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I nod, trying to hold in my tears, but it’s not working—it’s making everything worse. My breath is speeding up, my heart rate soaring to dangerous heights—
“Juliette. Breathe. Slowly now, love. With me.”
I’m gasping, each breath a raw sob. I sink to the floor, clutching my baby, and Rupert kneels beside me, holding me together.
“Easy, sweetheart,” he chokes out. “Breathe. You can do this.”
“I can do this,” I rasp. “I can do this.”
It takes several long minutes and many words of encouragement from my sweet husband, but at last I’m able to calm my pulse and breathe again. He helps me up, and together we descend the stairs.
With each step, I tell myself to breathe. To relax. To sublimate my feelings. The more stoic the visage, the deeper the feeling goes.
Enthel and Lannau are standing in the common room. They don’t seem to have aged at all, and both are dressed in sumptuous gowns. They must have done great business in the three years since we last saw them.
I have to do this before I collapse again. Don’t think—just do it.
Stiffly I walk over to Enthel and place my baby in her arms.
“I give my firstborn to you, Enthel and Lannau, to raise as your own,” I tell them. “Our bargain is fulfilled before the goddess.”
“And we accept the fulfillment of the deal,” says Enthel quietly. “And as you have given her to us, so we return her to you, with all our best wishes for her happiness and yours.”
She steps forward, holding the baby out.
Offering her back to me.
I accept the baby mechanically, dazedly, looking helplessly at Rupert for answers—but he seems just as stunned as I am.
“It was cruel to put you through this, but it had to be done,” says Enthel. “You had to give her up to fulfill the bargain, and we couldn’t release you from it. But now that it’s fulfilled, we’re free to give her back, and no one has to die.”
“But—but you wanted a child,” I exclaim.
“We did, yes!” says Lannau. “And we have one!”
The women move aside, and behind their voluminous skirts I see a tiny, pale girl with a mop of yellow hair.
“This is Cynda,” says Lannau. “The three of us are moving to Qedron. Turns out we prefer a land with a monarchy rather than the democratic chaos in Darthage.”
“That’s not the reason,” says Enthel, with an affectionate roll of her eyes.
“Well, it’s one of my reasons,” Lannau says stoutly. “So there you have it—the bargain is complete, you have your daughter, and we have ours.”
“But… she’s not half-Elven,” I manage. “You said—”
“I remember what we said,” Lannau cuts in. “But it turns out, her race wasn’t important. Not at all. We found her, or she found us, and she simply—fits. We knew at once that she was ours.”
“You didn’t steal her though,” Rupert says, finding his voice and speaking the question I’ve been scared to ask.
“Of course not!” Lannau bristles. “She ran away from the orphans’ home in Feverlake. When we brought her back, they told us her story, and we decided we needed each other. Wonderful, isn’t it?”
“Yes…” I stammer, turning to Rupert with pleading eyes. He takes the baby at once, and I stumble over to a chair to sit down. “It’s wonderful.”
“We’ll need a room for the night,” Lannau continues. “And then we’ll be on our way tomorrow.”
Bede drifts forward from the shadows, signing to me.
“Bede can show you ladies to a room,” I say, inwardly blessing Bede for her help. “We can have breakfast together tomorrow, before your journey. I’ll be up early anyway.”
