Page 126 of When the Woods Go Silent

“Ruby,” he whispers, like he can’t believe what’s happened. I blink slowly, my body humming with the sort of lazy content from a late afternoon nap in the sun, or the sleepy pleasure of unhurried morning sex.

“Could you beat her now?” I mumble, and he snatches me to his chest, burying his face in my hair and breathing hard.

“Fuck, Ruby. I’ve never felt this much power. Not even before, when you were asleep.” His arms are shaking around me, half of his skin like ice and half like fire wherever he touches me.

Burning sweetly, either way.

“It’s the consent,” I answer, my voice muffled against his shirt. I don’t know why I say it, but it rings true. Maybe I know nothing of real magic and its rules, but it makes sense that power given can grow much deeper roots than power taken.

He curses again under his breath, and I push away, giggling.

“Told you I could take a man down,” I tease, my words still a bit slurred.

“And I thought I was the dangerous one,” he answers, shaking his head at me and blinking as though he still can’t think straight.

“Promise me one thing, and I’ll think about letting you drink from me again.”

Torrence raises an eyebrow like he doesn’t believe I could stop him, but he doesn’t know the kind of girl magic I know. If he’s going to be my beast, then this is the first day of training.

“You can tap me like a power keg, as long as you use your magic for good, like stopping the war. Like stopping the uprising happening now, for example.”

His eyes flare as he sits up straight, mouth tight. “What uprising?”

I frown. “Kier told Rose. He had to go back home to take care of a gobbelin uprising. I thought that’s why you...”

Torrence shoots to his feet, pacing angrily, all of the lazy pleasure and teasing fun instantly sucked out of our moment.

“What? What is it?” I demand, stumbling to my feet and trying to get in his way to stop his pacing. He dodges around me, heading inside as I hurry to catch up.

“I have to go, Ruby. I have to stop whatever my mother is doing here.”

“Yeah, that’s what I want you to do. But why are you surprised by it?”

“Because she kept me out of the fucking loop again. She did all of this behind my back.” He waves his arm at the spotless kitchen, and my stomach sours as I realize he’s talking about Arlo and the murdered gobbelin servers.

“So she suspects you of double-crossing her,” I guess, and he curses in answer, already slamming open the door to the garage. I have to jog now to catch up to him.

“I have to go,” he repeats, handing me his car keys. I blink down at them, realizing he wants me to drive back to Rose. He’s goingnow, leaving me behind.

“I want to come with you.”

He looks at me in horror, but I don’t want to take the words back.

“No,” he barks, as though that could ever be the end of it.

“You said you’ve never felt more powerful - what if you need my blood again?” I’m desperate not to be left behind, not when I’ve just now found the magic I’ve always wanted.

“Ruby. Fuckingno.You have no idea what this is going to be like. Stay here, stick with Rose. I’ll come back, but I have to go.”

I scrabble for his arm, but he’s gone. Moving faster than I thought possible, he streaks out of the garage and deep into the forest beyond. There’s no way to catch up to him now, and I have no idea how to get where he’s going.

The keys are heavy in my hand as I trudge back to the car, feeling the fear of missing out, not to mention confused as crap by all the choices I’ve made today.

Still, as I pull the car carefully past the stand of trees where I almost died, I know.

I would make every one of those choices again.

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