I caught my breath, every muscle in my body tightening withanticipation.
“Was that a challenge, by any chance, Harwood?” my fiancé inquired in a silky, dangeroustone.
Satisfaction rippled through me as I arched shamelessly toward him, savoring every single point of connection. “You’ve met every challenge in your life so far,” I breathed. “Why don’t you do it this time,too?”
Hedid.
I didn’t manage much sleep that night, but my body still hummed with warmth and sweet, unfamiliar sensations as I arose the next morning from my own bed, to which I’d finally returned. Flashes of memory accompanied me like fleeting shadows behind my eyelids, overlaying each moment as I moved—Wrexham’s strong, sensitive fingers stroking with aching tenderness across my skin; his expression as he’d gazed up atme...
I blinked again, and my vision was ruthlesslyclear.
The curtains had been opened while I slept. Snow fell beyond the windowpanes in an endless white flurry, too thick for me to even glimpse the rugged hills and massive, sleeping trolls who lurkedbeyond.
Somewhere out there in the midst of that unnatural storm, Lord Ihlmere himself was certainly waiting for his moment. The only question, now, was exactly how I would choose to give it tohim.
I had come to a new conclusion last night after all, in the midst of that warm, enchanted bubble of privacy and exploration and unimaginedpossibilities.
I’d cast that final, catastrophic spell on my own four months ago to prove to myself and to everyone else that I was too strong to ever need any help. Then I’d driven Wrexham away for his own good two months later...or so I’d told myself at the time. But in the end, I wasn’t the only one who’d been punished by that misguideddecision.
There were perfectly good, persuasive reasons not to tell my family the truth of what was happening today, and I’d let those reasons guide every one of my decisions over this past week. But in the middle of last night, as I’d opened myself completely, one final, unexpected consideration had blossomed within me...and in this morning’s clear, unforgiving light, it overwhelmed all therest.
I wouldn’t shut out the people I loved anymore.Thatwasn’t strength or courage after all. And if I only had a few hours left of freedom, I refused to spend them giving in to fear onceagain.
I was carrying my three final, personal letters with me when I tapped on Amy and Jonathan’s door a few minutes later. They felt slippery in my hands as I fidgeted, my feet shifting against the carpeted floor and my own breath loud in my ears. A pair of guests passed behind me: Mr. Luton’s aunt and a friend, from the sounds of it, murmuring together. I didn’t bother to turn and greet them. I was too busy with my own internalcalculations.
If my family was already downstairs, should I bring the letters down, too? I couldn’t simply slip them under the door; that would be cowardly. Andyet...
The door swung open, and my older brother grinned down at me. “Hello, sleepyhead. I didn’t see you at breakfast.” He stepped aside, resplendent in unusual finery: his best forest-green waistcoat, a non-crumpled cravat, and hair that had clearly just been brushed. “Come in, come in. I’ve just been regaling Amy with some fascinating new details I gleaned from Miss Fennell’sscrolls.”
“Delightful,” I said, as dryly as I could manage. I closed my hands harder around my letters as I steppedinside.
Amy was changing her earrings at the dressing table, but she aimed a bright smile at me in the mirror. “Hello, darling! Do you think these ear bobs look appropriately festive for the solstice ceremony? I may be dragged in as a substitute after all if Lady Frampton doesn’t make it through this dreadfulstorm.”
“That’s just as well,” I told her. “You know she’d only spend the whole ceremony sniping back and forth with Mrs. Seabury. They’d probably offend all the elves pastbearing.”
But if Amy was actually going to be there towatch...
My fingers squeezed tight into fists, crumpling myletters.
“Fair point,” said Jonathan breezily, as he rearranged a cufflink on his wrist. “But I have been warning Amy, you know, not to let herself get dragged into any private conversations with the elves while she’s there. It’s just as I was telling Miss Fennell yesterday, you see—they’re infamous, especially the elf-lords, for being able to twist their words so well that they can persuade you into foolish bargains if you aren’tcareful.”
“Ahh...gghl...” The words I was trying to form turned into a tangle of discomfort in mymouth.
Both my brother and sister-in-law turned toward me with expressions of brightinterest.
“All right there, old girl?” Jonathan inquired, raising his eyebrows. “Need a sip of something to clear yourthroat?”
Amy said, “Whatareyou crumpling in your hands, Cassandra? If you were meaning to post those letters, you might want to flatten them out abit.”
I loosened my fingers with a jerk, smoothing down the wrinkled pages. “These...are for you, actually.” I thrust them forward, bracingmyself.
“For us?” Amy’s eyebrows drew into a frown. She didn’t move. “Why would you write letters tous?”
“Not only to us,” Jonathan told her, as he scooped them out of my hand. He held up the letter addressed to my young niece, his voice hardening. “Apparently, she’s planning to be gone for awhile.”
“What on earth—?” Amybegan.
“Just read them!” I snapped, and strode past them both to the window, sucking in a deep, panickedbreath.
