Chapter Twenty-Five Rab
All right, all right, that’s enough.” I took away the tin of canned hedgehog food I’d given to Merry and Pippin, the two hedgehogs that had fallen asleep on my legs the other day.
For some reason, I’d found it hard to give them over to Sorcha at the Familiar’s Nest, and instead she’d loaded me up on hedgie food and enrichment toys.
It appeared I was a hedgie dad now.
The two hedgies raced around their pen, bumped into each other, had a wee bickering squabble, and then promptly rolled up in tight balls.
I had to admit, the pair of them were seriously cute, and seemed amenable to being friendly with me, which wasn’t usual for hedgehogs in the wild.
Maybe there was something about Lyra’s magick that made them like me more.
I hadn’t been able to stop myself from laughing yesterday when Lyra had promptly turned her teacup into a hedgie upon seeing me. Henry had swooped into the room, picked the wee creature up off the table, and disappeared before the blush had faded from Lyra’s cheeks.
Something had shifted for me. For us.
“You love her.”
Knox’s words came back to me. After I’d admitted it, both he and Liam had laid into me about the importance of second chances. Usually, I took most of their advice with a grain of salt, but something Liam and Knox had echoed still resonated with me.
“You were just kids.”
They hadn’t been saying it in the annoyingly patronizing way people do when they dismiss your emotions.
Instead, they’d both validated that my feelings at the time were real, but also the situation itself had been largely unrealistic.
Some dreams could be too big. At the end of the day, I’d been asking Lyra to make an impossible decision.
She’d been supposed to leave her sisters and family behind to come live with me?
Where? In a barn somewhere? I’d had nothing, really, to offer, aside from my love.
At the time, I’d thought that was enough, but the reality of what our lives would have been like if she’d left with me would have broken us anyway.
We’d always been destined to be torn apart. Or maybe, had my father not persisted in fueling my anger toward Lyra and all the MacGregors, I could have moved beyond the pain sooner.
So now it was on me to decide whether what we’d had back then was worth fixing or if who we were now was worth fighting for.
I knew for a fact that she wasn’t unbothered by me. It was exceptionally clear she was still attracted to me. But was that enough to build from? Would she be able to start again with me?
At the end of the day, the real question was—could I trust her again?
It had broken something in me, and my mother’s subsequent enthusiasm about Lyra’s departure had created a reticence in me to believe what women were telling me.
I’d once trusted my mum to be on my side, but when she’d sided with my dad against the MacGregors, it had thrown off my perception of her.
She’d once been so caring and kind about my relationship with Lyra, but the minute they’d had a chance to run her off, they’d been happy to see her gone.
It was an about-face I hadn’t been expecting, and had added weight to my reluctance to believe in relationships.
I’d dated since then, but never seriously, and anytime things did get too serious, I backed off.
Maybe I’d known that I wasn’t ready for love again.
Or maybe my heart had been waiting for Lyra all these years.
I’d given her space yesterday—as much as I wanted to linger in the library with her, it was clear the coven had more business to attend to.
Plus, I’d just needed some time to think.
I’d walked home from Knox’s castle, the wind cold on my face, Briarhaven sprawled out and twinkling below me in the darkness.
It was one of those walks where I’d needed to give myself a stern talking-to, and the wind slapping my face had mirrored the truths slapping my heart.
By the time I’d returned home, I’d concluded that the fundamental truth about wounds is that they are meant to heal, and though scars could be cautionary tales, they could also serve as badges of honor.
I survived that. I’d been living with a wound that had driven my choices, when instead I should have patted myself on the back for being resilient and trusted that I could handle what life threw at me in the future.
And life had thrown Lyra right at my feet in the form of one ridiculous baking competition.
Which was back to filming today, and I needed to get to set, I reminded myself.
Making sure that Merry and Pippin’s enclosure was securely shut, I locked up and walked to Mystic Munchies.
It was still early, as the producers required we show up in time for makeup and all that—not that I let them dust me with too much powder and whatnot, but still we were required to be there.
I’d learned that filming television required a lot of waiting.
They liked to pull us aside for these candid interviews where I had to answer asinine questions like: How did you feel when the flour for your truffle exploded in your face?
Not all of the streetlights were back to working, but between the ones that Knox had been able to get wired and the sheer volume of twinkle lights that the houses and shops had used for decorations in order to combat the darkness, I found that my path was well lit.
Knox had even managed to get string lights hung in crisscross patterns across the main street, and they served as a lovely temporary solution for ambient light.
I liked them. I made a mental note to ask Knox if he’d consider keeping them up year-round.
Sometimes living in a small town could feel constraining, but in moments like this, where it was obvious the community had pulled together to make something beautiful for visitors and neighbors alike, my fondness for Briarhaven swelled.
“Good morning.” Kelly strode up to me as I walked to one of the trailers parked behind Mystic Munchies.
The judge had been fairly obvious in her flirtations with me, but they had all been on camera, so I suspected she had been doing it just to try to create tension with Lyra.
I was very aware that the producers were angling for the most interesting reality show they could make, not just to film the person who could make the best baked good.
“Good morning,” I said, nodding to her.
“How was your day off? Do anything fun?” Kelly asked, flipping her hair over her shoulder and smiling up at me.
“I helped Knox with some of the issues because of the darkness. We were able to get some more lights strung up and a few of the streetlights wired.”
“Och, I heard about the curse. Such a shame, isn’t it? It must make life so difficult for you all, having to put up with her curse.”
Annoyance filled me. “It’s not Lyra’s fault. She didn’t do anything wrong. It’s not like she’s sitting around thinking up ways to hurt Briarhaven.”
“Thank you.”
I whirled to see Lyra behind me, her eyes huge.
She looked healthier today. I’d hated seeing her with the wind knocked out of her sails, but today she looked ready for battle in a brilliant magenta dress, hair pinned back from her face to tumble in soft waves down her back, and a deep pink lipstick slicked on her lips.
Looking at her mouth made my knees weak.
I didn’t presume that she wore that lipstick to distract me, but either way, I couldn’t take my eyes away from her.
“Lyra. So great to see you,” Kelly said, though her tone suggested it was anything but. “How are you feeling?”
“Much better, thank you.”
“You look bonnie today, Lyra,” I said. I was rewarded with a quick smile before her eyes dropped away.
“Don’t worry. We’ve made sure today’s challenge won’t require any knives,” Kelly said, and I looked at her in disbelief.
“What?” She twinkled up at me. “Too soon?”
“It’s fine,” Lyra said, reaching out to stop me. My arm tingled where her hand landed. “There will be some point where I’m sure we’ll find this funny. Just not yet.”
“Have some class, Kelly,” I said, and a warning flashed in the judge’s eyes. I just didn’t care. She should be happy that Lyra had come back to finish shooting at all, not poking fun at her for getting stabbed.
“Rab.” Lyra sighed. “It’s fine. She was just trying to lighten the mood. Right, Kelly?”
“Right. It was just a bit o’ banter, Rab.
Lighten up.” Kelly flounced away, and I watched her go, not caring in the slightest that I had annoyed her.
She shouldn’t be making fun of someone who had been injured so recently, especially considering it could have been a lot worse.
When Henry had mentioned what it had just missed, my anger had grown.
“Are you sure you’re well enough to film today? You don’t have to put yourself through this if you don’t want to.” I fell into step next to Lyra as we approached the trailer.
“It’s fine. There’s no use in delaying this. I’d rather we got back to filming anyway. I’m not sure how much longer I want to subject myself to this humiliation.”
“Och, it’s not that bad. Is it? Are you worried?” I stopped in my tracks and turned to look down at her. Twinkle lights reflected in her eyes.
“I mean, it’s not great.” Lyra laughed and looked away.
“But I don’t think there’s much I can do to change it at the moment.
Not until we make some headway with this curse.
So the only thing I can do is be a good sport about it.
Hopefully, if I keep a good attitude, people will still root for us. I’d hate to make you look stupid.”
I tilted my head. “Lyra, I couldn’t give two shites what anyone who watches this show thinks of me. Don’t worry about that.”
“Still. You didn’t sign up to be made a fool of.”