“Okay, I’ll go there. A couple of days, and I’ll go there. How long are you figuring, at this point, before we try for D.C.?”

“Two years, minimum. We’ll need to—”

“Two years,” he interrupted. “I can do that. That was your sentence, right? Two years. But I can flash back, report. That’ll make it easier for Mom to get used to it.”

He stood in the moonlight a few paces from her. “I’ll come back, and I’ll come back for you. You’ve got a couple years to think about that.”

“We have a war to wage and win, Duncan. Everything, just everything depends on it.”

“We have lives to live, or what’s the point? I’ll help you build and train your army, Fallon. I’ll fight with and for you. And I’ll come for you.”

He smiled. “You still didn’t say no,” he said before he vanished.

Alone, Fallon stood where she was. Two years, she thought. So much could happen. Lives lost, lives saved. When she thought of two years, she had to think strategically, not emotionally.

He stirred too many emotions.

Space and distance, that would be good for all.

She had an army to lead, battles to plan, magicks to make.

Two years, a blink of an eye, an eternity? Whatever it was, it started in the morning.

She went inside, lay on the bed without bothering to undress. For the good of all, she’d send him away. Would either of them be the same when he came back?

Half-asleep, she lifted a hand to light her candle.

And in dreams saw it guiding his way, her way, as they traveled their own paths.

Was it love? Was it need? Was it duty?

Could all three find a way to be one?

Outside, the moon swam in the star-filled sky. This storm had passed. The next had already begun to gather.