Reyn"s smile was somewhat bitter. "To remind me-not to want too much."
I breathed in, tracing the symbols again with my fingers, flashing back to being a small child sitting on my mother"s lap, playing with her necklace. I would wrap her long blond braid around it, try to look through the moonstone, try to memorize the symbols, which I didn"t understand.
"When I realized who you were, I knew I would give it back to you. It shouldn"t have been taken from your family in the first place. Somehow I hoped that returning it would help... restore the balance."
I was overwhelmed with this gift, the one thing I would have desired above all else, from the one person I had desired in... forever.
"Of course, first I had to make sure you weren"t evil," he said matter-of-factly. "But now-now I know you should have it."
"Because I made out with you?" My voice was shaking.
"Yes. That"s why." Reyn rolled his eyes.
Quit hiding, Nastasya. Just-quit. "I can"t really believe it."
Reyn looked a bit like he couldn"t believe it either.
"It"s a princely gift," I said, knowing he would get the archaic reference. Handy that he was as old as I was-I wouldn"t have to explain things all the time.
"I give it to you," he said formally.
Plus his heart. He had offered me that as well. I knew he had. And, apparently, part of a puppy.
I cradled the amulet in my hand, hardly able to wait until I could fit it against the half River had returned to me. Then I thought of something. I should have realized it weeks and weeks ago, but then of course I"m fairly blind and stupid sometimes.
I reached into my pants pocket. My moonstone was there, as always. It had helped me fight Incy in that warehouse, and I would never be without it. I pulled it out and held it up to the amulet. It wasn"t shaped and had been polished only by my hands. But... it would fit beautifully between the two halves. Just like when my mother had it.
"My family"s tarak-sin will be whole again." For the first time in four centuries, I would have both pieces of my shattered life, my broken childhood. And when the amulet was made whole and set with my moonstone, it would enable me to wield incredible power: the power of the House of lfur. I would be my mother"s daughter, my father"s heir. Lilja af lfur. Lilja, daughter of lfur.
Reyn traced the rune othala on my leg. Birthright.
"Thank you, Eileif," I said. I felt almost unbearably happy, frighteningly happy. But I wasn"t going to run from it. Not this time.
Reyn took my hand and kissed my knuckles. "It belongs to you, Lilja. I was only holding it for you."
It was a huge responsibility. I needed help learning what I needed to know, how to use it, how to make magick with it.
I held it in one hand, that hand against my chest. Reyn clasped my other hand, and we sat close together, leaning against a bale of hay, quiet and full of thoughts and memories.
I was Lilja af lfur: the Thti daughter of Terv parents. My legacy would be different.
Don"t worry,
Nastasya and Reyn will be back.
Keep an eye out for the third and.
final novel in the.
IMMORTAL.
BELOVED.
triology.
coming soon..
Also by Cate Tiernan:.
Immortal Beloved.
end.