Page 146 of Magical Moonbeam
“Where are your shadow guards now?” I asked. “Hiding in the fog, or licking their wounds?”
He didn’t smile. “They were only meant to soften the edges. Not destroy.”
“Funny way of softening.”
He stepped closer, the gate still between us. “You didn’t bring her.”
“No,” I said. “She stays.”
“And yet,” he said softly, “you know it will come down to her in the end.”
“I’m not here to debate fate,” I snapped. “I’m here to end your curse.”
“Ah.” His eyes glittered like storm-tossed steel. “Then let’s not waste time.”
He pushed open the gate with one hand. It creaked like it hadn’t been moved in a century, but it opened easily.
And still, I didn’t step through.
Not yet.
Gideon tilted his head. “Do you fear crossing into my domain?”
“No.”
“Then why wait?”
“Because this isn’t about you and your kingdom of rot.” My voice dropped. “This is about her. My daughter. I needed her to see it. That was what the Moonbeam was about tonight.”
“Seewhat, exactly?”
“That darkness doesn’t win unless you let it.”
He blinked, slowly. “Is that what you think I am? Darkness?”
“I think you’re a man who got left behind and decided to burn everything on his way out.”
He exhaled sharply. A laugh? A sigh? I couldn’t tell.
“Come inside,” he said again. “The moon doesn’t wait.”
It didn’t. I could feel the pull of it now, heavy in the marrow of my bones.
This was the moment.
No more practice rounds.
No more rehearsals.
Just me.
And him.
And a curse older than anything I’d ever faced.
I stepped through the gate.
And Gideon smiled like a man greeting an old friend just before the storm rolled in.
