Morning

Elizabeth slid her plate away and stared at the tablecloth. She had neither the appetite for breakfast nor any real yearning for nourishment.

By this moment two days from now, she would be experiencing her first morning as Jason Morgan’s wife and she wondered if she would feel the same way she did now.

Could their feelings have been brought on by the Dawning? Was it possible that after the consummation of their marriage, her heart would cease to pound when he was near—that the thought of him would not make her smile and her palms damp?

She did not think she wanted to live in a world where she did not feel this way—she’d fantasized about falling in love since the first novel Gia had smuggled her years ago.

She stood and belted her robe around her waist tightly. What if she truly had fallen in love with him but his feelings were inspired only by the Dawning? Could she live the rest of her life with a man who was fond of her but who did not love her? Who did not yearn to be with her when they were apart? Who was not constantly bombarded with memories of her touch, her kiss?

And even if she could, did she want to?

A knock at the door interrupted Elizabeth’s self-pitying thoughts and eager for the break in her thoughts, she pulled the door open. The smile fled from her face and her eyes flashed before falling flat. “My Lord, this is a surprise.”

Michael pressed his lips together and forced down the bitter feeling he experienced whenever he came face to face with his niece. “Elizabeth, may we have a moment to speak?”

She hesitated but drew back and gave him entry. “Please excuse the mess,” she said stiffly. “I have not the energy to finish my meal this morning and Gia has not cleared the table yet.”

Michael nodded. “Elizabeth—I know that we do not have the familiar relationship we had when you were a child but I had hoped you had come to trust me a little.”

She looked away and clasped her hands behind her back. “You surprised me when you gave your word that if Jason and I wished to remain married, you would see that it happened,” Elizabeth admitted. “I did not think you cared for my happiness.”

“I do,” Michael assured her. “It is just difficult to see that it happens—my position is important, Elizabeth, and I do significant things for the kingdom. At times—it may seem to conflict with your own views.”

She narrowed her eyes slightly. “I do not follow.”

“You are so very young.” Michael sighed and moved past her. For the first time that Elizabeth could remember, this was not Lord Michael Corinthos, Supreme Head of the High Council of Rhigwyn. This was a man she’d affectionately called Uncle Sonny in her younger years. His eyes were not guarded, his muscles relaxed.

And yet—there was tension in the air and Elizabeth wondered what had brought the change in him. Had her loving uncle been inside this man all along and she’d refused to see it? Or had he buried that part of him when his beloved young wife was killed in a tragic accident just before Elizabeth’s fifth birthday?

“When I was your age, I had not yet been promoted to the council,” Michael informed her. “I was in line for it but because I was merely your mother’s half-brother and not full-blooded, there were questions as to whether I would take my place on the council at all.” He exhaled slowly. “I was betrothed to a woman that I loved a great deal. I know that you know the story and I have neither the energy nor the desire to repeat it. We married shortly after I gained my place on the council and she was killed in a carriage accident three years later.”

“I remember Brenda,” Elizabeth blurted out. “She had long dark hair and dark eyes. She had a beautiful laugh and I would spend hours trying to copy it.”

Michael closed his eyes as if trying to fight the image of his young wife, laughing. Lady Brenda Corinthos had been dead for nearly fifteen years but Michael had never recovered from the loss and it seemed he never would. “When she was gone, I had only the council to live for. My responsibilities to this kingdom and to my family. To you, to Nikolas.”

“Michael—”

He held a hand up to her and she fell silent. “Nikolas never needed guidance. Despite your parents’ best efforts, he has grown up to be a kind and compassionate young man who is going to be one of the greatest rulers this world has ever known. I have no doubt of that. But you—” he shook his head. “I worried about you from the moment I saw you move an object across the room when you were but a few months old. I was the one who discovered your powers,” Michael informed her.

“I was almost a year old when Mother found out…” Elizabeth trailed off. “You did not tell her?”

“No. I told Brenda and knowing Mirielle, she encouraged me to hide it. Hide it until Mirielle could not devise a plan to send you away.” Michael rubbed the inside of his wrist, pressing against his pressure point, hoping it would release the tension behind his eyes. “I promised Brenda that I would protect you with every fiber of my being—I would have even without her extracting the promise but…” he struggled to continue for his throat felt rather thick. He had never spoken to another soul what he was about to tell her.

“Brenda was an enchantress,” Michael confessed. “She was a powerful one and she wanted to train you herself. You remember her more vividly than you might have otherwise because you spent most of the first five years of your life with her. She thought of you as a daughter and…” he hesitated. “I did as well.”

“I did—” Elizabeth bit her lip and shook her head. “I did not know that.”

“When she died, it was hard to look at you. For though you were not her biological child, you seemed so much like her. It is ironic you mention her laugh for I have never heard another laugh as close to hers as yours. You have her kind heart, her impulsiveness—” His voice broke. “So many of the things I loved about my wife are in you, Elizabeth, and it is part of the reason that I never pressed an end to our distance. It was hard to look at you and not remember Brenda.”

“I am so sorry…” Elizabeth set a hand on his forearm. “For not knowing and for treating you as I did.”

“I know that you did not lead a happy life in these walls,” Michael continued, “but I did everything I could to ensure that you continued to breathe. Because I had promised Brenda—but also because I loved you. And the only thing in the world that I want for you, Elizabeth, is to be happy.”

“I will be,” Elizabeth promised with tears shining in her eyes. “I promise you, Uncle Sonny.”

He managed a weak smile at the familiar name. “You used to call me at that all the time. You called Brenda Aunt Brennie because it was hard for you to pronounce her name.” He cleared his throat. “I tell you this because what I say next is out of love and concern and not in a way to control you.”

Elizabeth frowned. “What is it?”

“I have had a man follow Jason for his own safety,” Michael said simply. “I cannot be sure who is behind the attempt on his family’s life but I know it leads back to the Dawning and someone on the council. This man followed him yesterday and reported back to me.” Michael met Elizabeth’s bewildered gaze. “He reported everything that Jason had done yesterday. Everything,” he repeated for emphasis.

Her cheeks flushed and she stepped back. “I promise you that it went no further than it did,” she said quickly. “We knew—we know that it cannot go any further until the night of the wedding. I promise you that.”

Michael nodded. “I thought you would be sensible about it but I thought I just might mention it to be sure.” He touched her cheek. “You really love him?” he asked quietly.

She nodded hesitantly. “But I am not sure that he feels the same. Or that I really love him.”

Michael shook his head. “You either are or you are not. There is simply no in between.”

“But—” Elizabeth twisted he fingers together. “What if what we feel for each other disappears after the Dawning? What if the feelings are there only to—speed things along tomorrow night?” Her cheeks were warm as she asked the mortifying question but surely if anyone would know it would be Michael.

“I cannot say for certain that you are wrong,” Michael admitted. “Nowhere in our research have the chosen two reported such events but I regret to say I do not know it to be untrue.”

“Oh.” Devastated, Elizabeth sank onto her sofa and stared into space. “So what my mother says is true. No one can love me.”

“That is not true,” Michael said quickly. “You had a vision about the fire, did you not?”

Elizabeth raised her eyes at him and blinked. “How could you know that? Mrs. Morgan was sworn to secrecy.”

“Alexis informed her sister that she had been aware of your gift since you were twelve.” Michael sighed. “I needed someone to confide in and Alexis is still one of the very few people I trust implicitly. Alexis told me and I am telling you. You received that vision because you and Jason are connected.”

Setting aside the information about Alexis for later, Elizabeth nodded in agreement. “Through the Dawning.”

“No—” Michael sighed. “Even before the edict against enchantresses, we could not utilize them the way we can sorcerers. Sorcerers receive visions and can state them by rote. They do not connect to the people in the visions and can call upon the ability by chanting spells, using herbs. Enchantresses must feel something for the person they are foreseeing. You must be connected to Jason in order for you to have received that vision.”

“So you believe my feelings for him are real?” Elizabeth said with some hope in her voice and this time, Michael chose the answer she wanted to hear rather than the logical one. He was not sure but he would not let her down again.

“I believe that you love him and if you love him, he must surely love you in return,” Michael replied.

—-

Laura leisurely rifled through the vast contents of her wardrobe searching for just the right color to wear into the village that day. She’d opened the windows in her bedroom wide open so that sunlight streamed in.

Today would be the day her life returned to where it had once been. She would again be Lady Laura Spencer, a woman to be both respected and feared. Her son would be marrying one of the most eligible young women in the kingdom—a woman descended from the kings and queens of Derwyn.

She would be the mother of the chosen man and would want for nothing all the rest of her days. Michael would see to it that her beloved first born would be betrothed to Lady Robin Scorpio for once Jason Morgan was dispatched of that night, he would have no other choice.

Laura selected a robin’s egg blue gown and smiled secretly at the color’s name. It seemed only fitting that Michael Corinthos would be the one to give her back her life when he’d been the one to steal it away in the first place.

She pressed her lips together firmly and closed her eyes, blocking out the memory of returning from an emergency council meeting to be told her daughter had died in their absence.

Lesley had been their miracle child—a little girl that Laura had had long after giving up hope of having a second child. With her dark hair and dark eyes, she had resembled Laura’s father and she’d been named for Laura’s mother.

She was Laura’s entire world as Lucas was her husband’s.

Michael Corinthos had stolen that from her.

Luke wrapped his hands around her slender shoulders. “Angel, Lucas was hoping you might be ready to meet Summer at the wedding tomorrow.”

Laura set the dress on their bed and turned to wrap her arms around his waist. “Of course I’ll meet her tomorrow,” she promised her husband.

She did not see a problem in giving the promise, for tomorrow the wedding would be that of her son and Robin.

And silly little Summer Holloway would be a maid again.

—-

Alexis found her sister in the vegetable garden behind her home. Susan was on her knees, digging up carrots and placing them in a basket next to her. “You do realize I have servants to perform this task, yes?”

Susan did not even give her sister her attention. “Servants are well and good for some people but I do not like being served.” She tugged another carrot by its green top and placed it next to the others. “Have you just come from the palace?”

“I was speaking with Michael—he spoke with Elizabeth this morning. He was very pleased with the outcome but—he is worried about her.”

“She does not believe my son loves her, does she?” Susan murmured. She examined a carrot before sighing. “This has not grown long enough.”

“She is frightened,” Alexis corrected. “Her entire future rests on Jason and their…connection is so sudden—she is unsure that it is real. She suggested to him that it might be brought about by the Dawning and when he did not immediately deny it, she feared the worst. She has not had much happiness in her life.”

“I thought it might be something along that thought.” Susan hesitated. “They will love each other deeply but I cannot discern if the feelings exist now or will develop in time. Is it possible the connection is from the Dawning?”

“I will not lie and say it is impossible—though I have never heard of such a thing before. But I myself do not believe it.” Alexis clasped her hands behind her back and stared off at the rolling hills of the land behind the house. “There is magic in this world, Susan. I have known it all my life. Why is it that people are more likely to believe in a woman who can call upon the rain than in two people who fall in love in an instant?”

Susan looked up at Alexis then curiously. “You are quite extraordinary, sister.”

“You are the extraordinary one,” Alexis corrected with a soft smile.

Susan stood and left the basket on the ground. She embraced her sister and kissed her on the cheek. “Any enchantress can call upon the rain—but a truly astonishing woman sees the magic in everyday life.”

Afternoon

Emily tucked her legs underneath her and arranged her gown over them while curling into Nikolas’s side as he read silently from a sheaf of papers his father had handed him that morning.

“You are not reading,” Nikolas murmured, slightly surprised. It had become their routine to meet in the makeshift library and today was the third day since their marriage had really been borne.

“I would rather watch you,” Emily confessed with a shy smile. “You look so solemn. Is what you are reading serious?”

“Not especially.” Nikolas shifted the papers to one hand and wrapped his other around her shoulders, pulling her head under his chin. “Father says I should take on more responsibility and I am looking over the council’s suggestions for new laws.”

“What sort of things are they suggesting?” Emily asked curiously.

“Nothing too drastic—but Michael has added a note at the bottom indicating he would like to petition to repeal the edict against enchantresses.”

Emily slowly pulled away from him and looked at him oddly. “And you are against that?”

“No,” Nikolas remarked hesitantly. “I do not believe all women should be blamed for the actions of another who lived so long ago.”

Emily exhaled slowly and smiled, reaching for his hand. “I thought you might say that but—I was unsure. But I know that you adore your sister—”

“What does Elizabeth have to do with anything?” Nikolas asked, wincing inwardly as he realized his voice sounded both guilty and weak.

Emily shook her head. “I could think of no other reason for the way that she is treated. Your mother never mentions her, I have not seen her within fifteen feet of your father and she spends most of her time in her rooms. She is the crown princess of the realm yet she is so rarely seen in the kingdom. And—” Emily hesitated. “She once had a cut on her hand and it was gone the next day. She is an enchantress is she not?”

Nikolas looked away and contemplated his next words. The secret of Elizabeth’s blood was one guarded so closely—he could not imagine divulging that to anyone.

Though Emily was certainly not anyone, he rationalized. She was his wife and was already in possession of this knowledge. Surely a confirmation would do no harm. They were married and if he hoped for his marriage to be successful, there must be no secrets between them.

“She is,” Nikolas told her. “Though next to no one is aware of this. My parents, myself, Michael and now you are the only people that know.” He hesitated. “Though she may have told Jason, I cannot be sure.”

“I can imagine it must be a very lonely experience.” Emily rested her chin on his shoulder and peered up at him. “I hope that she loves Jason only half as much as I love you.”

Though she’d taken every opportunity the past few days to assure him of her love, Nikolas still felt the slight jolt to his system when she said the words. “I want a daughter with your smile,” he found himself telling her.

Emily flushed and twined her hand in his, lacing their fingers together. “Your mother wants a son,” she informed him. “She told me that I have been remiss in my duties as your wife and suggested I see the sorcerer about herbs.”

“Oh she did, did she?” Nikolas asked, more amused than annoyed at this report of his mother’s behavior. He’d had conversations with her along the same lines since the first morning after the wedding. Emily was young, he was young—where did the problem lie?

He attributed Emily’s failure to conceive to the fact that he’d rarely initiated intimacy. He had not wanted to push her and it was only on nights when he could not hold himself back that he’d reach for her.

“I was quite angry with her,” Emily continued. “I informed her that we wanted to be by ourselves for a little longer before starting a family. Your mother—Nikolas, she is quite cold and not loving at all. How is it that you are so different than her?”

Nikolas had no answer for that so he just sighed. “I suppose some people are born with the capacity to love and some are not. My mother loves no one but herself and her position. I doubt that she and my father shared the marital bed more than it was necessary and I do not remember them ever sharing rooms.”

“My mother told me before our wedding that many marriages are that way but I am so grateful that ours is not.” Emily smiled hesitantly. “You really want a daughter?”

“Of course. Sons are nice but—there is so much pressure on a boy to become this person—this figure, this symbol.” Nikolas shook his head. “Though a girl would still be first in line if she were born first, the boy would always be looked to as the rightful heir and I am just not sure that I ever want a boy.”

She leaned up and kissed his cheek. “Well I do. I want a little boy with your eyes and your heart. I want a large family, Nikolas. Not just one of each.”

“It is my wish to give you your heart’s desire.” Nikolas leaned down and kissed her softly. “I have a surprise for you, love.”

“A surprise?” Emily’s dark eyes lit up. “What sort of surprise?”

“I have asked that this wing be renovated and my father has given his permission for this to become our private area.” He kissed her fingertips. “I believe we will use the bedroom with the view of your family’s lands for our room.”

“Oh, Nikolas…” Emily could hardly breathe—did not know what to say in response.

“I cannot give you back your family home, but I can hope that we can create our own here.”

“I do not need a pile of bricks to be at home,” Emily said after a moment. She kissed his chin before trailing her mouth over his jaw. “I have realized that you are my home.”

—-

“A little higher,” Caroline directed Georgiana. The younger woman got to her knees and held the hem up a few centimeters higher. “Yes, there.”

“It is a good color for you, Lady Benson.”

Though there was no arrogance in his tone, the drawl of AJ Quartermaine was unmistakable. Caroline could hear her seamstress muttering under her breath.

“Caroline, if I could have a moment of your time,” AJ requested.

She narrowed her eyes as Georgiana automatically began to rise. “Stay,” she commanded. “There is nothing this man has to say to me that he cannot say in front of you.”

AJ frowned but nodded. “If that is the way it must be, then all right. Caroline, there is no mistake that I am not always the most intelligent man when it comes to conversing with you.” He smirked. “Is that a snort I hear from you, my dear girl?”

Georgiana’s face reddened. “No, My Lord,” she muttered.

“No, there is no mistake that you are an ass,” Caroline declared. “Please come to the point and do so quickly. I have so little patience where you are concerned.”

“I did not think you would ever care for me,” AJ blurted out. “I knew that you knew about Keesha so I attacked verbally. When I decided to apologize, you refused my every peace offering.”

“Georgiana, please leave us for a moment,” Caroline said. Once her seamstress was behind the curtain, she glared at the Quartermaine heir. “Do you think me a fool, sir?”

“No—”

“I do not believe the rumors about your wife—that you drove her to her suicide and if you were not so stubborn, you would know that no one of substance believed them either. I know that when the Queen sent in her petition to dissolve the princess’ impending marriage, she named you as a possible suitor. No one believes the rumors.”

His shoulders slumped and he looked away. “I cannot tell you how it feels to know that you do not believe that. I loved my wife, Caroline, despite her—infidelity. I raised neither my voice nor my hand to her.”

Caroline looked at him oddly. “Did you think that I believed differently? Vile though you be, My Lord, vicious is not one of your qualities. You would not strike a woman when words do all the damage that you require.” She arched a slim eyebrow and tipped her towards the entrance of the shop.

“I never meant to hurt you,” AJ continued, ignoring her command to leave. “I only said it to keep you at a distance, My Lady.”

Caroline stepped off the stool and without her shoes, she came merely to AJ’s shoulders. “Perhaps I am naïve in the ways of men, but I promise you that I do not understand a word you are saying. You tell me I look like a teen-aged boy so that you could keep me away?”

His gaze swept down her body, examining it as it was encased in the daringly low-cut midnight blue gown. “My Lady, a teen-aged boy you most certainly are not,” he drawled after a moment.

She furrowed her brow in concentration. Surely the heir had an angle he was working—she could not discern it yet but she would, she was sure of it. “You have an ulterior motive here, Sir, and we have already agreed you do not think me a fool so why do you not just say what it is what you want to say so that we may be done with it.”

“Caroline—” AJ closed his mouth abruptly and shook his head. “There is nothing I can say, is there?”

“I’m not at all sure what it is you think I ought to know.” Caroline tugged at the bodice of her dress. “AJ—”

“I want you to attend the ball with me tomorrow,” AJ told her. “That is what you ought to know.”

“You have asked and I have answered that question before,” Caroline said shortly. “There is nothing left to say—”

“Only because you refuse to listen,” AJ cut in. “I want to escort you to the ball and then ask your father for permission to marry you.”

She blinked and shook her head. “No—what is your angle? I have no inheritance, no real standing in the council at this moment. It will be many years before Michael is ready to step down and I have not been promised—”

Her flow of words was abruptly cut off when AJ pressed his fingers to her lips. “Why is it that you think I must want something from you if I wish to marry you?” he asked curiously.

“Do not be ridiculous, AJ. No one marries unless there is something to gain,” Caroline retorted. She stepped back from him. “What is it that you want from me?”

AJ exhaled slowly and prayed for the patience to explain certain things to her. “I have never been very kind to you,” he admitted. “I felt that you were too young—wrong for the council. But I do not believe this anymore and once I realized that Michael was correct in asking you to replace my grandmother, I—I began to see all of the other good things about you.”

“Such as?” Caroline asked warily.

“You are beautiful—” He held a hand up to ward off her protests. “I know I have said differently but I explained my reasons for being so cruel to you. I believed you thought my wife’s suicide was my fault and I did not think you could ever come to care for me. I sought to rid myself of my attraction towards you by arguing with you—only it backfired.”

“Backfired,” Caroline repeated slowly. She felt dizzy—out of sorts. Was AJ Quartermaine, heir to the entire Quartermaine fortune and land—actually proposing that they marry?

“I discovered that I liked your sharp wit, your quick tongue. You do not back down, Caroline. You have real spirit—real fire.” AJ nodded. “I admire it in a man but I did not realize it would be so attractive in a woman.”

Caroline folded her arms tightly across her chest and studied him. She decided to call his bluff. Surely if she agreed to this farce, his real motive would reveal itself in time. “All right, AJ. You may escort me to the ball tomorrow and speak with my father.”

He knew her almost as well as she knew herself and he smiled—knowing she was testing him. “You think that you have won, Caroline, but you do not know how determined I can be when I want something.”

He stepped towards her and took her hands in his, practically forcing her hands to her side. He twined their fingers together and she stared down at them oddly—as if this was something she was not expecting at all.

“And what exactly do you want?” Caroline asked, her eyes wide with surprise as AJ stepped closer to her—just an inch too close to be respectful.

“I would think that was obvious, My Lady.” AJ lowered his mouth to hers but just before his lips could brush hers, she jerked away.

“I am not a pure woman,” Caroline blurted out. “I have been with another man.”

AJ sighed. “Yes—Jason, I know that you were almost engaged to marry him—”

“But we—”

“Caroline, you will not convince me to change my mind,” AJ warned her. He gripped her hands tightly and kissed her.

Caroline had been accustomed only to Jason’s kisses before and they had been teenagers—both clumsy and awkward. Her first kiss with him had ended when he sneezed.

But a first kiss with AJ was—it was everything she’d wanted. His breath was hot on her neck—his tongue swept inside her mouth and rubbed against her own. He released her hands and almost against her will, she gripped his shirt and tugged him closer.

A moment later—or perhaps an eternity—a cough sounded from behind them and Caroline jerked away from him, her chest heaving from the exertion.

“I apologize, My Lord, for my interruption,” Georgiana remarked, “but if my lady’s dress is to be ready for the ball, I must finish the hem.”

AJ nodded, not trusting himself to speak. He kissed Caroline’s hand before exiting the shop.

Caroline pressed a hand to her racing heart and turned to her seamstress. “How much of that did you hear?” she demanded.

“Enough to know that Lord Quartermaine is more than the jackass he has always appeared to be.” Georgiana gestured for her to get back on the stool. “Congratulations on your impending my marriage, My Lady, for I knew all long you would not end up a spinster.”

Caroline shook her head. “He has an ulterior motive, Georgiana. I only agreed to marry him so that I could find out what it is.”

“Yes, I suspect he does have an ulterior motive. Men always do.” Georgiana smiled brightly. “He wants you in his bed and cannot do so without marriage.”

Caroline peered down at her. “Do you always think with your glands?”

“No, but I am engaged to a very candid stable hand,” Georgiana informed her mistress. “And he hides nothing from me.”

Evening

Laura examined her nails closely and discreetly glanced over at Barbara, seated on the other side of the council table. She was quiet and withdrawn—and Laura knew that the other woman’s inability to act normal would be the reason her part in the plot to kill Jason Morgan would be discovered.

Barbara would be captured but her fear of Laura would keep her mouth shut and the Spencer matriarch would be safe from reprisals. It’d been ingenious really to bring the woman into her plot, Laura decided. Though she had not actually required the woman’s assistance, a decoy suspect was a must and she’d chosen rather well.

Her son would be as good as a king in this worthless land and as his mother, she’d rise to the top.

And perhaps the lovely Robin would give her a granddaughter one day.

Michael leaned back in his chair, slightly amused by Laura’s bright smiles. The woman was up to something. One did not protest vehemently to a marriage and then blindly accept it days later.

Something was not right and Michael had a good idea of what it was. But without proof, he was nowhere. He only wished to remain a step ahead of the woman and keep Jason Morgan safe.

If asked, he would state it was his duty to the kingdom to keep the chosen man safe at all costs but someone who knew him well would know his true answer. His beloved niece loved him and all Michael wanted in the world was to give the girl what she wanted.

And for that reason, Jason Morgan would have the protection only Lord Michael Corinthos could offer.

“Are the arrangements in line for the wedding tomorrow night at dusk?” Michael asked.

Monica nodded. “I spoke with the king earlier today and he agreed to make the announcement tomorrow around noon. I believe it shall be met with approvals for it is a rather amusing pairing—the peasant and the princess.”

“Yes, even the most cynical person would find romance in that,” Jasper boasted causing his companion Skye to roll her eyes to heavens.

“Besides which—Princess Elizabeth is so rarely seen in public, the mere idea of her public marriage will cause the courtyard to become packed. I do hope that Sir Lucas Spencer is ready for such a possibility,” Monica remarked.

Luke nodded. “He has the entire guard on call for tomorrow. There will be no chance to do mischief.”

Scott Baldwin cleared his throat. “The Academy has sent over their list of students,” he informed Michael. “I have set appointments to meet with all three after the Dawning if that is acceptable to you.”

“Yes, I believe the sorcerer agreed to stay on until a suitable replacement has been found.” Michael slid some papers to the left. “I do not have to tell you how important this wedding is to the kingdom and to me personally.”

Michael’s personal life rarely made a showing at council meetings and for this reason, all other members of the group looked at him oddly. Even Alexis was a little surprised for with his relationship with Elizabeth always in tatters, he was not quick to remind anyone that he was her uncle.

“Elizabeth has grown to care for Jason very deeply and I am told that he feels the same towards her,” Michael looked at Alexis who nodded in confirmation. “I do not have remind those who are married in this room how uncommon a love match is in this life and for that reason, I prefer that tomorrow go off without any sorts of problems. Have I made myself clear?”

“Crystal,” Laura murmured and this time Michael knew the sparkle in her eyes was due to the fact that she intended to cause any sort of problem she could think of.

He only wished he knew her next move.

Evening

He discovered it shortly after he’d retired to his rooms for the night.

He was seated at his desk in the sitting room reading over his notes from the day when someone began banging on his door.

Michael barely had it open before a pale Elizabeth threw herself into his arms, babbling incoherently. “You have to stop them!” was all that he could discern.

After a quick glance to be sure no one was in the hallway, he shut the door and led the trembling girl to the couch. “Elizabeth—”

“They’re going to kill him!” she cried. Her breathing was quick and shallow—punctuated by immense heaving hiccups as if she couldn’t quite catch her breath and keep it.

“Elizabeth, you must calm down and tell me what you know,” Michael ordered. “Who is killing who?”

“Jason!” Just the name sent her into another round of hysterics and Michael began to grasp the fact that his niece was truly terrified. She had received another vision and again, it was to warn them of Lady Spencer’s next move.

He stood and crossed to his liquor cabinet, intending to pour her a stiff brandy. He hoped it would calm her enough to tell him of the vision.

She clutched the glass in her trembling hands and gulped it straight down. The burning liquid caused her cough violently but after a few more moments, her crying subsided.

“You had another vision, didn’t you?” Michael asked, kneeling in front of her.

She nodded, biting her lips. “Tonight—they—there are men,” she drew in a deep breath, forcing herself to remember that it hadn’t happened yet and if she was going to stop it, she needed to tell Michael exactly what she’d seen.

“Men—they snuck into the house, went up the stairs and went into the room Jason is staying in. They go to the bed and—” Elizabeth closed her eyes, remembering the silver glint of the knife. “They put a pillow over his face and begin to—they will—”

“Smother him?” Michael suggested.

She shook her head. “The pillow is only to muffle his screams,” she said hoarsely. “They stab him. And they keep stabbing him until he is dead.”

Michael inhaled sharply. What a thing for a young girl to see. “All right—you say they go into Jason’s room. They know which one he is staying in or do they try other rooms?”

She closed her eyes and pictured it again. “They know which one but—they speak of the others in the house and discuss killing them all. My—the visions ends with Jason. I do not know if they plan on continuing.”

“Did they give any clue as to who hired them?” Michael pressed.

She shook her head. “No. Uncle Sonny—you must stop them—they cannot kill him.”

“Of course not.” He kissed her forehead. “I will—”

Elizabeth took his hands in hers and met his eyes intently. “No, you do not understand. Jason is my world,” she said softly. “If he is not here, I have no reason to continue living. Promise me.”

It would be a foolish promise to give for the assassins could have already arrived at Alexis’s home and done their deed but it had been so long since she’d looked at him with blind trust in her eyes. She trusted him to keep the man she loved safe.

It was a foolish promise to give but Michael gave it. “I promise. Now—I must go to Lady Davis—”

“I must come with you,” Elizabeth said. She stood. “Please—I must see for myself that Jason is all right.”

It went against his better judgment to allow Elizabeth to accompany him but Michael merely nodded and told her to fetch her cloak.

—-

Alexis had been the last to turn in for the night and she was fast asleep when her servant Simone roused her. “My Lady, I beg your apologies but Lord Corinthos and Princess Elizabeth are waiting in the foyer.”

Alexis sat straight up. “Simone, are you quite delirious? It is nearly midnight—”

“My Lady, Lord Corinthos commands your presence at once,” Simone told her employer.

Alarmed now—for Michael would not have let Elizabeth leave the palace walls unless it were an emergency, Alexis pulled a robe over her nightgown and rushed down the stairs.

She found Elizabeth dressed in a long cotton shift with a dark blue cloak thrown around it to protect her from the chill of the night air. “Princess—”

“Go to Jason, Elizabeth,” Michael told his niece. “See for yourself that he is safe and I will tell Alexis what is going on.”

Elizabeth nodded and hurried past Jason’s aunt. It was only then that Alexis realized the princess’s face was as pale as her nightgown—and that she wore no shoes.

“Elizabeth had another vision,” Michael told Alexis once his niece was out of sight. “Men will come here tonight, kill Jason and then leave. She was so terrified that she insisted on coming with me to be sure he was all right.”

The knowledge drained what color was left in Alexis’s face. “You are saying that the villains who tried to burn down the farm will kill my nephew while he sleeps?”

“They will certainly try but I have given my word to Elizabeth no harm shall come to her future husband and I mean to keep it.”

—-

Elizabeth approached Jason’s bedroom with much trepidation. What if she was already too late? What if her vision had not been warning her of what was to come but rather—what had already happened?

She touched his doorknob and whimpered when she was assaulted with another image. Two men—tall and dark. They were exiting his room—blood was dripping from one of their faces and another still held the knife that he had plunged into Jason’s heart.

She tightened her hand around the knob and couldn’t fight the growing terror. If she lost him she did not know what she would do. It no longer mattered if he would love her come the morning after the Dawning. They had a lifetime to develop that but if he were dead, surely she would be as well.

Elizabeth pushed the bedroom door open and sighed in relief when she recognized Jason’s dark blonde hair on his pillow and the steady rise and fall of his chest. She wasn’t too late and she would not lose him.

She closed her eyes and the scene from her vision flashed behind her eyes. The cool glint of the knife as one of the villains raised it over his head. The way his legs had kicked as he struggled for air.

The cool discussion they’d had over his broken and bleeding body whether or not to kill the remaining family members—and rape the females. “On to the lady of the house,” she could still hear one of them saying.

The memory made her sink to her knees and she buried her face in her hands, aware the vision would haunt her for the rest of her life.

The sound of her soft cries and the light spilling in from the hallway caused Jason to sleepily open his eyes. He thought at first the girl was his sister until he recognized the brown curls.

“Elizabeth?”

Elizabeth hastily wiped her eyes and stood at the sound of his voice. “Jason—Lord Corinthos bids you to join him downstairs immediately.”

Bewildered, Jason pushed the blanket off his body and swung his legs to the ground. Her cheeks flushed when she realized he wore no more than a pair of pants and she was clad in little more than a thin shift. This was not all appropriate.

“Elizabeth, what is going on?”

“I told you—Lord—”

“Don’t insult me by thinking I don’t know how upset you are.” He stepped towards her and she instinctively took a step back. “Elizabeth—did your mother do something?”

“I saw you die,” she whispered hoarsely. “They came into your room, covered your face with a pillow and stabbed you. And I watched it happen.” She covered her mouth to suppress her whimpers.

Jason paled. “You had another vision,” he stated slowly. His mother had always taught him that her visions were not sent to her so that she could stop what was happening but so that she could prepare for what would be. She’d foreseen her husband’s death and had not stopped it.

How could it be fated that he was to die before the Dawning? Was the world meant to be cursed for a thousand years?

Elizabeth nodded slowly. “Yes—Michael has promised to protect you. Please come downstairs so that you might hear his plan—”

“I cannot, Elizabeth.” He took her hand in his and squeezed it. “Your visions are not sent to you so that you can stop them from happening. It is dangerous to try to thwart Fate.”

“But I did it before,” she whispered. She shook her head. “Jason—the day the men came with torches, you knew it was a vision—”

“I did not know until after I had stopped it,” Jason informed her.

She stared at him. “You mean to stay in this room so that those men can do what they’re coming here to do?” she asked in disbelief.

“I know that you don’t understand—I didn’t understand why my mother chose not to interfere when she knew my father would be killed but I eventually came to terms with it and—”

“I have in my life only received two visions,” Elizabeth told him, “and they both involved you dying. Do you really wish for that to be my memory of you? That I could have saved your life and you would not let me?”

“Elizabeth—”

She silenced him with a glare and then stunned him when she untied her cloak and let it drop to the floor. “Then have it your way.” She crossed the room to sit on his bed. “I hope the men aren’t long—I should like to get this over with as soon as possible.”

“What do you think you are doing?” Jason demanded. He yanked the cloak from the floor and tried to hand it to her. “Put this on and go back to the palace.”

“I am not going back to my rooms so that someone may come and tell me at dawn that you are dead,” Elizabeth retorted. “I’ll wait here.”

“If you’re here when they come—”

“I have already prevented your death, you imbecile, by telling my uncle. He is downstairs and will not leave until he knows that you are safe—even if it means staying by your side until the wedding.” She crossed her arms tightly. “He has given me his promise that you will remain safe.”

“Elizabeth, the next time you receive a vision, you must promise me you will not interfere,” Jason commanded.

“No,” she retorted. “I am not as selfless as your mother. I do not understand why the Fates would send a vision such as the one I saw if they did not mean me to stop it.”

“Elizabeth—”

“I watched them stab you,” she whispered, horrified. “It was as though I were standing in this very room and I could not stop them. I screamed for them to stop but they just kept stabbing until the sheets were so stained with your blood that I couldn’t see the original color and you expect me to just sit and let you die in that manner?” Tears filled her eyes. “Perhaps if you were in my place and you watched someone you love die, you could do the right thing and let the Fates prevail but I am not as heartless.”

She yanked her cloak from his grasp. “I am going downstairs. You can join us or you can sit up here. I am not sure I care any longer.”

“Elizabeth—” He grabbed her wrist to keep her from leaving. “I am sorry—I did not—I am not sure what I would do if I had received such a vision. It took a long time for me to accept my mother’s decision but—I have been raised not to interfere.”

“Then you better learn to interfere because I will do anything I have to do to prevent the people I love from being hurt,” Elizabeth declared.

“Elizabeth—” Jason hesitated. The last time they had set on eyes on each other had been the day before when he’d inadvertently hurt her feelings and caused her to believe that Dawning was the reasoning behind his feelings. He wished that he could take the time and explain to her that he had just been surprised how quickly he’d grown to love her. He wanted to tell her that not only did he love her, but that no one would ever love her as much as he did.

But now was not the time for it. There were men coming and Jason realized they were all in danger—not just himself but his mother, his aunt and his siblings. And now Lord Corinthos and Elizabeth. “We should go downstairs. Give me a moment to get dressed.”

Elizabeth’s cheeks flushed as she remembered the state of their undress. “Of course. I will just be downstairs—”

“No—it will only take a moment.” Jason buttoned his white shirt and pulled on a pair of boots. “Did I make you nervous?”

“No,” Elizabeth blurted out. “I had just never seen—you are the first man—we really must go downstairs, Jason.”

He took her hand and led her out of the door, their argument almost but not completely forgotten.

—-

The entire family had gathered by the time that Jason and Elizabeth finally joined them. Alexander had his arm around his little sister, who looked appropriately terrified.

Susan stood off the side, as impassive as ever. “Did you sort out your differences?” she asked them calmly.

Jason nodded. “I tried to explain to her that she should not interfere with her visions-”

“On the contrary, Elizabeth should absolutely interfere with this vision,” Susan remarked. “I know your true future, son, and dying this night is not it. Those visions were sent to Elizabeth so that she may prevent them from occurring.”

Properly chastised, her son nodded and looked to Lord Corinthos for the next move. “It is too late to evacuate the house,” Michael decided. “Those who hired these men could have others watching the house by now. Susan, I would like you to wait in Jason’s room with me in the event I need to restrain them.”

“Yes, my lord,” Susan nodded. “And the children?”

“All four of them must wait in the basement. Alexis, you are in charge of their welfare,” Michael instructed.

Alexis nodded and gestured towards the back of the house where the door to the basement was located. Jason, however, stood his ground. “You cannot cart me to the basement as though I were a small child,” he protested.

“It is your safety that is paramount,” Michael informed him. “Yours and Elizabeth and the Fates be damned, the two of you will be wed tomorrow. The very future of our world depends on it.”

“Jason,” Chloe said softly, “please come with us. If you’re up here, I’ll be so scared for you.”

It was for his sister that Jason relented and not for Lord Corinthos, though he doubted the older man was aware of the distinction. He took his sister’s arm and led her towards the basement doors, Alexander and Elizabeth following behind them.

Alexis lingered for a moment as though she wished to say something to Michael. But she didn’t and followed her niece, nephews and the princess.

“My sister has great regard for you,” Susan remarked idly as the two climbed the staircase to Jason’s room. “It is a shame a good man such as yourself has imprisoned himself in duty and obligations.”

“Your sister is a kind woman. It is a pity that she never married,” Michael remarked.

“It is a pity you never remarried,” Susan replied. She waited for him to enter the room first. “You have such great love inside you. Why do you hold it back?”

“Madam, you are the mother of the next prince of this realm. Do not make me treat you as less,” Michael said coldly. Susan remained unruffled but allowed the subject to change.

Susan moved into the shadows of the room while Michael arranged himself on the bed and they settled in to wait.

Jason sat in one of the old abandoned chairs in the basement and pulled Chloe into his lap as though she were five rather than sixteen. He could feel the trembling of her body and sought to soothe her terror.

Alexis was in the kitchens, finding some food and water for them—there was no telling when Michael would allow them to resurface.

Elizabeth clutched her cloak tightly around her for the air was chilly in the small room. Alexander found a blanket to wrap around her shoulders. “Is that better, My Lady?” he asked.

“Thank you and I must ask you to call me Elizabeth,” she directed. “Please.”

“Of course, Elizabeth,” Alexander nodded. “I must thank you for speaking with Jason about the university. I am most pleased that I will be attending in the fall.”

Elizabeth smiled. “It is an honor to attend and I know that you will make the most of it. This fall will be the first year that women are allowed to attend, did you know that?”

“I did,” Alexander nodded. He smiled then, the first easy smile in her presence. “I am hoping to find a woman to marry who is as worthy as my brother’s future wife.”

The compliment made her cheeks blushed and she looked towards Jason who was telling Chloe a story about their father. “He’s a very good brother, is he not?”

“The best. Chloe was young when my father died.” Alexander sighed. “She has so few memories of him and Jason has always tried to keep those memories alive for her.” He looked at her. “What of your family, Elizabeth? Do you have siblings?”

“I have a brother, Nikolas,” Elizabeth hid her smile at Alexander’s question for surely he knew of his king’s family. “He has recently married the Quartermaine lady, Emily.”

“And are you close to him? To your parents?”

“I am as close to Nikolas as I could possibly be,” Elizabeth reported. “He has so many responsibilities and I did—I was not allowed much contact,” she confessed.

“Because you have the gift,” Alexander nodded. “I was surprised when I heard but it explains the way you rushed to tell us about the fire and why my mother was so adamant your name be kept out of it.”

It occurred to Elizabeth that both Morgan siblings were now aware of her abilities and she wasn’t sure how that sat with her. Though their mother possessed the abilities, how would they feel about it in an untrained girl?

“It is a blessing that you will be trained by my mother,” Alexander continued, “for she is one of the more skilled women.”

“Then you do not find fault with me?” Elizabeth asked hesitantly.

“How could I find fault with someone my brother so clearly loves?” Alexander replied.

She shook her head. “He only thinks that he loves me. After the Dawning, he will feel what most feel about me.”

“And what is that, Princess?” Alexander asked, slightly amused by this beautiful girl’s insecurity.

“Nothing.”

Her forlorn answer made him blink and he leaned back, trying to discern if she was kidding. “I do not believe that, Elizabeth.”

“You just do not know me well enough,” she sighed.

—-

They were not waiting in the bedroom long before the muted fall of footsteps was heard on the stairs. Susan tensed—though she knew Lord Corinthos was a formidable opponent and would keep them both safe. She could not help but picture her helpless son lying in the bed without any inclination of his impending death. Though she’d already come to care about her future daughter-in-law, she felt another rush of love for the girl who’d saved Jason’s life.

The door slid open smoothly and she could see the shadows of two men. She braced herself, ready for Michael’s call if he needed her.

“Fetch the pillow,” one of them hissed.

She heard the snap of Michael’s fingers and closed her eyes, concentrating on the lock on the door. When she was sure it had melted shut, she flicked her wrist and the candles in the room lit.

The two men in the room stumbled back from the bed, having recognized the Supreme Head of the High Council. Lord Michael Corinthos flicked the blankets from his body and stood, leveling his cold eyes at the would-be murderers.

“What in blue hell—” one of the men started to cry out.

“Silence!” Michael roared.

One of the men reared back and went for the door only to find it melted shut. “She ain’t said nothing about him being no magician!” he yelled to his partner.

“He ain’t the one doing nothing,” the other man remarked. He had cold brown eyes and a smirk on his face that would have given Susan a chill if she were not so sure of Michael’s abilities.

“What you mean?” the second man—clearly the more panicked one—he was not grasping what the first one had.

“It’s the woman—she’s one of them witches.”

“You really have no grasp of intelligence do you?” Michael remarked softly. “Do you realize what you were sent here to do?”

“Mistress said—”

“Quiet!” the brown-eyed man barked. “We say nothin’.”

“You say nothing, you die.”

“We dying anyway.” He folded his arms. “I ain’t stupid.”

“If you possessed any intelligence, you would know that I control the way that you die,” Michael remarked. “You were sent here tonight to murder Jason Morgan. Not only is he the nephew of a council member but he is betrothed to Princess Elizabeth.

The second man let out a low whimper. “Mistress ain’t say nothing ‘bout that.”

“Quiet!” the first man ordered again.

“If you do not cease giving him orders, I will have my woman cut out your tongue,” Michael warned him.

Susan bristled at being called his woman but when the man shot her a wary look, she made an attempt to look intimidating.

“Now—who is your mistress and what did she send you here to do?” Michael demanded.

“Lady—” the second man began.

“Lady Barbara Jones,” the first man interrupted. “We work in her stables. She said that the boy had decided Lady Robin was not marriage material after he’d bedded her so we come to cut out his heart.”

“That’s a filthy lie,” the second man said heatedly. “If I’m gonna die, it’s gonna be with a clean conscience.” He looked to Lord Corinthos. “Lady Laura Spencer hired us. She told us to sell out Lady Jones if we’s caught. We don’t work in no stables. She keeps us on personal retainer.”

“And what did she tell about you Jason Morgan?” Michael prompted, somewhat pleased with the second man’s antics.

“Lady Spencer tole’ us that Jason Morgan were the reason her son weren’t gonna be a prince and she also hates you, sir,” the man reported meekly. “We was tole to come here and cut out the boy’s heart. And then we was supposed to rape the woman of the house.”

Alexis, Michael thought. His eyes narrowed. “And did your mistress give you her motive for this second crime?”

“Aye, she did,” he was eager to please and hoping for a reprieve. “She say you ain’t value no one since your wife like you value Lady Davis.” He slid a glance towards his companion. “Ronald here likes the rape, I do the knife work.”

“Quiet,” ‘Ronald’ hissed.

“I ain’t tellin’ no more lies for that woman.” He looked to Michael. “Lord Corinthos, can I just be shot right between the eyes? Nice, clean and easy?”

He was a deplorable man, Michael decided, but he had a twisted sense of loyalty. His death would be as quick as he’d like. “Yes. As for your friend, Ronald…perhaps he shall like to experience our dungeons before his death?”

The fear grew in the other man’s eyes and Michael decided he’d had enough of the two of them. He knew who was behind the plot and that was enough for him. He nodded to Susan, who clapped her hands.

Ropes appeared from nowhere and quickly bound the two men together. With a flick of her wrist, they were blindfolded and gagged.

Michael leaned down near Ronald’s ear to whisper, “And if you speak of the woman’s abilities, I will make your death even more torturous and painful.” He looked to Susan. “Go send one of the stable hands for the captain of the guard. Tell him that we have successfully terminated the assassination attempt against the future prince.”

“Do you think it wise to send for Sir Lucas?” Susan questioned.

“Lucas and his father will not be held accountable for the crimes of Laura Spencer,” Michael decided. “Send for him.”

—-

Within the hour, Ronald and his accomplice had been dragged away in chains. Michael had said nothing about who had hired the men, deciding that the boy would learn of his mother’s treachery away from his men to save dignity.

When they were gone, Michael knew it would be dawn in only a few hours. He sent Susan to fetch Alexis and the children from the basement. He would get Elizabeth home and double check the arrangements for the wedding.

Chloe leapt from her perch on Jason’s lap. “It is over then?” she asked her mother eagerly.

“Yes,” Susan touched her daughter’s shoulder. “Michael confronted the men and found out who hired them. It is over and the only thing left to do is to welcome the princess into our family tonight.” She smiled at Elizabeth, “Your uncle is waiting to take you home.”

Elizabeth nodded and handed Alexander back the blanket she’d used. “Thank you for your kindness,” she said softly. She glanced at Jason for a brief moment before starting up the wooden staircase.

“I think you should escort her to her uncle—he is outside waiting for her,” Susan told her son in a soft tone.

Jason nodded and moved towards the steps, disappearing after the brunette. Chloe frowned. “What is going on?” she questioned.

“I suspect our dear brother said something that upset the princess,” Alexander remarked ruefully. “Seems to be a man’s lot in life.”

—-

“Elizabeth—” Jason caught up with her in the foyer and took her by the elbow. “I thank you for all the help you have given my family tonight,” he told her.

Elizabeth nodded. “I only did what I thought was right.” She hesitated. “I have been considering what you said the last time we saw one another and I want you to know that it is all right that you do not really love me. It is disappointing but I should have known better than to believe—”

He stopped her flow of words by pressing his finger to her lips. “I did not answer you when you asked the question because I had not thought of it before. I am a cautious man by nature and I needed to think it over.”

“And now that you have,” Elizabeth continued, “you realize that I was correct and as I was saying, I can live without my husband loving me. You are a very kind man and I could hardly ask for more—”

“And now that I have, I realize my first conclusion was correct. I do love you and I can only hope that you love me as well.”

She blinked and shook her head. “Once the Dawning is over, you will feel differently—”

“Once the Dawning is over, you will be my wife,” Jason told her. “And I suspect a man will always feel something towards a wife that he did not when they were merely betrothed. Elizabeth, I love you and before you leave, I will hear the words from you.”

She was still uncertain but she decided that they would see who was right when they woke the next morning. “I love you,” she admitted in a soft voice.

He kissed her forehead. “Go home and sleep,” he instructed.

Elizabeth nodded and smiled at him shyly. “I am glad that you are safe and—because of you, I have my beloved uncle back in my life. I thank you for that as well.” She braced her hands on his shoulders and kissed his cheek before pulling the hood of her cloak over her head. She disappeared outside and Jason turned to see his mother smiling at him.

“You are so like your father,” Susan murmured. Her eyes shone with tears. “I would have saved him if I could, my son. I do hope you believe that.”

Jason crossed the room and embraced his mother. “I know. Your vision of Father’s death and Elizabeth’s of mine are different and you would be the first to remind me of that. And telling me that I am like him is the highest compliment you could give me.”

“He would be proud of you,” Susan continued, “and he would welcome her to the family. She is the kind of girl he always hoped you would marry and I believe he is smiling down on you from the Heavens.”

“And perhaps he is the one who sent Elizabeth the vision,” Jason said, knowing the thought would give her comfort.

“Aye, I believe that he might have.” Susan kissed his cheek. “Now—we must sleep for as many hours as we can afford. Tonight, my eldest son weds and we will need our strength.”

—-

Elizabeth followed Michael in silence to the palace and was surprised when he stopped suddenly and turned. “Uncle Sonny?” she asked hesitantly.

“Do you believe Lady Davis would consent to my courtship?” he asked abruptly.

Elizabeth blinked. “I believe that she would, Uncle. Is it something that you are considering?”

“I am too old for marriage,” he muttered. He turned back around and resumed his brisk walk. Elizabeth doubled her steps to keep up with him. “But Alexis is only two years younger than I. I should banish Susan Morgan for planting these thoughts in my head.”

“I believe that putting the question to Lady Davis is the second most intelligent decision you have made,” Elizabeth declared.

“And the first?” Michael asked, glancing at her.

“Betrothing me to Jason Morgan, of course.” Elizabeth offered her uncle a gentle smile. “Though it was not your decision at all, I suppose, but the Fates.” She hesitated. “Do you believe your Brenda smiles on you?”

He paused for a moment in his walk and stared at her. “She did not for a long time but I believe she does now for I have finally begun to fulfill my promise to her. You were the daughter she never had the chance to have.” He smiled her. “And you are the daughter I never dared to hope for. I only hope that you believe I’ve done right by you.”

“As long as I marry Jason tonight, there is nothing you could for me that would be more right,” Elizabeth told him honestly. “Perhaps your Brenda sent him to me.”

“Perhaps. She always was a bit of a matchmaker.” Michael smiled at her again. “Come, it is nearly dawn and you have not slept at all this night.”

Morning

“I know it is early, Michael,” Caroline began, “but I felt that it was imperative that I inform you of my discovery as soon as possible.”

Michael sat down and poured himself a cup of coffee. “It is quite all right, Caroline. Speak your mind.”

Caroline set her notes on the table. “AJ and I have discovered a strange pattern with the previous chosen.”

“AJ?” Michael echoed. “I thought that I had assigned Barbara yesterday.”

“Lady Robin fell ill and she sent AJ in her stead. Anyhow, My Lord, all of the chosen we have record of gave birth to magical children.”

Michael frowned. “Are you quite certain?”

“In fact…Nell Brown is the daughter of one of them,” Caroline said. “Eleanor Morgan, born to James and Kylie Morgan. She married Frederick Brown and then later assassinated King Nikolas. She was executed for her crimes and because of her, there is the ban against enchantresses. Her sister, Mariette, was among the first sent to the work camps. There were three boys. Adam, Harold and John. All sorcerers.”

Michael muttered something under his breath and motioned for her to continue. Caroline nodded and set another page of notes on top of the previous. “Hugh Quartermaine and the Princess Adelaide. They were before James and Kylie, so their daughter Olivia lived a long life with many children. She and her brother Wendall were the first in the family to have the gifts.”

“This—this is an extraordinarily bad thing.” Michael stood and began to pace. “We have less than nine months to lift the ban. Elizabeth could become pregnant from the first night alone. I will not allow her children to be persecuted, Caroline. You cannot tell another soul what you have found.”

Caroline narrowed her eyes. “It is not right to keep this from the council. They deserve to know—”

“They deserve to know nothing,” Michael retorted. “Elizabeth has had enough sorrow in her life. If she gives birth to a daughter—I will not allow the child to be ripped from her arms, are we clear?”

The blonde just stared at the normally calm and collected council member. “Lord Corinthos, I know that the Princess is your niece but you have a duty to the kingdom to inform them of threats. Enchantresses cannot be trusted—”

“Because one woman a thousand years ago assassinated a king. She did this because the king had recently ordered her family to be evicted from their family’s lands. It was only through the prince’s loyalty to James Morgan that the family did not lose everything. One woman does not mean all women with powers are bad, Caroline, and I do not appreciate your prejudice.” He raked a hand through his dark hair. “I have given you an order, Caroline. No one will know of this until I say differently. Inform AJ of this as well.”

“My Lord,” Caroline began to protest.

“That is an order,” Michael repeated coldly.

—-

Jason found his mother in Alexis’s kitchen, having shooed the servants out. No one cooked for Susan Morgan.

“Good morning,” he greeted his mother with a kiss on the cheek.

“I was hoping we would have a chance to speak this morning.” Susan gestured towards the table. “Sit and I will get you something to eat.”

A few moments later, his mother set a plate of meat and eggs down in front of him next to a glass of cold milk. She then sat at the head of the table and took something from her pocket. “I intended to give this to you when you married.” She opened her palm to reveal a handmade silver ring. “Your father gave me this after our wedding.”

“You have not worn that since Father died,” Jason observed.

Susan sighed. “I could not bring myself to do so,” she admitted. “It is not my wedding ring—though I cherish that as well. It is a ring he made himself and he gave it to me days after we’d been married. He told me that while the ring he’d given me during the ceremony was a symbol of our vows, this was a symbol of his love.”

She stared at it with a soft smile. “You are so like your Father and he knew that it would be the same for you. You see…your father and I did not meet until the day of our wedding—”

“He told me this once,” Jason said. “That he did not see you until you walked down the aisle. He said that moment he saw you, he knew that he would love you for the rest of his life.”

Susan exhaled slowly and smiled. “That is what he told me when he gave me this. And as you grew up, he said that it would be the same for you. It would happen in a moment and once you’d found the woman, you would hold fast.” She held out the ring for him to take. “I believe Elizabeth is that woman.”

He took it from her gingerly and stared at her. “It seems every time I try to tell her how I feel, I mess it up,” Jason admitted. “Yesterday, her mother told her that she would try to get us released from the marriage. The Queen does not find me suitable enough to control her daughter and she is now threatening to send her to a work camp.”

Susan gasped. “Her own mother?”

Jason nodded. “Elizabeth was devastated but—but she was trying not to show it as always. And she said that perhaps from my perspective, it was not bad news. That now I could find someone more suitable to marry.”

“She is stubborn. She has made her mind up that she will not be a good wife for you or a good mother to your children,” Susan informed him.

“I know—I told her that I did not want to find anyone else—that I wanted to marry her.” Jason sighed and pushed his fork around his plate. “And then she asked why.”

Susan closed her eyes. “What did you say?”

He frowned. “I thought—I told her that there were many reasons but the main one was because she understood me—understood that I am okay with my life as it is.”

She shook her head. “That was not the answer she was looking for.”

“Yes, I gathered that when she smiled that fake smile at me and left the room,” Jason remarked dryly. “But I don’t understand—what is it that she wanted to hear?”

“She does not want you tell what she wants to hear,” she tried to explain without injecting impatience into her tone. “She wants to know how you feel.”

“It has been five days since we laid eyes on each other, I cannot tell her that I love her.”

“Do you?” Susan asked simply. “Because if you do, I think that you should tell her for I doubt she hears it often, if she hears it all.” She stood. “You are marrying a very lovely girl, Jason; eventually you will have to learn to talk to her.”

Jason touched her arm. “Can you help me?”

—-

Robin signed her name at the bottom of the letter and folded it carefully before sliding it into an envelope already addressed to her parents in Derwyn.

She heard a soft knock on her sitting room door. “Come in!” she called.

“Good morning, dear—you wanted to speak with me?” Barbara remarked. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine.” Robin stood and smiled faintly. “I’m writing to my parents see if I might take a short vacation with them. I think it will do me a bit of good to get away from Rhigwyn for a while.”

“Oh.” Barbara sighed uneasily. “Then I shall be alone for a time here.”

Robin touched her arm. “I’m sorry, Barbara. I didn’t realize…”

“No, no. It’s just that before you moved in, it was myself and Anthony and well—I’ve never lived alone.” She sighed. “It seems silly since you were going to be marrying Jason in six weeks but at least then you would be in the area…”

“Well—” Robin hesitated. “You know that I appreciate everything you have done for me, Barbara—but I cannot live here forever.”

“So many things are changing,” Barbara sighed. She shook her head. “Soon, you might not even recognize the people you leave behind.”

Robin frowned. “Barbara—are you feeling all right?” She touched her arm. “You’ve been acting strangely for the past few days. What’s wrong?”

Barbara cleared her throat. “Nothing you need to worry about. Why don’t you let me take that letter up to the meeting today? I believe Michael is planning on sending some people to Derwyn after the Dawning.”

“All right.” Robin handed her the letter. “Barbara—I think of you as an aunt. I hope you know that you can come to me if something is wrong.”

“Well…” Barbara smiled weakly. “I should get ready for the day. Excuse me, Robin.”

—-

Summer held out her hand and wiggled her fingers. “I told him I did not need a ring but he gave it to me anyway!”

Her two best friends had been fawning over her for the past day since she’d announced her impending marriage and when Lucas had given her an engagement ring this morning, she had immediately sought them out in the room that Gia and Maximilliana shared in the palace.

Gia squealed and grabbed Summer’s hand. “This is the most romantic thing that I have ever heard of! It is such a large stone!”

Maximilliana Matthews nodded her agreement. “Kyle had a lovely proposal and I do so adore him but to be asked by the Captain of the King’s Guard…” she sighed dreamily.

“Why did you not tell us you were seeing him?” Gia scolded for what seemed like the thousandth time. “We could have been trusted.”

“He swore me to secrecy and I must admit it, the forbidden part of it had such a wonderful edge to it. But I am very thankful Lord Corinthos arranged for me to leave the job.”

Gia nodded and sat on her bed. “Lord Corinthos is a very intelligent man. Do you know that he has betrothed Jason Morgan to the Princess?”

“Is he not a peasant?” Maximilliana asked curiously. She took a brush from her vanity and started to brush through her long blonde hair. Though she was no more than a maid for the queen, she took great pride in her long honey blonde hair.

“He is Lady Davis’s nephew and his forefathers were Captains of the Guard once,” Gia corrected her. “I have never seen my lady smile so much. She loves him.”

“Do you know that I have never seen the Princess?” Summer said. “She nearly never comes out of her room—how could she have fallen in love with this man in a week?”

“That is what makes it so romantic,” Gia sighed. “He probably saw her and fell in love in an instant and decided he couldn’t live without her. I wonder what he had to do convince Lord Corinthos to break the betrothal between the Princess and Sir Lucas.”

“They did not meet until after the betrothal was broken,” Summer confided. “Lucky told me that Lord Corinthos broke the betrothal because of the Dawning.”

“The Aurora Dawning?” Gia asked. “Well—then that means…” her eyes grew wide.  “Do you think that Jason Morgan and the Princess are…the chosen ones?”

“Well it must be,” Summer said logically. “It is not me and Lucky or we would have been told. And there is no way that the council would have approved a marriage between the crown princess and a farmer no matter who his aunt was.”

“Well, this is most exciting!” Maximilliana exclaimed. “And even more so romantic. I remember when the sky turned black—signifying that they had met. There were shooting stars.”

“So?” Gia asked. “What does have to do with anything?”

“If two people see a shooting star on the day that they meet, they will be in love forever,” Summer informed her. “That explains why the Princess is so in love with him. Do you think that he is in love with her?”

“I have only seen him once,” Gia admitted. “Tuesday morning.” She hesitated. “I will not be going with her when she moves to his home after the wedding.”

“Not going with her?” Maximilliana squeaked. “But you have been her maid since you were girls. How can she abandon you?”

“She feels that she cannot gain the respect of her future family if she brings a maid with her.” Gia sighed. “She has a point, but I am to look after the other Princess once the wedding is over and I am not comfortable with that idea.”

“Why not? Princess Emily seems to be nice,” Summer said.

“But I loathe the idea of getting used to another person. I wish that I could be married. You no longer work and will be a noble woman,” Gia said to Summer. “And once you and Kyle are married,” she turned to Maximilliana, “you will no longer work, yes?”

“If Kyle becomes the head groom at Lady Davis’s stables, no I will not,” Maximilliana replied. “Gia, you will meet someone someday. I am quite sure of it.”

—-

Nikolas knocked lightly on his sister’s door. “Elizabeth? It is me.”

She pulled it open and he was surprised to see her already dressed for the day—her breakfast table cleared. “Good morning, Nikolas.”

He entered the room and looked at her oddly. “You are up rather early.”

“Not especially. Was there something that you needed?”

“I wished to tell you some good news.” He sat on the sofa and patted the seat next to him. She joined him and he smiled. “I came to see you yesterday but you were not here. When I left your room the night before last, Emily and I talked and she loves me just as I love her.”

“Oh…that is so wonderful!” Elizabeth threw her arms around her brother. “I am so happy for you.”

He kissed her cheek as he pulled away. “Now—I heard that the Morgans are staying with Lady Davis until the wedding. Have you spoken to Jason?”

Elizabeth’s cheeks flushed. “We spoke yesterday. Twice—and you were right, Nikolas. About why he said what he did. He has had experience with a woman and he did not want to do anything to compromise me.”

“Well, then. He seems to be a respectable man. I’m looking forward to meeting him.”

“Mother was by yesterday,” Elizabeth informed him. “She says that she is going to have the council release me from the marriage after the Dawning and send me to a convent.”

“She cannot do that—Michael will never agree,” Nikolas said firmly. “You must have a very good reason to release someone from a marriage and simply because the girl’s mother does not like the boy is not a good reason.”

“Jason and I brought the news to Michael last night and he said that if we wished to remain married, we would be.”

“Good. Michael is a good man, Elizabeth. He wants your happiness.”

Elizabeth sighed and shook her head, clearly unwilling to change her opinion about her uncle. “Jason said that he wanted to marry me, can you imagine that?”

“Of course I can imagine that. He is very lucky to even be in your presence much less being your husband and I do not mean because you are the Princess.”

Elizabeth smiled faintly. “Thank you, Nikolas, but I fear that you are biased.”

“Of course. I must be going—I have an appointment to meet my wife in the library and read with her.” Nikolas smiled and stood.

“I am very happy that things worked out for you and Emily, Nikolas. It is very gratifying to see someone get a happy ending.”

He took her hand in his and pulled her to her feet. “Do you love Jason, Elizabeth?”

She blinked. “I—I am not sure, Nikolas—”

“No, do not tell me that. Tell me the truth,” Nikolas pressed.

She smiled tremulously. “I think that I am. Y-yes, I do love him.”

Nikolas smiled again and kissed her cheek. “Then perhaps you will get your happy ending as well.”

——

Emily was at the entrance to the west wing when she heard a voice call out to her. She turned to see her mother-in-law approaching her. “Good morning, my lady,” Emily said politely.

“Emily, darling, I am so thankful that I was able to catch you this morning.” Mirielle smiled as wound her arm through her daughter-in-law’s and steered her away from the west wing.

“Was there something that you needed?” Emily asked, looking over her shoulder longingly. She and Nikolas had made an appointment to meet each other in the library and read to one another that morning and now it looked as though she would miss it.

“You and my son have been married for six months and yet you have not produced an heir,” Mirielle began. “Now—that is certainly no reason for alarm. You are young, my son is healthy. There is time yet. But six months of sharing the marital bed and no heir? Have you thought about seeing the sorcerer?”

“As you said, my lady, I am quite young and your son is quite healthy. We both feel as though we should concentrate on our marriage before having children,” Emily replied.

Mirielle laughed. “What is there to concentrate on? You are not wed to my son so that you may have a relationship with him. This is not a fairy tale, my dear Emily. You are to give him heirs, not love.”

Emily frowned. “But I do love your son and he loves me and we wish to be in love a little longer before we have children and we do not have as much time for each other.” She smiled. “I love the idea of having children but they can complicate things a little. I look forward to the complication, do not misunderstand me—I just would like more time with Nikolas.”

“Children do not need complicate things. You give birth to them, you hire a nanny and that is usually it. Where is the complication?” The Queen frowned. “And what is this nonsense about wanting more time with Nikolas?”

Emily stared at the queen. “I intend to raise my children and Nikolas intends to be a father. We do not simply want a family to further the lineage, though that is of course in our minds. We love each other and we want a family.” She pulled her arm from the woman’s grasp. “I know that you love nothing but your position but I want nothing more to be a wife and a mother. One day, I will be a queen and your son a king, but they will be secondary to my position as Nikolas’s wife and the mother of his children.”

“How dare you speak to me in this manner—” Mirielle protested, outraged.

“No—how dare you speak to me in this manner,” Emily retorted. “You treat your daughter like a leper for reasons I do not know and your son as though he is nothing more than a prince. I am not a brood mare. I am a person and I demand to be treated as such. If you are determined to be this cold and heartless, perhaps you should avoid speaking to me in the future.”

Emily turned and walked away, her head held high leaving the queen in a sputtering rage.

Afternoon

Jason found his sister seated at a window seat, staring out over the meadow in the back of the house. “Good afternoon, sister. How do you like your stay at Aunt Alexis’s home so far?”

She smiled as her brother sat next to him. “Is it wrong to say that while I miss home, I love it here? I can see the village from the house and there are so many shops and buildings, Jason. Can you imagine how many people must live there?”

“Since I pass through it each day to visit the palace, yes I can.” He hesitated. “Chloe, you are fifteen.”

“Yes,” Chloe said. She was tempted to make a joke but she could see that he was about to say something serious.

“I think that you are looking for a future—perhaps—a husband?” Jason questioned.

Chloe hesitated. “I wish to marry one day, Jason. I know that other girls are often married at sixteen but I do not want to be one of those girls. The Princess is nineteen, I feel that perhaps that is a better age for settling down.”

Jason nodded. “I agree. But you will find that with my marriage to Elizabeth, there will be possibilities open to you—and to Alexander—that were not before.”

“Mother told me about the university. That Alexander no longer has to pay and I think that’s wonderful but how could I benefit?” Chloe asked.

“We will no longer need a dowry for you. There will be men falling over their feet hoping to marry the sister-in-law to the princess.”

Chloe’s eyes widened. “Do you mean that? I could have my choice from many?”

“Yes—but I fear that you are so young and sheltered in some ways. I was wondering—Alexander is moving to the village when he begins the university in the fall. He will be living with Alexis and I wonder—if you might want to stay with her as well?”

“Really?” Chloe’s eyes lit up. “Could you get Mother to agree with that?”

“I think that I could. There is a whole world beyond our farm, Chloe. I am content to stay there and raise my family but you and Alexander do not have to make that choice.”

Chloe smiled and cast her gaze down, already imagining her life here. She then noticed one of Alexis’s picnic baskets was resting on the floor next to Jason. “What are you doing with that?”

“I—I was on my way out when I saw you here. I’m going to meet with Elizabeth,” Jason informed her.

Chloe smiled brightly. “Oh, really?”

“Yes, really. Why does that make you smile? I thought that you did not like her.”

“I never said I didn’t,” Chloe said surprised. “I agree that I treated her badly that day she was out at our home but the second she risked her life yesterday morning to save ours—she gained my respect Jason and I can see that she makes you smile. I like her just fine.” She leaned over and kissed his cheek. “You’re a good brother, Jason. And you’re going to make a wonderful husband.”

—-

Caroline rubbed her eyes and turned another dusty page in the volume of the genealogical book she was studying.

Across the council table, Skye and Jasper were talking in lowered tones about something—she wasn’t sure she cared what it was. Barbara had asked Michael to be removed from this project and he had agreed—reassigning AJ to it.

The Quartermaine heir had yet to appear.

A single long-stemmed red rose dropped onto the pages of her book and she looked at it for a moment, wondering if her mind was playing tricks on her. After a moment, she slowly lifted her eyes to see AJ standing there, with an armful of the flowers.

“What—what are you doing?” she asked softly.

AJ glanced at Skye and Jasper (out of the corner of his eye) who were now looking at him with obvious interest. He decided to ignore them and continue with his prepared speech. “I am an idiot,” he declared.

Wisely, Caroline kept her agreement to herself hoping he would get to the brunt of the joke quickly.

“I said things that I wish I could take back,” AJ continued and he set another flower next to the first. “Each one of these roses represents a mean and hateful thing that I have said to you. I counted,” he added.

He set the rest on top of the book and she found herself staring at them, her mouth agape. For the life of her—she could not imagine what joke he could possibly be making.

“You are a beautiful woman and Jason Morgan was a fool to let you go,” AJ told her. “But if I should be as lucky, I would not make the same mistake.”

She looked at him sharply. “What exactly are you trying to pull here?” she demanded.

“Nothing—I am trying to apologize, Caroline and to make amends—”

“You do not have a sincere bone in your body, AJ Quartermaine. I am not stupid and do not wish to be treated as such. Whatever it is you are up to, I will discover it,” Caroline promised. She stood and left the room.

—-

“Where are we going?” Elizabeth asked as Jason led them through a thicket of trees. He’d shown up at her door twenty minutes previous, a basket in hand and asked her to spend the afternoon with him.

As was becoming her custom, she left word with Gia to cover for her if her mother were to drop by for a visit and followed him without question but now she had to wonder if he even knew where they were going.

“We’re here,” Jason said as he pulled her into a clearing. “My aunt told me about this place before I left her house.”

Elizabeth nodded and watched as he opened the basket he’d brought with him and took out a light blanket to spread over the ground. “What is that for?” she asked curiously.

He knelt down and began unpacking the food from the basket. “My mother packed us some food. Have you never been on a picnic?”

“I’ve never eaten outside of the palace,” Elizabeth admitted. She kneeled down and arranged her skirt around her legs. “Why would one eat outside where there are insects and wild animals?”

“When my mother would take us out like this—she would put a charm over the area where we were eating to repel such things. She suggested you might try it.”

Elizabeth shook her head. “No. I do not use my powers.” She stared down at the red and white plaid pattern of the blanket.

“You do not know how,” Jason corrected. He took her hand and showed her what his mother had told him. “Just wave it like this and close your eyes—imagine a bubble over the area.”

She looked at him skeptically but did as he asked. When she opened her eyes, she frowned. “How do we know if it worked?”

He narrowed his eyes and looked at her thoughtfully. “You know…I did not ask my mother that.” After a moment, he shrugged and handed her the cloth-wrapped cheese and bread his mother had packed for her.

Elizabeth took it with some hesitation. “Why did you want to spend the afternoon with me?” she asked curiously.

“Why do I need a reason?” Jason asked instead.

She studied him for a moment but could not find any hidden motives in his eyes. She set the napkin down and reached into the pocket of her skirt and took out Morgan.

Jason smirked. “You brought the cat?”

Elizabeth set the kitten on the blanket and fed her a piece of cheese. “She gets lonely in the room by herself. She already has every crevice explored and when a cat gets restless, she finds something to do and no one can know she is inside the room.”

Morgan lost interest in the cheese quickly and pranced over to Jason, proceeding to climb into his lap. “She looks fatter than she did just a few days ago,” he observed.

“I have probably been spoiling her.” Elizabeth leaned over and scratched her behind the ears. “Yesterday, she got into my paints and left blue paw-prints all over my bedroom floor.”

“Someone will not ask about those?” Jason asked.

Elizabeth shook her head. “No one goes in there—just my sitting room. Jason—I really—I really love her. I do not know that I can ever thank you enough for her.”

“We have so many cats out at our place, one was hardly missed,” Jason admitted. “I glad she has got such a loving owner.” He cleared his throat. “My mother says that my sister will make a good mother because she is always out in the barn taking care of the kittens and puppies. Feeding them, cleaning them…”

“A kitten is hardly a child,” Elizabeth said sadly. “A child—especially when he is young—requires so much attention, patience and love…”

Jason lifted Morgan out of his lap and placed her on the blanket between them. “Elizabeth—yesterday, when we spoke I think that I said the wrong thing again.”

“When?” Elizabeth removed a piece of string from her pocket and dangled it in front of the kitten who immediately leapt up at it.

“When you asked me why I wished to marry you.”

Elizabeth yanked her eyes off the cat, momentarily ceasing the dangling of the string. Morgan, unprepared for actually catching the string got her claws wrapped around it and was suspended in air for a moment. “You did not say anything wrong.” She cleared her throat. “I asked a question that was not very fair and you answered it.”

“Yes—but it was not the answer you were looking for,” Jason insisted.

“No,” Elizabeth admitted softly. “But I cannot fault you for answering me honestly.” She kept her eyes on the kitten as Morgan lost interest in the string and curled up in a ball to take a nap.

“It was an honest answer, yes, but it was not a complete answer.” Jason inhaled deeply and paused for a moment, searching for the right words. “You are—you are very beautiful, Elizabeth. Extraordinarily beautiful in fact and you have such a kind and compassionate nature.” He reached into the pocket of his pants and kept his palm tightly closed when he withdrew it.

Elizabeth drew in a sharp and shaky breath. “Jason—”

“My mother and my father were married for nineteen years at the time of his death and I—I had never seen two people more in love. Granted, I was not exposed to many other married couples—” Jason shook his head. “They did not meet until they said their vows—they were an arranged marriage.”

Elizabeth nodded. “Many marriages are.”

“My father told me often that the moment he laid eyes on my mother, he knew he would love her for the rest of his life. He told me that some men are like that—and others need more time. Not time to fall in love, but to realize that they had,” Jason explained.

Understanding the direction this conversation seemed to be going, Elizabeth’s throat dried up and she could only nod and gesture for him to continue.

“This morning, my mother told me that my father said that I would be in the first group but I believe that it is more of the second. She…she wore this ring every day from the moment my father gave it to her until the day that he died.” He opened his palm to reveal the small silver ring. “It is not her wedding ring—my father told her that one represented his vows to her but this represented his love for her.”

“Your father sounds like he was a wonderful man,” Elizabeth managed to say, both surprised and pleased that her voice was even.

“He was the best.” Jason hesitated. “My mother was saving this ring for me to give to the woman I was going to marry. When she gave it to me this morning, I was planning on waiting for the wedding to give it to you but I think that I am going to do what my father did.”

Elizabeth glanced down at the ring before looking back at him. “What do you mean?”

He reached for her hand and slid the ring onto her finger. His mother had resized it herself to fit Elizabeth’s hands. “In two days, I will put another ring on this finger and it will represent the promises I will make then but this one represents the way that I feel about you.”

“A-and how d-d you feel about me?” Elizabeth asked, slightly terrified of the answer. The metal of the ring felt strangely cold against her flushed skin. She searched his eyes.

“I was hoping that you would not ask because I do not know if you are ready to hear it,” Jason admitted. “But since you have…” He cleared his throat. “Well—see…okay…I—I…” he hesitated.  “I love you, Elizabeth.”

Breathing was no longer an option. Elizabeth blinked at him. “Jason,” she breathed. “You—do you really mean that?”

“Yes,” Jason replied, feeling a bit better that her immediate reaction was not to laugh at him for being so silly though he didn’t really think that would have happened.

“No one—no one has ever said that to me before,” she whispered. “I—” She swallowed hard. “I’m not exactly sure how to respond.”

“Well—under ordinary circumstances, you would usually…say it back or—let me down gently or you know—we could forget that I said anything—”

His out of character ramblings were abruptly cut off by the feel of her smooth fingers pressing against his lips. “I never want to forget that you said it,” Elizabeth told him softly. “It is just—I never imagined that anyone would want to say it to me. I was often told that no one could ever feel that for me.”

“They were wrong,” Jason said quickly. He leaned forward and kissed the corner of her mouth lightly, just grazing her skin really.

“Say it again,” Elizabeth breathed, closing her eyes.

“Why?” Jason asked amused.

“Please?”

Jason touched the side of her face and smoothed his fingers over her jaw line. “I love you, Elizabeth,” he repeated.

She opened her eyes and smiled at him, the expression lighting her whole face up. “I love you, too,” Elizabeth admitted shyly.

Without a second thought, Jason closed the distance between them and kissed her. It was different than the other day. She’d asked him to kiss her then out of pure curiosity.

But this—this was so different. Elizabeth’s eyes widened as Jason’s kiss was almost forceful compared to their first. When the tip of his tongue pressed against her lips, she hesitantly parted them to allow him entry.

Jason seemed to sense her confusion and scaled the kiss back. He didn’t end it though. He gentled his touch and tried to coax her into a more active role.

Elizabeth slid her hand from the base of his neck into his hair and closed her eyes. When his tongue slid into her mouth, she tentatively rubbed hers against his, moaning at the delicious sensations the movement sent down her spine.

Jason skimmed his hand down her back and gently lowered her to the blanket, covering her with his much larger frame.

Elizabeth instinctively parted her thighs to cradle him there. Jason’s mouth left hers and roamed over her throat, nipping here and there until he came to the neckline of her dress.

She didn’t even realize she’d unbuttoned the top half of Jason’s shirt until her hands hit the smooth warm skin of his chest. She pushed it off his shoulders, reveling in the way the muscles rippled beneath her fingers.

He sat up abruptly, his chest heaving, his breathing shallow. He raked his hands through his hair. “We—we cannot do that again.”

Elizabeth shakily sat up and smoothed hands over her wrinkled dress. She nodded. “Right. It is not appropriate out of marriage,” she remarked dully.

“No—well, no it is not,” Jason admitted. “But I do not think that would have bothered me right at this moment. It is not why I stopped.”

Elizabeth hesitated. “Because of the Dawning,” she realized, closing her eyes. “What takes place that night must be the consummation of a holy union,” she recited. “I did—I was not thinking.” She pressed a hand to her cheek, still flushed from their intimate encounter.

“I was just—” Jason shook his head. “We should be more careful, Elizabeth.”

She nodded. “Yes. We should be. But I remind you that it was you who kissed me,” she said with a smile.

“True,” Jason admitted. He reached out and grazed his fingertips against her neck, where he’d left evidence of his mouth. “I left marks,” he realized with a start.

She frowned and glanced down. Her neck was red all over but in a few spots, it was darker. “Will they not go away?”

“In time but you might want to speed the process. I doubt that you would like everyone to know that we came close—to well…came close,” he fumbled. “Just put your hand over them and imagine that they are gone,” he explained at her blank look.

She did so and was pleased to see it had worked. Jason had shifted back to the other side of the blanket. “Jason?” she asked hesitantly.

He unwrapped another napkin with cheese. “Yes?”

“I—” Elizabeth paused. “Perhaps this is another one of those things that is inappropriate outside of marriage but I—” She paused again. “The night of the wedding when we are expected to…” Her cheeks were even warmer now. “I—I have read books and my brother—well, he has told me next to nothing and you said that you h-had experience—”

“Elizabeth, what is it you are trying to say?” Jason asked.

“Well…” she exhaled slowly.  “I am trying to ask what happens.”

“What happens?” Jason repeated. “You mean—no one has even spoken to you of this?”

“N-never mind,” Elizabeth said hastily. “I should not have brought it up.”

“Elizabeth…” Jason hesitated. “Perhaps you should tell me what you already know,” he told her.

“Well…I know the m-mechanics of it,” Elizabeth stammered. “That we—we—I do—I do not…” She closed her eyes. “I am really trying to ask how it feels, I suppose.”

“It is different with everyone, I suspect. With—my one time…” Jason took a deep breath. “The woman—there was some pain at first,” he admitted. “But it went way and after that—it seemed to go all right.”

“All right?” Elizabeth echoed, disappointed. “Is that all?”

Jason hesitated. “Elizabeth,” he began, “it is not appropriate to be having this conversation. Perhaps I should take you home—”

“No,” Elizabeth interrupted. “I—I am sorry. I will not bring it up again. I was only curious.” She glanced down at her lap. “I warned you that I often forget my place. We have spoken of so many things—I thought that we could speak of anything. But—I am sorry.”

“No, it is me who should be apologizing.” He shook his head. “You have no place when you are with me, Elizabeth. We can speak of anything. I just—I am not sure how to speak of this. You see—I never have before.” He hesitated. “I suppose blunt honesty would be the way to go.”

Elizabeth nodded hesitantly. “All right.”

“I suppose you could at least surmise the woman was Caroline,” Jason admitted. “It was just once—I had made the decision to propose to her on her twenty-third birthday. We were in her hayloft one day—she was showing me something, I cannot remember now what it was and I kissed her and it really just happened. Almost the way it did today. You see, Elizabeth, I had convinced myself that I was love in with her.”

“You were not?” Elizabeth asked, surprised. “But you were to marry her.”

“It was convenient. She was an only child. The farm would become hers upon her parents’ death and as such, mine. I cared for her very much, Elizabeth, I do not want you to think that I am uncaring person.”

“I do not think so at all,” she assured him.

“When she made the decision to go to the council, she assumed that I would go with her. Quite the way I assumed she would give that up and remain with me. Neither of us was willing to budge and so we parted ways.” He cut a slice of cheese and ate it, mulling over his next words. How could he say them without sounding truly heartless?

He decided to speak the truth, as he had promised her. “The truth is, Elizabeth, that at the time—the act was very—pleasurable. I thought that it could not have…felt better. But I was wrong.”

“When did you discover that?” she asked curiously.

“Two days ago, when you asked me to kiss you. That is the real reason that I said those things. Because in that simple embrace, I felt more love and passion than I had ever felt for Caroline.”

Elizabeth blinked. “You did?” She shook her head. “That is impossible.”

“Why?” he asked with a frown. “I know how I felt, Elizabeth. You cannot say that I do not.”

“You hardly knew me two days ago.” She hesitated. “You hardly know me now. And for that matter, I hardly know you. What if this is all just part of the Dawning—what if all of these feelings disappear when it is over?”

The thought had not occurred to him before and he leaned back, surprised that he had not considered it. He was not an impulsive person and yet—a mere five days after meeting this woman, he proclaimed his love for her? Did that not sound insane?

His silence led her to believe that he had not only considered her question, but thought that she was right. She whimpered and picked Morgan in her arms. “I should return home before someone comes looking for me.”

“Elizabeth.” Jason reached for her but she stood and slid the kitten into her pocket, ignoring the animal’s mewing protests.

“I had a very nice afternoon. Thank you for speaking with me so candidly.”

By the time Jason got to his feet, Elizabeth had already disappeared into the thicket of trees. He closed his eyes, trying to block out the hurt and distrust he had seen reflected in her beautiful sapphire eyes.

—-

“My Lord, you requested to speak with me?”

Michael waved the young man into his sitting rooms. “Yes. You were assigned to follow Jason Morgan until after his wedding in two days, am I correct?”

Brian Beck nodded and shifted uncomfortably “Yes, My Lord.”

“Well, today was your first day on this assignment; I was hoping you could give me a report.” Michael sat at his table and peered up at the younger man.

“He stayed in his aunt’s house most of the morning before leaving for the palace in the early afternoon. He took the Princess on picnic lunch,” Brian’s cheeks reddened. “The two talked for nearly two hours before she left. Jason Morgan then returned to his aunt’s house where he remains, sir.”

“There is something that you are not telling me, Mr. Beck,” Michael told him. He rubbed his chin. “What is it?”

“My Lord, it is of a personal nature,” Brian admitted. “I am not sure that it is anyone’s business but their own.”

“The Princess is my niece. Anything that concerns her concerns me.”

“Well, I suppose you have a point. They talked before—well, My Lord, Jason Morgan kissed her—and she did not stop him. I believe that they nearly—” Brian hesitated. “They stopped before it went too far, My Lord.”

Michael closed his eyes and nodded. “Thank you. You may go.”

When he heard the door click shut, he sighed deeply. Perhaps he should have a conversation with his niece. He doubted that his sister had discussed this subject with her and if it had to be him, well then so be it.

—-

Alexis entered her small private library and found Jason reading a book in the corner. “I did not expect to find you here. What are you reading?”

“I found a book on social etiquette,” Jason held it up to show her title. “I thought it might be useful.”

She nodded and took a seat next to him on the sofa. “This was delivered by royal messenger a few moments ago. It is from the Princess.”

He took the envelope from her and removed the note first. In Elizabeth’s feminine script, a message was scrawled. I have no need of this.

He frowned and looked inside the envelope again, his heart sinking when he retrieved the ring he’d given her only hours before.

“What is that?” Alexis asked curiously. She leaned forward. “It looks like your mother’s ring.”

“She gave it to me this morning,” Jason said quietly, rolling the tiny ring between his thumb and index finger. “I gave it to Elizabeth today and now she sent it back.”

“I thought things were going well between the two of you,” Alexis remarked. “What happened?”

“We—we were discussing something and she asked me a very curious question. Over the last few days, Aunt Alexis—we have become—it has been going better than well between us,” Jason stammered. “I love her and she loves me.”

“What did she ask you then?” Alexis asked, elated by her nephew’s revelation.

“If our feelings were created by the Dawning and what would we do if they disappeared after it was over.” He sighed. “I am not an impulsive person nor do I tend to jump into things headfirst but Elizabeth—how can I have fallen in love with her in five days span?”

“If it makes you feel a bit better, we have no account of any of the chosen claiming to have lost feelings after the night is over. If you feel as though you love her, then you just might. Jason, she has been through such a difficult life. Do not say those words to her again unless you are positive.”

“I want to give her life that she wants,” Jason told his aunt. “Where she is free to paint, sit outside in the sun for hours upon end. I want her to have the freedom she has never known. I want her to have all the kittens and puppies and animals that her heart desires but—I also want her to love me and I suppose part of me is—is scared that she is right. That it might be the Dawning affecting us and not our own hearts. I like the way that I am feeling, Aunt Alexis, and I do not want to lose it.”

“I do not believe that you will,” Alexis murmured. “Give her the night to be by herself. You both need a little time to yourselves and tomorrow—go see her and discover if you cannot come to some sort of agreement.” She stood and kissed his forehead. “But for the record, Nephew, I want you to know that when you speak of her, your entire face lights up. I have never seen you look this way before but she makes you happy, Jason. Such a feeling cannot be false.”