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Rhys

I think Lucien was right about one thing.

Boone doesn’t know what he wants right now.

I leave him sleeping shortly before dawn and return to Mara’s stable, where Étoile is waiting in the back pen with her head lowered. She lifts her head when I enter, ears flicking toward me. I saddle her there rather than bothering to lead her out first, and within minutes, I’m walking her down the empty road toward Boone’s cottage.

The village is still asleep.

I intend to be gone before that changes.

By the time I return to the cottage, Boone is awake and sitting in his bed beside the window with one long leg drawn against his chest and both arms wrapped around his shin. He stares through the glass without moving, his face pale and swollen from crying. I stand inside the doorway watching him for a moment, Étoile waiting outside.

He doesn’t turn when I enter, but his shoulders tense. He knows I’m here.

“Before the village wakes up, Boone. Come on.”

I say it gently, but his reaction tells me I could have screamed the words at him and accomplished the same thing. His arms tighten around his leg, his shoulders drawing inward. He keeps staring through the window.

“I’m begging you,” he says quietly. “Leave me here. Just for now. Just until my father is buried.”

Separation is not an option.

It is only a matter of time before the village wakes and people begin talking about everything they witnessed yesterday. Whatever sympathy they felt when Boone’s father bled to death in the road will eventually give way to the stories they’ve spent generations telling about my family. By midday, everyone in Villeneuve will know the Beast came down from the mountain. Even Mara’s influence won’t be enough to guarantee that fear doesn’t become anger or that anger doesn’t become a mob. A mob can absolutely take Boone from me.

I won’t remain here long enough to find out.

Neither will Boone.

I told Mara to keep them away from us. Lie about where the castle really is. Tell them I’m not who they claim me to be. For my mother’s sake, she agreed. I agreed to make the trails even more unaccommodating.

“Get up.”

Boone finally looks at me. “No.”

I cross the room.

His foot hits the floor immediately, and he pushes himself off the bed before I reach him, backing away until the wall beside the window stops him.

“Rhys.”

“We’re leaving.”

“I said no.”

“I heard you.”

“Then listen to me, please!”

“I am listening.”

“No, you’re not!” His voice breaks when he pushes away from the wall. “You never fucking listen to me. You decide what you want, and then everyone else is just supposed to—”

I catch him by the arm.

“Don’t.”