Lyse reached out her arms as if she wanted to hug Lizbeth but didn't know if the attempt would be welcome.
"I'm sorry. I was so cruel to you and I didn't want to be. I couldn't help it . . ."
Lizbeth swallowed hard, eyes shining, and looked up at Lyse. Then she launched herself into Lyse's arms, and the two women clung to each other, both crying now.
"It wasn't your fault," Lyse whispered, touching Lizbeth's wet cheek. "And Weir, wherever he is, he knows it, too. Daniela . . . ?"
Daniela smiled at Lizbeth.
"You got me to the hospital. You may have kicked my ass, but you saved it, too."
"You were under a spell, Lizbeth," Eleanora said, trying to ease the girl's mind. "You were compelled to do someone else's bidding-and you were meant to push the others away, and see Lyse as your enemy. For reasons that have nothing to do with any of you."
"I should've been able to fight it." Lizbeth disagreed, shaking her head.
"Magic is stronger than us," Eleanora said, thoughtfully. "At least when we're alone. But none of us have to be alone now . . ."
Dev tried to process everything she'd just heard, but the thought of sweet, beautiful Weir gone . . . it broke her heart. She didn't think it could be broken any more than it already was-but she had discovered recently that there were always new depths of despair to be reached.
In her mind's eye, Dev saw Freddy being dragged out of Eleanora's kitchen, and she felt nauseated with fear. She forced the image from her head, knowing if she went there now, she might never come back-and the girls needed her.
"Weir is dead . . . I just can't believe it . . ." Daniela covered her mouth with her hand and shook her head. Dev could feel anger emanating from the empath. "How do we stop this? We've pissed around for too long, letting them take everything and everyone away from us. How do we end it?"
Dev wanted to know the answer, too. She wanted a plan, a way to protect her girls and get Freddy back.
"It's a twofold problem," Thomas said, finally speaking up-but his wary eyes were glued to Dev. She realized he thought she still blamed him for killing her family and burning down her house.
"Thomas, I know it wasn't you," she said. "I know you cared for my mother and that you would never have hurt any of us like that."
He stared back at her, his lips trembling in surprise.
"Truly . . . ? You mean that?" he asked; he looked incredulous.
Dev released the girls, but they stayed close to her, not wanting their mother out of their sight.
"Sweetie pies," Dev said. "I want you to go in the other room while we finish talking."
"I can help," Marji said, but Dev shook her head.
"Not with this . . . but later I know you will."
"I'll take them," Niamh said, holding out her hands to Marji and Ginny. "Hello, there. I'm Niamh."
Ginny went to her easily, but Marji took her time, obviously hoping Dev would change her mind. Finally, when she didn't, Marji took Niamh's hand and let her lead the two of them into another room.
When the girls and Niamh were gone, Dev turned back to Thomas, who sat curled up on the couch, looking uncertain.
"I do mean it, and I'm sorry for blaming you when you were only trying to help."
He nodded, jaw working with emotion.
"I would never hurt a Montrose woman. Never."
He looked over at his brother, Tem, who nodded in agreement.
"We failed you, but not purposely," Thomas continued. "And I take responsibility for that. We didn't keep the darkness in check. Didn't stop it from slipping through to your world."
"It would've gotten in one way or another," Eleanora said. "There's no one to blame. Without the darkness there is no light. We need the balance of the two."
"That's true, but Tem and I became too enmeshed with your world. We were alone, here, in the dreamlands, two of the last of our kind. We were tasked with keeping your world free of what destroyed ours, and we failed you."
Eleanora crossed the room toward him. She did not look pleased.
"Do you not hear me?" she asked. "You could never have stopped it. It was futile. No one can stop it."
Dev couldn't believe this was true, that there was no way to save their world from being consumed by the darkness via the hands of its emissaries, The Flood.
"So that's it?" she asked. "We just give up? We let The Flood destroy everything, wipe out humanity?"
Eleanora frowned.
"Did I say that?"
"No," Daniela spoke out. "But you haven't answered my question, either."