathing.
We didn’t speak for a while. We didn’t need to.
The stars blinked into place overhead, slow and steady. The cliff beneath us hummed with memory.
“Do you ever miss it?”she asked, voice barely louder than the wind.
“What?”
“Before all of this. Before war and magik and fate.” She whispered it like it belonged only to us–soft and sacred, like a secret tucked in the space between out breaths.
I stared into the fire.
“Yeah. All the time.”
She shifted closer, the blanket wrapped around her shoulders brushing mine. “I used to think you left me.”
That cracked something. Right down the middle.
“I didn’t,”I said. “They tore us apart, and I didn’t know how to fight for you. But I wanted to.”
She didn’t respond at first. Just reached over, hand sliding into mine with quiet certainty.
We sat like that, fingers tangled, wind howling past us like the ghosts of everything we’d lost.
And I realized—there were no more walls between us.
Just stars.
And fire.
And home.
“You two always this quiet after victory?”came Sebastian’s voice from the path behind us.
Evie jumped. I didn’t. I’d felt them coming.
Maalikai emerged from the dark first, carrying a thickly rolled blanket under one arm and a jug of something steaming in the other. Sebastian followed, chewing on what I hopedwas leftover pie and not something feral he’d found in the woods.
“Didn’t think you’d let us freeze on the cliffs,”he added, plopping down beside me like he belonged there—which, annoyingly, he did.
“You lost,”I reminded him, grinning.
“Did we?”he murmured, gaze flicking to the fire, then to me.
Maalikai said nothing. He just set the blanket down over our shoulders—Evie’s and mine, both—without asking, without comment. His fingers lingered just long enough to say what words never did.
Evie smiled, tucked into my side like she’d never left it.
We didn’t need to talk about the past anymore.
The fire cracked.
The stars burned steady.
And the four of us sat there, wrapped in stolen warmth, letting the night hold us.