He nodded. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen her.”
My heart hurt for him. All those people I’d trapped over there. I might not have meant to do it, but once I’d absorbed the tree’s magic, no one but the most powerful of gods and goddesses could cross over now. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
He sipped his whiskey. “You have more problems to deal with than worrying whether I get to visit my mother.”
“No. You are my friend and you must know I would escort her here or you there if you ever wanted to go. Dad says I’ll be able to travel instantaneously soon, even without the benefit ofbeing the bridge. I can go wherever I want, so even if I’m back in Joy Springs, I can be here almost instantly.”
His face fell. “You’re returning.”
“We both know I have to go. Caelan will destroy my shop if I don’t.”
A heavy sigh escaped him. “You can rebuild here.”
I smiled at him. “I know. We both knew it would come to this. I can’t abandon everything forever, even if I wanted to. There are people in Joy Springs relying on me. I have land I need to tend to.”
He swallowed and scratched at a nick in the table. “I understand.”
Rowan was uncharacteristically silent. I took a sip and smiled at him. “I will not leave until your land is cleansed of the rot infesting it.”
He glanced up in surprise. “If it takes longer than three days?”
“Have you forgotten who I am and who my daddy is? What good is all this power if I can’t make a shop magically disappear?”
His laugh this time was genuine. “I hope you never use those powers for evil.”
I tapped my fingers together like a criminal mastermind. “Let’s see what kind of trouble I can get into in three days.”
“I believe in you.”
We grinned at each other until his smile slipped. “Caelan is a fool,” he said softly. “You are a prize beyond gold, and he tosses you aside like yesterday’s trash.”
My amusement turns to ash. “I don’t know what I did wrong.”
Confusion glimmers in his hazel eyes. “Nothing.” He shook his head with vehemence. “You did nothing wrong.”
I tipped the rest of my whiskey back and tugged the bottle over, pouring us both another round. “It’s not all Caelan’s fault, though I appreciate how you defend me.”
“Give me an example.” His eyes burned with anger.
“The automaton,” I said.
He waved a hand. “That was before you were an item.”
“Keeping my Chimera identity secret. Claiming a piece of his land. Antagonizing the Lords. Taking and keeping Donovan’s land instead of turning it over.”
Rowan seems unimpressed by my list of supposed sins.
He held up a finger. “Chimera are hunted with little mercy. You kept the secret to save your life and those of your friends.” Another finger. “Your power does not covet more power, Evie. It covets to heal. Return the land to him when you go back to Joy Springs. An easy enough fix.” A third finger and a slow smile. “They started it.”
A bark of laughter escaped me.
The fourth finger came up. “You won the land through might and power, wresting it from a greedy caretaker. If you want to return the land, you can do so at any time, but why give the Lords any more power? Keep the territory. Heal the land. You are the fae queen. They cannot wrest it back even if they tried.”
“You make me sound like a redeemer rather than a tyrant.”
“A tyrant?” He chuckled. “I’ve never seen you take a single thing for yourself. Not even a compliment.” Rowan smiled to soothe the hurt of his words. “A tyrant rules without regard for law or justice.”
“Would you take the land if you could?”
