Adelyn had not betrayed them. The shining truth of her tears told him something she had never said aloud. He wanted to hear it from her.
And he had words he wanted to say to her. Maybe once he’d been the silent cowboy who’d let good things slip away because he hadn’t known to say how much he cared. He knew better now. Words had power, a power he could use.
He returned to the bedroom and shoved the dresser aside.
Next to the crumpled satchel that Adelyn had carried, the mushrooms were hardly larger than his pearl buttons, but they formed a perfect ring on the rough old wood.
Glad he’d never been good about dusting, he took a breath and stepped into the circle. He closed his eyes and whispered, “Adelyn.”
Adelyn had thought her first steps back into the phaedrealii would be triumphant, on Raze’s arm. Or if not triumphant at least minus the Queen’s death mark on her name. Instead, she was sneaking in through the same back corridor where she had been tossed out by EveStar.
Doubt slowed her steps. Was she right about the Queen’s handmaid? Had those vague words meant what she’d thought?
EveStar had said other phae left, never to return. Adelyn had assumed that meant they died hunting the Hunter. But no, they left because they wanted to. And they had never returned because they found something else. Something better.
Thanks to Josh, the veil had been lifted and she finally understood. In the phaedrealii, she had existed only to inspire others. In Josh’s world, she could make things with her own two hands. She could make cornbread and clean dishes. She could make something of herself.
She could make love.
She clenched her fists, trying to hold onto the memory of Josh’s callused palms across hers.
But now thanks to her, that valley sanctuary was threatened, and phae like herself who needed a place would find the way closed.
Maybe she should have stayed in the valley while the battle was fought around her, but she had stayed in the phaedrealii, too afraid to leave. Too afraid to even inspire herself. This time, she wasn’t going to stop with an inspiration; she was going to make a path for others like her.