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“ W e’ll find a way to keep your sister safe. You have to trust me on this. I meant every word I said back there. We’ll find a way to work things out.”

Destiny stared up into Jesse’s eyes, wanting more than anything in the world to believe his words. In the garden just now, he’d told her again that he loved her. He’d told her he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.

Everything she’d ever dreamed of, all standing right here in front of her, was almost more than she could believe.

She nodded her agreement and he gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

“Come on, Des. Let’s do this thing,” he encouraged, leading her into the massive living room at Sithean Fardach where his entire family had gathered.

“You don’t know them like I do,” Leah said earnestly as they entered. “They’ll find me.” She looked small and frightened huddled into the big chair in the corner of the room.

They’d come here, to the home of Jesse’s sister and brother-in-law two days ago. Since then, it seemed to Destiny as if his entire family had descended on them, all of them in this room right now.

She reached out a hand and Jesse captured it, squeezing lightly as he pulled her to sit on the arm of the chair where he sat down.

“We’ll no let that happen, lass. Dinna you worry yerself about it.” Connor, Jesse’s brother-in-law, leaned against the doorjamb next to Robert, both of them looking like guards on either side of the main entrance to the room.

Destiny didn’t miss the look of concern that passed between Connor and Jesse.

Leah apparently saw it as well. She shook her head, her serious brown eyes haunted in her fear. “You don’t understand. You have no idea what they’re like. They’re Faeries, for God’s sake. I’ll never be safe from them.”

“No all Fae are evil, Leah.” Mairi, Connor’s sister, spoke from her spot on the sofa next to her husband, Ramos. “But we do know what you fear. We’ve dealt with these renegades ourselves.”

Leah shook her head but didn’t answer, tears dripping down her cheeks.

Destiny crossed the room to kneel at her sister’s side. “We’ll think of something. I promise. That’s why we’re all here.”

“There’s nowhere I’ll be safe,” Leah whispered, clutching at Destiny’s hand. “I can’t go back to them, Desi. I can’t.”

“You’ll stay here.” Connor spoke again, authoritatively, as if his decision ended the conversation.

“That won’t be enough to keep her safe,” Ramos countered. “She’s right. Adira won’t give up. We need a more secure spot.”

“I believe I may have a solution.” Pol, who’d sat quietly throughout the conversation, rose to his feet. He glanced sadly toward Leah, as if well aware of her fear of him. “If our young guest is agreeable to my plan.”

Leah sat up straighter, her mouth drawn tight. In spite of her show of bravery, the hand Destiny held trembled. “What is it?”

“If the Nuadians’ new strength prevents Leah from living out her life without fear, perhaps we err in looking for a where to take her. Perhaps we should consider a when.”

That sounded insane. But she must have missed something in what he said because everyone else in the room went deathly quiet, exchanging looks with one another as if they completely understood.

“It could be done,” Jesse’s sister said thoughtfully. “We’d need to choose the spot carefully. Send her to someone we can trust.”

“And we couldn’t send her alone,” Mairi added as if she had warmed to the idea.

“Send her where?” Destiny asked, staring straight at Jesse. “What’s going on here that I’m not getting?”

“Not where,” Jesse explained. “When. They’re talking about sending Leah back in time.”

“That’s crazy.” She looked around the room at all the serious faces, settling on Pol’s at last, only to realize she was fighting windmills again. After all she’d been through, all she’d seen and experienced, she should know better.

Still, Leah would never agree to leave.…

“You could really do that?” Her sister’s voice sounded hopeful for the first time since they’d arrived here.

“Yes,” Jesse answered. “They can. But you’d need to understand, once you’re there, there’s no guarantee they could ever get you back.”

“Like you think I’d ever want to come back?” Leah scooted forward in her chair. “I’d spend my life in the Stone Age if it meant I could be safe from… from them.”

Destiny’s throat tightened as she listened to the excited chatter around her, horrified that they discussed sending her sister away forever as if it were no more than a spring-break vacation.

“I promise it’s not the Stone Age we’re considering.” Cate smiled. “But it would be a very, very different life for you.”

“Anywhere.” Leah tightened her grip on Destiny’s hand. “How soon can I go?”

“As quickly as we can make a few preparations,” Cate answered.

“And decide who’s to accompany you,” Mairi added.

“I’ll go.”

Jesse rose from his chair and crossed to where Destiny kneeled next to Leah’s chair. His words set Destiny’s heart pounding. If they couldn’t guarantee getting Leah back, how would they get Jesse home? What about the life together they’d discussed over the last two days?

But she didn’t get the chance to ask.

“Not you.” Leah shook her head, rejecting his offer. “I didn’t go through all that agony to save your life just so you could abandon my sister. You need to take care of her.”

Heat bloomed up Destiny’s neck to her face, but her embarrassment fled when she looked up into Jesse’s gaze.

“She already knows that I have every intention of doing exactly that,” he said.

He reached for her hand and she gave it, forgetting everyone around them for the moment as he gently pulled her to her feet and into his arms.

“I’ll do it. I’m the one to go with the lass.”

Robert’s statement broke into her thoughts, bringing her back to the moment.

“Yer sure about this?” Connor questioned.

“Even knowing we can’t guarantee getting you back here?” Cate added.

Robert shrugged. “I’ve a small matter left undone by my unplanned departure. It would be good to get it off my conscience after all this time.”

Destiny looked down at her sister, feeling as if her heart were being torn from her chest. Leah was all the family she had in the world. Letting her go would be the most painful thing she’d ever done.

But she had to think of Leah’s feelings, not her own. Her sister’s beautiful face shone with hope for the first time in days.

Destiny took a deep breath, choking back her fear, doing her best to disguise her own pain. “Are you sure about this, baby?”

“I am. I feel like they’re offering me a chance to actually live my life now.” Leah took her hand, squeezing tightly. “I don’t want to leave you alone, with no family at all. I know how this hurts you, but I can’t stay here. Please understand, Desi. I can’t. I’m so afraid, all the time. I feel like I’m losing my mind.”

“You don’t have to worry about Destiny. She won’t be alone.” Jesse pulled her back against him, wrapping his arms around her protectively. “I’ll always be there for her.”

Destiny turned in his embrace, gazing up into the beautiful eyes of the man she loved with all her heart.

“And as for family, she’ll have plenty.” He gently framed her face with his palms, speaking directly to her. “After all, everyone in this room will be her family once we’re married. If she’ll still have me, now that I’ve announced it to the world.”

If she’d still have him? Hadn’t she already told him there was nothing in the world she wanted more than to spend the rest of her life with him? She just hadn’t expected him to tell everyone so soon.

“I don’t care who you tell. I love you,” she managed before giving in to the bittersweet tears she could no longer hold back.

Jesse kissed her then and the room erupted around them. Congratulations, questions, planning—it was all a blur of chatter and details to Destiny, the individual voices and words drowned out by Jesse’s whispered, “I meant it when I said I’ll love you forever.”

Gazing into the loving eyes of her Soulmate, Destiny knew she’d been wrong before. Faerie-tale happy-ever-afters truly did exist in her world.

And she was looking at hers.