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“I still can’t believe I’m really here.” Ellen laced her hands in her lap, shaking her head. “Everyone thinks I’ve lost my mind in dropping everything to travel to Scotland just weeks before my wedding.”

“Everyone?” Syrie sat in the backseat of the speeding car next to her friend. “Even Robert?”

“Especially him,” Ellen said with a grin. “But, unlike everyone else, he told me I should do what I thought I needed to do. He even made sure my passport application was expedited.”

“Good for Robert,” Syrie said, grateful to hear that bit of news. “I’m so pleased that you’ve come. I’m just sorry Rosella decided against coming with you.”

The grin faded from Ellen’s face and she dropped her eyes to study her hands. “I know. But she and Clint are determined to keep their distance from all that—” She cut off what she’d been about to say, her glance darting toward the driver before she continued. “All that, you know, business.”

Yes, Syrie knew what she meant. All that Faerie business. All that information Ellen had taken so well when Syrie had finally explained it to her.

“I understand how they must feel,” Syrie said. “And I’ll respect her wishes. I just hope they both realize that you can’t very well keep your distance from something that is a part of you. It will be passed to her sons and her daughters. There is no escaping what you are, no matter how you might want to be something else.”

“Nonetheless, they want to try and, as you say, we need to respect their wishes. It’s part of the reason they decided not to wait to get married.” She paused for a moment, the smile returning to her face along with a glint in her eye. “Well, that and the baby they’re expecting.”

“No!” Syrie exclaimed. “That’s so wonderful for them. They’ll be excellent parents, I’ve not one single doubt.”

“I’m sure they will,” Ellen agreed. “When Rosella shared her good news, she said it was for her child that she felt the need to bury her heritage. She asked me to let you know that she will always remember you and Patrick, but she hopes you’ll understand how she and Clint feel and not try to contact her again. With a family to think of, she wants to put all those things behind her.”

“I’m sure she does,” Syrie agreed, her heart heavy with the knowledge that what her friend wanted was next to impossible. “Don’t get me wrong. I won’t make any effort to reach out to her again. I wish them all the best for success. But there are some things in life you simply can’t put away from you. As I said, even if she manages to avoid the pitfalls that await someone like her, what she is will still be there. In her blood. A part of her very essence. A part of her children.”

“You’re probably right.” Ellen shrugged, looking away and out the window at the passing countryside. “Still, at the very least, she’s extraordinarily happy right now. Being a new wife and a soon-to-be mother suits her well. She’s known from the first what she wanted and she’s quite clearly found it. Selfishly, though, I will miss being her friend and basking in the glow of her happiness.”

“With your wedding approaching in less than a month, you’ve your own happiness to enjoy. Right?” Syrie asked, studying her friend closely.

This was the reason she’d asked Ellen to come here. Perhaps this was the time to tell her that.

“We’ve arrived, Mrs. MacDowylt,” the driver said, pulling off the road and into a long gravel drive.

Or perhaps that explanation would have to wait for just a bit.

“What a beautiful little house,” Ellen exclaimed as she stepped out of the car.

Syrie exchanged a few words with the driver and waited silently until he’d taken Ellen’s bags from the car and set them inside the front door.

“What do you think of the interior?” she asked, holding out an arm to invite her friend inside.

“Oh!” Ellen’s slow release of breath and sparkling eyes held her answer better than any words. “It’s exactly as I would have decorated it. All blues and yellows. It’s perfect!”

“I’m glad you like it,” Syrie said, unable to hold back her grin. “That’s a very good thing, too, since it’s yours.”

“What?” Ellen stopped in her exploration of the little kitchen, her eyes wide with shock.

“Yes, yours. Not yours and Robert’s. Yours. So that you’ll forever have a place to come be yourself and an excuse to come see me.”

No matter what choices Ellen made in the next few days, that would always be true.

“I don’t know what to say,” Ellen managed at last. “I don’t see how I can accept something so expensive.”

“Pfft,” Syrie dismissed. “Let’s put on a pot of water to heat and we’ll have some tea. Tea, as you once told me, makes everything better.”

While Syrie heated water, Ellen took her suitcase to the bedroom and, when she returned, they carried their cups to the sofa, settling in for a comfortable chat.

Well, perhaps not comfortable. What Syrie intended next would likely be anything but comfortable.

“You never answered my question, you know,” she said, fixing a look on Ellen that made the other woman squirm.

“What question was that?”

“The question about your happiness, of course,” Syrie said. “You told me once that you wished you could be as sure of your agreeing to wed Robert as Rosella was in her choice to wed Clint. Do you still feel that way?”

Ellen sighed, a long, shaky release of breath, as she stared into her cup of tea. “I guess. But that’s only to be expected. Pre-wedding jitters, no doubt. I’m sure I told you about my parents. Danny was so much older when I was born. It was clear from the moment I was old enough to understand what was going on, maybe even earlier, that I was an accident. My parents barely tolerated each other. That’s why I spent so much time with my grandparents. And that’s why their home was so important to me. I just don’t want to end up like my mother. Simply existing from day to day, hating every moment of my life.”

“I can assure you, Ellen, that is not your path, no matter what choice you make.” Syrie gave her friend’s hand a pat. “But I do have one more gift for you, if you choose to accept it.”

Ellen was already shaking her head before Syrie finished speaking. “I can’t let you spend anything else on me. The trip here, this wonderful house. I’m already in shock with what you’ve done for me.”

“There’s no cost to this gift,” Syrie assured her. “What would you say to my offering you the opportunity to make sure that Robert is the right choice for you?”

Ellen’s hand froze in midair, her cup halfway to her mouth. “How could you do something like that?”

“Never you mind how,” Syrie answered. “If it were possible, would you be willing to find out?”

“Absolutely,” Ellen said without pause, setting her cup on the coffee table. “What do I have to do?”

This was what Syrie loved best about her friend. Ellen was absolutely fearless in her trust of her friends and family.

“My people believe in a very special Magic. The Magic of True Love, we call it. Every soul has a perfect partner.” Syrie watched Ellen for any reaction, and when there was none, she continued. “The best I can explain it is that these souls are like two halves of a whole. In the ancient days of the Long Ago, those souls were perfectly matched and lived out every one of their lives together. Then came the first of battles for power in the Faerie World. It was so violent that the soul pairings were ripped asunder by those who challenged for control of Wyddecol, my home world. Since that time, many things have changed, but what’s important here, is that so many of those soul pairings are now out of sync. You might be fortunate and find your other half in your own world. Or your other half might have lived in the past so that you have no chance to be together in this lifetime.”

“Soooo.” Ellen stretched out the word as if she sought time for what Syrie had told her to sink in. “If I understand what you’re saying, if I don’t find my perfect partner in this lifetime, I’ll have another chance later on?”

“Hopefully,” Syrie answered, determined to be as honest as she could. “But it’s a random thing now. There are no guarantees. The cycles that kept them together have been destroyed.”

Ellen nodded, her brows drawing together in confusion. “If that’s the case, how can you give me the opportunity to know whether or not Robert is the one for me?”

Syrie chewed on the corner of her lips, reminding herself that she’d determined before she’d invited Ellen to come here that she wouldn’t sugarcoat what she needed to say in any way.

“I can tell you now that Robert is not The One for you. He is not your SoulMate. Understand, that doesn’t mean he isn’t your best choice in this life. It simply means that he isn’t the other half that completes you.”

“How can you possibly know that?” Ellen asked, her hands clenching in her lap. “How can you know that, when I don’t even know that?”

Finally, something with an easy answer.

“Because, if he were The One, you wouldn’t need to question it. You’d know. Just like Rosella knew about Clint.” Before Ellen could question her more, Syrie held up a hand to forestall more questions. “I can prove it. If you’re willing to try something completely out of the ordinary.”

So completely out of the ordinary that she probably shouldn’t even have used the word ordinary in speaking of it.

“Absolutely, I am,” Ellen said. “What do we do to make this happen?”

No hesitation at all in her response. No need to think over the offer. More proof that Syrie was right in what she was preparing to do.

“You go to where and when your True Love lives. Spend some time with him. Decide if life with him is worth giving up everything you know here and now.”

Ellen’s face seemed to lose a bit of its color. Understandable, considering what it was she must decide.

“When?” she asked, her voice pitched much higher than usual. “Did you say I’d go to when he lives? When, as in a whole different time?”

“Of course,” Syrie answered. “If he lived in this time, in the same time you live in, you would already have found one another. I realize this is a daunting proposition. Do you still want to do this? You don’t have to, you know.”

“I…” Ellen hesitated this time. “Yes, I do. The time thing be damned. If I’m ever going to be happy, I need to know for sure.”

Syrie smiled at her friend. What Ellen was about to experience would be something that would change her life forever.

“It’s important for you to understand before we start that there is no wrong choice for you to make. Once you find him, you can stay with him and life will proceed here as it needs to. Or you can return here, to your own time, and live out a happy life with Robert. Perhaps not as happy as you might be with your own other half, but happy enough. You simply need to understand that whatever you decide to do will have far-reaching consequences. Both for you and for your descendants.”

Ellen’s expression blanked as she considered what she’d heard. “You mean, if I find this perfect man and I decide to stay with him, I could be robbing my children or my grandchildren of the opportunity to find their own perfect SoulMate?”

Syrie shrugged. “There is no way to know that. You will definitely be changing who and what they are, but that change doesn’t necessarily mean for the worse. Again, there is no wrong choice, only a choice. The future is riddled with paths, all the result of free choice. I can see some of those, but, without knowing each of the hundreds of choices you’ll make over the years, there is no guarantee as to what things will definitely happen. There are only two guarantees I can make to you. One is that, no matter what you decide, this cottage will always be yours, to visit whenever you like.”

“And the second?” Ellen asked.

“The second is that I will do my best to see to your happiness and to that of your descendants for as long as I can. I will tell you that, if you return to this place, to follow your current plans, I have seen a future path where your granddaughter will be one day faced with this same choice.”

Syrie had debated sharing this bit of information, but Ellen deserved as much information as possible to make her decision.

She could have told her more. Probably should have, at least according to Orabilis. The old Faerie thought Ellen should be warned that her choice to stay with her SoulMate would cause ripples and changes all throughout the timeline.

To Syrie’s way of thinking, that sort of knowledge placed too large a burden on anyone to allow them to make the choice they really wanted to make. That was the kind of knowledge that you shared to weight the scales of decision making. The kind of knowledge you shared to keep someone from doing something. Just as Orabilis had shared the knowledge with Syrie because she had hoped to prevent Syrie from making this offer to Ellen. As Orabilis had shared because she hoped to dissuade Syrie from pursuing so many of the plans she had for her own future.

No, she wouldn’t tell Ellen everything. Only what she needed to know to convince her that she was free to choose whichever path would make her happier.

“If I stay there, will my granddaughter find her SoulMate in her own time?” Ellen asked, pulling Syrie from her thoughts.

“That I cannot say. I have not seen that granddaughter along any of those paths,” Syrie answered honestly.

Ellen took another sip of her tea and once again set the cup on the table, a smile lighting her face when she looked up. “A lot to keep in mind when I make my decision, yes? Okay, then. Let’s get the ball rolling, Syrie. I’m ready whenever you are.”

Syrie stood and held out her hand, drawing Ellen to the door and outside. “Just a short hike to a lovely arbor where you’ll start your journey.”

A journey that might take Ellen anywhere in time.