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“Agreed.”

“But I do worry about the tether snapping.”

“It won’t,” he said. “Because I’ll be there holding the other end.”

My eyes burned with unshed tears, and I had to blink rapidly to keep them from falling.

This wasn’t just about breaking the curse and getting my dad back to human form or stopping the deadly shifting incidents for Keegan. It wasn’t even about me.

It was about Stonewick, the Academy, and the future of magic.

Keegan reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a folded piece of parchment. “I’ve been tracking shadow breaches near the Flame Ward. They’re getting closer. The memories seem…off.”

My blood chilled.

“I thought the Flame Ward was strengthening. The memory forge seemed far more active.”

“True, but I’m not certain the forge is active with only Stonewick’s memories.”

I took the page with trembling fingers. The markings were erratic and spindly, spiderwebs of dark influence weaving toward the heart of our safe haven.

“Could that be from our current students? Their memories being pulled into the memory forge? Or the two who infiltrated?”

I didn’t even want to speak their names.

“Possibly.”

“Then our students have seen more darkness than I realized.”

“Seems that way.” He let out a sigh. “But we’ve come so far together, Maeve.”

“And we’ll go even further.” I nodded. “And we might not be able to do anything about the memories being borrowed. If that’s the kind of baggage some of our students have, then we need to work with it as best we can.”

Something dark flittered through his gaze, and he cleared his throat, bringing his gaze back to mine.

“I won’t let anything happen to you, Maeve.” Keegan scratched his chin, and a smirk surfaced. “If that means pulling you out of Shadowick before we complete our mission, so be it.”

“You say that now, but do you really want to be faced with the uncontrollable shifting? The thought that the next shift could be your last?” I felt the anger bubble through me again at the thought of Gideon’s evil ploy to torment those who stayed to fight for Stonewick.

“We have to break the curse no matter the dangers.”

He didn’t respond to my observation and continued. “Gideon is getting more brazen.”

“Shadowick is pushing the edges,” I whispered. “Testing the perimeter. He’s appeared to me in the in-between. I’ve seen him on the grounds, but my mind knows better. I realize it’s not actually Gideon, but he’s testing me, and I’m tired of feeling like I’m on the defense.”

“You are right,” he said. “Something’s coming. The Moonbeam may be our only window to sever whatever connection Gideon still has to the Wards.”

I looked at him, suddenly overwhelmed with gratitude and a sense of awe. “You believe me?”

Keegan’s voice was low. “I believe in you.”

That did it. The tears slipped down my cheeks, warm and fast. I wiped them quickly and laughed at myself. “We really have to stop having these emotionally charged moments in the middle of magical gardens, especially if you haven’t even kissed me yet.”

He reached out and touched my hand, his fingers bending around mine as his eyes locked on me.

“Maeve,” he said, voice barely above a whisper. “You’re not playing a part. You’ve become what this place needed. You’re the realest thing I’ve ever seen.”

I leaned into him then, just a little. Just enough to feel steady again.

The only sound left in the Butterfly Ward was the thrum of my heartbeat, which was far too loud and far too aware of the man beside me.

Keegan.

His fingers were still tangled with mine, warm and steady. He didn’t say anything.

He just stood there watching me like he was trying to memorize the moment, and I felt a magical pull to do the same.

But that intensity, that quiet and thoughtful way that he looked at me, always made it hard to breathe. It was like being seen too clearly, and I wasn’t sure if I was ready for someone to notice the cracks and not mind them.

Keegan shifted his hand, bringing mine to his chest.

“I think about you more than I should,” he said, voice low.

His words stunned me, and I swallowed hard. “Keegan…”

“I told myself not to go to impossibilities and that I shouldn’t even entertain the idea. You know that it would complicate everything. But I keep… ending up here. With you. Wanting you to believe in yourself the way I do.”

His eyes searched mine, and he raised his hand to my cheek, slowly and deliberately.

I didn’t pull away.

I couldn’t.

The wind rushed past us in a sudden gust, and my pulse heightened with a mixture of uncertainty and excitement.

“I’m not going to do it unless you want it too,” he said, thumb brushing the edge of my jaw.

I didn’t answer, not with words.

I leaned into his touch, tilted my face just slightly as his breath hitched, and my heart raced.

His lips met mine, and he kissed me.

The kiss wasn’t tentative or rushed.

Just… sure.

His kiss was as if he’d been waiting for this, not just days or weeks, but lifetimes. This was the kind of kiss that wasn't about fireworks or urgency, but it held weight, promise, and certainty.

Keegan’s hand cradled the back of my neck, drawing me closer, and I leaned into him, into the strength I’d come to rely on and the gentleness I’d never expected.

The world around us slowed, the magic sighed in the leaves, and the flowers bloomed brighter. The stone wall at my back warmed as the Ward pulsed quietly.

When Keegan pulled away, he rested his forehead against mine.

His breath mingled with mine, and his voice was rough. “I’ve wanted to do that for a long time.”

My lips still tingled. “Yeah?”

He nodded. “Since the day you showed up with your friend, thinking your kaleidoscope tea was messing with your mind.”

I smiled, dazed, and a little breathless. “That’s oddly specific.”

“You made an impression.” He shrugged with a smirk. “But I was also counting the days you’d come to your senses and leave Alex. You deserve the world, Maeve.”

Surprise flashed through me, and I almost forgot that I was a new witch and headmistress of Stonewick Academy as his words coated me with the security that I never knew I craved.

I reached up and toyed with the edge of his collar, grounding myself. “I’ve been waiting for a kiss, too.”

He brushed his thumb over my cheek again, then stepped back, just enough to let us breathe. His smile was softer than I’d ever seen it.

“Don’t doubt yourself, Maeve. And don’t forget you’ve got me, no matter how tangled this gets.”

I swallowed the knot in my throat, chest warm, heart aching in the best way.

Whatever came next, whatever Shadowick had planned, I wouldn’t face it alone.

Not anymore.

The Moonbeam would come. And with it, our chance.

Together, we’d be ready.