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“What?” she asked.
“Just wasn’t what I was expecting.”
“I guess I want to know more about you and your life. I mean, we’re here, together, and this might be a good time to exchange histories. Davido and Vojalie have been part of my life for a long time and they’ve been such a huge support. I don’t know what I would have done without them.” Especially when it came to the horrendous Margetta visions, but this she didn’t share with Stone. She honestly hoped she’d never have to.
Stone shifted onto his back. “I know both Davido and Vojalie really well. As for the first time I met Davido, well that’s hard to say. He took an interest in me early in my life. I’ve never told anyone this but he used to sneak into my room during the day when I was a little one. My earliest memory is of him sitting on the floor, near my cradle and talking to me. Or rather, pathing with me.”
“Do you know why he used to do this? Didn’t it seem odd?”
“I asked him about it later on. He said he knew I’d be a mastyr one day and he wanted to be sure I was protected.”
“Davido is a good man and one of the best husbands I’ve ever known.”
“He’s very devoted to his wife.”
“That he is.”
The conversation continued in this vein for a good long while. He asked her about castle life and she asked him his favorite swimming spots. He preferred his lake, but he also enjoyed the chain of grottos at the Sea of Vermed. She confessed to swimming naked in a small spring at the western edge of Ferrenden Peace. Teleporting made it possible. If anyone ever came near the spring while she was paddling around, she simply took herself with a thought back to the castle.
No, she’d never driven a car.
Yes, he’d owned several Harleys over the years. One of them had been stolen, maybe Joseph’s devilment.
The hours moved swiftly by and their sharing of stories was steady except for the occasional hourly contact Stone made with Harris. Throughout the night, Tannisford remained quiet, a circumstance that continued to trouble Rosamunde. Her fae instincts told her Margetta was up to no good.
After Stone’s final conversation with Harris, he made love to her again, only this time she remained solely as Rosamunde.
When dawn arrived shortly after, she fell asleep in his arms.
When she woke up the next night, she lay on her right side, in a bed that didn’t feel familiar to her. Yet it was comfortable and warm and she was naked and she didn’t want to move. The hour was late, almost full-dark. She’d slept through the day, again, which seemed incredible. She was always up at least two hours before the sun disappeared in the west.
Yet as sleep began to roll away from her, memories surged of having made love with Stone, of all men, on the night before. He’d come to accept her as Rosamunde.
She could smell coffee and the wonderful aroma caused her to roll on her back, flopping her arms to either side. This was heaven, nothing less. She could even forget about Ferrenden Peace, especially knowing that Vojalie and Davido were keeping watch over the veil of mist.
She could also recall falling asleep in Stone’s arms.
But at this thought, she frowned. She knew something about Stone’s birth parents that she wished he knew. She hated having carried around so many significant and difficult secrets all these centuries. She might need to talk to Davido about finally removing the silence-ban on who Stone’s biological parents had been. She was pretty sure most adopted kids, no matter their age, wanted to know their roots or at least to be given the opportunity to say ‘No, thank you. I don’t need to know’.
She stared up at the natural wood rafters of the bedroom ceiling and sighed deeply. Was this really happening? Was she a blood rose? Had she fed Mastyr Stone while in her Rosamunde form? Had Stone truly accepted her?
It all seemed so impossible, yet wonderful in an amazing way. From the time she’d battled beside him as Aralynn, she’d come to discover that she and the Mastyr of Tannisford actually shared some things in common. He was as devoted to his realm as she was to serving the people of Ferrenden Peace. She might have been given the job under extremely difficult circumstances, but never once had she questioned the value of serving as queen. She’d loved being a protector and so had Stone. Neither, it seemed, had looked back once the journey for each had begun.
Stone arrived in the doorway, wearing jeans but no shirt. He must have showered since his long black hair was damp and he wore a towel beneath to cover his shoulders. He carried two cups of coffee.
Without thinking, she sat up and stretched out her hands, ready to receive one of the cups. But the comforter fell away.
Stone started for the bed, then stopped as his gaze dropped to her breasts.
“Oops.” She lifted the comforter and caught it up under her arms to cover herself.
He put his feet back in motion. “Don’t do that on my account.”
But she felt heat on her cheeks again. She had such a terrible tendency to blush around Stone. As Aralynn, not so much.
He handed her a cup and she drew it in a swift motion to her lips. In part, she wanted to cover her embarrassment but also nothing was quite as good to her as coffee first thing at night.
She loved the unique flavor. “So this is cardamom.”
