The Ex Hex (Ex Hex #1)(77)
He leaned in a little closer, lowering his voice. “That woman is you, by the way. Wanted to make sure that was clear.”
Vivi laughed even as she felt sudden tears sting her eyes. “Okay, good, because I really can’t compete with Aunt Elaine for your heart. My baking is atrocious.”
“Your only fault.”
Rhys took a deep breath, reaching out to cup her face, his fingers resting on the back of her head as he looked into her eyes. “I love you. So very, very much. And I know that I’m flippant sometimes, or make a joke rather than say the truth, but I want you to know that you’re everything to me, Vivienne. Everything.”
Leaning in, he rested his forehead against hers, eyes closing as Vivi reached up and put her hands on his wrists. “You’ve had my heart from the moment I saw you on that bloody hillside, and I hate that I wasted nine years without you, but I’m not wasting a single second more. If you need to be here, then I need to be here. Simple as that.”
Stepping back, Vivi looked into those blue eyes. Rhys might have been The Fool, but maybe she was, too, because she realized that the image, a person walking merrily off a cliff, wasn’t necessarily about being reckless.
It was about taking a leap and trusting something—someone—would catch you.
“I want to go to Wales with you,” she blurted out, and Rhys’s brow furrowed in confusion.
“Did you miss the part about how I’ve moved here?”
Laughing, crying, Vivi shook her head. “No, I mean . . . it doesn’t have to be either-or. You here or me in Wales. We can do both. We can have both. And it’s going to be messy and hard sometimes, but it will be worth it. Because I love you, too. You’ve had my heart just as long, and I trust you with it.”
And as soon as she said it, she knew it was true.
She trusted Rhys with her heart. Reckless, capricious Rhys, who glided through life, but who loved her and had proved it over and over again.
The Fool and The Star, just like Gwyn’s cards had shown. Leaping off cliffs and shining steadily, opposites who couldn’t live without each other.
Who didn’t have to.
And that, Vivi had to admit as Rhys leaned in to kiss her, might be the most magical thing of all.
Acknowledgments
As is fitting for a story about witches, this is my thirteenth published novel, and I have been lucky enough to have Holly Root as my agent for each and every one of those thirteen books. The magic a good agent can wield is a truly powerful force, and I am so lucky to have Holly spinning her spells for me.
Tessa Woodward understood this book from the very first, and thanks to her particular brand of magic, it is so much stronger than I’d ever dreamed it could be.
The entire team at William Morrow is, I’m fairly certain, comprised of wizards, and I am so grateful!
To my own coven, especially my Orlando Ladies (the Anti Go-Getters), thank you for listening to me when this book was still in its softest and squishiest stage. Next round of brie is on me!
This is, at its heart, a book about families, and I have been so blessed with mine, both the one I came from and the one I made. Love y’all.
About the Author
ERIN STERLING also writes as Rachel Hawkins, the New York Times bestselling author of multiple books for young readers. Her work has been sold in more than a dozen countries. She studied
gender and sexuality in Victorian literature at Auburn University and currently lives in Alabama.
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