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Jalissa joined them, standing on Farrendel’s other side. “This will be adequate.”

“It’s mine, Jalissa. Averett gave me permission to renovate it however I want. And I want to make this as comfortable for visiting elves as possible.” Essie waved to the cottage.

“I see. In that case...” Jalissa glided forward and rested a hand on the doorpost. A faint green light glowed around her hand, then flowed into the wood. Moments later, saplings sprang from the earth. Vines climbed the cottage. Branches and leaves even grew from some of the formerly dead wood of the doorways and window frames.

The green glow ended, and Jalissa pulled her hand from the wood.

Essie forced her smile to stay in place. “It’s beautiful, Jalissa.”

It wasn’t. The cottage now looked like the forest was trying to eat it, but perhaps with time the elven magic would transform the cottage into a more cohesive union of Escarlish and Tarenhieli architecture.

“It will do for now.” Jalissa eyed her handiwork, her mouth pressed in a line as if she wasn’t exactly happy with the result either.

“Come on. Let me show you the inside. I’ve claimed the turret room for Farrendel and myself, but you can have any of the other rooms.” Essie stepped around Jalissa and reached for the door, dragging Farrendel by the hand behind her. Farrendel gave his sister something of an elven shrug as he was hauled past.

Essie gave Farrendel and Jalissa a tour of the cottage, starting with the main floor, including the kitchen.

“We won’t have any servants staying here. A few of the maids will drop by during the day to clean, but that will be it. So feel free to wander however you like.” Essie waved at the cozy kitchen with a rustic table with a thick, butcher block top dominating the center of the room. “I had the ice box and pantry stocked, so there will be breakfast here whenever you want it.”

Jalissa nodded as if the announcement was a grave matter, but Farrendel gave Essie his small smile.

The tour continued on the second floor. While Jalissa left to wander through the rooms to pick her favorite, Essie pulled Farrendel to the last door at the end of the corridor. It opened onto the round turret room facing the forested grounds.

Five windows were set into each of the turret’s walls while the sixth wall held the door. Gauzy white curtains were pulled back against the blue and white patterned wallpaper. Most of the furniture had been removed, leaving only an oak armoire for their clothes, a settee beneath one of the windows, a small bookshelf, an ivory-painted dressing table, and the bed pushed along one of the walls below a window. All the rugs had been removed except for a dark blue one patterned with white flowers next to the bed.

Essie crossed the room and pointed toward one of the windows. One of the thick branches from the nearby oak tree passed within three feet of the windowsill. “I think you can jump from here to the tree, if you don’t want to go all the way downstairs to get outside.”

Farrendel halted next to her, unlatched the window, and pushed the leaded panes open, letting in the breeze, laden with scents of city mixed with woodsy smells. He leaned out the window, his hair falling over his shoulders.

But he wasn’t saying anything. Was that a good sign or a bad? Essie shifted from foot to foot. “Well, what do you think? Is this better? Do you like it?”

Farrendel pulled back into the room and faced her. He lightly touched her cheek, brow wrinkling. “I do not want to make you lose your home yet again.”

It was so sweet of him to worry. He needed to stay here for his sanity. He didn’t have a choice. He could have simply accepted the cottage and new room without thinking about her.

She wrapped her arms around her waist. “I’m excited. I have Buckmore Cottage to redecorate and make it mine in a way I couldn’t do even with my rooms in Winstead Palace. I didn’t realize how used to having my own place I’d become in Estyra. I’m glad to have a bit of space. Besides, my family is a short walk away.”

Compared to the long walk across the tree branches that led to Farrendel’s out-of-the-way rooms in the elven palace, the nice, flat path to Winstead Palace was a dream come true.

Essie leaned into Farrendel’s hand, hugging him closer. “Truly. I’m happy with this. Neither of us could relax at Winstead Palace, and I think this will be good for us.”

“Then, yes. This is better.” Farrendel closed the distance between them. His kiss was soft, gentle.

Essie kissed him back, tingles in her stomach, lightness in her head.

Yes, Buckmore Cottage was exactly what they needed.