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‘And his wife, Wren,’ I said. ‘We should have guessed.’
‘So I was named after myself.’ Romy laughed. ‘How many people can say that?’
‘It’s a huge responsibility,’ Blaise said, shaking his head. ‘Me, of all people! The Guardians will choose me as the very first leader of the High Council after everything I’ve done.’
‘But you’ll repay them for their faith in you,’ I said firmly. ‘History tells us that. You can do this, Blaise. Although,’ I added thoughtfully, ‘I suppose I ought to start calling you Phoenix now. You need to get used to it. Phoenix and Wren. I’m honoured to meet you both.’
We all smiled, still finding it hard to believe how things had turned out.
‘I know it was a shock,’ Phoenix said, ‘but I still don’t understand why you were so overcome, Romy. I mean, Wren.’
She swallowed. ‘It was just seeing it there on the gravestone. As it all sank in it was a lot to deal with. Me, the wife of the first High Council leader! I knew it meant we’d be going with Wulfram to the Seelie Court. It’s a big deal. I guess I just got overwhelmed.’
He nodded. ‘I suppose so. I don’t know about you but I’m hungry. It seems like a long, long time ago since we had that bacon sandwich. Shall I go into the kitchen and prepare us something to eat?’
‘Sounds brilliant,’ Romy agreed, and I nodded eagerly, feeling the rumblings of hunger in my stomach.
He headed out to the kitchen, and I looked at my sister.
‘You’re not going to tell him, are you?’
‘Would you?’
I sighed. ‘It’s a lot for you to carry on your own, Wren.’
‘Meri managed it.’
I couldn’t deny that. Even so, my heart broke for her, knowing that she was now in the same position as her descendant, Meri Kittow.
As Romy, she’d faced her own gravestone. Hers and her future husband’s. She knew the dates of both their deaths, and she knew not only when they would die, but also that she would outlive the man she loved by seven years.
‘Like Meri, I’m beginning to realise how lucky I am. I know we both live to a ripe old age,’ she said quietly. ‘And I also know that I have fifty years ahead of me with that man in there. What more can I ask for? Any time I waver, whenever I feel it’s too much of a burden to carry, I’ll remember my lovely Meri and how brave she was. And I’ll try to be like her.’
‘I think she probably got it from you,’ I said, managing a smile. ‘How mixed up is that? You must be her twelve times great grandmother or something. Imagine!’
She laughed. ‘I can’t. It makes my head hurt. But I’m very proud of her. No wonder we had a bond.’
‘You realise it was Blaise—I mean Phoenix—who started this whole thing? He was the one who wrote the list of names of people for Meri to invite all those years in the future. The one who told her I had to be invited. Keely, Harley, you, all the Castle Clair family.’
‘August 1700,’ she said. ‘I remember her telling us. And I’ll make sure he does that so Meri can read it out to us, and I can sit there in the twenty-first century and wonder why on earth she left me a fede ring.’
‘It all makes sense now,’ I said. ‘Remember how no one could work out why it was you and Celeste who were left items in her will? The link was Blaise. Phoenix. A message to you both.’ I shook my head in wonder. ‘This is incredible.’
At least my mind was at rest over Blaise now. Celeste had said fate was still pulling him along, and she’d been right. It had been, but not for the reasons we’d feared. Far from it. Blaise’s destiny had been to return to his own time and become Phoenix Tremayne. His name would be known and revered by witches for centuries. And I already knew that Phoenix adored Wren. My sister would be safe with him. They were going to be amazing together.
‘Come and get it!’ Phoenix called from the kitchen.
My sister smiled at me. ‘Tomorrow we hunt for the sword, and then we figure out how to contact the Seelie Court. But tonight we eat and then we sleep.’
I had no arguments with that.
Chapter 49
Wulfram 1673
Dressed in jeans and jumpers, thick winter coats, scarves, and gloves, we set off the next morning to see if there was any sign of the chapel. We knew it should be there. After all, it had a long history—far longer than three hundred and fifty years or thereabouts. Even so, we admitted to a few nerves that it wouldn’t have yet materialised, or that we wouldn’t be able to find it for some reason.
We needn’t have worried. It was on the other side of the island, exactly where it was supposed to be. It looked a little less derelict than it did in our time, but not much to be honest.
