Brightly Woven

hands and kissed it. He seemed to relax.
    “If you weren’t so beautiful…,” he said, and slowly began to tug at his gloves.
    I drew his hands closer to me, inspecting his skin for any signs that the curse had spread. North shifted his weight impatiently, but I kept my eyes fixed on where the black began and ended.
    “It really hasn’t spread since Arcadia,” I said, turning his hands so his palms were faceup. “I feel so relieved.”
    “Yes, but I really haven’t done any hard magic since then,” North said. “The next time I have to cast a spell, I’m sure you’ll see a difference.”
    “Wayland.” We turned toward the dark-haired woman watching us from a short distance away. North yanked his gloves back on, turning away from his mother.
    “I didn’t realize it had already progressed so far,” said Hecate, her face pale. She looked smaller to me somehow, though she was still dressed in the resplendent robes of her office. “Are you in pain?”
    “I’m fine,” North said. He tucked his hands into his pockets. “We’ll be leaving soon. You don’t have to worry about our causing more trouble.”
    She pressed her lips together, then said, “You could stay. We could speak to the healers about the curse, and you could help Oliver and me with the Guard.”
    “I don’t belong here; you know that.”
    “Yes, but…” I felt North’s body tense beside me as she continued. “You’ve proven yourself to be a smart, resourcefulwizard. I like having you around, and I’ve missed you greatly these years. I know now it was the right choice to send you to be trained by Pascal, but that doesn’t mean I don’t regret the time we’ve lost.”
    “Don’t go soft on me now,” North said. “You’ll need all of those hard edges to deal with the queen’s new policies.”
    Hecate scowled. “I suppose I won’t be reappointed when the rankings come next spring. If you’d like to participate in them—”
    “You know that’s not an option for me,” North said.
    “Not now,” I said, “but maybe in the future?”
    They both turned to me in surprise.
    “I have some ideas,” I said to North. “I’m not certain they’ll work, but if you’re willing to try, I am.”
    “Try, please,” Hecate said. She brought a hand up to his shoulder, and for a moment I thought she would try to embrace him. Instead, North leaned down and kissed her on the cheek.
    “Be good, Mother,” he said. “If you need me, I’ll come back. You know that.”
    “I hope to see you at the summer solstice. Both of you.” As she turned back toward the doors of the castle, she lifted her hand in a small wave, and we did the same. When she finally disappeared from sight, North released the breath he had been holding. I watched his face for any sign of confusion or hurt, but I found nothing but perfect calm.
    He turned to me. “What do you say we leave now?”
    “You don’t want to stay for the celebrations?” I asked, surprised.
    “No,” he said. “I just want some quiet.”
    North stepped away, reaching down for the bags I hadn’t noticed before. He threw them both over his shoulder.
    “I was thinking,” he said, “that I would make you a loom. Would you be able to describe it to me? Exactly how you want it?”
    “North,” I began, but he didn’t allow me to finish.
    “It would mean a lot to me,” he said. “It’s something that I want to do for you. I’d only need a little guidance and to stop in one of the towns to pick up the tools I’d need. I think Fairwell would have something I could use, don’t you?”
    “North, I would love anything you made me,” I began, wrapping my arms around his warm center. “But I was hoping that you could take me home to Cliffton. I realized after talking to Henry how much I miss it, and I need to see my family and friends. Could you take me there?”
    “Of course,” he said. “I’ll take you anywhere you want to go.” There was a strange touch of sadness to his words that I didn’t understand, but before I could say anything else, he brought the cloak I made for him up around us and we were gone.

EPILOGUE

I t was nearly a month and a half before that same smile returned. Once North had twisted us out of the city, I carefully plotted our path west. We stayed on the Prima Road, the road we would have taken to Provincia if we had been able. After walking its straight path across the countryside for several weeks, I had to admit that the way we had taken