“Ahem.” Standing in the inner semicircle, old Mrs. Seabury planted her walking stick in the snow before her like a statement of its own. “Your Majesty.” Her wrinkled brown face creased into a wicked smile. “I believe you’ll find I can speakmymind...and I have a reasonable understanding,too.”
“Why, Mrs. Seabury.” The king’s face lit into a startlingly open and amused smile of his own. “Our old nemesis. You always did know how to speak your truths, didn’tyou?”
She’d been the oldest member of the Boudiccate for as long as I could remember...but for an instant, as Mrs. Seabury grinned at the elven king, I could almost see the fiercely sparkling young woman she had oncebeen.
...A woman who, perhaps, had not been as different from myself as I’d alwaysimagined.
“We would,” said the elven king, “be honored indeed to welcome you into our ancient halls. And we shall expect you to join us there by the next moonfall at the latest.” He bowed, with deep respect, and turned away. “To thehunt.”
A chorus of eerie beauty answered him as every elf-lord spoke as one. “Thehunt!”
Snow swept upwards from the ground to surroundthem...
And they were gone, leaving the rest of us behind in a cold, clearday.
My limbs were suddenly trembling in long, shivering waves. Laughter and tears crowded together in my throat, until it was impossible to distinguish betweenthem.
The magical bubble around us disappeared with a snap. “No need forthatanymore!” Lord Cosgrave dusted off his hands. Letting out a puff of disbelieving laughter, he shook his head. “Well...well. Indeed.” He turned to his wife. “Now to thefeast?”
“Now to the feast,” Lady Cosgrave agreed in a shaking voice. She rested one hand on his arm for a long, shuddering moment before straightening and assuming her usual regal demeanor. “And then...then we all have much to discuss. Including...” She gave Mrs. Seabury an exasperated look. “A new member of the Boudiccate to appoint on extremely short notice,apparently, as we’re being abandoned by our oldestmember.”
“Ha!” Mrs. Seabury snorted and turned toward the house, waving her walking stick for emphasis. “A fine muck you’ll all make of it without me, I wager! But I’ve no time for this nonsense. I’m off toeat!”
A new member of the Boudiccate.My gaze flew to my sister-in-law.
But at this utterly crucial political moment, she was, for once, ignoring all of her friends and colleagues to hurry toward me across the snow. “Cassandra.” Amy flung her arms around me, her firm, rounded belly pressing hard against mine. “Cassandra, you sweet, absurd fool. You could have reclaimed your magic after all! How could you say no tothat?”
I pressed my cheek into her soft, crinkly dark hair, breathing deeply as the last waves of shock and fear and regret and relief shivered through me, leaving me emptied out...and finallyfree.
“I have everything I need right here,” Iwhispered.
Something hit me hard in the stomach, and I jerked backward. “What—?!”
Amy’s eyes brimmed with tears, but she beamed as she rested one hand on her belly. “Apparently, your niece wanted to be a part of thisconversation.”
A choke of laughter escaped my throat as I took thatin.
My niece...whom I would actually meet, myself, in person, afterall.
A new generation was unmistakablybeginning.
Jonathan grabbed me for a rough hug, mussing up my hair. “Don’t worry,” he growled, “she’ll meet you soon enough. And then we’ll havetwolots of trouble in thisfamily!”
“Oh—!” I shoved him off, grinning. “I was never the troublesome one inourfamily. If you onlyremembered...”
But the words dried up in my throat as the semicircles parted and Wrexham strode toward me at a near-run, tall and lean and full of so much focused intensity—all for me, forever, after all—that I didn’t even try to stopmyself.
In full view of the assembled members of the Boudiccate and every magician in the house-party, I lunged forward and threw myself directly athim.
His lips were cold and perfect. His arms locked me close...andhome, for the rest of our lives, afterall.
“Hopelesslycompromised,” I heard Jonathan say behind me, with satisfaction. “I daresay they’ll have to get marriedthis weekto make up for the shame ofit!”
But I had far more important things to rise to than my brother’steasing.
When Wrexham finally pulled back, he kept his firm hands around my waist and grinned down at me, his lean, dark face alight with unleashed happiness. “‘Important work,’ eh?” heasked.
Most of the Boudiccate had disappeared by then. The magicians were still milling around, of course, discussing various details of the near-confrontation with an inordinate amount of hand-waving and noisy debate overexactlywhich spells would have worked best if they’d only been calledfor...
