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Then it suddenly seemed that the only thing she could do was say it straight out. “I knew of the attack at Charborne before it happened.”

He cocked his head. “I know you did. You went to the mine to protect Elias.”

“Not the recent attack, Stone. The one that occurred shortly after you joined the Tannisford Vampire Guard.”

She drew her knees up and wrapped her arms around them. She tried to gauge his reactions, then had to look away.

From her peripheral vision she watched him draw close to the bed. She bolstered her courage because she had to face him, had to make him understand it all.

She shifted slightly in his direction, lowering her knees, but pulled the comforter up to cover her breasts.

He was frowning. “I don’t understand. You had foreknowledge of the attack that nearly destroyed the village, the same attack that took the lives of my parents?”

She nodded very slowly. She became lightheaded and forced herself to take a breath. “It wasn’t the usual fae vision, not the kind you and I have used to battle side-by-side for the past several weeks. It wasn’t even like Vojalie’s fae visions, not at all. And that’s what I need you to understand. These visions were delivered to me, by Margetta, for a specific reason.”

“You’re saying Margetta warned you what she intended to do?”

“Yes. They originated from her.”

“They? You mean that over the centuries there have been several visions.”

She looked away from him, remembering. “Dozens. Each one a painful nightmare.”

“What did you do about them? Who did you tell? I don’t understand. I don’t recall any warning about the attack that killed my parents.”

“That’s what I’m trying to say. I couldn’t tell a single person about the visions, not while they were in progress. Stone, try to understand. Margetta laid them over my mind with the hope that I would reach out to someone, to anyone. But if I’d done so, she would have locked onto my physical location and teleported into Ferrenden Peace. The moment she succeeded, she would have channeled the elf-lord power and the Nine Realms would have been lost.”

The color drained from his face. “But if you’d let anyone in Tannisford know about the attack on Charborne, so many lives could have been saved. My parents would still be alive.”

“Margetta would have acquired the elf-lord power and who knows what would have happened that night at Charborne. But every fae ability I have tells me that she would have used the resulting power to take over our world. Think how many realm-folk would have died then?”

His nostrils flared. She felt his temper in hard, bitter waves, rolling off his skin. “All I’m hearing is that you’ve confirmed my original take on your character. You’ve always lacked the courage to act, to do what’s right. You should have contacted the ruling mastyr and given him a chance, given all the mastyrs a chance.”

She shook her head. “You’re not seeing the bigger, much more horrible picture. Try to envision what it would have been like if Margetta had gained control of the elf-lord power? If I’d reached out to anyone, and I mean anyone, Margetta would have used my position to get inside Ferrenden Peace.”

Stone closed his eyes. She watched him swallow hard as he shook his head back-and-forth several times. “I need to understand everything here.” He opened his eyes once more, but his complexion remained pale, almost gray. “In the visions that Margetta sent you, did realm-folk die?”

Her throat closed up and tears sprang to her eyes. Of all the things she’d suffered through the years, including the painful solitude of her castle life, the visions had been the most difficult to endure, even worse than the physical pain of receiving the elf-lord power each time. Having knowle

dge of the death of hundreds of realm-folk over the years, possibly thousands, yet being unable to act on that information, had required a great deal of prayer, of fortitude and of self-forgiveness.

Vojalie and Davido knew of the visions and had counseled her as well. But she’d still had to live with the results.

In response to his question about whether or not realm-folk died with each vision, she could only nod solemnly.

His nostrils flared and he bent over at the waist to plant his fists on the bed. His arms were spread wide, so that he could dip low enough to look her in the eye. He wasn’t but a few inches from her face.

She felt his growing anger. “How do you know for sure that Margetta, even if she’d made it inside Ferrenden Peace, would have been able to access the elf-lord power? How, Rosamunde? Because I’m telling you right now that the deaths of all these people are on your head. Every vision you received and failed to report to the ruling mastyr who could have taken action, placed a dagger in your hand that might as well have slit each throat.”

He breathed heavily through his nose, raspy, fiery sounds that set her heart to pounding once more. “What’s more, you’ve confirmed my original belief that you’re a coward. For what realm-person could have done this who had the smallest shred of either a conscience or a heart? You disgust me. You always have.”

He drew back full of so much righteous fury that when his color returned, his golden skin had a reddish hue over every visible surface his body.

“You don’t believe me, then, because I want to be clear on that point. You don’t trust that my fae instincts were and are strong enough to warn me not to act on her visions.”

“That’s what I’m saying exactly.”

Rosamunde straightened her shoulders. “Then I think it a very good thing that we didn’t bond last night.”

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