Marian put her hand out to touch Sibyl’s cheek.
“No,” she said in a quiet voice, trying to soften the blow of her refusal.
Sibyl closed her eyes.
So much for Plan A, now she had to try Plan B.
“Okay, I have another idea.”
“I’m all ears,” Marian informed her and then went to sit down in a plush, worn, plum-coloured, velvet chair with a doily hanging on the back of it. Sibyl took a seat beside her, took a deep breath, pinned her hopes on her words and plunged ahead.
“You can give me the potion you gave Colin and give some to him. But more this time, so that Royce and Beatrice could come forward for long enough to consummate their love using our bodies.”
Marian’s eyes widened and she pulled in a swift breath. Sibyl found this encouraging and she forged ahead.
“The time before, it didn’t last long so it would have to last long enough for them to have time to, um… do it. They’d know each other immediately, I know it. Even though the time has changed, the place has changed and our hair has changed. I know they’d recognise each other. We could…” She stopped because she making up the entirety of the plan as she went along then she hit on it. “Write them a note! Tell them what to do. Then they could stop the curse and give Colin and me time, without this hanging over our heads, to…”
Again, she trailed to a stop when Mrs. Byrne shook her head.
“Sibyl, my dear, that is a very volatile potion. Anything could go wrong with that. I took a grave risk the last time and was very lucky with the outcome. And, it cannot be taken in large doses under any circumstances. It could catastrophic.”
“But why?” Sibyl cried. She needed either Plan A or Plan B because Plan C was unthinkable.
Plan C meant that in order to save Colin, she’d have to leave him. It was all about them being together, Marian had told them that and she knew it was true in her heart. The minute she left, he’d be safe again.
“One of the souls could get stuck, forever, in the present, leaving either you or Colin in some horrible limbo for eternity. Obviously, I either hit it right or Colin has no other incarnations but you could have. What if I brought forward someone else, something else? A bee, for example. A samurai. No, it doesn’t bear contemplating.” Looking at Sibyl’s dejected expression she leaned forward and patted her hand. “I’m sorry, my dear. They are clever ideas but you’re just going to have to tell him you love him.”
She smiled at Sibyl with knowing eyes and Sibyl’s heart sank.
“I already did,” Sibyl whispered.
Marian’s face glowed. “Well done! And?”
“And nothing.” Sibyl answered, “He doesn’t love me back.”
It was Marian’s turn to give a hoot of laughter (a hoot that lasted a good while). When she had her mirth under control she actually wiped her eyes.
Then she said, still chuckling, “Oh, my dear, that’s too much. Do you think Colin Morgan would sit and be sprinkled with magic dust for just anyone?”
Sibyl bit her lip but replied, “He cares about me, I know he does. He wants to keep me safe. He’s very patient with me but if he loved me, he’d tell me.” Marian smiled kindly but Sibyl shook her head, feeling tears stinging the backs of her eyes, tears she refused to shed, for now. “No, Marian, I told him last night and he could have… there’s no reason why he didn’t tell me so he must not feel it. Maybe one day, I can hope but we need time and someone’s trying to kill him.”
“They’re trying to kill you both, you must remember that.” Marian warned softly. “You are in just as much danger as Colin is.”
“I had a dream where his throat is slit, his, not mine. And I have these dreams –”
“I know, my dear Sibyl. You’re clairvoyant.” Marian waved that strange fact away as if it meant nothing. “But we can change what you saw.”
Sibyl felt all hope leave her. They couldn’t change it, she knew it, she felt it.
So she had to leave even if it meant going back to America. She had to keep Colin safe.
And even though she’d been waiting her whole life for him, in order to save his life, she had to leave him.
It was the only way.
If he loved her then they’d surely consummated it so many times that they’d have an iron-clad shield around them so strong a nuclear bomb would have left them unscathed.
But they were obviously still vulnerable.