“I know the answer,” Gabriel whispered in my ear. “Do not do it. Please, do not do it.”

“Oh, but let her, Gwynn. Let her learn a lesson about brash arrogance. Go on, Eden. Call my bluff. Please.”

As she said the words, her hand rose, a casual gesture. Pain ripped through my back and my knees gave way, and I fell back onto Gabriel so hard he stumbled. He caught me and held me as I gasped in pain.

“She said nothing,” he snarled at the sluagh. “Undo it. Now.”

“Is that an order, Gwynn?”

“Fynd nawr.”

“Oh, no, you don’t want to banish me right at this moment. If you do, I can’t reverse what I’ve done.”

I struggled to make sense of her words as I gasped in agony. I was only dimly aware of Gabriel’s arms around me, his grip supporting me.

I couldn’t feel my legs. No, that’s a lie. I felt the dead weight of them, memories of those early years flying back.

“Undo it!” Gabriel roared. “Now!”

“But I am. I’m undoing what I did. That’s what your lover figured out, Eden. The question isn’t what we can do, but what can we undo.”

She lifted her hand again, that casual gesture, and I could sense my legs dangling as Gabriel held me aloft.

“Is that the threat, then?” I said, still wincing against the ebbing pain. “You’ll undo the cure? Rob me of the use of my legs?”

“Oh, it’s not just your legs, Olivia. Your condition was more severe than the doctors could bring themselves to tell your parents. By this age, you would have been in a wheelchair, unable to move the lower half of your body, unable to regulate your bladder and bowels. You would have lung issues. Loss of skin sensation. The list goes on.”

“All right.”

That echoing laugh again. “Ah, but with such arrogance comes a bit of actual strength, doesn’t it? Right now, you’re madly working through the worst case, whether you could deal with that. Which is why we didn’t simply threaten it, Eden. Yes, we can reverse the cure. We can also ensure your father spends his life in prison for the murder of Gregory Kirkman. And we can take your lovers. Both of them. Notice that I do not say ‘kill’ them. I say take them. Which I think you will agree now is a far worse fate.”

“Hey, heb edifeirwch, you done talking?” said a voice. A young voice, male. Then a female one, saying, “That’s right. We called you by your Welsh name, heb edifeirwch. Because, being dryads, we’re too stupid to be afraid of using it.”

Helia and Alexios appeared. Helia’s olive skin looked pale, and she limped, her mate staying close.