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I sucked in a sharp breath and pushed harder toward the edge of the forest. Grey skies loomed overhead. Rain scented the wind. Crows shifted violently through the branches above me.

Right here.

This is where you end him.

The words wrapped around my throat like hands. I stumbled hard against a root and caught myself against the trunk of a pine tree.

Breathing.

Shaking.

My body didn’t feel like mine anymore.

The most terrifying part wasn’t the knife.

Or the blood.

Or even the way he exposed his throat to me without a flicker of fear.

It was this⁠—

This screaming need to stop running.

To go back to him.

To feel his hands on mine again.

A broken sound escaped me as I squeezed my eyes closed hard enough to ache. The Phantom still lingered beneath my skin. The knife from the kitchen waited beneath my pillow.

And the fruit⁠—

God.

He’d bought it for me, didn’t he?

He’d bought it and he’d sliced it the entire time.

I wrapped my arms tightly around myself and turned into the rough bark of the pine tree. Some part of me had already known. The pear Mrs. Reid served beside Guild and Vivienne had been cut too thick.

Uneven.

Wrong.

And even while Vivienne warned me about the man hunting me…

I still couldn’t stop thinking about the pears.

Knowing Alaric had sliced them instead.

Thin, even pieces.

Perfectly arranged across the plate.

No one had ever noticed what I liked before.

Thunder rolled somewhere beyond the trees, tearing me from the thought. Wind tore suddenly through the pines. I shivered. Somewhere in the distance Crows cawed and screamed, then took flight. I spun toward the movement instantly.

Snap.