Chapter 777 This Much, I Could Do
“What were you and Peter talking about?” Caleb asked as he rested his chin on Ashleigh’s shoulder and wrapped his hands around her waist.
Ashleigh smiled and waved to Peter and Myka as they left the room.
“There were some concerning feelings coming off of you,” Caleb whispered, nuzzling against the side of her head. “I was worried.”
Ashleigh leaned back against him and let out a sigh.
“I’m all right,” she said softly, raising her hand to rest atop his. “It was a long overdue apology on my part. Luckily, Peter was willing to listen and far more generous than I would have been.”
Caleb smiled.
“Only to yourself,” he said.
Caleb pulled away and turned her to face him. He rested his hands on her hips and smiled at her tenderly.
“You are stubborn and hold a grudge,” he said.
Ashleigh raised an eyebrow.
“I hope this is going somewhere…”
Caleb laughed.
“It is,” he nodded. “As I said, you are stubborn, and you hold grudges… but you are someone who forgives, even if you don’t think you will or insist that you won’t.”
Ashleigh took a deep breath, looking away from him.
“I don’t know,” she sighed. “I don’t think anyone else would agree with you.”
He reached up and moved the stray strand of hair that had fallen over her eye behind her ear.
“Ask Alice,” Caleb smiled.
Ashleigh furrowed her brow.
“Alice is probably the most likely to agree with me on this topic…” she said.
“I think you’d be surprised,” he grinned.
Ashleigh rolled her eyes. In the past few days, she realized that Caleb, like Alice, was observant of people in a way she simply couldn’t understand. He saw things that she couldn’t. Understood the meaning beneath words that were never spoken.
It was frustrating.
“All right,” he said, touching her chin affectionately, “don’t get upset with me. I only meant what you said about being unable to be as generous as Peter. I don’t think that’s true. I think you have much more understanding than you give yourself credit for… just not for yourself.”
Ashleigh looked up into his eyes. He looked back at her with the warmth that was only ever for her. The honesty that comforted her and made her feel secure.
“It’s hard to believe that others can forgive your mistakes when you can’t,” he whispered.
Ashleigh felt the tight grip in her chest that had become a frequent feeling in the past five years. Forgive herself… stop blaming herself… it sounded so easy when anyone else said it.
The truth was she didn’t know how. Ashleigh had spent so much time trying to convince herself and everyone else that everything she did, every mistake she made, was worth it. It didn’t matter what she had to do so long as Caleb returned.
Even when she regretted her choices, she couldn’t allow herself to think too long about it. She had to keep moving, to keep searching. Stopping, even momentarily, felt like she was putting another mile, day, year between her and Caleb.
But Peter was right. The impossible had happened. Caleb was back. He was standing in front of her, holding her in his arms. She didn’t need to keep searching, to keep running.
She swallowed.
“I—” Ashleigh began.
“Sorry to interrupt…”
Ashleigh and Caleb both turned to see Fiona standing nearby. She smiled at them.
“I was hoping to get a moment alone with the two of you,” she said.
“It’s all right,” Caleb said, looking back at Ashleigh, “we can talk more later, right?”
“Definitely,” Ashleigh nodded.
“Wonderful,” Fiona smiled, “then if you can spare me some time and indulge me on a little hike, there is something I would very much like to show you both.”
Ashleigh and Caleb looked at each other curiously.
“A little cryptic,” Caleb smiled. “But I’m up for it if you are?”
Ashleigh laughed and nodded.
“Sure,” she said, turning back to Fiona. “Lead the way.”
Fiona led them out of the main buildings through several sections of the city until they finally came to one of the large gates that opened to the forests and hills of Summer. Caleb had tried to ask several times where they were going, but Fiona only smiled and told him to be patient.
She led them in a direction that Ashleigh was familiar with almost immediately. Though the signs of battle were long gone, she could still remember standing at the portal listening to the sounds of fighting. The howls and screeching of the monsters trying to make their way past Caleb and the Broken Crag wolves.
Her heart was beating faster and faster as her senses took turns, reminding her of the last moments before they entered that portal and trapped Caleb inside.
The smell of blood in the air, the scratching and tearing of her skin as the vines wrapped around her. Lily’s voice telling her to focus on the portal, on getting the wolves to Winter.
Caleb squeezed Ashleigh’s hand.
She looked up at him, her chest heaved with heavy breaths.
“I’m here,” he whispered.
Ashleigh swallowed and closed her eyes, leaning against him. She took a deep breath and pushed away the memories.
“I’m okay,” she said.
They started up the hill. Ashleigh wondered if Fiona was taking them to where the portal had been. She had come here herself many times in the first year. There was no sign of it anymore, no shape, no lines, nothing to indicate that anything had ever been there. Just a blank wall of stone.
Fiona stopped. They were still within the trees. The portal site was not far.
“It’s not much further,” Fiona said.
“Are you taking us to the portal?” Caleb asked.
“Yes,” Fiona nodded, then smiled. “And no.”
Ashleigh looked at Fiona.
“Myka and Ashleigh both investigated the mountain many times. There is no portal, not anymore,” Fiona said. “But still, it was the last place I saw my son, so it became a place I visited often over the years.”
Ashleigh looked at the path that continued up the hill. The trees were thicker than before, and the trail itself was well-maintained, with low lights added to illuminate the road ahead.
“I have a surprise for you,” Fiona continued. “One I hope will make you both happy.”
“What is it?” Caleb asked.
Fiona smiled.
“Go on and find out,” she said.
Caleb grinned and looked at Ashleigh.
“Shall we?” he asked.
Ashleigh still felt uneasy. This place held nothing but pain and regret for her. She couldn’t imagine anything that could possibly make her happy here.
“Sure,” she said.
Caleb nodded.
“Race you!” he shouted and ran up the path ahead of her.
Ashleigh sighed but chuckled before running after him.
“That was cheating, you know!” she shouted as she hurried to catch up to him.
It wasn’t far, a slight bend in the path and then up just a little more. She knew that was where they were going and what they would find. But she didn’t expect him to stand in the middle of the road.
Ashleigh ran into him, stumbling backward as he stood still, staring ahead.
“Caleb! What are you—?!” she shouted, but her words slipped away into a gasp as she looked up at what he had already seen.
It should have been an empty clearing surrounded by a dense forest and a solid mountain wall. A clearing large enough to fit one hundred wolves but small enough not to be seen from the bottom of the hill.
But it wasn’t empty. Not anymore.
“That’s….” Caleb whispered in disbelief.
He took short, deep breaths as he stared at the building that now stood in the clearing.
“So…” Fiona’s voice called out from behind them, “are you surprised?”
Caleb and Ashleigh both turned to her.
“That’s…!” Caleb shouted as he pointed behind him, still struggling to form the words.
Fiona smiled and stepped toward him.
“There was no saving the tree,” she said sadly. “But this much, I could do.”
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