{"The magic of reality is neither supernatural nor a trick, but – quite simply – wonderful." }
Sleep finally claimed me like a gentle tide pulling at my bones. The weight of the night, its silence, its sorrow had pressed on my chest for hours until I could no longer hold my eyes open. Then I was pulled into a trance, and I saw my late husband and the Lord of the Coven Dunco.
I saw him as clearly as the day he left us, no, clearer, somehow. My breath caught in my dream-self as I watched him walk down the hallway of the Kayne home, his footsteps silent but certain. The old floorboards didn't groan like they used to. It was as if the house knew it couldn't stop him. He moved with purpose, past the rooms filled with ghosts and memories, toward the hearth where we once danced in the firelight. But he didn't linger. Instead, he reached behind the tall cabinet, pressed his hand to the concealed panel only he and I knew, and slipped into the secret path that led beyond the estate.
