***
“How about that,” said a voice Cassie recognized. “She just pumped him so full of white magic, the curse got too diluted to complete. No training, no knowledge, just pure brute force. She really is yours.” said Serenus.
She still couldn’t see; all she could do was hear the voices, which seemed to float around her like smoke.
“I wish she was a little less like me,” said another voice softly. “After that stunt, I thought…she felt like ice….”
“Her own magic is knitting her back together. It’s just a matter of time. You’ll see.”
“I could’ve stopped this. If I’d compelled her as soon as I realized—”
“Sam, if your first thought whenever she disobeys you is to reach for compulsion, you will lose her absolutely,” said Serenus, with a quiet gravity she wasn’t used to hearing from him. “You’ve no choice but to let her decide.”
There was a pause.
“I don’t know if I can take it, Ser.”
When she opened her eyes, she was confused; she knew Sam and Serenus were there somewhere, but all she could see was the view from her grandparents’ house once again. The fall scenery had changed to winter, and she could hear the crunch of someone walking in freshly-fallen snow. Her mind tried to reconcile the two scenes for a while, but it seemed like entirely too much work.
She realized that, despite the winter’s chill in the air and the icicles hanging from the trees, she was somewhere soft and safe, and that was all that mattered.