It seemed like only yesterday that he had been here and had been cursed. He had vowed to never return. His gaze slid across to Celene where she stood beside him. He couldn’t let her go alone. She shouldn’t be here at all. This was his curse to break, not hers, but it had become her burden and he knew that she intended to see it through to the end now.His hand found hers and he held it tightly, relishing the contact between them and the way it made him feel as though he was alive for the first time. These years of battling his curse had left him empty. He could see that now. Celene had filled him up again, given him hope after hope that he would make it through this and return to his normal self one day.She had given him hope that when that day came, he wouldn’t be alone in the world any longer.And neither would she.Her fingers curled around his hand and he looked down at them and then out onto the valley.It stretched before them, the long river snaking through the basin of the two hills.
