silent.
I touched Lady Elin's shoulder gently and turned her about. She made no resistance, but followed me dumbly. The wide river was gone; we stood at the bank of the one small stream.
It was dawn when we reached the manor. Laird Rheagel was waiting for us. I drew Lady Elin into the hall, where she stood, white and silent, before the laird. She seemed to be looking at some point over her shoulder. Every line of her body was one of despair.
"The spell is broken," I said. "Roch Shan should recover now. But you will be wanting to put bars of cold iron across all of your windows and all of your doors."
Rheagel nodded. "Will she recover?" he asked, with an undertone to his voice that made me look more intently at him and notice the way he was gazing at his wife, as if her pain was his. But she stood like a dead thing and was not heeding.
From all I knew of similar cases, the truth was that she would probably not last out the week. I hesitated, watching them and the way they stood, and I hated to say it. Perhaps there was something more there to change the accounting: his will, maybe, and hers too, and not least that of this stubborn realm. Roch Shan is a grim, grudging land. But it is wild and proud, and there might be strength enough in Lady Elin to someday come to love that.
"In time," I said, "in much time...she may forgive."
He nodded, accepting what I had said and what I had not, and led the lady away. I went back to my cottage, to sleep for a week.
Then I began taking stock of all my possessions. Astonishing how quickly they multiply, those useless little bric-a-bracs. You'd think they breed. It took me days and days to sort them all out and pack them up.
It's not that the laird was ungenerous. He offered me handsome compensation and a permanent position at the manor. But I refused. You see, I have been remembering the elven lord's smile, wondering if they have any washing to be done there beneath the Hollow Hills—and I know a good position when I see one, yes I do.
Also by Shannon Phillips: The Millennial Sword
Viveka Janssen isn’t a dragonslayer. She’s a practical Midwestern girl brought to San Francisco by the prospect of an entry-level PR job, and her greatest ambitions involve finding an apartment and making a good impression at work. But Viv’s sensible nature is shaken when she comes into possession of the legendary sword Excalibur, and finds herself thrust into the front lines of a shadow war against the immortal armies of Morgan le Fay.
Ancient and malevolent creatures hunt the streets by night. Monsters out of fairy tales lurk in subway tunnels. Only Excalibur—and Viv—stand between human civilization and the forces of wild magic.
And the dragons are hungry…
“Well-told, with engaging characters, and a generous mix of humour, romance, and adventure, this is a book that I suspect will have a lot of cross-genre appeal” —Beauty in Ruins
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