The greatest secret he’s ever kept lives in a little brown prescription bottle sitting in his nightstand drawer, one he reaches for every morning, about an hour before Rory stirs beside him. It’s a reminder of the bitter past, and a testament to one of magic’s ugliest truths: curses always leave scars.

( It was Milan, 1943, and he was serving the United States Army under the name of JEremiah Layton... )