Page 170 of Magical Moonbeam

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I opened my arms and let it in.

The Moonbeam’s last light laced my fingers like silk.

And I flung it forward.

Straight into Gideon’s chest.

He howled as it struck, light and truth and belonging searing through his smoke-bound form. He tried to scatter, but this time, the Academy didn’tlet him.

The walls shimmered with sigils. The stone pulsed with ancient intention.

And his shadowsrecoiled.

He collapsed inward, his form unraveling, breaking apart not from death…

But frombeing seen.

Seen for what he really was: nothing but a ghost of hunger and harm.

With one last crack of air, the corridor cleared.

The silence that followed wasn’t peace.

It wasrelief.

Keegan appeared then, breathless, his hands already reaching for me.

“You okay?” he asked.

I swayed slightly. “Define okay.”

He caught me before I could fall, his arms warm and solid around me. I leaned into him, barely able to lift my arms.

But I didn’t need to.

The Hedge quieted around me, content.

And the light held.

For now.

Chapter Forty-One

“I can still feel him inside.”

The words slipped from my mouth in a hoarse whisper, barely formed and trembling. My lungs burned. Every breath dragged like thorns in my chest. I couldn’t tell if it was magic, pain, or fear, or all three twisting together like a belt around my ribs.

Keegan held me tighter, one hand braced at the back of my head, the other grounding me with the steadiness I didn’t realize I needed. “Maeve, he’s gone.”

But I shook my head. Hard.

“No,” I rasped. “He... he left something. A splinter. I can feel it pressing just behind my eyes.”

And then—

A flicker.

Not of him exactly, not his shadowed face or whispered promises. But of something worse.

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