Rose glanced at me as I approached. Tears on her cheeks glistened in the sunlight. My heart felt her pain. In her position, I would surely have been as deceived as she’d been. In fact, I had been. She believed what she’d been taught, and so had I. Wasn’t the whole world the same way? In punishing Rose, the world would only be doing what it thought it should do to protect itself. And that impulse to protect itself was born in fear.

The whole world was lost in fear. Only a direct encounter with love could save it.

I stopped beside her and we stood in silence for a long moment, letting the breeze whisper through our hair. I decided I liked mine short, but Rose was going to try growing hers out, long like her beautiful daughter’s.

“Do you think we could forget love enough to end up enslaved to the Fury again?” she asked.

“I think we’re enslaved often, whenever we cling to this world in fear of losing something. Fear’s always available to us, just like love is. We have the opportunity to choose love over fear with every breath we take, and each time we choose love, it becomes more natural, until it becomes our breath.”

She nodded and sighed. “Sometimes I think I still feel him,” she whispered. “He manipulated me for so long . . .” Her words trailed off, and I stayed quiet as she processed. Rose didn’t use Sylous’s name anymore—it was too hard for her to say. “His words rang so true to me. I never saw what he really was.”

“No one did.”

She nodded thoughtfully, staring at the horizon. “Sometimes I think I can hear them in the night.”

“The Fury?” I followed her stare. “Maybe that’s a blessing. At least you know what they are. Most don’t even know their fear has the kind of power it has.”

Rose remained silent for a few beats. “I miss Harrison,” she whispered, eyes misted once again.

I placed my arm around her elbow and pulled her close.

She looked up at me and shook her head, then lowered her eyes. “How can you be so kind to me after everything I’ve done?” she asked.

“Love holds no record of wrong, remember? Bless your enemies. It’s easier on some days than others, but I’m learning.”

Rose gave me a sideways glance. “So I’m your enemy?”

I saw the corner of her mouth pull up into a smile, and I started to laugh, joined by her.

As our laughter faded, we fell into an easy silence. Rose finally broke it. “So what now?”

I shrugged. “We learn to rest in love, no matter what happens. And we share that with whoever has ears to hear. What a story you have to tell the world! Maybe they will listen to you more than anyone else.”