Epilogue
“How do we know if the curse has ended?” Angus asked from the shadows.
Georgiana wiped away a tear. “Of course it has—look at them!” They watched as Caroline threw her head back and laughed as Alec spun her across the grass, through the steps of a reel.
She’d cast off her shoes, loosened her hair, and was as fey and bonnie as any village lass.
Alec looked at his bride with such love that Georgiana’s chest hurt.
“You used to look at me like that, my love,” she said with a sigh that made a nearby torch gutter.
“I still do, gràdhach. I never stopped loving you, never will,” Angus said.
“Then why are we still here?” Georgiana asked. A young couple raced past them and bumped into Georgiana.
“Oh, your pardon. I didn’t see you there,” the girl said politely, and they ran on.
Georgiana turned to Angus. He was staring at the departing pair in surprise. “Did you see that?”
“Did you feel that?” Angus asked.
“Gràdhach—” he began, and tried to float toward her.
He stumbled on a tuft of gorse, and his bonnet fell over his eyes.
He righted himself and looked down at his feet, saw his boots solid and sharp, crushing a wildflower.
He looked at Georgiana again, and she saw the pain in his eyes, the hope.
He reached out his hand toward her cheek, and she shut her eyes and waited.
His touch was as warm and real as she remembered.
She pressed her cheek into his palm, put her hand on his chest, felt him solid under her fingers, the breath and blood singing under the warm wool of his plaid.
She could smell the flowers too, feel the gentle night breeze on her skin.
They stared into each other’s eyes, saw each other the way they’d been the last night they’d met, years ago, a life and death ago.
He smiled as he drew a breath of real air, then threw back his head and laughed.
He took her hand in his, kissed it, and she squeezed back. “I’d say the curse is over indeed,” she said.
Angus smiled at her. “Come on,” he said. “It’s time to go.”
Hand in hand, they walked through the heather, up the glen to the tower, until the shadows swallowed them.