She nods and runs a hand through her hair, thinking.
“How long will it take you to earn your way out?”
“Without the treasure? A decade, maybe more.”
A brief flinch, but she presses on.
“And your mom?” she asks tentatively. “There’s no other way for her to—”
“There isn’t.”
She frowns at the interruption, but it’s not a point I want to discuss. Not now. My relationship with my mother and the fraught years between us seem far too much to handle tonight.
“Well,” Seren says, forcing some of her signature mischief back into her voice, though even I can hear right through it. “Then we’ll just have to take home the bounty tomorrow and all our problems will be solved.”
So pretty, the picture she paints.
I want to believe it.
I want to believe the answer to all my problems could be that simple.
For a moment, I let myself.
“Just like that?”
Seren smiles at the note of hope in my voice. “Just like that.”
“And what will we do when all our problems are solved?”
Her smile widens, though it trembles a little around the edges. “Whatever we want. What would that be for you?”
I hum thoughtfully. “All I’d really like is to spend some time with you. Preferably with no fae queens or hunters breathing down our necks.”
“I think I’d like that, too.”
“Maybe I’ll show you more of this realm.”
“And maybe I’ll show you more of mine.”
She sits down beside me, leans her head on my shoulder. “And don’t forget, we’ve got eleven more realms to explore, too. I’ve barely made a scratch in traveling to any of them.”
“Make that ten.” I give her a nudge with my elbow. “After tomorrow, I hope I won’t ever set foot in Faerie again.”
She laughs softly. “Okay. Deal. Ten realms to explore. A fae queen’s bounty to fund our travels. All of that sounds pretty good to me.”
“It sounds pretty good to me, too.”
It does. Goddess, it does.
Having my mate by my side and no more debts hanging around my neck. Beingfreeagain. Free to be with her, free to imagine what life might look like if I had the ability to choose for myself.
What I wouldn’t give for that pretty fantasy to be real.
Seren is quiet for a few moments before her soft voice fills the space between us.
“I’ve felt so alone for so long. The coven… for all its faults, it was somewhere to belong. And even though I don’t regret leaving… I… there’s never been… anywhere… anyonewho makes me feel…”
She lets out a breath, shakes her head. I lay my hand over hers where it rests on the bench between us.
