Page 47 of Degradation

“Yes. One of the largest and oldest stones I know of. It can hold enough power to complete the spell from start to finish that your girl attempted to cast. Her well is equal to a dozen of these. Maybe two dozen. I don’t know. I feared looking deeper and becoming lost.”

I struggled to believe what she’d said as she approached the bed.

“Did you also cast the spell I told you to cast?” she asked.

“Yes. You won’t remember me if you’re taken.”

“Good. Now cast it on them. Each one of them.”

Brandle closed his eyes, and I could feel his despair at the thought of forgetting me forever. While forgetting me would keep me safe, it wouldn’t save them once they were taken. I could feel his certainty in that and tugged my hands from his.

“What good is the secret of my existence if they’re taken from me?” I asked. “I thought removing any memory of me was to protect us all.”

“It is, Kitten,” Brandle said. “If any of us are taken, we cannot reveal the one who broke our curse. The queen would hunt you because, without you, we would return to what we were. But if the queen learns what you truly are, she won’t kill you. She’ll consume your power and use it to do the one thing she isn’t yet strong enough to do.”

“What does she want to do?”

“Live forever,” he said.

“She’s taken so many already,” Pogwid said. “The power she steals extends her life a little. She’s been experimenting. Impregnating?—”

“Enough,” Brandle said.

Pogwid sighed and returned the stone to its shelf. “She’s powerful and corrupt without any sense of wrong. Nothing is beyond her. To protect everyone from that evil, no one can know of your potential. Do you understand?”

With a heavy heart, I nodded.

“Good. Then cast the spell.”

“No,” Brandle said. “You do it, Pogwid. You said she fixed most of your energy source. Test what you can do.”

“Your stubbornness isn’t an attribute to cultivate,” Pogwid grumbled.

“It’s not stubbornness,” I said. “It’s fear. If you lost everything you hold dear and by some small chance find something to hold dear again, wouldn’t you fear losing it above all else? He’s keeping a secret from me and fears I will see it when I search his mind for memories of me.”

Brandle’s guilt swelled, and I cupped his cheek.

“I understand,” I said. “Better than you know. At some point, though, you will need to trust that I will not run from you, Brandle, or it will be your distrust that destroys what you’re desperate to hold onto.”

He closed his eyes and kissed my palm then stood and went to Pogwid.

“Can you make it temporary?” I asked.

“I’m not certain that will work,” Pogwid said. “It’s best to make it permanent.”

I watched her take his hand and cast the spell that would remove me from his mind if he were taken. Then she did the same with Garron.

“Remember to cast the spell of concealment around your home,” Pogwid said as we left her workroom.

“I will. Am I welcome back tomorrow?”

“Of course.”

The three of us left in silence. Both Garron and Brandle were lost in their thoughts as I guided us around patrols. Despite their distraction, they remained close and watchful when I stopped at the busy market to purchase a few more essentials for our home.

By the time we returned, so too had Edmund and Eadric. Dinner simmered in the kitchen, and a fire was lit in the backyard to heat bathwater since they smelled like sheep.

“Didn’t expect to see you with them,” Eadric said when he saw Brandle.

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