Stay?

His gaze shifted past her for a moment, toward some distant point beyond the snow rather than anything that truly stood there.

Golde had once been a stranger near these borders too.

He remembered bringing her into Dawnbreak, remembered offering her somewhere to stand when circumstance had left her without one, never knowing then what that simple decision would become. He had not known she would weave herself so thoroughly into his life, not known she would become his mate, the mother of his children, someone whose absence would one day leave silence in places that had once felt full.

Back then, it had only been an invitation, a place to stay. Hexx swallowed the memory before it could settle too deeply.

His eyes returning to Asny. I see no reason you couldn't, His gaze drifted briefly toward the vale behind him. Hexx moved then, stepping aside from where his broad frame had stood squarely before the entrance into Dawnbreak. The motion left the path beyond him unobstructed, winding between pines and farther into the vale. For half a heartbeat, another memory overlaid itself upon the sight. A different woman crossing into Dawnbreak, a different beginning.

He pushed it away.

Dawnbreak had given Hexx more than shelter. Once, long ago, it had placed Golde in his path. And despite everything that had followed, he could never convince himself that opening that door had been a mistake.

Hexx turned slightly toward the valley but did not begin walking without her.

Come. You wanted to see the vale,