My heart stumbled over itself. To see my family again. The idea struck me like a gust of wind after a lifetime underground. But...
I swallowed, my voice steady. “What will I have to do?”
“Seek out the possible causes. Study them as you did before, and bring your theories to me. That is all.”
“Will we be allowed to help her?” Finnegan asked, stepping behind me.
Malory merely inclined her head in assent.
I wasn’t naïve enough to believe this was an act of generosity. Malory had something to lose if the curses were being tampered with. She couldn’t afford the risk, not when it could cost a life.
I forced my shoulders back.
“I’ll help you, and I’ll accept your deal on the condition that you also bring him back. No matter what we find out, he has fulfilled his sentence.”
I hadn’t noticed when the dim cabin grew warmer, when the bitter chill was chased away, but the flickering candlelight now cast the room in bright relief. Gwinifer’s raven-dark hair gleamed in its glow. Finn stood rigid beside me, his hands clenched at his sides. I wondered if the emissary was unaware that his power coiled around his fingers in restless wisps of blue smoke.
Malory kept her gaze steady. “Agreed,” she said. “Give me your arm.”
I tugged up the sleeve of my gown, now stained with Reagan’s blood.
Malory’s hands hovered on either side of my wrist as her power surged.
“Hereby, the terms of your sentence are adjusted,” she said. “Jane Darling shall serve Mountheim, aiding in the investigation of its curse.”
The lines of my mark shifted. Where once there had been a simple spiral tipped like a spear, now a single line carved through a perfect circle around my forearm. Three slender crests rose from the line, their silhouettes stark and unmistakable.
Mountheim.
“Is it done?” I asked.
Malory nodded, stepping past me, palms turning upward.
“I recognised the fulfilment of this sentence,” she announced to the room. Silver light shimmered across her hands.
On the wooden floor, Reagan’s still form began to shift. Despite the sickening sounds, I couldn’t look away, not until he was whole again.
And then, soon, sun-kissed skin greeted my eyes, a shade so familiar it sent relief coursing through me.
Finn moved toward him, snatching the cloak from the floor and draping it over Reagan’s bare form.
I took a hesitant step forward as he stirred, his back to us. Slowly, Reagan sat upright and turned.
My heart clenched.
Ice-blue eyes locked with mine, wide with disbelief. Then he swept the room, taking in every person within it. A deep scar marred his chest, where the heartstone had once been.
“Welcome back, Mage Lord,” Malory said. “You have fulfilled every condition Fate set upon you. You endured the trials placedin your path. You accepted your burdens, and in doing so, you have been redeemed.”
His throat worked as he swallowed, his eyes shining with emotion.
I sank to my knees beside him and reached for his face, needing to feel him again, needing the certainty that he was here. My fingers brushed his cheek.
Reagan exhaled, his hand rising to cradle mine, pressing his cheek into my palm.
We had come so close to losing him. The damning weight of it pressed against my ribs, my legs, everywhere, as if the aftermath had finally caught up with me, along with every still-throbbing injury.
My eyes stung.
