Where the hell was Anwen?
I knocked a third time before walking around to one of the smudged windows to peer inside.
There wasn’t a piece of furniture in the entire room.
My stomach sank as I hurried back to the door to try the knob. Unlocked. The ratty sofa, the coffee table, the mirror that used to hang above the dining table—all of it had disappeared. My footsteps echoed around the hollow living area.
Anwen and her children were gone. There wasn’t so much as a note saying where they went or if they ever planned on returning. She’d abandoned her child with me.
As if he’d heard my thoughts, Brogan’s lower lip began to tremble, and his eyes flooded with tears.
I knew exactly how he felt.
Back at the castle, I found a stack of letters waiting on my desk, most of them invitations to the wedding that had been returned unopened. A wedding I wasn’t sure would still go ahead. There were two letters from old friends who said they wouldn’t be able to make it due to prior engagements, and one that said something far worse.
Too many have been lost to the humans.
I cannot support your decision to tie yourself to one.
When Brogan began to cry, so did I.
30
AVEEN
Weeds.God love them, they refused to give up. Every time I ripped one out, another two seemed to pop up in its place. It was infuriating. Then again, everything infuriated me. I used to be placid and docile and accepting of my fate. Or at least I’d pretended to be. And then I’d met a fae prince who made me dare to want more from life and love.
My trowel stabbed into the rich topsoil beneath the dormant climbing roses. I worked the handle, leveraging the small dandelion until its roots cracked and gave. I added it to the pile of thistles and weeds to be burned and then started on the next.
Doing this sort of work usually helped to clear my mind.
Not today. Today, the betrayals cut too deep, a scythe clearing everything in its wake. Caden holding me to a vow I didn’t realize I’d made, and Rían choosing another love over me. Since I could do nothing about the latter, I tried to focus on the former.
Leaving my sister behind with so much turmoil in her own life would break my heart, but remaining here, in this cottage Rían had built for me, surrounded by memories of our time together would break me as well.
I could leave with Caden and see what happened. I was going to be unhappy no matter where I ended up, so I may as well see some sights while I was at it. Someday I would find my way back home. It wasn’t as if I didn’t have the time. Being a true immortal meant I had nothing but.
Phil plucked the dandelion from the pile and gnawed on the stem with crooked, brown teeth. A rare ray of sunlight glinted off the drool coating his tiny white beard. Perhaps he’d eat all the weeds and I wouldn’t have to bother with a fire.
With the weeds cleared, I used my hand rake to scrape wet leaves from the bed and add them to a tin bucket. From the corner of my eye, I saw a man with hair the same color as my goat strolling up the lane, clutching a brown paper sack.
He didn’t look familiar, so I paid him no mind.
Until he stopped to lean on the gate and said, “Nice day, isn’t it?”
As a woman living on her own, I knew to be wary of strangers. Luckily, my prince had stashed a meat cleaver in with my gardening tools. Not that I planned on chopping anyone up today. Unless Caden returned. Then I might have to make an exception.
Phil looked up, and his head tilted, the mouthful of weeds rolling with each chew.
I brushed back the hair sticking to my forehead and offered the man a polite smile. “It is that.” For Airren, anyway. No doubt the sun was shining in Tearmann.
From his pocket, he withdrew a shiny red apple and held it out to my goat. Phil dropped the weeds in a flash and trotted over to the stranger to steal the fruit for himself. Instead of continuing on his way, the man kept watching me.
Couldn’t he see that I was elbow-deep in dirt and leaves? I hardly had time for a friendly chat. That was what I got for smiling and pretending. The next man to interrupt me would get the scowl he deserved. I blew out a breath. “Is there something I can help you with, sir?”
“Nah. I’m just trying to figure out if you’d rather stab me with your shovel or cleaver.”
My hand flew to shield my eyes from the brightening day. Sure enough, the stranger had familiar cerulean eyes. Phil jumped when I shoved to my feet and started for the cottage. The nerve of him, showing up here after what he’d put me through. My shattered heart couldn’t handle any more. “I have nothing to say to you.”