Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 100859 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100859 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
She turns and hurries out the door. Even though everyone suspects there’s something going on between us, the last thing I want is for someone to see us walking to the stables together, especially with what we’re about to discuss.
I wait a few minutes, gathering up the textbook I had pulled from the library on blood magic and rituals, then set out after her. A light drizzle is falling, peppering my shoulders with tiny droplets by the time I slip into the shelter of the stables.
I poke my head into Snowdrop’s stall, the horse giving me a welcoming nicker. I stroke her muzzle for a moment before moving on to the next stalls until I notice Kat’s coat hung up outside one of the empty stalls at the end, furthest from the school, closest to the woods.
I peer inside and see her there. Her back is against the wall, hidden in the shadows, but the moment she sees me, she runs forward through the hay floor and pulls me deeper inside.
“Thank God,” she says, holding on to my arms. “I was afraid you wouldn’t come.”
“Why wouldn’t I?” I ask, my hand sliding down to hold hers, wrapping around it. Her skin is cold and soft, and it does something to me, makes me feel like the more I hold on to her, the more I’ll fall through the earth.
She gives her head a shake, a strand of blonde hair coming loose. “I don’t know. I just thought maybe after everything, you would want some distance. There’s just so much…it’s too much.”
I reach out and brush her hair off her face, tucking it behind her ear, and she closes her eyes at my touch. “I’m not going anywhere,” I murmur, running my fingers over her jaw until I’m gripping her chin. “You have me, my vlinder, no matter what happens, no matter what you’re about to tell me.”
Because I can tell she’s carrying something heavy on her shoulders, something I might not like.
“It’s Brom,” she says warily.
“I know.”
She gives her head another shake, rubbing her soft lips together, and fuck, do I ever want to kiss her. “No. You don’t know.”
I run my thumb over her lip, fighting the temptation to place my lips on hers and make everything go away. “Tell me, then.”
“Brom came over for supper last night with his parents,” she says. “They’re making him live on campus now.”
“Alright…”
“And my mom says I’m to live here too.”
I can’t help but smile. “So you’ll be closer to me. I don’t see how that’s a bad thing.”
“It’s a bad thing because my mother was so adamant that I don’t stay here. Now she’s completely changed her mind about it, and all because of Brom. They want me here only because he’s here.”
“I see.” Damned if I don’t feel the deep cut of jealousy again.
“Crane,” she says gravely, her eyes searching mine with trepidation, “they want me to marry him.”
My heart feels like it’s dropped out of my chest and onto a bloody mess on the floor.
“Marry him? Did he ask you?”
“No. He hasn’t.” I sigh with relief. “But it was always that way. Ever since I was born, I’ve been betrothed to him. We grew up knowing we’d be married to each other one day. And he was my best friend, and I…I didn’t mind the idea. I don’t think he did either. But when he went missing…that was all forgotten. Until now. Now, they’re talking about us getting married like he never left at all. They all act like the last four years never happened.”
I mull that over for a moment, but all I really care about is how she feels.
“Do you love him?” I ask point-blank.
She swallows hard, the sound audible. “I did. When I was younger, I did. I was in love with him, even though I was a silly teenager who didn’t know the meaning of the word.”
“And now?” I say stiffly, afraid of the answer.
“I don’t know,” she says, and the air hitches in my lungs. “I can’t tell…because it’s not Brom. It’s not him.”
“What do you mean?” I think of the locked door inside his mind, that other voice, the war that belonged to someone else.
She takes in a deep breath. “I left supper early. My parents and his parents were pushing for the marriage as they always have and—”
“Do you know why?” I interrupt. “Do they ever tell you why they want you to be married?”
“No,” she says emphatically, her eyes flashing. “And that’s the thing. I can’t get any answers. My mother says it was something my father wanted, but Famke told me secretly that all my father ever wanted for me was to leave Sleepy Hollow and that he didn’t want me to marry Brom at all. It’s just that my mother overpowered him on everything.”