At one point, I glanced up to find her standing with her hands on her hips, breath puffing in white clouds, hair escaping her braid, Bracken perched on the felled trunk beside her like a foreman. The sunlight slanted through the trees, catching the copper strands in her hair, the curve of her smile.
Something inside me settled with a click.
This.Thiswas what I wanted.
Not just the kisses. Not just the nights. This—her in my world, my house,hell, my life.
She caught me staring. “What?”
The truth spell punched my shoulder and I sighed. “Everything.”
Her gaze softened. “You okay?”
I set down the branch I was stripping. “Aye. Just …glad you’re here.”
Her smile then was small and staggering. “Me too.”
We’d had small moments like that all week, and each one seemed to dig deeper into my heart.
That night we stood outside after dark, looking out over the loch. The unicorn hadn’t shown itself again, but every time I glanced at the tree line, I half expected to see a flash of white.
“You think it’ll come back?” she asked quietly.
“I hope so,” I admitted.
She slipped her hand into mine. “It felt like…approval.”
“Aye,” I said. “Like it was saying we’re on the right track.”
“Us?” she asked, glancing up.
“This place,” I said quickly. “The village. The Order.”
The truth spell warmed against my tongue. “And maybe us, aye.”
She squeezed my fingers and went inside.
Later, I found her sitting cross-legged on the rug in front of the fire, her gran’s brooch in her palm. The opal glittered softly in the firelight.
“You all right?” I asked, dropping down beside her.
She nodded, eyes on the brooch. “Just …trying to feel into what’s next.”
I looked at the tiny brooch and up at the tense line on her forehead. There were challenges yet to come. Trials she hadn’t faced.
The thought made my shoulders tense.
“Whatever it is,” I said, “we’ll handle it.”
She glanced at me. “We?”
“Aye.”
She studied my face for a long moment, as if testing the shape of that word.
Then she leaned into me, resting her head on my shoulder.
“You know,” she said softly, “for a man who likes trees more than people, you’re very good at this whole relationship thing.”