Page 83 of When the Woods Go Silent

“And you think I have it? That’s actually insane, you know. I’ve never even heard of any of this. My family is just normal. Fucked up, but normal. I would know if we had some long-lost sword or magical book or whatever.”

“It’s a lot to explain right now, but I promise I’ll tell you everything soon. I don’t know enough yet, but Rose, I think finding you is the closest I’ve gotten to finding what we need to destroy the gobbelins.”

My eyes slide shut as I try not to laugh at the absurdity of it all, working to convince myself I’m not lost in a fantasy book. This is actually happening, and I can’t just close the cover and go about my regular life anymore. Not ever again.

If I’m going to believe Kier - and I don’t possibly see how I could explain all of this away - this changes everything.

“Ruby,” I say again, more urgently this time. She’s been right all along. I never thought she was crazy, but knowing she was actually right? This changes everything.

Kier grabs me by both shoulders, locking me to the blanket. “Rose, you have to be smart about this. I saw how Ruby looks at Torrence. She’s already under his blood magic spell. Gobbelin blood, Rose. You’ve both ingested it - it’s in every fucking bite of their food and sip of their alcohol. She’s already addicted. She’ll follow him like a lost lamb. And I think you know as well as I do, if she suspects Torrence has the magic she craves,she’ll never leave him.”

I blink at him, wondering how he knows so much about Ruby. And... blood magic?

“How?” is all I can manage.

“The food,” he repeats, and I can tell he’s trying to be patient, but this is a fucking lot. “The blood is in every fucking dish they serve atGoblin Market. Humans lap it up, and the most susceptible - the most vulnerable - they never have a shot. I’ve had to kill more than one gobbelin for bleeding a human dry. They’re worse than any vampire legend.”

I hold my hands up, silently begging him to stop. I can’t take in so much of this at once. Addictive blood, Ruby in danger, war in a whole other world... my brain is too close to rejecting every word of it and checking myself into a slipper-sock resort.

“I have to go. The shop...” I trail off, realizing it’s a dumb time to worry about work. But I can’t handle any more talk aboutmagic. Not right now. Maybe not ever. I just want to put my head in the sand and pretend it’s all normal.

“I’m sorry. I know it’s hard to believe when you’ve never known it. But I’ll be back after closing. We’ll go over more of it then,” Kier promises, and I can only nod, even though I’d much rather insist he never come back. My best friend has been right all along, but all I can think about is how this threatens the perfect little life we’ve just started building.

How can I not tell her she was right about such a huge secret? And then again, how can I, when it will change fucking everything? Kier’s right - addiction or not, Ruby would follow Torrence anywhere if he showed her magic was real.

“I have to go,” I repeat, looking at him but barely seeing anything. He doesn’t look like a fox or a fae anymore, just an unreasonably attractive ginger man with worry darkening his pretty green eyes.

Goddamn it, I wish that’s all he was.

“Remember, Rose. You can’t tell Ruby any of this. It’s too dangerous for her right now,” he warns, not trying to stop me this time as I grab my bag and stand to leave. I shake my head, unwilling to let him make this kind of decision for me.

“We don’t keep secrets from each other,” I whisper, but Kier leans forward and fixes me in a hard stare, his mouth a firm line of warning.

“You will if it could save her life.”

A little cry of despair slips from my lips and I smack my palm over my mouth, turning and half-running out of the forest.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

RUBY

As the icicle melts away into nothing in the heat of my palm, I realize I’m again left with zero proof to show anyone.

Not that it would mean anything anyway. Ice is ice. It could come from anywhere.

---