Page 131 of Reverie

“It was the day before The Hunt,” I say. “I tried to stay out of my father’s way, so I mostly kept to my room unless Father summoned me, but it felt like…a shift in the mood on the island. I was there for the entire summer that year, and the first few weeks were relaxed, fluid.”

I rub my thumb back and forth against my top lip, thinking. “But then everyone snapped to attention. There was this...energy among everyone there—especially with my father, Morris, and Alistair.”

I managed to say his name. I don’t look at Winter.

Misha walks over to the massive wall calendar opposite the television screen.

“The solstice is in sixteen days,” he says, still facing the wall.

Ella perks up. “What are you thinking, Mish?” Ella shortening his name makes me itchy, but I focus on the scenario at hand.

“I think,” Misha begins, turning around, “that despite Isla Cara’s previous state, The Hunt will still happen as planned. I think someone else has already taken over your father’s spot, and I think that person is Morris Winthrope.”

He leaves his station near the calendar and walks toward me. “I think we’ve been handed the opportunity to take them all out in one swoop. The Architect included.”

The revelation makes the skin over my sternum feel tight, the implications becoming clear. “Ella doesn’t have to be involved in this anymore.” I rub my chest and look at my sister.

“Wait, what?” Ella interjects, but Misha gives her a brief glance before addressing me.

“Correct,” he says. “It’s better this way.”

Ella gapes at us, opening and closing her mouth before tilting her chin down and rushing out of the room.

“I should go after her.” Winter’s soft voice causes a shockwave in the confused silence. At least, it does for me.

I barely think about my next words when I spin to face her. “No. Stay. I...” I need you. “Just stay.” Please.

It feels like a lifetime passes before she says, “Okay.”

My mom surprises me when she breaks the silence. “Well, let’s get the motherfuckers.”

Misha grins wide and I feel the side of my mouth kick up, but only for a moment.

“Let me get the rest of the team up to speed,” Luna says, nearly bouncing with anticipation.

“Hunter,” Misha says. He walks closer to me, and I’m startled when he places his beefy hand on my shoulder. His gaze is sharp and pinned on me.

“We’re going to figure this out, and we will keep you and your family safe.” He places his other hand over his heart, and in his eyes, I see the rest of the sentence:I swear it.

I nod, absorbing his words…but not fully believing him.

Because while I trust that he will figure this out and he will get to the endgame in this fucked-up mess, I’m not a hundred percent convinced thatIwill make it out of this. The investigator’s words roll through my thoughts.

They’re coming for me.

I turn my attention to Winter. She’s pale and shaking, but I feel the knot in my chest loosen when, in her gaze, I see the same fierce love she’s stopped trying to hide.

As long as she and August and our baby are safe…I can be at peace with that.

I move over to Winter. She stares up at me and grips Kitty’s fur as though he’s her only lifeline.

I do the thing that I’ve been denying myself for the last two weeks. I caress her cheek.

“Don’t be scared, Sunbeam,” I whisper just for her ears. “It’s going to be okay.”

Her lips tremble, and then she says, “How do you know?”

I so badly want to kiss her. To be with her, inside her—inside her heart.