I could tell Lewis didn’t wait for to return.
Yes, he missed . I felt that through the bond, the quiet pull in my chest the mont he appeared. But there was sothing sharper underneath it. A focus that didn’t relax.
He was thinking about the Stone of Duality.
Seven days.
That number sat behind his eyes like a countdown. Like a tir only he could hear. He couldn’t afford distractions, so he didn’t hesitate to travel all night, determined to make sure nothing went wrong.
Riley let out a dramatic sigh. "I see how it is. You’re leaving again."
"It’s okay," I smiled at her. "We can still catch the sunrise."
Riley waved a hand. "Forget it. I don’t want to be the third wheel."
Grant overheard the end of it and leaned in like he was ready to solve a problem. "Is sothing broken? Daddy will fix it."
I couldn’t help a soft chuckle.
I held Lewis’s hand and searched his face. "You didn’t sleep much. Do you want to rest?"
"I napped on the plane," he said. "But I don’t want to miss the sunrise. Let’s go. I’ll be with you."
The way he said with you made my chest loosen.
Riley was right. Instead of drowning in thoughts about the end, I should hold on to the monts I still had. The ones that were real.
We walked into the open field as the sky began to brighten. The first light spilled across the grass, turning everything soft and gold.
When the sun finally broke the horizon, Lewis kissed .
It felt like the world disappeared, leaving only the two of us and the steady rhythm of our shared breath. My instincts quieted for once, like they were finally satisfied.
Then he pulled away.
And I saw it the shift in his gaze.
He reached into his pocket and took out a stone. The one I had thrown away. Or rather... the one that looked like it.
He studied it closely, like he was checking a wound to see if it had reopened.
I kept my face calm and pretended I didn’t recognize it. "What’s going on?"
"Nothing," he said quickly.
But I caught the relief on his face when he decided everything was "fine."
We walked hand in hand through the town after that, moving like an ordinary couple. Like we weren’t carrying secrets between us.
When we passed the lotus pond, Lewis’s attention drifted toward the small cabin across the water.
It was subtle, but I felt it. The way his body angled. The way his senses reached out.
"What are you looking at, Lewis?" I asked softly.
From the bridge, all we could see was the giant cherry blossom tree, its branches swaying gently. The wind chis hung there like little bones of music. There was no sign of the old woman.
Lewis quickly shifted his gaze. "Nothing. I just thought that cherry tree is huge. Has to be over a hundred years old."
"Let’s get a closer look," I suggested.
I knew she was gone.
Lewis didn’t respond, but he didn’t stop either. We kept walking toward the wooden bridge, our fingers still intertwined.
A breeze swept through, and the chis tinkled softly, like a song I almost rembered.
Lewis reached out and rested his palm against the tree’s rough bark.
I ca up behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist. My cheek pressed to his back, and for a mont I just listened to his breathing.
A story flashed through my mind again. Not from a book. Not sothing I had heard.
Sothing I felt.
A girl dressed in red. A man who promised he would return when the blossoms blood again. A promise that never made it back ho.
And a sacrifice that rewrote fate.
That was why his love felt too big for this lifeti.
It wasn’t a new love.
It was an old one.
In this life, he didn’t want regrets. He would protect even if it cost him everything.
But the person I had always wanted to protect was him.
In every tiline.
We sat under the tree for a long ti. The air stayed quiet. The old woman never appeared. No footsteps. No movent. No sign she had ever existed there at all.
Lewis didn’t ntion her.
Neither did I.
When we finally walked away from the well, hand in hand, I caught a strange reflection in the water for a split second like a girl in red leaning against a man who looked tired and brave.
Then it vanished.
Lewis took to the farm after that, like he was trying to pull into sothing lighter.
The mont we arrived, Riley’s scream cut through the air.
"You better stop! Or my father will hear about this! He makes a an chicken soup!"
She ran past with feathers stuck in her hair, a furious hen chasing her like it had sworn an oath to end her.
When she passed , she waved. "Hey!"
I laughed and gave her a thumbs-up. "Go for it!"
Riley wasn’t bothered at all. It was like she had decided she would live loudly, no matter what was waiting at the end.
She dragged into the chaos and sohow convinced to help "borrow" eggs.
The next thing I knew, I had a warm egg in my hand and a mother hen racing after like she was possessed.
"Lewis, help!"
He stepped in front of and didn’t touch the hen. He didn’t kick it. He didn’t even move.
He just stared.
The air around him hardened. That invisible pressure that made people straighten their backs without knowing why.
The hen froze, blinked, and then turned and ran like it suddenly rembered it had sowhere else to be.
I poked Lewis’s side, still annoyed. "Why didn’t it peck you?"
He laughed softly. "Chickens only peck nice people. She knows I’m not soft."
His voice lowered. "If she pushed her luck, she’d beco rotisserie."
Then he looked at , eyes warm. "You can be soft sotis. So I’ll be your shield."
My throat tightened.
"It’s a deal," I whispered. "For life."
We stayed two days in the town before we finally left.
Riley didn’t want to leave the kittens behind. Their mother had been killed by a wild animal the day before, and Riley couldn’t stand the thought of them being alone. She arranged to have them shipped back to Jaford like they were precious cargo.
But when we returned to the city, the lightness we’d carried started to fade.
It felt like a heavy fog settled back over everything.
There were things I couldn’t avoid anymore. Things bigger than Whitney. Bigger than the Blackwell brothers.
Amber.
She was the real danger.
How did she know what she knew?
The Stone of Duality just like she said. And the look in her eyes that day... it wasn’t confusion. It was recognition.
A chilling thought hit so hard I stopped moving without aning to.
The rose garden at the Dolton estate.
Amber’s dress the first day we t covered in roses like she was wearing a warning.
Could she be the Lady Rose we’ve been searching for?
My breath caught.
I stopped pushing the wheelchair.
"What’s wrong?" Lewis asked, glancing back at .
Before I could answer, I looked up.
And there she was.
Amber.
Standing right at the airport exit.
Her eyes locked onto mine cold, sharp, and steady like she was ready to end everything right there.
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