Page 38 of She Touched His Vine

Lightning rips the sky apart.

It strikes so close, the entire hollow shudders.

The vines convulse. A tree groans somewhere behind us. And I jerk back, heart hammering, breath caught halfway between shock and ache.

Thorn’s eyes flash wide, hand half-outstretched.

But the moment’s gone.

The storm has spoken.

We both sit there, panting, blinking, too stunned to speak.

But something passed between us.

Something real.

Something we won’t be able to walk away from.

CHAPTER 14

THORN

The storm has passed.

But I am still thundering.

I pace the Grove’s edge in silence, the scent of scorched bark and damp moss clinging to me like a second skin. The trees sway slower now, their unrest fading into whispers, but I can’t quiet myself.

Not after the way she looked at me like I wasn’t just bark and binding spells—but somethingmore.

And gods help me, I did.

I do.

I sink to one knee beside the ward tree, resting my hand against its cold bark. It hasn’t brightened. It still flickers with its slow, dying pulse. But I can feel something new beneath it.

My pulse.

Out of sync.

Too fast.

I close my eyes and press my forehead to the roots. I can still feel the weight of her in the hollow. Her hand in mine. The heat of her breath on my mouth just before the sky ripped us apart.

We didn’t kiss.

We didn’thaveto.

The ache says it all.

I growl low in my chest and drag my fingers down the side of the tree. Bark scrapes my knuckles.

This isn’t what I was meant for.

She deserves someone who isn’t tied to decaying roots and forest wards. Someone who doesn’t have vines woven through his veins or shadows for bones. Someone who can leave.

Who canchooseher.

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