Caspian held Sage the rest of the night, her sobs choking her until they were too exhausting. She fell asleep on his chest, her eyes swollen and her nose red. When she opened her eyes in the morning, it felt like a distant nightmare until the details returned to her. Caspian woke to find her at the window, staring outside.
Sage felt guilty. Could she have prevented this? And if she had seen signs of Nikolas using sooner, would she have been able to stop him before it got so bad?
Nikolas wasn't a murderer. Sure, he had helped her place a few hexes back home, but none were truly harmful. He had always been kind. The magic had corrupted him, but was it possible that she might still be able to get through to him?
She remembered him sitting by the creek, their toes dipped in the water. Tha
