Page 135 of The Moorwitch

“Thanks to you, I believe.”

“For a while there, I wasn’t sure ...” He swallows, his eyes blinking away shadows. “It doesn’t matter now. You’re here and alive. Fates, you don’t know how long I’ve been waiting to hear your voice.”

“I really don’t,” I say. “How long has it been? How is your arm?”

“Two weeks. And it is healing just fine.”

Longer than it felt, shorter than I feared. “Sylvie—?”

“She’s all right, thanks to you. She’s at home, with Mrs. MacDougal.” He gives me a curious look. “I saw you did some more rearranging while I was away. Though I must say, you got a little carried away with the vines. I couldn’t even get into my bedroom.”

I groan, letting my head fall back on my pillow. “Is the manor even standing?”

“Barely. We’ve set up house in the stable for now, though Sylvie spends most of her timehere.” He laughs ruefully. “She’s more fae than human these days.”

“So it’s true. She’s really Morgaine’s daughter.”

Conrad drops his gaze, his thumb gently rubbing my palm. “I couldn’t tell you, Rose, even though I wanted to. Sylvie’s secret was not mine to give, and I swore to my father I would never put her in danger by revealing it.”

“I understand now why you kept her magic from her. It was so Lachlan would never know about her, wasn’t it?”

“Aye. Morgaine told me if Sylvie never accessed her fae energy, it would eventually fade away, leaving her fully human. It was what we all wanted for her, because if she’d grown up here in Elfhame, she’d have always been surrounded by possible assassins. Lachlan has long had loyalists in this court, and any one of them could have killed Sylvie in an attempt to weaken the queen.”

“And then I came along and exposed her anyway.”

He waves that aside with a frown. “In truth, Rose, even if I was too stubborn a bastard to admit it to myself, I think a part of me wanted her to learn. I should never have withheld her own heritage from her.”

“So what happens now? Does she remain in Elfhame?”

It is a moment before he answers. “Now that all the exiled fae have returned home, Morgaine has decided to seal off Elfhame. For good.”

My eyebrows rise. “What ... what does that mean?”

“It means no more traveling between the worlds, not even by threadwalking. She only held it open this long because so many of her people still lingered in our world. She refused to abandon them, despite their treason toward her. But with the Briar King defeated and the fae reunited, there is no more reason for her to keep the ways between the worlds open.”

“So what does that mean for you and Sylvie, as the last of the North line?”

“It means as soon as you’re well enough to leave and we say farewell to this place for the last time ...” He sits back, looking around the room with something almost like regret, but there’s no denying the excitement in his eyes. “Our duty to the fae will be done.”

“You’ll be free? Well and trulyfree, Conrad?”

He nods, his eyes sparking.

“And Sylvie?”

“Sylvie will be allowed to choose.” His jaw tenses. “This world, or ours.”

“Ah.” I can see he’s worried what choice she’ll make, but I’m not. I know what Sylvie loves more than anything else in the world. But I can see Conrad will not be convinced until the time comes and she tells him herself.

“But that’s weeks away still,” he says. “Allyouneed to worry about is getting better. No more of this tedious balancing on death’s doorstep. It is quite aggravating, you know.” His eyes tease, though the worried lines do not leave the skin around them. “Do make up your mind about whether you’d rather live or die, will you, so the rest of us can plan accordingly.”

“Well, it does seem every time you try to get rid of me, I just pop up again. My tenth fault is, after all, rebelliousness.”

“Rose.” He wraps his hand around mine, an exasperated smile softening his features. Fates, how lovely he is, his hair tossed and his eyes bright and his skin washed in gold. “I’m trying to saythank you. Though I could spend the rest of my life trying to say thank you andnever come close to expressing what I feel. I owe you everything, do you realize that?”

The rest of my life.

Those words drift around us like down, settling in the core of my soul.