Page 61 of Summertime Hexy
Like a spell.
Each syllable holds me in place. Keeps me from slipping.
The stars flicker above us. The trees blur. I’m half-gone already. But her voice keeps dragging me back.
Back to her.
I blink up at her face, hazy in the light of the Grove. She’s sweat-soaked, tear-streaked, furious and beautiful andmine.
She saved me.
No,Isavedher.
And I’d do it again.
I find enough breath to whisper it.
“I’d do it again.”
She freezes.
Her hand stills on my chest.
Our eyes lock.
She doesn’t say anything.
But she doesn’t have to.
I’ve made my choice.
And even if it kills me, I’ll never regret it.
CHAPTER 21
HAZEL
He says he’d do it again.
And that’s what breaks me.
Not the blood or the tear still snarling open behind us like a cosmic wound. Not the bone-deep ache that tells me my magic isn’t ready for what I’m about to do.
It’shim.
Broken and bleeding, whispering like I’m something worth dying for.
And the worst part?
I believe him.
I press a shaking hand to his chest. His heartbeat stutters, sluggish and uneven. Still there. Still fighting. But for how long?
He needs time.
I have to buy him that time.
I stand. My legs hate me for it. My lungs feel like they’ve been replaced with burning fog. But I turn toward the tear—my wand in one hand, my raw, messy fear in the other—and Ifaceit.
