Page 68

WINNOW

My eyes devour the sight of Gideon’s pastures, filled with wildflowers and tall grasses. A feeling I can only describe as kismet crashes over me as I realize how I used to fantasize about this very image, this freedom, from the Paltorian prison cell. It causes a knot of emotion to build in my chest. The only difference is the kaleidoscope of butterflies ranging from all white to bright blue to orange and black dancing in the air. Trigger immediately shoots off to chase them as soon as we descend his porch steps.

Gideon pauses beside me.

“How are there so many of them?”

Gideon smiles. “Milkweed, Sassafras, and Spicebush. Levi planted a load of it on his section of the property to help repopulate the area.”

My brows leap.A peculiar interest for a former warrior.

“You said he’s one of your old military friends?”

He chuckles. “Yep. You’d never guess by looking at him, but since he moved here the man’s earned the nickname ‘Bee Whisperer’. He’s got a load of hives and never bothers with any protective gear. I don’t think he’s once been stung.”

I’ve yet to meet him, but already he’s earned my respect.

Gideon presses a kiss to the top of my head as he tugs me along. The moment I step onto the field to head toward Gideon’s barn, a familiar sensation hums to life inside of me. Something I’ve missed like an absent limb.

Magic.

I can feel it zinging into me like electricity from beneath the boots Gideon gifted me. I’m dressed in a pair of jeans and a long-sleeve t-shirt of his that has his ranch logo on it: the words,Kincaid Cattle & Agricultural Reserve,sandwiched between an illustrated outline of a mountain range and the head of a longhorn.

Tears fill my eyes at the sensation of this realm’s magic humming beneath me–buried within the land and all that grows from it–and I can’t help but toe off my boots and socks to bury my feet in the grass. I’d nearly grown used to being so disconnected to my own magic by simply residing in this realm, and it’s a heart-rending relief to feel these tendrils ofAkash’spower, reminding me of my true nature. The true nature of us all, mortal and immortal alike–little seedlings of the divine planted with karmic purpose throughout the womb of reality. And whatever else I can’t even begin to fathom.

Gideon stops in his tracks as he sees me drop to my knees and sit back on my heels so I can weave my fingers through the grass.

He remains quiet next to me for a moment—perhaps through our tether, he can intuitively sense I need this even though my hair is a curtain hiding my emotion.

“Meet you at the barn in a few minutes?”

Gideon takes a knee beside me, stroking my hair. “Of course, baby girl. Whenever you’re ready. Take your time.”

Pressing a kiss to my hair, he hesitates.

“You alright, angel?”

For the first time in my life, I’m completely unafraid to show my emotions.

My heart.

Turning my face toward his as happy tears stream down my cheeks, I smile.

“I honestly don’t think I’ve ever been better.”

GIDEON

Never has anyone been so beautiful covered in cow shit. The sight of Winnow dressed in work clothes—namely a t-shirt with my ranch’s name on it—covered in dirt and God knows what else from helping me, Beau, and Levi muck out the barn while Gertie cleaned all the troughs, is enough to bring me to my knees. She’s more industrious than I could have anticipated, and not once has she complained or turned her nose up at any of the tasks I’ve given her. Not even the one that involved shovelling cow shit into a pile that we’ll use to make fertilizer for our garden. In fact, the moment I said the wordgarden,her whole face lit up.

And when I saw how sweetly she took to the cows, and they to her—this woman may as well have taken the thumping vital organ straight from my chest, because if it hadn’t already realized it belongs to her, it certainly does now.

Cows are skittish creatures, and on top of that, many of my cattle are rescues, so it would normally take even more time to earn their trust. Like myself, they experienced the rotten side of humanity, and yet this woman has managed to put them under her spell in a matter of hours, just as she did me.

I can’t help but shake my head in awe as I watch her in the middle of the field, sitting in the grass, encircled by cows lying—yes, lying—in the grass around her and basking in the sun, as she takes turns with each of them, stroking their necks. Trigger is with his friends–butterflies flitting in the air above him, always just out of reach as he chases them.

The sound of Levi’s voice snaps me out of my stupor from where I’m standing about a hundred feet away, just… watching.

“Is she why you’ve been heading home early lately?”