Chapter Eleven
The chill of Gideon’s hands intertwining with mine was brutal. It was a cold that went beyond flesh and into the marrow of my bones.
One minute, my colossal bulldog father thundered away into the night, and the next, it was as though the entire village shrank until only Gideon and I existed.
His silver eyes remained, looking less human and more like distant stars with hidden menace.
My pulse remained heightened.
I knew the plan and needed to stay focused. I couldn’t let Gideon’s magic penetrate too deeply.
But the way he studied my face with that half-lidded stare unleashed a crawling dread along my spine, along with something else I dared not think about that nearly shrank me.
He was too sure, too calm, as though my spells were mere decorations and amusements to him.
His lips turned into a satisfied smile. “Your father’s gone. Are you quite certain you want to remain here with me? Maybe you should run, too.”
I raised my chin, refusing to show any hint of fear.
“I’m not running. I promised I’d trade myself for my father. And I keep my promises.”
My friends didn’t know I’d planned to turn my dad into a giant to allow him to escape, but everything else would go according to our plan.
A low chuckle rolled in his throat.
“Such loyalty. I admire that, Maeve. So many in Stonewick claim loyalty, yet they cower when tested. Your father, for one, learned that the hard way.”
I bristled.
My dad’s captivity and the risk of genuinely losing him pulled me to this moment. Letting Gideon’s barbed words get under my skin would only weaken me.
“He’s free now,” I reminded Gideon, injecting a note of triumph into my voice. “At least from your control.”
“Is he?” Gideon asked, arching a brow. “You have no idea how many traps I’ve set, do you? That giant bulldog might be loping across the snow, but what if the real man is still caught in my domain?”
My heart stopped.
He leaned in as his breath ghosted over my cheek. “What if you let an illusion slip away, convinced it was him?”
My heart jolted. Could he have tricked me again? I steadied my resolve and pressed my lips together.
No. I needed to trust myself. That was my father.
“If that were the case, I’d find him.”
Gideon’s grip tightened on my fingers, and I bit back a wince at the icy fire that danced across my knuckles.
“Perhaps you misunderstand me, though,” he purred. “I do these things out of necessity. You see, your father made enemies far worse than me. I’m his safe harbor, in a sense.”
“Safe harbor?”
He tilted his head, feigning a regretful sigh.
“And you’re such an innocent, aren’t you? You’re the one who shrank from your heritage, from your mother’s path. Your father was never strong enough to lead the pack. Perhaps I spared him a worse fate.”
“I shrank from nothing. I was lied to and now I’m home.”
The mention of my mother sent a stab of pain through my chest, but I shoved it away. She’d abandoned Stonewick, but that didn’t mean Gideon had any right to twist her memory.
“She wouldn’t have followed you anyway. Sorry to disappoint.” I shook my head. “You’re just a master manipulator.”
He gave my hands a slight tug, pulling me closer until I could see faint lines around his eyes.
“Manipulation, Maeve, is the art of survival. Ask your mother if you ever find her again. Ask the Academy how many manipulations they weave daily to keep Stonewick afloat.”
Heat flared at his insinuation.
“You don’t know what the Academy stands for.”
The runes under my feet flickered, wanting to coil around him again, but my will had to remain steady if I would glean any real answers.
“Stop changing the subject. You wanted me to offer myself. You claim you want me. Well, here I am.”
A slow, thin grin spread across Gideon’s features.
“Yes, here you are,” he repeated, voice low. “But is that truly what you want? To be my apprentice, my partner in spell work, my co-conspirator?”
Something in his tone sent alarm bells clanging in my head, and a dizzying wave of magic brushed along my consciousness.
He was pushing magic again, and I felt it creeping around my awareness.
Gentle, tempting shapes produced a sigh within me as I imagined a life of leisure where I could close my eyes and let him show me a better way.
Gideon squeezes my hand harder as more images shove into my mind…a sprawling fortress with turrets and shimmering banners.
He’s at my side, leading me through corridors lined with arcane symbols and whispers of teachings I’d yet to learn about.
I shook myself free, panting.
Maeve, don’t let him in…
It was Keegan’s voice.
My vision blurred.
Gideon’s face swam before me, distorting into a dripping puzzle as the real Stonewick flickered to reassert itself.
The echoes of dreams tugged at my mind and urged me to see his version of reality, where I was safe under his rule, free from the petty constraints of Stonewick.
My fingers flew to my temple as I rubbed the headache etched into my mind.
Stonewick was not petty.
Stonewick was…home.
“You… you’re not showing me anything real,” I choked, trying to keep my breathing steady. “Why are you doing this?”
“Because I want your free will to make this decision,” he said simply, with an intimate softness that made the hairs on my arms stand on end. “And I want you to want me. If you align your magic with mine, your father can remain safe in my domain.”
My stomach turned, revolted by his twisted enticement.
“I came for my dad,” I snapped. “Not for you.”
He cocked his head, eyes gleaming with something akin to amusement.
“Are you sure? You invited me, remember?” He traced his finger along my cheek. “I think you know I’ll give you answers others won’t.”
Sweat dampened my brow.
I needed to get into his mind deeper and gain some sort of insight about the curse.
“I’m fine where I am, but I made a promise to you,” I said flatly.
“Our bond is stronger than even I could have dreamed.” His eyes stayed on mine.
He was right.
I’d left a gap in my mind, or in the Wards, or somewhere, and he’d poured through it like a viper.
And yet, I couldn’t let him see that fear.
I had to hold firm and search for answers.
“What turned you into this, Gideon? Who made you so evil that you’d enthrall innocents, toy with darkness, and tear families apart?”
He stared at me for a beat too long, silver eyes half-lidded, flickering back to their original blue.
Something flashed through his gaze for a second—a memory, maybe.
Gideon’s hold slackened on my hands.
“Evil. You use that word as though everything in Stonewick is black and white. You have no idea what lines people cross in the name of protection or survival. Good and evil are a matter of perspective, I assure you.”
I sensed an opening as my thoughts shifted subtly and wove a tiny magic thread into his world.
I felt myself pulled toward a break in his mind.
Maybe I could break his hold on our village if I could slip in and see why he believed what he did.
“Tell me,” I coaxed. “Help me understand.”
He studied me warily. “You’d open your mind to me, just to glean a story?”
I swallowed. “If that’s what it takes. I need to know the reason behind this cruelty. Don’t you owe me that much if I’m to be your apprentice?”
His lips twitched into a humorless smile. “Owe you? I owe no one anything.”
I let my thoughts shift from defensive to curious, drifting like an invisible tendril toward Gideon’s consciousness.
He didn’t block me.
My heart hammered.
This was dangerous.
I saw movement from the balcony and realized Keegan figured out what I was doing, but it was too late.
In a heartbeat, Gideon and my connection intensified.
Images crashed into me.
A younger Gideon stood at the outskirts of Stonewick. There was something behind him, but I couldn’t see it. He bent down to tend whatever was with him.He turned back to look at the main street of Stonewick but was shunned by harsh, suspicious stares.
Packs of shifters closed in toward him.
My heart raced as I watched the Academy’s Wards glowing at full strength.
The swirl of heartbreak flickered in his eyes, and bitterness followed.
Betrayal.
The sense of being an outcast in a world that revered magic more than the person behind it.
A wave of sadness burned through me, so profound it almost made me stagger.
Is that how Gideon felt? Shunned?
But why?
I kept my thoughts trained on him as sadness twisted into something darker.
Visions of spells used to blackmail, to manipulate, and punish those who refused him flooded through me.
Gideon discovered the power of raw emotions and how strong fear, anger, and heartbreak could sway the masses.
Each success deepened his pride and fueled the conviction that only his spells could bring actual order.
That Stonewick would either bend to his will or crumble beneath it.
Everyone is so selfish and cruel to outsiders, a dark voice whispered in my mind.
I jolted as Gideon’s voice echoed from the well of his memories.
The onslaught ceased.
I blinked, reeling from the experiences forced into my mind as the night around me returned to focus.
Gideon stood there with a tremor of rage crossing his features.
I’d pried too deeply, and he knew it.
But why were we so bonded?
The thought brought a dull ache in the pit of my stomach.
“That’s enough,” he snarled, yanking his hands free of mine.
The mental connection snapped like a taut wire.
A wave of cold dripped along my spine.
Keegan shouted from above, faint but urgent: “Maeve, get out of there.”
I almost laughed bitterly.
Gideon’s mirages threatened to swirl around me again, but I fought them off.
“Don’t presume to know me. Or to pity me.”
“Then show me more,” I dared.
The runes at my feet pulsed, ready to anchor me.
“I showed you nothing.”
“I saw more than nothing.”
His eyes narrowed on me.
“I’ll assume you’re just a coward who blames the world for his pain,” I taunted.
A snarl twisted his handsome features, and for the briefest moment, I saw the vulnerability beneath—raw, jagged.
But he buried it as quickly as it surfaced.
Shadows spread from his fingertips and swirled around my arms like shackles.
A tug on my mind snapped my gaze to Gideon’s as he pressed deceptions into my mind to drown me in nightmares and promises.
Nova’s voice echoed from the alley as she chanted something.
A swirl of color flickered at the edge of my vision.
Bella wove bouts in mesmerizing shapes that teased Gideon’s peripheral sight. Keegan’s presence pulsed from the hotel window, a silent vow to intervene if Gideon tried to snatch me away.
We were a team.
I couldn’t fall for Gideon’s wickedness.
Still, that charismatic aura he exuded pressed at my defenses, making me want to believe him.
He was lonely, he was betrayed, maybe he wasn’t wrong in all this…
The thoughts teased the edge of my rational mind, and I fought them off with every ounce of magic and logic within me.
Lean on my experiences…
Gideon’s voice slid into my ear like a serpent’s whisper.
“You don’t belong in that tea shop or the Academy. You belong in my world, shaping spells that bend reality to our whim. Isn’t that more thrilling than babysitting Stonewick’s Wards?”
A flicker of heat passed over my cheeks, and I ground my teeth.
“I don’t need your brand of thrilling. I have my father, my friends, and…”
He cut me off with images ramming into my mind.
The illustrations of Stonewick turned to ashes, a devastated and crumbled Academy, Stella and Bella lying motionless, Keegan nowhere to be found, paralyzed my world.
A wave of heartbreak battered me as tears stung my eyes.
Gideon let out a menacing laugh. “Better to surrender than watch them all die.”
I gasped, yanking my mind away from that horrifying vision.
“Stop it! You can’t threaten me with delusions.”
“They don’t have to be fantasies,” Gideon drawled. “They can be realities. Unless you’re so sure you can protect them all from me.”
I forced the visions spinning around me to shift into something bold and beautiful as my runes flared with renewed strength underneath us.
A wave of golden light fought back his black vapor, and we teetered in a precarious balance. Gideon would drive me into that nightmarish future if I faltered even a moment. But if I held strong, maybe I could glean another snippet of truth, the key to shattering his trickery once and for all.
My mind reeled, half-lost in the barrage of images.
Stella’s worried vampire hiss carried on the wind, and a burst of color from Bella’s spell distracted Gideon.
A wave of dizziness crashed over me as I poured every ounce of power into that single, desperate attempt.
“Stay out of my head!” he barked
My mind reeled, forced out from that path.
I stumbled, half-collapsing onto the snow.
Gideon pounced on that moment of weakness, his shadows churning around me like a black, serpentine mist.
“Such wasted talent,” he murmured, voice echoing in my ears. “Think of how unstoppable we’d be.”
My breath came in ragged bursts. “That’s not unstoppable. It’s desperate.”
He shook his head and plowed images of a future victory into my head.
But he didn’t understand. I wasn’t looking for victory. I was looking for peace.
He slammed one last rush of power with a dizzying, seductive force, and I hated how a corner of my soul reacted with curiosity instead of outright revulsion.
From somewhere behind, I heard Keegan’s voice, strained and urgent: “Maeve, fight it!”
Nova’s chanting rose in pitch as a shimmering wave of magic crested near the circle. Bella’s creations darted again, dancing lights that drew Gideon’s attention.
He growled, swatting them away, but the brief lapse gave me space to breathe, to push back.
They were trying to break his hold on me.
I clung to that anchor and focused.
A wave of black fire roared up from the ground, and I stumbled. The circle flickered, half-broken from the mental struggle.
Stars danced in my vision, and the cold air stung my lungs.
Keegan’s voice echoed through the air with archaic chants I didn’t understand, coating me with love and the kindness I craved. He was protecting me…again.
A crack boomed through the air as I saw Keegan’s large silhouette raising something I hadn’t seen before.
A staff, perhaps?
Light reflected into the night’s sky as the ground rumbled and then…
Gideon was gone.
I knelt in the snow and panted as tears of embarrassment burned hot trails down my cheeks.
Footsteps crunched up behind me.
Stella helped me to my feet.
“Maeve,” she whispered, checking me for injuries. “Are you all right? Did he—?”
“He tried to take me. He… he showed me a part of himself.”
Nova approached, breathless.
“We almost severed his magic entirely.”
Keegan hopped down from the hotel’s steps, eyes roving the damaged circle with anger and worry.
“Maeve, are you okay?” His voice lowered as his hands ran along my arms, attempting to catch my gaze with his. “Maeve?”
I brought my eyes to his and let out a slow breath. “Yes, thank you. I can’t thank you all enough. I wasn’t…strong enough.”
“He’s a powerful mage, Maeve. It’s not your fault. You did extraordinarily well.” Keegan’s voice was controlled.
I forced a nod and swallowed the knot in my throat.
Bella joined us, her foxlike grace dampened by concern.
“Did you learn anything about why he’s doing this?” she asked.
I remembered the flicker of heartbreak in Gideon’s memories and the sense of isolation twisted into a cruelty of his making.
I nodded slowly and turned my attention to Bella. “He’s locked in a cycle of vengeance. But that doesn’t change what he’s done.”
Stella put an arm around my shoulder. “Can we all just stop for a moment, though…” She glanced at everyone around me. “And congratulate our new witch on an exceptional little trick she used for her dad?”
Keegan’s low, gravelly chuckle coated over me as his hands left my arms. “Yeah. That was unforgettable. Nice work.”
I laughed and shook my head, feeling a blush creep up my cheeks. “I was terrified when I realized he’d made my dad human. My entire plan hinged on Frank becoming a giant bulldog to shock the heck out of Gideon.”
“Well, it worked,” Nova said, smiling. “That spell work isn’t for the faint of heart.”
“Desperate times and all that…” I shrugged.
“Let’s regroup at the cottage,” Keegan said hoarsely. “We need a real plan.”
“Yeah. I don’t think Gideon will be thrilled that he left without me.” I glanced at Keegan, and his gaze held mine. “Thank you for saving me.”
“You didn’t need my help. I just ensured the process didn’t take so long.” He looked away, not believing his own words.
“I don’t know about that, but thank you.”
Nova squeezed my hand. “We’ll figure this out. Together.”
“And there were only a couple of lookie-loos,” Stella explained. “The last thing they’ll remember upon waking tomorrow is drinking the best tea of their lives at my humble tea shop.”
I chuckled and looked at the scorched and snow-dusted runic circle. But the truth hummed beneath the surface.
Gideon was a foe beyond illusions and Wards, and our battle of wills had only begun.