Something cleaved inside me as we watched his memories being taken, being erased, being altered into a whole different reality. We watched as the family he built, that he protected, was taken away from him.
All because hedared to lovea mageborn woman.
Once it was done, we were allowed to bring him home. We left him sleeping. The caretaker from Ehrfurt, an older nurse dismissed from the town clinic, would tend to him. His account would hold retirement funds and his late wife’s inheritance. To the neighbours, he would be the widowed merchant with no daughters.
I would still look after him through trips with Gwin and Joy, using the train stations to reach human territory. I would watch over him.
And I told Joy that, as long as we remembered our family, as long as we guarded the truth of who we had been, our family would not be forgotten.
Chapter 47
Reagan
She sat in the worn booth in the Wandering Cup, her limbs draped loosely while they waited for the complimentary meal the owners of the bakeshop had promised them in what felt like an age ago.
A week had passed since her father had been sent to the human lands. A week in which Jane grieved a man who still breathed but no longer knew her. Reagan told himself this was him attempting to coax her spirit out of that quiet melancholy.
Jane hummed, her brows lifting. “How much will the ceremony cost?”
Their staff had begun planning their bonding to take place in a few days, the moment Jane would officially choose him and take the role of Lady of Mountheim.
“An obscene amount,” Reagan replied, pleased by the way her eyes widened.
“Is this how you court a woman on a date?” She tipped her glass toward him. “Boasting about citizens’ tax money to show how wealthy you are?”
A laugh built in his chest. “Would that work with you?”
She sipped, watching him through the curve of the rim, then set the glass aside. “I think it would need to be an unreasonable amount to make you look good.”
Reagan feigned offense and was rewarded by a smile gracing her lips. “Well, I’m also the only one in the estate who can wield twelve times my body weight.”
“So you would claim you are richandpowerful?” she asked, as though he were a cliché of a man.
He narrowed his eyes. “Some would say that, yes.”
She pressed her lips together, unimpressed, which only agitated him further.
“What do you think I should say when I am courting you?” he asked, frustrated by how much he wanted to know.
Her smile appeared again, briefly, her head tilting in that way that made her so alluring. He could not look away.
“You should let me see that you are brave and generous without being arrogant about it,” Jane suggested. “And the fact that you are not painful to look at would also help.”
He leaned back, arms resting on the back of the booth, grinning like an idiot. Even if he thought that was partly untrue, he didn’t rebut. It drew out an actual chuckle.
“You would not win me over on the first date,” she went on. “But eventually, you would make me feel safe and loved.”
Something tightened in his chest, like a sense of triumph. He opened his mouth to answer, but a small figure appeared at their table.
“Hello,” the boy said shyly, his smile aimed entirely at Jane.
Her expression transformed. Her smile deepened, warm enough to stir a whole lot of feelings in Reagan’s marrow.
“Hi, Jack,” she greeted, recognising Daria and Onorio’s nine-year-old son, the boy she had rescued during the last Aurora Rite.
“May I sit with you, miss?” Jack asked, cheeks reddening. He didn’t even glance at Reagan.
“Of course,” Jane answered gently, sliding aside. “Do you remember Reagan?”
