Why not? she thought, suddenly weary. She sank down on the bench. He sat on the other end—the polite distance required between strangers. Were there some standard phrases gentry women used when a lover was trying to say he was leaving? She’d have to ask Elinore so she’d be prepared next time. If her heart was ever willing to risk a next time.

“Breanna, maybe it’s too soon, all things considered, but…” He reached down, picked up a basket, and set it between them. “I got this for you.”

She lifted the cloth folded over the top of the basket—and stared at the sleeping black puppy. She wanted to run her fingers over that soft fur, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to touch him.

“Squire Thurston’s bitch had a litter,” Falco said. “He wasn’t going to keep them. And since he’s pretty sure the wild oats the bitch got into came from here, I thought…”

“Wild oats?” Breanna asked, bewildered. “From here? What kind of…Oh.” She looked at the puppy again, and her throat tightened. But she still hesitated to pet him.

“I thought he’d be company for you, once winter sets in. And I thought you’d like him better than a salmon.”

“Better than—” Remembering the condition of the salmon he’d brought her, she grabbed the puppy out of the basket and cradled him against her chest. “Falco! You didn’t fly over there and snatch him, did you?”

“Fly? Snatch?” Falco’s eyes widened. “No. I rode over with the basket. Just got back a little while ago.”

“Oh.” It wasn’t so hard to cuddle the puppy, who was content to be petted back to sleep. “I thought…after everything that’s happened, I thought you’d grown tired of this world and were going back to Tir Alainn.” Where it’s peaceful…and safe.

After a long silence, he asked quietly, “Do you want to live in Tir Alainn?”

She didn’t have to think about it. “No.”

“Then I’m staying. I love you, Breanna. And I think…I think Willowsbrook needs us.”

She heard it again. The same hesitation and uncertainty she’d heard when he’d finally shown himself to her in human form. He was looking for some assurance that he had a place in the world.

Smiling, she held out her hand. “Yes, Falco. Willowsbrook needs us. Both of us.”

The following morning Aiden set two fresh stacks of paper at one end of the dining room table at Liam’s house, made sure the quills were sharpened and the ink bottles filled. He and Lyrra would make notes of this barons’ council, then combine them into one document for Liam’s review and approval.

He looked at Donovan, who sat in a cushioned chair to his left. “Are you sure you should be out of bed?”