Chapter 13

By the time I made it outside, evening had settled over the castle grounds.

Lanterns burned along the paths, their light spilling across the stone and catching on the fountains and the trimmed hedges beyond them. More light glowed from the windows behind me, hundreds of them scattered across the dark face of the castle like something out of a story I might have told Will if I'd ever believed in castles the way children were supposed to.

The whole place looked different at night. Beautiful, actually, in a way that almost made me forget how much of it still felt like it belonged to someone else's life.

I followed the road toward the main gates, walking faster. I was almost there when someone stepped directly into my path.

"Where are you running off to, beautiful?"

I stopped so suddenly my heart jumped. The young man in front of me was little more than a dark shape against the lantern light behind him. Then I recognized the voice. <