Was Hæra supposed to have an answer to that? She put her hands on her hips and glared at him. “Why are you worried about this today?”

“Why aren’t you worried about it ever? You’ll have to face it at some point. We need a plan, and I’ve got no ideas.” A helpless expression crossed his face, a sort of crumple between his bushy eyebrows. They were white now, as was his beard. Age had touched Jonathan, but not the creature who shared his dwelling place. He had a point.

Jonathan added, “I got you that birth certificate, thanks to Eileen.”

He meant Eileen McKay, Jorsay’s registrar. She lived just outside the village, ran the office out of her cottage, and had been sweet on him in their youth. He’d said Hæra was his daughter, the by-blow of a one-night stand years ago with a woman who then disappeared and had raised Hæra “off the grid.” It would never have flown in London, he’d said, but who’d care out here?

Now Jonathan continued, “That’s better than naught, it lets you exist in the eyes of the law, but it doesn’t solve the problem. It doesn’t make you human. You’re not like anyone else.”

Hæra tossed her head. Her ponytail bounced between her shoulder blades. “I’m pleased you noticed.”

“It’s not funny. You’re near a century old,” he said. “Stop thinking like a child and look to the future beyond the return of your Sister Madeleine.”

Hæra’s shoulders stiffened. Of all subjects, Jonathan knew not to make light of this one. If he had doubts, he was meant to keep them to himself. He’d been good at that so far, trusting to Hæra’s belief in her destiny.

Even if she hadn’t fully told him what that destiny was.

“I thought it’d be easier when the farm was a going concern.” Now the furrow between Jonathan’s brows could have been plowed by a tractor. “Thought money would help me see things clearer. All it’s done is draw more attention. I don’t know how long I can protect you.”

In her true form, Hæra could easily bite someone’s arm in two. She could run faster than any car, outswim any fishing boat. And her true form wasn’t lost to her. “I don’t need protection from humans. I repeat—why ask about this now, today? Has something happened?”

“Anniversary’s coming up, isn’t it? Of course I’m thinking about it, and I wish you would too. Or is it that you can’t? Your kind don’t look ahead that way?”