“What are you doing to me?”
“I need you to have a clear head,” she said, stopping at one of the windows. “You have some decisions to make, and I don’t want your emotions to interfere with them. I know about you, Richard. She wrote to me before leaving for the wedding. She told me all about you. She loves you, which explains why she has done the impossible for your sake. I wasn’t there, but her body and her mind bear the scars. Tell me what happened.”
He told her everything. The slavers, Charlotte, the dark magic, Sophie, all of it.
“I had surmised as much,” she said, looking at the gardens far below. “Charlotte was always very strong.”
“Will there be repercussions?”
She raised her narrow eyebrows. “Officially? No. She is too valuable as a healer, and the idea that a feedback loop can be broken would only give fools the pretext to experiment with it. No, there will be no sanctions, but there are consequences. When Charlotte broke the feedback loop to heal you, she did it at a terrible cost. She experienced discordance. It’s a very rare phenomenon, where the magic user becomes so absorbed in channeling her magic that she loses motor skills. Charlotte must relearn basic things, Richard. She must learn again how to walk, how to hold a spoon or a pencil, how to turn the page of a book.”
His heart sank. “But she can learn?”
“Oh yes. There is nothing physically wrong with her body. We’ve repaired the damage and made her as healthy as she could be. But it will take a lot of patience and practice. She will be bedridden for weeks.”
She was alive. She was healthy, and she had survived. That was all that mattered. “When can I take her home?”
Lady Augustine turned to him. “That may not be a good idea. I don’t think you understand. Charlotte will need to be carried to the bathroom. She will need to be bathed. She will need to be spoon-fed and will be bedridden for weeks until she is able to begin rehabilitation, which will likely take months. Do you have any children? You will have to take care of her as if she were a child. Think of what it will do to any romantic feelings you may have for her. You will never be able to see her in the same light again. Walk away, Richard. Leave her here with us. This is what we do. We care for the sick, and we’re very good at it.”
“Did she say she wanted me to take her home?”
“She did.”
“Then I’ll take her home.”
The older woman stared at him. “You must know that I won’t consent to your marriage.”
“I don’t care,” Richard told her. “I don’t care about your family, your title, or your bloodline. I’ll be with her in any way she will have me.”
He turned and marched back the way they had come. He pounded his way through the hallway and walked through the doors. Charlotte was awake. She lay in bed, her hair fanning across the pillows like a golden veil, her silver eyes alert and aware. He knelt by the bed.
“I can’t hold you,” she told him.
He kissed her lips gently. “I don’t care.”
“I care. You don’t have to, if it’s too much . . .”
He heard tears in her voice.
“I won’t leave you,” he told her. “I will never leave you. We’ll do this together. Come home with me. Please.”
He hugged her to him. “Say yes, Charlotte.”
“Yes,” she told him.
EPILOGUE
THREE MONTHS LATER
THE evening sky had just begun to darken. Strings of colorful, round lanterns hung from the trees, glowing gently with yellow, green, blue, and red. Tiny golden fireflies floated in the air. The September air was warm and pleasant. Charlotte rocked back slightly in her chair. Before her a vast lake spread, calm and shiny like the surface of a coin. If she leaned forward, she would just be able to make out Kaldar and Audrey’s house across the water to the left.
The lake splashed against the wooden pier. Jack lay on his back on the boards, looking at the sky, his hands behind his head. George skipped a small pebble across the pond next to him. Sophie sat on the edge, her feet in the water. Two weeks after the house was built, she asked if she could come and stay with them for a few days. She never left.
Charlotte smiled. She would’ve loved to get up off her chair, walk down the winding path from the deck, and soak her feet in the green water too, but she knew her limits. She would have to wait.
In an hour or so, Richard would get a phaeton, and they would go over to Declan and Rose’s house. The Lord and Lady Camarine were expecting. George and Jack would become uncles. Now there was an interesting thought.
At her feet, Callis raised his shaggy black head. The wolfripper dog let out one quiet woof. Someone was coming.
Light, unhurried steps made her turn. Lady Augustine walked up the porch.
They hadn’t spoken to each other for a quarter of the year. Charlotte gripped her cane, planted her feet down, and stood. “Hello, Mother.”
Lady Augustine’s eyebrows crept up. “You’re standing.”
Charlotte took a step forward. “And walking. With much difficulty.” She had the best caretakers in the world, but her progress was still painfully slow.
They looked at each other. Her legs trembled, and Charlotte lowered herself back into her chair.
Lady Augustine sat next to her. “That is an enormous dog.”
“Yes. He used to be a slaver dog, but he mellowed out.” Charlotte rubbed Callis’s shaggy side with her toes. “Are you done being angry?”
“You almost threw away your life. I don’t think I’ll ever stop being angry.” Lady Augustine sighed.
“Then why did you come?”
“Because even though I was never very familiar with the Camarines, I received an invitation to celebrate the pregnancy, and the rules of propriety dictate that I attend.”
Charlotte smiled. “Richard.”
“I would suppose so. It was quite elegantly done. I will admit that while he’s not of noble birth, he does understand our mind-set.”