you?”
Content with the cat for company, he crouched down and stroked the silky black fur. “Are you a shape-shifter too?” He tilted the cat’s head up with a finger under the chin. “Those eyes looked at me from out of the face of a white stag.”
Letting out a breath, he simply sat on the floor, let the cat step into his lap and knead. “Let me tell you something, Hecate. If a two-headed dragon walked up and knocked on the kitchen door, I wouldn’t blink an eye. Nothing is ever going to surprise me again.”
B UT he was wrong about that. He was stunned with surprise when Bryna came downstairs again. She was as he’d seen her the night before, when her power had glowed in her face, striking it with impossible beauty.
“You were beautiful before,” he managed, “but now…Is this real?”
“Everything’s real.” She smiled, took his hand. “Would you walk with me, Cal? I’m wanting the air and the sun.”
“I have questions, Bryna.”
“I know it,” she said as they stepped outside. Her body felt light again, free of aches. Her mind was clear. “You’re angry because you feel I deceived you, but it wasn’t deception.”
“You sent the white stag to lure me into the woods, away from you.”
“I did, yes. I see now that Alasdair knew, and he used it against me. I wanted you safe. Knowing you now—the man you are now—that became more important than…” She looked at the castle. “Than the rest. But he tricked you into removing the protection I’d given you, then sent you into dreams to cloud your mind and make you doubt your reason.”
“There was a woman…she said she was your mother.”
“My mother.” Bryna blinked once, then her lips curved. “Was she in her garden, wearing a foolish hat of straw?”
“Yes, and she had your mouth and hair.”
Clucking her tongue, Bryna strolled toward the ruins. “She wasn’t meant to interfere. But perhaps it was permitted, as I bent the rules a bit myself. The air’s clearing of him,” she added as she stepped under the arch. “The flowers still bloom here.”
He saw the circle of flowers, untouched, unscarred. “It’s over, then. Completely?”
Completely, she thought and fought to keep her smile in place. “He’s destroyed. Even at the moment of his destruction he tried to take us with him. He might have done it if you hadn’t been quick, if you hadn’t been willing to risk.”
“Where’s the globe now?”
“You know where it is. And there it stays. Safe.”
“You trusted me with that, but you didn’t trust me with you.”
“No.” She looked down at the hands she’d linked together. “That was wrong of me.”
“You were going to take poison.”
She bit her lip at the raw accusation in his voice. “I couldn’t face what he had in mind for me. I couldn’t bear it, however weak it makes me. I couldn’t bear it.”
“If I’d been a moment later, you would have done it. Killed yourself. Killed yourself,” he repeated, jerking her head up. “You couldn’t trust me to help you.”
“No, I was afraid to. I was afraid and hurt and desperate. Have I not the right to feelings? Do you think what I am strips me of them?”
Her mother had asked almost the same of him, he remembered. “No.” He said it very calmly, very clearly. “I don’t. Do you think what I’m not makes me less?”
Stunned, she shook her head, and pressing a hand to her lips, turned away. It wasn’t only he who had questioned, she realized. Not only he who had lacked faith.
“I’ve been unfair to you, and I’m sorry for it. You came here for me and learned to accept the impossible in only one day.”
“Because part of me accepted it all along. Burying something doesn’t mean it ceases to exist. We were born for what happened here.” He let out an impatient breath. Why were her shoulders slumped, he wondered, when the worse of any life was behind them? “We’ve done what we were meant to do, and maybe it was done as it was
Content with the cat for company, he crouched down and stroked the silky black fur. “Are you a shape-shifter too?” He tilted the cat’s head up with a finger under the chin. “Those eyes looked at me from out of the face of a white stag.”
Letting out a breath, he simply sat on the floor, let the cat step into his lap and knead. “Let me tell you something, Hecate. If a two-headed dragon walked up and knocked on the kitchen door, I wouldn’t blink an eye. Nothing is ever going to surprise me again.”
B UT he was wrong about that. He was stunned with surprise when Bryna came downstairs again. She was as he’d seen her the night before, when her power had glowed in her face, striking it with impossible beauty.
“You were beautiful before,” he managed, “but now…Is this real?”
“Everything’s real.” She smiled, took his hand. “Would you walk with me, Cal? I’m wanting the air and the sun.”
“I have questions, Bryna.”
“I know it,” she said as they stepped outside. Her body felt light again, free of aches. Her mind was clear. “You’re angry because you feel I deceived you, but it wasn’t deception.”
“You sent the white stag to lure me into the woods, away from you.”
“I did, yes. I see now that Alasdair knew, and he used it against me. I wanted you safe. Knowing you now—the man you are now—that became more important than…” She looked at the castle. “Than the rest. But he tricked you into removing the protection I’d given you, then sent you into dreams to cloud your mind and make you doubt your reason.”
“There was a woman…she said she was your mother.”
“My mother.” Bryna blinked once, then her lips curved. “Was she in her garden, wearing a foolish hat of straw?”
“Yes, and she had your mouth and hair.”
Clucking her tongue, Bryna strolled toward the ruins. “She wasn’t meant to interfere. But perhaps it was permitted, as I bent the rules a bit myself. The air’s clearing of him,” she added as she stepped under the arch. “The flowers still bloom here.”
He saw the circle of flowers, untouched, unscarred. “It’s over, then. Completely?”
Completely, she thought and fought to keep her smile in place. “He’s destroyed. Even at the moment of his destruction he tried to take us with him. He might have done it if you hadn’t been quick, if you hadn’t been willing to risk.”
“Where’s the globe now?”
“You know where it is. And there it stays. Safe.”
“You trusted me with that, but you didn’t trust me with you.”
“No.” She looked down at the hands she’d linked together. “That was wrong of me.”
“You were going to take poison.”
She bit her lip at the raw accusation in his voice. “I couldn’t face what he had in mind for me. I couldn’t bear it, however weak it makes me. I couldn’t bear it.”
“If I’d been a moment later, you would have done it. Killed yourself. Killed yourself,” he repeated, jerking her head up. “You couldn’t trust me to help you.”
“No, I was afraid to. I was afraid and hurt and desperate. Have I not the right to feelings? Do you think what I am strips me of them?”
Her mother had asked almost the same of him, he remembered. “No.” He said it very calmly, very clearly. “I don’t. Do you think what I’m not makes me less?”
Stunned, she shook her head, and pressing a hand to her lips, turned away. It wasn’t only he who had questioned, she realized. Not only he who had lacked faith.
“I’ve been unfair to you, and I’m sorry for it. You came here for me and learned to accept the impossible in only one day.”
“Because part of me accepted it all along. Burying something doesn’t mean it ceases to exist. We were born for what happened here.” He let out an impatient breath. Why were her shoulders slumped, he wondered, when the worse of any life was behind them? “We’ve done what we were meant to do, and maybe it was done as it was
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