Page 10 of Magical Mayhem (Stonewick Magical Midlife Witch Academy #7)

I stood there longer than I should have, staring at the shadowed mound of him.

Gideon.

Every instinct screamed at me to turn back. To leave him here, in the Wilds, where he belonged, where he could rot away into moss and memory. My father would have approved. Keegan would beg me to stay away. Nova would warn me that touching shadow left stains.

But I couldn’t.

Because I knew the truth now, even though it was bitter and impossible.

If Gideon wasn’t part of the circle, the circle wouldn’t hold.

Not with my father. Not with Keegan. Not with me.

All three threads were tangled with his, for better or worse.

Without him, the weave would fray and tear, and Stonewick would fall.

The Academy wouldn’t survive it. None of us would.

But what was I supposed to do? I couldn’t drag him into the Academy. The students would panic. The teachers would revolt. The Wards would rebel at his presence.

I watched his body barely moving, and I knew I wasn’t strong enough to carry him anywhere.

Plus, the thought of dragging Gideon anywhere near the Academy made my stomach twist. Even if I could have managed it, which I couldn’t, what then? Where would I go?

Keegan was already going to feel betrayed when he learned I hadn’t walked away from Gideon here in the Wilds. To bring him into the very place he’d spent decades trying to destroy… that would be a wound Keegan might never forgive.

And worse still…my secrets. The dragons hidden in the Academy’s walls, breathing quiet fire into the Academy’s magical structure. I had to protect them at all costs.

No. Gideon could not cross that threshold.

I wrapped my arms around myself, shivering though the air was still, the vow settling in my chest like iron.

Protect Keegan.

Protect the Academy.

Protect the dragons.

Whatever else came of this, I had to hold those truths tight.

I knelt slowly, moss damp beneath my knees, and leaned closer. His face was half-hidden by tangled hair, but I could see the hollow of his cheek, the pale grayness of his skin. His breath rasped shallow and uneven.

“Gideon,” I whispered.

His eyelids fluttered, just barely.

Relief cut through me, but it was sharp and painful.

“I don’t know what happened to you,” I murmured, brushing hair away from his brow. My fingers trembled, though I told myself it was only from the cold. “But you need to wake up. You need to help me, help all of us. And the only way to go about it is to stay alive.”

His lips parted. A sound escaped that was low and hoarse. It seemed almost more breath than voice. I bent closer, straining.

“…Maeve…”

The sound of my name on his lips made me flinch. It was broken, mumbled, tangled in shadow, but it was him.

“Yes,” I whispered fiercely, clutching his shoulder. “I’m here. I came. Tell me what to do.”

But his words dissolved into garble, syllables slurring into nothing. My heart sank.

I shook him gently, desperation spilling into my voice. “Please. You have to try.”

No answer met me, only the rasp of his breath.

Tears pricked my eyes, hot and unwanted. I absolutely despised having to treat Gideon as if he were worth protecting.

I slipped an arm beneath his, bracing my shoulder against his chest, and tried to haul him up. My muscles screamed, and his weight dragged me back to the ground. I gritted my teeth and pushed harder, trying again, but he was immovable, his body like stone.

“Damn it,” I gasped, collapsing back beside him. My chest heaved with the effort, frustration burning in my throat.

The moss cushioned us both, but it felt like a cruel mockery. The forest had made a cradle for him, wrapping him in softness while I flailed helplessly beside him.

I pressed my forehead briefly to his shoulder, my breath ragged.

“You can’t do this to me. You’ve put us all through enough.

At least make something good come out of your wickedness.

You can’t leave me here with nothing but riddles and curses.

I need you. Keegan needs you. My father—” My voice broke.

“Stonewick needs you to finally make things right. Please.”

Now wasn’t the time to mention the circle, but he needed to know that his presence was required.

He stirred faintly as his fingers twitched against the moss.

My heart lurched, and I caught his hand, cold and heavy in mine.

“That’s it. Hold on to me. Just… hold on.”

The silence pressed tighter as the Wilds leaned close.

But he didn’t answer again.

I sat there, clutching his hand, the enormity of the choice weighing heavier with every second. I couldn’t take him back. I couldn’t move him forward. And I shouldn’t leave him here.

And yet, for now, that’s exactly what I had to do.

The forest was a prison, but it was also a shield. If I couldn’t carry him out, maybe the Wilds would keep him safe long enough for me to find another way.

I brushed his tangled hair back again, my touch softer now.

“I’ll come back,” I whispered. “I’ll find a way to move you. I swear it.”

I wanted to add, not because I like you, only because I need you.

My promise echoed in the silence, small and fragile, but true.

I stayed there longer than I meant to, and my knees became soaked from the wet moss.

Not because I liked the man, but I needed him.

I stood with trembling legs and looked down at him one last time.

Gideon, the enemy. Gideon, the tether. Gideon, the man who might decide Stonewick’s fate with nothing more than his absence.

And I swore again, fierce as fire, that I wouldn’t fail him.

Because if I did, I would fail us all.

The moment the Academy’s stone steps came into view, I picked up my pace, cloak snagging against summer weeds as I pushed forward. My breath became ragged, and I realized I really did need to work on my cardio somehow. The challenges ahead only appeared to be getting harder.

I shoved the doors open, and the halls buzzed faintly with students’ chatter.

But it all felt muffled, as if I were underwater.

My heartbeat drowned out everything else, and then I realized I’d been primed for this moment my entire adult life.

I’d spent years pretending that my husband wasn’t going behind my back so I could keep our family together until it became just too obvious.

But even then, I pulled myself up by the bootstraps and marched on until I realized there was no redemption there to be had.

And boy was that freeing. I think I hoped for that moment here with Gideon, too. I wanted to prove to myself that his wickedness could be useful or redeemed…or something.

So, hiding a wicked man in the woods while tending to one that meant the world to me inside these walls? Child’s play.

I swallowed that last thought, and I hoped I believed it.

I turned the corner and Nova appeared almost instantly. The sharpness in her green eyes told me she had been waiting for me.

“Maeve,” she said, urgency lacing her usually calm tone. “He’s worsened. He was in class, and he managed to finish the lesson, but…”

My stomach dropped.

Images collided in my mind. Keegan, pale and strong-willed, pushing himself upright in his bed, determined to teach despite Malore’s curse. And Gideon, slumped under moss in the Wilds, his breath shallow, his body heavy as stone.

Both of them slipped further. Both of them breaking. And somehow, both of them tied in a way I didn’t understand.

My heart hammered as I followed Nova without a word.

The corridor seemed to stretch longer with every step, but at last we reached Keegan’s door. Nova pushed it open, and I stepped inside, bracing myself.

The sight still stole my breath.

Keegan lay on his side. His face was even paler, and sweat dampened his temples.

The strong lines of his body seemed diminished, as his chest rose shallowly.

His hands twitched against the blanket, claws straining against skin as though the wolf inside him fought to claw free.

My knees buckled, witnessing the parallels between Gideon and Keegan’s strength.

I rushed forward and knelt beside him. With my trembling hand, I brushed limp hair from his forehead. His skin was clammy, fever-hot beneath the sheen of cold sweat.

My throat closed as I pressed a kiss to his cheek.

“Keegan,” I whispered, my heart pounding. “I’m here.”

His eyes fluttered open. The hazel dulled but still caught light.

I could see he tried to smile, but the expression cracked into a grimace. “Maeve.”

“Don’t speak. Save your strength.”

Behind me, Nova moved quickly, tracing sigils in the air. Ember hovered beside her, pouring pale green light over Keegan’s chest in a fog-like glow. It soothed small spasms in his chest.

“His body is resisting us,” Nova said in a controlled tone. “The curse spreads faster now.”

Ember’s glow dimmed and brightened again. “It’s clinging to him. Every thread we unravel knots twice over.”

I squeezed Keegan’s hand harder, as my heart broke.

The sound of footsteps thundered down the hall, and then Ardetia swept in, her silken hair streaming behind her. Her bracelets chimed as she skidded to a halt.

She moved quickly to the other side of the bed.

“What can I do?” she asked urgently.

Nova glanced at her. “Hold him. Keep him in the here and now. If he slips…”

Ardetia nodded and knelt next to him as she set her hand on Keegan’s arm. Watching her Fae magic curl faintly against his skin like a silver thread might have been majestic any other time, but not today, not with Keegan.

Lighter and swifter footsteps came down the hall.

Bella burst in, her tail flicking once before vanishing as she forced herself fully into human form.

Her golden eyes fixed on Keegan instantly.

Her expression was stripped of her usual sly mischief.

My dad followed in behind her, and his gaze steadied on mine.

In that moment, I saw the truth as I looked between Bella and my dad, both shifters.

They didn’t think it would end well.

The understanding passed between us like lightning. They knew the signs, the tremors in his hands, the way his wolf strained against the curse. Their eyes said what Nova would not, what Ardetia would not.

He was slipping beyond what any of us could pull him back from.

My throat ached, as tears stung my eyes.

But Bella’s gaze told me something else, too.

That I could trust her.

If anyone could understand what it meant to hold Keegan to this world, to fight tooth and claw against the shadow eating him alive, it was Bella.

Her lips pressed together, and she gave the faintest nod, almost imperceptible, but it anchored me.

I turned back to Keegan, clutching his hand as if I could anchor him, too. His eyes fluttered, sweat beading along his brow, his lips moving with words too broken to hear.

“I’m not leaving you,” I whispered fiercely. “Do you hear me? You’re not going anywhere. Not without me. And if I’m not by your side, I’m only a shout away.”

His hand twitched weakly in mine, and my chest cracked open with relief.

Behind us, Nova’s staff pulsed brighter, Ember’s glow spilling like mist, and Ardetia’s silver threads winding tighter around Keegan’s arm. Bella moved closer.

The room swelled with light and shadow, and the thrum of magic.

But the sound of shallow breath couldn’t be missed.

And in the center of it, I knelt, my heart pounding, a secret burning in my chest so hot I thought it might consume me.

Because as I held Keegan’s hand, I couldn’t stop seeing Gideon.

Slumped in the Wilds.

Alone.

Fading.

Worsening.

Just like Keegan.

Two threads pulling tighter around my throat. If I lost one, I would lose the other. And if I lost them both, Stonewick was gone.

Malore would win. He would gain power to twist the ancient rites and create a new Hunger Path.

I bowed my head against Keegan’s cheek, tears slipping hot down my skin, praying to whatever power still listened that I wouldn’t be forced to choose.