Just enough of the vines had unraveled to show familiar, silky black hair at the top. My fingers bit into my palms as I forced my hands to my sides. I didn’t dare touch those writhing vines as they pulled themselves free, in case the thorns bit even harder into his flesh—but as more and more layers of vines whipped away, I sucked in a breath at what was revealed before me:
A high, light brown forehead, smooth and unmarred by wounds.
Closed eyelids that no thorn had touched.
Wrexham’s beloved, angular face was stubbled and still as stone—but not hurt. Not a single thorn had scratched it.
Yet his face was sostill, inhumanly still...ohhh.Magicallystill!
Of course.
She hadn’t been the one who’d trapped him after all. Once he’d realized that he couldn’t win their battle, he’d trappedhimselfin a protective shield she couldn’t break...a shield that only the right person would be able to open.
He’d kept himself safe for me, as I’d asked.
Slowly, unbelieving, my lips curved into a smile that burst with joy.
It was no wonder Westgate had wanted him as the next Chief of the Boudiccate’s magical officers. My husband was thebest, cleverest, and most imaginative practicing magician in all Angland...and just as soon as that final vine pulled itself free—once I’d kissed him and berated him and ravished him soundly and ordered him tonevertake such a risk for me ever again!—I was going todemandthat he teach me that brilliant new spell he’d designed that had protected him even from a malevolent fey’s fury.
No oneelse could have thought it up except for him. Of that, I was already certain.
His eyes opened as I laid one careful hand against his cheek.
Wrexham blinked, twice, wariness replaced by startlement as he took in the whole scene with his dark, intelligent gaze. Then his mouth curved as I shook my head at him, tears of relief standing in my eyes.
“Of all the ridiculous, amazing, terrible,wonderfulgentlemen I haveeverknown—”
“Had a good second day at work, have you, Harwood?” he inquired wryly.
Vines unknotted themselves from around his body and slithered past mine into the sea of bluebells. My students gathered around us in a semicircle of linked arms, beaming as they held the blazing spell of light, while my brother and sister-in-law stood behind them, patiently tolerating Luton’s lecture on how we might have done every bit of tonight’s venture differently if only we had listened to him from the beginning.
Sharp thorns brushed against my legs and sides as they swept past, but our whole community stood guard around us, and that community would only grow from now on.
“Did I have a good day?” I repeated incredulously.
Cupping both hands around my husband’s lean cheeks, I leaned in to answer him with a kiss lit by shining magic.
17
The vines had retreated from Luton’s cottage by the time we finally emerged from the woods, but soft moonlight shone through the massive holes in the fencing to reveal all the wreckage left behind.
Luton looked at his cottage’s broken door and groaned dramatically.
I said briskly, “Never mind. Given the circumstances, I’m sure no one will question your virtue if you choose to stay in Thornfell with the rest of us tonight. We’ll find you a room well away from any ladies, with a door that locks firmly from the inside.”
“Or you could sleep at Harwood House,” Jonathan added, “if you’re concerned about your reputation.”
“No.” Luton drew himself up, giving his cottage one last, wistful look before turning to Thornfell with squared shoulders. “I shan’t desert my post. Besides, Mr. Wrexham will be sleeping in Thornfell tonight. With a married gentleman in residence, my reputation should be safe enough.”
“WillI finally be sleeping there tonight?” Wrexham leaned to murmur the words into my ear, his warm breath tingling against my skin. “Or will my wife insist on sending me away yet again?”
“Don’t be absurd.” I narrowed my eyes up at him and tightened my possessive grip around his arm. “If you think I’m letting you out of my sight again before Iknowyou’re entirely recovered—”
“Iwasn’t the one who was injured,” he pointed out. “I spent the day sleeping in perfect comfort as I waited for my wife to save me. Whereas...” As his gaze dropped to the wounds on my bare arm, his tone darkened. “I should think, ifeitherof us was allowed to be concerned with the other’s health just now—”
“We’ll sort it all out later,” I promised as we crossed the grass together toward the dark, familiar mass of Thornfell. Exhilaration bubbled through me as the front door opened. Miss Birch stood solidly planted in the doorway, and warm light streamed out to welcome us home. “Wewillhave time tonight.” For once, it could be my top priority.
First, though, there was organization to be done. It took an inordinate amount of time to re-gather my giddy, victorious students around the dining table to eat their long-awaited supper—not to mention having my own arms and ankles cleaned and bandagedandfinding a guest bedroom that could meet Mr. Luton’s own exacting standards.
