A Wish Upon the Stars (Tales From Verania 4)

He continued to push.

I pushed back.

I conceded many things.

Ryan Foxheart was never one of them. And he never would be.

I sighed, then folded up the note and put it carefully back into my pack. We’d get to Camp HaveHeart tomorrow and would soon see all those we left behind. Kevin was right in that whatever reaction we got wasn’t going to be good. I hoped they would still be happy to see me, even if they hated my guts. And I didn’t even want to think of Justin and Ryan being all buddy-buddy, going on adventures together, fighting side by side, taking back their country. It’d lead to one night when they’d look across the fire at each other, and then all of a sudden they’re butt-fucking and Ryan is telling Justin he made a mistake with me and that he loves him forever, and they’ll probably have adopted a baby by now and named it something idiotically trendy like Mango or Lima Bean, and then I’ll show up and Ryan will be like, “Sorry, Sam. You left, and now Justin owns my heart and Lima Bean owns my soul, and we are happy working on our organic farm and—”

God, I hated Lima Bean, and I didn’t even know if she existed.

There were four other things in my pack.

A set of spare trousers, because I was always taught you should never go on a trip without a clean pair of trousers.

The other things?

Grimoires.

Mine.

Morgan’s.

Myrin’s.

In the past year, I had never opened either of theirs.

Myrin’s, because I couldn’t get over the anger I felt toward him.

Morgan’s, because my heart still broke every time I looked at it.

GW had said nothing about their Grimoires, only instructing me on my own.

In fact, Morgan and Myrin hadn’t been mentioned much at all.

That was something I didn’t push, only because I was still mired in my own guilt.

“You look troubled, pretty,” a voice rumbled from above me. I tilted my head back to see a glittering eye watching me. I was sitting against his side, my back warmed by the fire that burned within him. “You worried about tomorrow?”

I shrugged, looking away.

“It’s okay to be scared.”

“I’m not scared.” It was easier to lie.

“Okay. I am.”

I didn’t expect that. “You are?”

He rumbled lowly, the tip of his tail twitching where it was curled near my feet.

“Why?”

“We’ve been gone a long time. Things can change. Things have changed. We’re not the same as we used to be. We can’t expect them to be either.”

“What if—” I sighed. “We always knew this day would come.”

“We did, yes.”