“Don’t say you didn’t mean to kiss me.” He steps closer, voice desperate, hand warm against my cheek. “I couldn’t stand it if that were true.” When he kisses my cheek this time, his lips are a firm, hot promise. An admonishment. A wish. Against my skin he whispers, “Instead, tell me you meant it.”

My mouth goes dry. He draws back, eyes serious and waiting. “I…” I take a shaky breath and listen to my own heart racing in my chest. Feel the buzz of magic from his skin rippling across mine. Stand in the blaze of his attention and request, and speak the truth. “I meant it.”

It doesn’t seem to stick. I repeat it again for good measure. “I meant to kiss you, Sel.”

He takes in my face, assessing as always. Then, after a beat, he laughs low, shaking his head, his expression quietly pleased. “Reckless girl.”

I lift my chin. “And?”

He grins. “And… never change, Briana Matthews.”

When we make our way back to Volition, it is with slow steps and shy smiles and hips and legs that keep touching as we walk. Early morning is just beginning to tint the darkest blues of the world a pale peach, while the forest remains asleep. Sel stops abruptly, tugging me back into his arms. His hand cradles my jaw. “Say it once more…,” he murmurs.

I grin against him and push up to my toes to whisper in his ear. “I meant to kiss you.” I expect him to respond with more sweetness, a joke, a gentle nudge into his arms—but he turns his head at the last second, his body a long line of tension as his ears pick up something mine can’t. “What is it?”

“Trouble.” He yanks me onto his back and runs us toward the border.

We stop just outside of it to see ten Mageguard in a semicircle on the far side, hands up against the barrier, trying to break through.

53

AS SOON AS I pass us through the Volition root barrier, we both breathe a little easier.

Only a little.

With this many dead maintaining it, the ancestral dome of Volition is far stronger than any Merlin-cast aether barrier could ever be, but the Mageguard don’t know that. And their presence is alarming enough, even if they can’t see or hear us, because somehow, they’ve found where we’ve been hiding. Where we’ve been safe.

Lu and Mariah stand in the middle of the main road, bodies rigid with anger. William and Alice turn to meet us. Hazel must be back home, thank God.

I slide from Sel’s back. “Are you all okay?”

“We’re fine,” Alice gasps.

“How did they find you?” Lu’s eyes don’t leave the Merlins.

“I don’t know.” Her question wasn’t accusatory, but it still stings.