Page 67 of Summertime Hexy
She doesn’t look away.
“And I thought that was it. That I was just… existing. A weapon with no real purpose. A shadow that kept moving because stopping meant remembering.”
I pause.
Breathe.
Then say it.
“But thenyouhappened.”
She blinks. Eyes wide. Lips parted.
“You are the reason,” I say. “The reason I stayed. The reason I stepped in front of that blast. The reason I didn’t let myself turn to dust in some forgotten ruin.You.”
She doesn’t speak.
Tears spill over her lashes, silent and angry and relieved.
I pull her forward, wrap my arms around her, hold her like an anchor.
Her hands fist in my shirt.
For the first time, I don’t feel like I’m holding her up.
I feel like she’s holdingme.
“Don’t run from this,” I murmur into her hair.
She nods against my chest.
“I won’t,” she says. “But only if you promise not to die again. Seriously. I will kick your soul out of the afterlife.”
I grin into her hair. “Deal.”
And for a long time, we just breathe.
Together.
Like we finally found the place we were supposed to stop running.
We sit in silence for a long time.
Her tucked under my arm. My hand stroking slow lines across her shoulder.
The Grove hums around us—soft and alive again, like the forest decided we’d earned a moment of peace.
And then she shifts.
Not a lot. Just enough for me to feel it—her body go tense, her breath hitch.
I glance down.
Hazel’s face is turned slightly away, her eyes on some invisible point just beyond the trees.
And tears are spilling down her cheeks.
Not the messy, theatrical sobs she uses when she’s joking or pretending she’s not scared.
