Leave it to Ronan Lynch to threaten Gansey over something he had no control of. A good part of him wanted to roll his eyes, and another had a faraway desire to pull Ronan into a hug like he had so long ago. Underneath the token aggression was something not unlike desperation. Ronan couldn't lose anything else. He wouldn't.

"Too soon," Gansey said, but the way a corner of his mouth curved upward proved that it wasn't. Somewhere between the shifting tides and the rising sun was Ronan, forcing himself upright and trying not to question too hard the thing before him that he wanted so badly to be true. Gansey would prove it just by being there. He'd done it before and he'd do it again.