No, he wasn’t. But we were rapidly running out ofoptions...
And my own time was runningout.
13
After two endlessmonths in which the rest of my life had seemed interminable, my final days of freedom slipped away with dizzying speed. I had never written so many letters as I wrote in those few days, pouring all of my fury and despair into my arguments—to the Great Library itself, and to every newspaper and every magician I could think of who might be swayed by the thought of those magical girls and the education they so richlydeserved.
But I didn’t post any of my letters. Not yet. Any such flurry of activity would have alerted my sister-in-law to the fact that trouble was brewing—and she was safely distracted at the moment, between assisting in Lady Cosgrave’s preparations for the solstice and planning my own projectedwedding.
I saved all of my letters in a closed drawer in the little dressing table in my room, along with more notes addressed to my closest relatives, placed on top where they could be most easily discovered. I might not be sharing the news of what was coming with Jonathan and Amy, but there were some truths that I had to write down for them anyway, for them to read in theaftermath.
Heartfelt thanks had to be given. Heartfelt apologies,too.
...And there was one more relative I still had to address. I couldn’t write any given name atop that particular note, but I signed it in my most elegant handwriting,with love from your aunt Cassandra,and I gritted my teeth to keep my jaw from trembling as I sealed the folded paper with one decisivestamp.
It was past midnight on the night before the Winter Solstice. There was no time left fortears.
I might have wasted the last two months of my life in bleak despair, but I wouldn’t waste another moment of itnow.
Wrexham opened his door even before I’d finished tapping my fingers lightly against it. The still and silent corridor was dimly lit at this time of night, with only a few fey-lights left glowing to aid guests in their nighttime perambulations. Still, my fiancé was fully dressed in his evening attire, with dark stubble creeping across his lean brownface.
“You’ve had a new idea?” he whispered urgently. “Or—”
“Shh.” I slipped inside and locked the door carefully behind me. A brace of candles stood atop the desk in the far corner, and I could see a pile of books set nearby; he’d obviously been poring over them when Iarrived.
“We have to be quiet,” I whispered. “I don’t want Amy and Jonathan to be embarrassed by anyone discovering me here.” I’d created enough social challenges for my family without adding any more to my list at the veryend.
Nodding, Wrexham whispered a spell that hummed through the air before closing us in a protected bubble. “No one will overhear us,” he said in his full voice. “So tell me: what have youdiscovered?”
Fury and panic and despair had mingled so intensely within me over the past few days that I’d often felt as if I might explode from the sheer force of them. But as I looked at him now—my brilliant, driven fiancé, his eyes shadowed from the nights he’d spent fighting to find a way to save me—warmth filled my chest and washed all the restaway.
I’d thought I had lost everything four months ago. I had been so wrong. And realizing that in this past week was the most bittersweet gift that I could ever have beengranted.
So: whathadIdiscovered?
“That I have no more time to waste,” I said with soft conviction, and I started towardhim.
Wrexham frowned uncomprehendingly as I pulled off my evening gloves and let them fall to the floor. “What do you mean?” he said. “Are you—mmph!” His eyes flew wide open with rare shock as I cut him off...and not withwords.
I loved talking with Wrexham more than almost anything in theworld.
But tonight was my last and only chance for more, and I wouldn’t give that up foranything.
We were illicitly and delightfully tangled on his bed ten minutes later, laughing and giddy with shared delight, when he suddenly pulled back, panting hard, and stared down at me. His shirt was off by then, revealing delicious, warm brown skin and shockingly soft dark hair that curled invitingly against my questing fingers. I wanted to explore every inch of it, but he shook his head at me, his long, black hair slipping over his face as he supported himself on his fistedhands.
“Wait a minute,” he gasped. “We have to think this through. We can’t—we don’t have timefor—”
“We don’t havetime,” I agreed fervently, and reached up to cup his beautiful, beloved face in both of my hands. “Wrexham, Ihavethought. Trust me, I’ve done nothingbutthink all through this past week, and so have you! We aren’t going to solve this mystery tonight, or find a way to break my promise without breaking thetreaty.”
“Curse the treaty,” Wrexham snarled. “We’ll just leave,now—”
“And let the whole nation suffer for it? Really?” Emotion welled up inside me as I saw the torment in his expression. “You’re an officer of the Boudiccate,” I said softly. “You know we cannot let that happen. No, I made a promise to the elf-lord’s pet, and now I’ll pay for it...but then youwillfind a way toget me backif it’s humanly possible. Won’tyou?”
Wrexham clenched his jaw and didn’t answer...but the muscles in his bare arms, which were braced around me, tightened in a way that was entirelydistracting.
“Listen to me!” I told him in my most peremptory tone. “I threw away the last two months that we could have spent together. But now, at least,we have tonight.Are you really going to waste it hurling curses at Lord Ihlmere? Or are you finally going to make some use of the time that we’ve beengiven?”
“Make some use?” A gleam of humor appeared in Wrexham’s eyes. A sigh rippled through his body...as it lowered infinitesimally toward me. His warm chest brushed againstmine.
