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Well, everything but the hard-fast hammering of my heart.

Leaning over, I gently detach the tether from Effie’s leg.

Verity frowns as she watches her, wondering, “Aren’t you afraid she’ll fly away?”

Truthfully, Verity sounds more nervous about it than I do. I’m not sure when that happened.

“Yes,” I confess. But I look at Effie—at her wide eyes and craned neck as she takes in this big, wide world—and say, “I’drather lose something I love than condemn it to a lifetime in a cage.” When Verity glances back, I give her a wink. “You taught me that.”

Effie takes a few more tentative hops on the edge of the boat, then flaps her wings, tottering around the edge. I hold my breath, not knowing if she’s afraid of the next step. I sure as fuck am.

Rubbing my hands nervously over my knees, I explain, “I came to the palace with nothing but a bag that had exactly two changes of underwear, one extra outfit, a pair of race car pajamas, a toothbrush, and my teddy bear, Mr. Pickles.” Verity’s eyes lift from watching Effie to mine. “The social worker handed the bag to Danner, and once we stepped inside, I never saw it again. It wasn’t much, but even as a kid, I knew it was mine. It was all I had.”

“Oh, Pace…” Her face falls, eyes already shiny and close to brimming, but I don’t want to make her cry. I just need her to know the truth.

So I lean down to brush my lips against the apple of her cheek. “Even though the house was bigger than anything I’d ever seen, I still had to share a bed with two boys I didn’t know. I had uniforms for school and hockey, but nothing was mine. Not until I convinced Father let me keep Effie.”

I reach out and stroke her black feathers, remembering the day I brought her home. She was sick and badly neglected. Hardly talked at all. I looked at her and saw a sad, frightened, lonely soul—just like mine.

I spent weeks online learning about her. What she needed. How to care for her—make her safe and happy. I tried to give her all the things I always wanted but could never find.

“Over time, even after those boys became my brothers, and Ashby became my father,” I gesture over my shoulder, where the palace sits behind the trees, “and that mansion becamemy home, I never felt like it belonged to me. It was always something that could be taken from me. Why wouldn’t it? Nothing in my life had ever been permanent. But when Effie came to me,” I watch as Verity reaches out to pet her, “she was already caged, and as long as she had someone to love, she didn’t even mind it. She never knew any different. She couldn’t… leave me. Not if I kept her locked inside.”

Across the narrow space in the boat, Verity’s hand reaches out and takes mine. Light against dark, scarred against soft. Wrong, but completely right.

I rub my thumb over her hand, as soft as that river stone. “I knew from the first moment I saw you on that dating app that I wanted you, and it wasn’t just because of your perfect body or your gorgeous eyes.” I touch her cheek, following the pink, warm flush down to her neck. “I wanted to keep you, Rosi, and I was blindsided by it. Obsessed. Messy.Stupid.” Shaking my head, I try to remember that crazed, manic month I spentconsumingher on the screen, but it feels so far away now. “I know it’s dumb. I didn’t even know you yet—not really. But I was sure that was love. It had to be, right? Because when you rejected me, it actually hurt.”

“Pace,” she starts, those big eyes full of sorrow, “I’d never even had a boyfriend before, and you were?—”

I press my finger to her lips, stalling her words. “I was too intense, and it freaked you out. I know that now. And it took me a long time to realize that it wasn’t even real.” I watch as my finger drags against her bottom lip, falling away. “Whatever I was feeling back then… it wasn’t love. It was desperation tohavesomething to love. It was sad and pathetic, and I don’t blame you for running. For striking back.”

Miserably, she tries, “When I reported you, I didn’t know?—”

“You didn’t need to know.” My words brook no argument, and I turn my gaze out to the water, wondering how many livingthings are thriving there, just beneath the surface. “The truth is, I keep Effie in a cage because I love her. But blaming Father for going to prison… that meant acknowledging that he kept me in a cage because he hated me. I couldn’t face that.” Meeting her watery eyes, I confess, “So I blamed you instead. Someone who hurt me. Someone I could eventually punish for it.”

She releases a long, shaky exhale. “Nothing about being an Ashby is easy, Pace.” Her thumb rubs over mine, soothing me when I should be comforting her. “I forgave you for all of that a long time ago.”

“God knows why, because I don’t deserve it,” I mutter before taking a steadying breath, summoning the courage I need to continue. “But I’ve thought about it a lot lately, and I want—no, Ineedyou to know it’s real this time.”

A sad sort of hope swims in her eyes. “What is?”

I bring her hand to my lips, pushing a soft kiss into her delicate knuckles. “I love you, Rosilocks Sinclaire.” Watching the force of my words sink in, the tears spilling over, I whisper, “So fucking much that every breath I take when you’re nearby feels like a thousand daggers to the heart. So much that if you told me right now you wanted to leave and take our son to a better, safer place, I’d…” Pausing, I admit, “Well, I’d fucking hate it, and there’s not a power in this world that could stop me from still watching over you, but—but I’d let you go.” A fat tear rolls down her cheek and I catch it on the tip of my thumb. “I understand now that you don’t cage the people you love.”

She’s quiet for a moment, and I sit before her, stripped and raw. Water laps at the edge of the boat and Effie lets a soft trill loose into the breeze. Finally, Verity says, “What we have is different from the others. We have a history, Pace, and it’s complicated, but I also think that’s what makes us able to work through anything that challenges us. You’re going to be a good dad. You’re going to keep Justice safe in a world that’s filled withthreats. I know you will because you already do that for your brothers, and for Effie, and for me.” Her hand cups my cheek, and she gets as close to me as she can with the swell of her belly between us. “I love you too, Pace, and we are never going anywhere without you.”

The boat twitches, and I realize it’s Effie finally pushing off the edge, her wings unfurling like a flower. My breath hitches, and Verity clutches me back as we watch her silhouette rise against the fading sky. Each beat of her wings is a punch to the wind until she finally catches it. The sight of her soaring gracefully against a stream overhead is all at once terrifying and beautiful.

Just like life is supposed to be.

It’sdark by the time we go back to shore.

My heart still feels vaguely outside my body, but every time I glance up, Effie is circling right above us, never straying too far.

“You know, we used to go out on the boat when we were kids,” I say, helping Verity back onto the bank. If she slips and falls, Lex won’t have to kick my ass—I’ll do it myself. “Usually to get high or spy on the Princess.” I point to a window on the west-facing wall. “You can see right into our window from the middle of the creek.”

She shivers. “Well, that’s creepy.”

Laughing, I reply, “Why do you think I'm always closing those curtains?”