Chapter Five
I crawled into bed, and every muscle in my body ached. The soreness wasn’t from physical exertion, but from an exhaustion wrapped up in sorrow.
Or maybe it was the other way around.
A constant barrage of images and thoughts made my head spin. Between the shadows of the fortress and the raw look in Gideon’s eyes, I was fatigued yet anxious to begin.
But I knew what I had to do.
And an eerie call from the Academy had been plaguing me since I left. If I didn’t know better, I’d say it was from the dragons.
I let out a long, unsteady breath as I pulled the quilt to my chin. The bed felt softer than ever, with an unspoken invitation to slip into oblivion for a few hours, but I knew what was ahead was anything but settling.
What was it Gideon had told me before?
We needed to give him what he wanted.
But what was that?
The haunting line of his voice teased at the edges of my memory, promising answers if I’d only trust him, step into his world.
I shuddered as his chilling gaze and the ephemeral taste of fog clung to my thoughts.
Everything about Shadowick was gloomy and dark, and nothing that I needed or craved, despite what Gideon liked to tell me.
He’d said I was better off with him, like he held the key to everything I wanted. The thought of it tightened my chest.
A fresh wave of fatigue overcame me, and I sank deeper into the pillows.
Even before tonight’s glimpse into Gideon’s stronghold, I’d had these nightmares where Shadowick stretched before me in a decaying maze. Each alleyway wept tendrils of gray mist and trapped me where I didn’t want to be.
I couldn’t forget the sensation of stepping through the fog, hearing Gideon’s voice so close to my ear that I’d sworn he was breathing down my neck.
Had some part of me sought him out repeatedly, desperate for the answers he dangled like forbidden fruit? The question sent a shiver up my spine because I knew the answer.
My eyes fluttered shut, the edges of the quilt comforting against my jaw. Despite the protective Wards around the village and the reassuring hum of magic now etched into each stone, I couldn’t entirely dispel the constant gnawing of my thoughts.
Gideon had tried to persuade me that our goals were aligned.
Or was it a trick of my subconscious, cobbling together realities from the seeds of my fear?Either way, the memory clung to me and refused to fade. The pungent scent of bitter earth and the surge of sour fog tasted like broken promises.
Shadowick was both real and unreal, a realm beyond the threshold of normal dreams, and yet, I was about to go there again…
On my own accord.
I only knew that my father’s life still hung in the balance, and Gideon held the strings. If I faltered now and let my sorrow drown my resolve, the next dream might not be so forgiving. I knew what I needed to do and closed my eyes, letting the voices below drift away.
As sleep finally found me, the streets of Shadowick came slowly into view.
The cobblestones under my feet felt cold and slick, and a thin fog clung to each surface.
Despite the eddying mist, I could see enough to know where I was.
In the center of town. I tilted my head up and scanned the horizon, seeing the mansion I’d come to recognize from my first journey here.
I stepped forward, half expecting the ground to swallow me up or the dream to shatter and send me back to my cottage.
Instead, a chill shot up my spine, but to my surprise, I stayed firmly anchored in that eerie, moonlit street.
And waited.
I knew he would come.
The row of dilapidated buildings rose like jagged teeth against the pale sky, shutters broken, empty flower pots, every rooftop slanting in a way that defied geometry.
This couldn’t be real.
Dread tugged at my stomach, warring with the determination that had led me to let go in those first seconds of sleep. I needed to lure Gideon to Stonewick.
I took another step and another. The hush pressed in on me.
Where was Gideon?
He’d always been so eager to appear before, and then I saw it.
A tall silhouette emerged, each step echoing with a measured grace. My breath caught in my throat.
Gideon.
Even though I’d braced myself for this, a wave of apprehension flooded me.
The man who stole my father was now strolling casually, as if it were a pleasant evening in some quaint village.
As he drew near, the fog parted enough for me to see him clearly. He looked much the same as I remembered, exuding an aura of quiet confidence, handsome, and tall, and walking along the street as if the world was his stage.
His eyes met mine, and a flicker of a grin played across his lips.
The dull lamplight glimmered off his dark hair, and for an instant, my heart lurched at how… inviting his smile could seem, if not for the malice in his eyes.
“Maeve,” Gideon said, his voice a low, resonant purr that cut through the silence. “I’m glad you decided to return.” He made a casual sweep of his arm, indicating our surroundings. “And this time, without all that sorcery and spirit-conjuring. I do like my apprentices to learn on a more personal level.”
A wave of anger rolled through me.
“I’m not your apprentice.” I held his gaze. But my voice trembled a little, and I hated that. “Don’t think for a second I came here because I wanted to. You’ve kidnapped my father. I—”
He lifted a hand in an elegant gesture of dismissal and stepped closer.
“Your father is safe,” he said, suggesting he was giving me a boon. “He remains in my care. No harm will come to him if you abide by our… arrangement.”
I gritted my teeth.
“I never agreed to any arrangement.” Fury danced with the ice-cold dread in my veins.
His eyes gleamed.
“You did the moment you walked in here. You could have stayed in your little cottage, or holed up in the Academy with your Wards and illusions.”
So he knew I was part of the Academy.
He shrugged.
“But you returned to Shadowick, with no magic circles to protect you.” His voice teased with a razor’s edge behind it. “You returned on your own, didn’t you?”
I crossed my arms, trying to keep them from shaking.
My father’s face loomed in my mind, pushing me forward.
“Only because I need answers,” I said, summoning every scrap of courage. “I want to know what you want, Gideon. Why all these traps and battles?”
He cocked his head, stepping into a band of moonlight that made his dark eyes glisten. “Illusions? Traps? Hardly. I’m just… providing people with opportunities.”
“Opportunities,” I echoed in disbelief. “Like you gave my father? You placed the curse that kept him in his shifted form. And after all these years, you turn him into a hostage, bait me into your twisted plan, and hold Stonewick’s future in your palm. That is your sort of opportunity?”
His grin widened, a slow, predatory curl.
“We all have roles to play, Maeve—even your dear father. You might see it as captivity. I see it as… persuasion.”
My stomach churned.
The charm in his voice was maddening, seductive in a way that made me want to recoil.
A voice in my head screamed that I should run, yet my feet stayed rooted to the slick cobblestones.
“Why me?” I whispered angrily. “You took him because you think I’ll… what, turn to you for help? Become your puppet?”
The butterfly birthmark warmed on my skin, and I stepped back, wondering what it was trying to signal.
He studied me quietly for a long moment. The fog curled around us and felt mildly suffocating, but I wouldn’t show my discomfort.
“Ah, you’re still missing the bigger picture.” He reached out and almost touched my shoulder, but I sidestepped.
I narrowed my eyes on him.
Gideon dropped his hand with a faint sigh. “It’s not about controlling you, Maeve. It’s about shaping the future. It’s about Stonewick’s destiny and yours. You just haven’t seen it yet.”
I let out a ragged breath.
“So we’re back to your grand ideas of power. Stonewick doesn’t need you. It needs to be freed of your curses, your manipulations…”
He cut me off with a low chuckle. “You speak as though you know what Stonewick truly needs. Have you considered that you might fail? That the Academy’s Wards, your father’s love, none of it will be enough to vanquish the threats that lurk? I could save you the trouble. Offer you the answers you seek, the power you crave.” Another step closer, I felt an unwelcome tingle at how near he was. “Don’t be so quick to cast me as the villain.”
“I don’t crave power.”
“Even after everything that despicable man you called a husband did to you?” His eyes sharpened on mine. “There are things that could be done. Things that would teach him to respect women.”
“He’s no longer my problem,” I said, glancing at the mansion behind Gideon.
My eyes scanned for the fortress behind where I sensed my dad earlier.
“You won’t be able to run to him, Maeve. I wouldn’t allow it.” He stepped closer. “Now, imagine if you had your ex on all fours begging for forgiveness.”
“That does nothing for me.”
“Interesting, but I don’t believe you’re being honest with yourself.”
A pang of doubt snaked through me. I’d never wish ill on someone, even someone who hurt me the way my ex did.
“Second thoughts?” Gideon pressed.
A subtle thread of guilt whispered that maybe I was in over my head. But the memory of my dad forced the doubt away.
“I’m not going to let you twist my mind.” But this might be my only opportunity to lure him to Stonewick.
Ready or not.
“Very well.” He feigned disappointment. “Then why come here?”
“Because I’m desperate.”
The weight of those words landed with a finality that stung my pride.
I shifted my weight and brought my gaze to his. “I need to know if you’ll ever let him go.”
Gideon’s eyes narrowed and flickered with amusement.
“The better question, dear Maeve, is whether he truly wants to leave. After all, the lure of Shadowick can be… irresistible.”
I flinched internally. “Don’t pretend he’s here by choice. Don’t you dare.”
He smirked.
“Your father’s an interesting one. Loyal to the end. But everyone has limits. Even him. Even you.” He waved a hand.
The fog parted and revealed the silhouette of a tower in the distance. My heart seized at the sight.
“That’s where…?” I asked, my breath catching.
“He’s there,” Gideon confirmed casually, “safe for now, unless you do something rash.” His gaze turned knowing, or mocking. “But I’m rather pleased you decided to return without sorcery or conjuring spirits. It suggests you might be ready to… listen .”
“Listen to what?” I demanded, forcing an edge of defiance into my tone. “That Stonewick is doomed without you? That my father is better off in your village?”
Another muffled laugh from him, like velvet over steel. “It suggests you might be ready to learn. I do like my apprentices to start with a proper, personal approach.”
I tried to keep my composure, but fear and anger warred in my chest.
Apprentice.
“I’m not your apprentice.” The word tasted foul.
Gideon smiled, a small, languid curve of his lips as he gestured around the street. His gaze snapped back to mine, and I couldn’t escape the confidence beckoning me.
“You’ve come here, to me, on your terms. This suggests curiosity, if not willingness. The Academy might teach you how to command Wards and delve into spells, but I can teach you how to shape magic for your father’s sake, Stonewick’s sake, and your ambition.”
I saw the hunger in Gideon’s eyes. He wanted something more from me than just compliance. The idea of handing him a single shred of control made my skin crawl.
“Tell me, Gideon,” I said softly. “What is it you really want from me? From Stonewick? From all of this? From taking my father? The curse?”
For a moment, Gideon said nothing, only gazed at me with unreadable intensity. The silence pressed in, so thick I could nearly taste it. He stood there like a magnet pulling me in, but why?
The street was still, as if the entire realm of Shadowick waited with bated breath for his reply.
At last, he stepped closer, so near that I could see the faint lines of amusement and danger crinkling at the corners of his eyes. I hated that it intrigued me.
My heart hammered, but I forced myself not to step back.
Gideon leaned in, and his voice dropped to a hushed murmur that pulsed through my veins.
“Why, it’s you I want, Maeve. All of you.”
The words sliced through me like a bolt of dark lightning.
A tremor worked down my spine and tangled with the fury, guilt, and longing I’d shoved deep inside. A thousand retorts jumbled my mind, but all that happened was that a quiet hush fell as his statement hung in the air with a cloak of terrifying promise.
The scene dissolved before I could utter a single protest or question. The fog curled up my legs and enveloped me in a dizzying rush of confusion and magic.
Gideon’s silhouette, all smug confidence, wavered in the haze.
“Then bring my father back to us in Stonewick.”
Gideon’s icy blue eyes locked onto me, but I refused to look. “And what do I get in return?”
I swallowed hard and lifted my chin to meet his gaze.
“Me.”
A glimmer of satisfaction twinkled in his eyes. “Yule’s last hour, at eleven.”
“You will bring my father.”
He gave a half nod. “For a trade.”
I reached out, but the dream, or whatever half-reality we inhabited, collapsed too fast.
My lungs seized as the ground vanished beneath me, replaced by that familiar free-fall sensation until I landed in my bed.
Gideon’s smile stayed in my mind’s eye, haunting, coy, triumphant.
Little did he know…
Then, with a sharp gasp that rattled the walls, I woke. My heart thundered in my chest, and the comfort of my bedroom surrounded me.
For a moment, I could still taste the fog in my mouth, still sense Gideon’s breath on my cheek.
A different kind of fear etched into my soul as I closed my eyes.
I’d made a mistake.