Chapter Eighteen
I swallowed the ache, knowing I’d come up with a way to make Twobble know he did more than enough, but now we had someone on our property to take care of. I turned back toward the yard, toward the figure, toward my choice waiting at the edge of my light.
“Now or never,” I whispered.
Keegan’s response was immediate. “I suppose that’s one way of looking at it.”
The Stone Ward’s pulse brushed my ankles as I moved, a faint sensation like stepping through warm water.
I glanced over my shoulder to see Karvey, Trinity, Squatty, and Flanky. I wasn’t sure where Horny was, but I knew four could do plenty of damage.
Keegan fell in beside me, and Caleb moved behind us, like a careful shadow. My father was next to him as we made our way toward the shadow.
I saw the wolves walk in unison, while staying back enough for breathing room. I knew if we needed them, they’d be there.
The figure at the edge of the yard didn’t retreat. He didn’t advance either.
He just waited.
“Gideon,” I called softly.
The name moved through the night like a thrown stone.
The figure tilted his head again.
And then, finally, he stepped forward just enough that moonlight kissed the lower half of his face.
My breath caught.
Even half in shadow, I recognized him. The lines of his jaw. The sharpness of his mouth. And of course, there was that particular still arrogance that always seemed to sit on him like a tailored coat, even when everything around him was unraveling.
But something about him felt different.
He looked tired. There were shadows under his eyes and a tightness in his shoulders that hadn’t been there before.
Gideon looked like a man who’d been running for too long.
He pushed back his hood, and there was no denying it was him.
There was no smoke and mirrors and no illusion meant to fool us.
He stood just beyond the Stone Ward, and his eyes found mine and stayed there.
For a moment, no one moved, but then Gideon’s gaze shifted to Keegan.
It was just for a second, and that was enough.
There was something that passed between them, and it wasn’t surprise, and certainly not friendliness.
Gideon looked back at me and tilted his head.
“You’re awake,” he said. His voice was low, rougher than I remembered.
A laugh almost slipped out of me.
Of course, I was awake. The night had made sure of that, and so had this early morning.
“I was sleeping, but you kept showing up.”
A faint curve touched Gideon’s mouth. I’d recognized it before. It wasn’t only the Priestess who enjoyed the art of gaming.
But his expression quickly turned to a look of regret.
“I can see it in your eyes. Comparing me to her,” he said.
“I could say the same,” I replied, and he nodded. “Why did you insist on coming to the cottage?”
“Because I can’t stay in your dreams forever,” he said quietly. “And because your grandmother is no longer interested in waiting.”
My stomach clenched at the casual way he said it—your grandmother—as if naming her that way didn’t crack something inside me.
“She’s hunting you,” I whispered.
Gideon’s eyes darkened. “Yes.”
“Why?” Caleb asked.
For the first time, Gideon’s gaze shifted away from me and landed on Caleb.
“You should know why. You were there.”
“Say the reason. It can’t just be the orcs. Why is she hunting you?” I asked.
“Because I disrupted her.” He shifted his weight and glanced at the wolves behind me.
My birthmark warmed faintly, and he brought his gaze back to mine. I knew there was so much more than that, and we needed answers.
“The orcs were meant to break first and go with her. It was supposed to be the beginning of the end.”
Keegan took a step forward. “And you stopped that.”
“I’d say we all delayed it,” Gideon answered Keegan, but he kept his gaze on me. “That day on the field shifted things, changed what was possible, but it didn’t make her goals impossible.”
“And now she’s after you because you ruined her pacing? Put up a hurdle?”
“Because I reminded her that she doesn’t control everything. Not yet.”
Keegan made a low sound. I couldn’t tell if it was disbelief or disdain, maybe both.
In the distance, an owl called, and I heard stone scraping on the cottage as the gargoyles kept watch. The wolves held their formation. The Ward pulsed beneath us, steady and awake. Now it was my job not to slip up.
“You said in the dream you didn’t want to come too close…to the cottage, to the Ward.”
Gideon’s gaze flicked briefly toward the porch, toward the warm light spilling through the windows, toward Karvey’s silhouette above.
“Yes,” he said.
“But here you are.” My brows lifted. “What changed in a matter of hours?”
“Your mother distracted her. I knew now was my opportunity.”
His words were like a punch to the gut. He hadn’t meant to sound careless with his answer, but the truth echoed through the air.
She chose to go to the Priestess, and that, in fact, would have taken her by surprise.
“I figured that I had a very short window to speak with you,” he continued.
“Then say what you came to say,” I said softly.
“There’s so much at stake, Maeve. More than you could even understand.”
I didn’t like how he was circling, so I stepped forward and narrowed my eyes to make a point.
“In my dream, you wanted to give me something…had something to tell me.” I studied Gideon, waiting for him to answer.
“Yes.” He slowly reached into his coat pocket, knowing how quickly wolves would react to sudden movement. I could already feel them getting unsettled behind me.
“Maeve, careful,” Keegan murmured.
I nodded as Gideon’s hand emerged, holding something small and dark.
It wasn’t a weapon or a blade, not a vial or charm.
It was a stone.
At least, that’s what it looked like at first.
My birthmark warmed again, stronger this time.
The item sat in his palm. It was a small, dark, glossy stone with thin silver veins running through it.
Gideon lifted the stone slightly so we could all see it. He wasn’t offering it yet. Just letting it exist between us.
“This,” he said quietly, “is why she’s hunting me.”
The night seemed to draw in around the words.
Keegan’s voice was low when he spoke.
“What is it?”
Gideon kept his eyes on me.
“Depends on who’s holding it.”
My stomach tightened.
“Where did you get it?” I asked.
Something shifted in his expression then. It wasn’t much of a change, but enough to tell me he’d expected the question.
“From her,” he said.
For a moment, the night seemed to go very still. Nobody said a word for a solid minute.
From behind me, I heard Twobble suck in a sharp breath.
I hadn’t realized he’d crept closer again until that sound gave him away.
“You stole from her,” Keegan said.
Gideon’s mouth twitched. “It doesn’t belong to just one person. I reclaimed it.”
My throat tightened. “Why bring it to me?”
Gideon looked at me for a long moment, but in that silence, I, of course, saw the arrogance I expected, but there was something else there, too. Something I never thought I’d see on him. Fear. He wasn’t afraid of dying. That never seemed to bother him. He was afraid of failing. I could sense it.
“Because she will come for it. No matter who has it,” he said quietly. “And you offer more protection for the stone. You have an entire village to look after it. I’m just a man on the run.”
Keegan’s hand tightened at my back, and his voice was low and fierce. “Then leave it here and go.”
Gideon’s gaze snapped to him, sharp. “If I leave it here, she’ll feel it. She’s already sniffing along every boundary. You think she hasn’t tasted this Ward’s edge tonight? I’m letting you know so you can prepare for it. I will hand it to you when you’re ready.”
My stomach dropped.
He was right.
Gideon’s gaze returned to mine. “I came because you’re already in her line of sight. The choice isn’t whether you become part of this. You already are. I will keep her distracted for as long as I can.”
The words hit like ice water, and my breath trembled.
“What is the stone?” I asked.
“It’s a shadow stone. The last remaining one.”
“What does it do?”
“Nothing I’ll speak about in the open.” Gideon’s eyes held mine. “But I want you to stop thinking you can out-will her alone.”
Keegan’s voice was tight. “You’re asking Maeve to trust you after everything you’ve done?”
Gideon didn’t deny it. “Yes.”
“And why would she?” Caleb asked.
Gideon’s gaze flicked to him, and for a moment, the old arrogance flashed.
“She shouldn’t,” Gideon said quietly. “Not blindly.”
The answer surprised me more than any grand vow would have.
“Why would we want to bring this danger in?” I glanced at his hand where the stone stayed hidden.
Gideon’s fingers tightened around the black-veined stone. “Because it’s better in your hand than hers.”
I nodded, but not in agreement, just with the way things were going.
Gideon’s gaze stayed on mine, and I noticed something I hadn’t before. There was something on his cheekbone—dirt, maybe, or the faint trace of dried blood. He looked like someone who’d been sleeping in places that weren’t meant for sleep.
“The Priestess isn’t just destabilizing territories,” he said quietly. “She’s mapping responses. She pushes and then watches who moves, who resists, and who offers refuge. Right now, that knowledge is more important to her than most things. She eyes who hoards, who fractures.”
“She’s sorting us like cattle,” I whispered.
“She’s selecting, and she’s moving faster than I anticipated,” Gideon admitted.
I fear she’s already inside your circle.”
My heart slammed.
“What does that mean?”
Gideon didn’t answer right away. He looked at the cottage, at the porch light, at the gargoyles’ silhouette above, at the wolves in formation, the orcs watching beyond.
He returned his gaze to mine.
“Maeve, you don’t have as much time as you think, and the longer I’m here, the higher chance she’ll know what I’m about to do.”
Keegan’s voice snapped. “Then you shouldn’t have come.”
Gideon didn’t flinch.
“I came to warn Maeve,” he said, gaze never leaving me. “Not to feed your comfort, shifter.”
Anger pulsed through me, but before I could speak, Gideon lifted the stone slightly, and my birthmark gave a firm, unmistakable pulse.
Gideon’s eyes narrowed on me.
“You feel it,” he said softly.
“Maeve. We’re done out here.” My dad stepped forward, and I knew he was right.
Every second we stood here, the night learned more about us. The priestess would pick up on why we hesitated and what we valued. But my eyes stayed locked on Gideon’s.
“I need you to tell me one thing,” I said quietly.
Gideon’s gaze met mine. “Name it.”
“Is my mother alive?” The words came out raw, more of a plea than a demand.
For the first time, something in Gideon’s expression faltered. It was brief and just a flicker. It happened so fast that most people wouldn’t notice it.
Then he said, very softly, “Yes.”
Keegan’s hand pressed against my back, steadying, as if he’d felt my knees weaken.
“Maeve, she walked in because she believes she can bargain.”
My stomach dropped.
Gideon’s gaze stayed on mine, dark and intent.
“And bargains,” he said quietly, “are how Mariselle eats families whole.”
“How do you know this?” I asked.
“I was there. I’d been watching Stonewick, trying to find a time to reach out to you, when I saw your mother advance toward the Priestess on the outskirts of the Wilds.
I followed them, staying far behind the shadows and using some of my own.
Your mother willingly walked into her compound, and she is alive. For Now.”
A chill crept through me.
Keegan’s voice was tight in my ear. “Inside. Now.”
And I couldn’t agree more.
Caleb moved with him, the pack shifting subtly, closing us back into the Ward’s protection like a living net.
“Maeve, when you’re ready for me to hand this over, you know how to call me.” He held up the stone, and my stomach clenched.
Gideon didn’t cross the line.
He only watched me retreat, the stone still in his hand, hood shadowing the planes of his face again like he was already becoming rumor.
The last thing I saw before the porch light swallowed me was Gideon’s mouth moving—silent words shaped for me alone.
And though I couldn’t hear them, my birthmark pulsed once, steady as a vow.
As if whatever he’d said had already lodged itself somewhere deep in my bones.
And I knew, with a cold clarity that had nothing to do with dreams anymore, that this night wasn’t ending with a warning.
It ended with a door opening, and we had no idea what we would step into next.