His words give me pause, adding to my complicated feelings about the relationship between Velmara and Thayaria, and the lengths Laurel felt she had to go to in order to keep her kingdom safe from my father. The thought of my family, distant cousins though they may be, stuck here without a way home makes me grieve in a way I don’t fully understand. Her words from earlier echo through my thoughts once more, and I vow to make them true.

“Thank you for letting me come today. If you’ll have me, I’d love to visit again in a few weeks to see their progress.”

“We would all enjoy that.”

When I return to the merchant district, Fionn and Laurel are using their magic together to haul metal beams into place for the frame of a new building. They’ve made amazing progress while I’ve been at the school. Not only have they cleared the rubble of four more structures, but they’ve built a new frame and a second is going up.

“Steady, almost there, queenie,” Fionn coaches Laurel. Fionn looks like he’s straining, but Laurel remains as cool and unaffected as ever—she could likely perform the task on her own. When the beam is in place, Fionn melts the ends of it with his magic, then has it rapidly cool against the connecting beams. It leaves the frame sturdily secured. Several of the fae and humans helping with the rebuild cheer for Fionn, and he grins.

Striding up beside Laurel, I whisper, “I think someone is hiding the real depth of her power, witchling.” She blushes.

“I don’t know what you mean,” she returns, eyes bright.

“Mmmhmmm,” I growl. “At least Fionn is getting to use his magic.”

“Exactly. It’s clearly important to him to feel useful, especially here. With the citizens. He deserves their cheers.” She’s not wrong, and for what must be the hundredth time, I’m taken aback by her thoughtfulness, the way she can read a person so easily. I step into her body but stop myself from wrapping my arm around her waist like I want to out of respect for her request to not pursue anything between us, even if she clearly almost broke that rule herself.

We’re friends, and that is enough for me. I think.