I tilted my gaze back to Rowen and rested my hand on his chest. “Being calledmy ladywill take some getting used to.”
“I believe you’ll adjust quickly,” Rowen replied with my favorite grin. He placed his hand over mine and toyed with the wedding band on my finger. I marveled at the man who was now and forever my husband. Though our nuptials had been quick and impromptu, I wished I had a wedding gift to give him.
My husband, the lord of Viltarran, stood before me in the early morning light. He was dressed simply, wearing his fitted pants and loose charcoal shirt with his ax at his side. He looked exactly as he had the first time I saw him—strong and handsome with muscled strength and quiet power. But there were two subtle differences.
The first was his face. The haunted shadows that clung to his features had disappeared. His gaze, once guarded and filled with the wounds of his past, was now clear, light, and brimming with purpose.
The second was his exposed chest. He only wore one necklace made of crystal beads. The other, with the silver medallion, was buried in the ground. Fou had placed a dark curse upon it to keep an eye on Rowen, and though we assumed her dead, it was still too great a risk to wear.
I felt the loss of his family heirloom deep in my bones. I had nothing from my life before, but I wanted Rowen to step into our future with a treasured piece of his past.
The sun was rising, and I was exhausted, but I couldn’t go one more day without righting this wrong. It would be my wedding gift.
I turned to my husband and said, “Take me to your mother’s necklace.”
Rowen led me to where he’d buried his mother’s necklace. It was just outside the Wyn village, up on one of the bluffs overlooking the sea.
He counted several paces from a tree, then knelt to where he’d buried the pendant.
“Can I see it?” I asked.
Rowen’s eyes narrowed. “It’s still cursed.”
“I know. It’s okay.”
Without hesitation, Rowen drove his ax into the ground to break up the earth. After a minute of digging, he retrieved a small woven pouch.
I outstretched my palm to take it from him.
“Keira,” he said with apprehension. “Someone could be watching.”
“Trust me,” I replied, keeping my hand steady.
He pulled the drawstrings apart and carefully lifted thenecklace out by the chain. He still didn’t dare touch the medallion cursed by his ex-love to spy on him.
Rowen hesitated as if he feared the curse would rub off on me. There was no way Aliphoura could have survived, but still, there were sightings of a raven-haired woman wandering the wreckage of Viltarran. We couldn’t be too careful.
He placed the necklace in my hand, and as soon as the medallion touched my palm, a pair of eyes flashed in my mind.
As fast as they appeared, they vanished.
Tendrils of Light spiraled up my arm as I cleansed the blight from the necklace with a silver blast.
“Someone was watching,” I said, holding the medallion a moment longer, ensuring the curse and connection were severed.
“Did you recognize them?” Rowen asked, his brows narrowing.
“No,” I said, handing him back his necklace. “But it’s safe to wear again.”
The light and love in his eyes were unmistakable as he traced the pendant with his finger. He put his head through the chain and situated the medallion on his sternum.
“I wish you could have met my mother,” he said, seeming entirely whole. It was beautiful to see.
“Me too. She sounds like an amazing woman.”
“She would have loved you.”
“What was her name?” I asked, wishing she and Rowen had had more time together. She’d died unexpectedly, orphaning him when he was so young.