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Despite the discomfort, there was one other thing that the elf-lord frequency had given her, which made transportation a non-issue for her: She could teleport. She only knew of four other realm-persons who could do that: Vojalie, Davido, a powerful elf named Kaden, and of course, Margetta.
She shared the vision with Vojalie, who took it as her cue to take her leave. She kissed Rosamunde’s cheeks in turn, then wished her a successful night batting the Invictus. Rosamunde thanked her again for coming to her and for sharing her troubles.
One last lovely smile, and Vojalie vanished.
Rosamunde informed her staff that she would be in meditation through the night and that she wasn’t to be disturbed for anything. It was a ruse, of course, the best she’d been able to concoct while she went out as Aralynn. She didn’t want any of her people knowing that she was living a dangerous double life.
Locking her door from the inside, she focused on ‘Aralynn’s’ forest cottage. She’d taken many precautions to keep her dual identity a secret. Stone, for instance, believed that Aralynn had once served with the Castle Guard. She’d also told him that she was obedient always to the queen’s wishes.
Arriving in her cottage bedroom, she transformed quickly into Aralynn. She no longer felt like Rosamunde, but took on Aralynn’s experiences, her thoughts, and her wolfish love of battling. She wasn’t sure how she’d achieved such a strong separation of personas, but for the sake of her work with Mastyr Stone, it had been necessary.
She opened her closet and pulled out her battle leathers, donning a dark green leather vest with fringe at the bottom, black leather pants and matching boots that zipped up the sides. She tore at her braids, the careful work of three maids. She caught the upper mass of her curly red hair in a woven clasp similar to the ones that Stone and his Vampire Guardsmen wore. But she let the lower half float free. She adored the sensation.
Freedom was what she felt as Aralynn, freedom from responsibility, from the drudgery of castle life, from a sense of invisibility. She’d never felt like a real person as the queen.
Once she had her long, silver dagger strapped to her hip, she prepared to contact Stone and let him know about the vision of Charborne.
She loved this moment every evening because now that she was Aralynn, she could let herself feel everything she felt about her battle partner.
She blew the air from her cheeks as pure desire raged through her. She wanted Stone bad, but had been holding back because he didn’t approve of ‘Rosamunde’. Yet, given the situation, she wondered if she should take Vojalie’s advice, to accept Stone as her lover as Aralynn, then let the chips fall where they may.
A week ago, Vojalie had said something else, encouraging Rosamunde to reach out with both hands and take the life she wanted.
Both hands.
She’d definitely wanted to grab Stone that way, starting with his massive shoulders, squeezing hard, then moving down his chest, his abs, and lower still.
Her vision blurred and one of her brows drifted upward until all she saw was the image in her mind of Stone without anything on. How many times had she imagined him this way, every warrior muscle on display?
She gave herself a shake. Time to contact Stone and let him know about Charborne, though her fae instincts told her he already did.
Stone?
Aralynn, we’ve got a situation near Charborne.
Stone’s voice, even telepathically, hit her at the back of her knees and she levitated to keep herself from falling on her face.
I’ve had a vision about the village, that your Guard will soon be battling a large number of wraith-pairs. Any news at your end? What’s going on? Over the past year, Stone had built an extensive surveillance system to watch for Invictus.
Delia’s husband was out at Charborne checking out a gold mine. He’s been missing two days and a night.
Oh, no. Delia was Stone’s assistant and Rosamunde adored her for the way she challenged Stone, especially when he was being stubborn and at times overbearing. How surprised she’d been the first time she’d seen Delia in action. She’d learned a lot from the lovely troll.
However, it disturbed her terribly to learn that Delia’s husband might have been caught in the Invictus attack.
Stone continued. Elias’s disappearance is what alerted us to the situation. We’ve since learned all the feeds are down in the village, or maybe blocked. I’ve sent Harris in with several squads to check it out. I should be hearing from him any minute now. I’m in the air. Where can you meet me?
Her fae senses told her to consider the area carefully. She knew Tannisford’s geography like the back of her hand. She’d studied all of the realms in depth, over and over through the centuries, maybe instinctively preparing for this moment in time. Let me access Charborne.
Good idea.
She and Stone had worked together long enough for him to know she could gain a strong sense of places, people and the immediate future if she had a focal point. She settled her thoughts on the village where Stone had grown up.
She felt remnants of the elf-lord power inside her, humming through her mind and her psyche. She brought the part of her that was Rosamunde and fae to the forefront. This was Rosamunde’s forte. The fae part of her could feel the future like a mist, not very different from the one that protected Ferrenden Peace.
She mentally focused on Charborne. Images of the lovely forested foothills near the village sped through her mind. Yet right on the heels of these images came a vision of a lot of Invictus.
She wanted to know more, to see how many wraith-pairs and where they were focusing their attack. She let the vision unfold and saw at least thirty wraith-pairs.
