He’d changed into his usual getup at some stage—a checkered red and black shirt, jeans, and boots. His coat was folded in a heap on the ground next to him, and his curled hair was wild and sticking up all over the place. It looked good, though. His hair. Always did.
I crossed the cemetery and stood beside him, waiting to be invited. When he shuffled over, I sat. Our legs pressed together, and it was warm and familiar. Just as it should be.
“Sean came by and helped for a while,” he murmured after a moment.
“That was good of him.”
“Aye…”
“I just returned your aunt to the hawthorn,” I said.
He grunted, scuffing his boot against the ground.
“I’m sorry about your brothers…”
He shrugged, looking exhausted. “They were corrupted a long time ago. This endin’ seemed…inevitable.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, so I added, “I’m sorry about your dad, too.”
“I was too young to remember him,” he replied. “Mother always said he was murdered to start a war between the witches and the fae, but Dother told me it had been a rogue Unseelie that took his life. The wrong place, and the wrong time. An accident of circumstance. It’s hard to know who to believe.”
It had certainly begun in a gray area. Carman lusted for power even before Finn had died, and her heartbreak gave her the excuse to take advantage. Boone knew it, and so did I. We didn’t need to dwell on such things. Not anymore.
“When you came to Derrydun…” I began.
“I’d broken free,” he replied. “She cursed me, but when I was able to get into Ireland, she altered the spell. Probably hoped that one day I would help her break the curse keepin’ her out. I guess she didn’t count on me fallin’ for the last Crescent.”
“Help? More like use,” I muttered.
“She was me mother, but that never meant she had me loyalty,” he said. “She locked away me memories before I could escape but couldn’t spell me into obedience.”
“You did escape,” I murmured, threading my fingers through his. “You came here.”
“I almost didn’t make it.”
I picked up his hand and threaded my fingers through his.
“There,” I said. “Proof you’re here, and we’re together.”
I felt him tense, his magic rippling through our joined hands, then he untangled himself and glanced away. Awkward.
“Are we related?” I asked, trying not to be so butthurt about it. “Is that…”
Boone lowered his head. “No. At least, I don’t think so.”
“Good. Because getting married would’ve been illegal.”
“I suppose we are distantly related.”
“Aileen said the coven was large back then,” I explained. “There wasn’t one pure bloodline. The Crescent Legacy was passed through spirit, not blood. The hawthorns are what binds it all together.”
“You have her sister’s blood, Skye.”
“Not like you think. I was the last, so Siobhan’s spirit came to me because her power was needed. That’s all. Those weird purple monkey, alligator, typewriter dreams were her spirit trying to meld with mine. It sent my powers into overdrive.” I smiled and looked out over Derrydun. “So our kids aren’t going to have two heads.”
“Our kids?”
“There’s nothing in my oven, so don’t get too excited. I don’t even know if I want to pop out any mini-humans. Thinking about pushing something that big out of my vagina isn’t exactly my idea of fun.”
“What about the coven? You and Aileen are the last…”
“Boone, the time of the Crescent Witches is over. We’ve righted the wrongs, made peace with the fae, expelled all the evil in Ireland… It’s time for the forgotten to reclaim the world. The lost fae will be able to go home, the witches can come out of hiding, and everyone will be able to let go of their fear and live the lives they’ve always wanted. I have to stand back and allow them to take back their own Legacy.”
“So we can take a break?”
“Yeah. Our work here is done.” I laughed and nodded, liking the sound of that. “Hopefully, one day, the witches will see what happened here and not hate the Crescents so much. We’ll invite them to come to Derrydun to see if we can restore their power, and go from there.” Maybe the Nightshade Witches would be able to earn their magic back, too. That was a comforting thought in light of everything that had happened.
“What about us?” he asked uncertainly. “I mean… The last time we spoke, it wasn’t very nice.”
“I’m sorry,” I replied. “I shouldn’t have pushed you away like that, but I meant what I said yesterday. I love you, Boone. I always will. Nothing will ever change that.”
He twisted to face me, his eyes wide with hope. “You still want to marry me?”
I held up my hand and showed him the ring. “I never took it off.”
He let out a whoosh of air, grasped my face, and kissed me. Wrapping my arms around his middle, I held him close, pouring all the love I felt for him into our embrace.
“We’re still on for spring, you know,” I murmured against his lips. “Mary didn’t cancel.”
“Well…I better find a suit.”
“Don’t borrow clothes from Sean McKinnon ever again, by the way. Go to Sligo where there are proper shops.”
Boone grinned and glanced up at the sky where the web protecting the village—the one Aileen and I had created—and the natural glow of the hawthorns lay dormant.
“I will,” he said with a laugh. “I’m free to go wherever I choose now, after all.”
“Well, don’t go too far. We’ve got a party to go to!”
Chapter 22A Little Bit More…
I felt the last of Carman’s stolen magic emerge from the painting and flow through my body. The unfamiliar magic skipped along my skin and dove into the woman whose hand I held.
“There,” I said. “Do you feel any better?”
She’d given her name as Amanda, a witch from Blarney in County Cork. Twenty years old, worked in the woolen mills near the castle and had been caught unawares one evening after
