Page 128 of Freeing Hook

Astor stops, his boots halting against the stone. Before I can continue, he says, “If that’s the case, you can understand why I omitted that part of the story.”

A lump swells in my throat. I search Astor for the boy I saw last night, but then again, I’d only glimpsed a shadow of him. Besides, while that boy is somewhere within Astor, he’s had years to thicken the armor surrounding him. “You could have told me,” I say, immediately frustrated with how that sounds. “Not because I deserve to know that about you. Just because—well—I would have understood. To some degree, at least.”

Astor shifts uncomfortably. With each moment that passes, I sense him slipping. It’s in his face, the way his cheeks empty of color and his brow tenses. And it kills me. Maybe because apathy is as familiar to me as my own reflection—at least, the reflection of the Wendy Darling who left her family’s manor. I’m not sure I’ve looked in a mirror since then. It’s as familiar to me as Peter’s expression when he’s confronted.

And I hate seeing it on Astor. Astor, who’s passionate. Astor who, instead of being ruled by a simmering rage, has learned to steer it.

Astor shakes his head slightly, his face softening. “I’m afraid it’s not the same, Darling—what happened to either of us.”

A lump swells in my throat, my heart hammering against my chest because I’m not sure where he’s going with this. My throat goes dry as I scramble for a way to understand. “I know I was older. That I at least understood what was happening…”

Astor swallows, then blinks. “No, Darling. I mean that you’ve never done anything to deserve what happened to you.”

Pain ripples through my ribs. “You were just a child.”

Agony warps his beautiful face. The way he stares at me is like I’m a child and there’s a concept I’m not yet capable of grasping. I still hate that he sees me that way. “Does the timing of my punishment make a difference? When evil was written into my story from the beginning?”

I frown, hardly able to believe what I’m hearing. “Surely not,” I say.

“What?”

I’d laugh, if it weren’t such a painful topic. “You’re the most obstinate man I’ve ever met. Surely you don’t believe someone else wrote your story.”

He actually lets out a quiet laugh at that.

It’s hard to believe that our story is coming to a close. In some ways, it feels as if it’s yet to begin. But even if Astor decided not to remove his Mating Mark, I’d still belong to Peter in twelve days. I have a calendar Charlie gifted me back in the cabin to prove it.

“Astor,” I say as we descend into the cave.

“Darling.”

“When this is over, we won’t be bound. But I’d like for you, when all of this is said and done and you’re sailing across the sea a free man… It would mean a lot to me if you remembered me fondly.”

Astor stares at me for a moment, sea spray still wetting his dark eyelashes. “I can keep that promise,” he says.

My heart aches, ripping from the inside out, but as I reach for his hand, a rumble rips through the cave.

And the cave ceiling falls in.

CHAPTER 49

WENDY

The first thing I do when I come to is call for Astor.

“Nolan,” I choke through heaving breaths, expelling dust and rubble from my airway. The weight of several rocks bears down on me, but Astor threw me out of the way of the falling rocks as soon as he felt the ground shake. My head is pounding. I must have hit it on the wall when the ceiling caved in.

“Nolan,” I call out again, blinking furiously and trying to get my eyes to focus so I can assess my surroundings. Fear races through me, and for a moment I worry he might have been crushed, and I’ll have to go through this life knowing he’s not here with me in the world, but then his voice calls out from the other side of the rock formation.

“Darling, Darling, are you okay?”

Relieved, I tug at the hair at the crown of my head, and then, wiping the grime off my cheeks and placing my hands at my hips, catching my breath, I say, “I’m fine. Just a little dizzy, that’s all.”

There’s a pause on the other side, and my heart skips when I realize it’s Astor sighing in relief. “Well, that was exciting, nowwasn’t it? Just wait for me to clear the rubble and I’ll come get you.”

“You could go back to the ship and get the crew to help,” I say.

No answer.

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