“I have been a little busy,” I answered. He just grinned. I looked down at the water again. I shook my head, mystified.
“I will never understand this water.”
“This part is easy to understand,” he said, giving me a sly look. “At the beginning of the Water Gathering…it rains.”
The next moment, thunder rolled far above our heads. And without another word, Rajak leaped out of the fountain, tugging me along, and we raced out of the chamber.
“Where are we going?” I cried, hearing the others yelp in bewildered joy and follow us. We raced through the harem, and I let out another ringing laugh. We ducked through a small door, pelted down a little corridor, and burst out into the desert.
A desert that was now drenched with cool rain.
Clouds shot through with golden light rolled and churned overhead, and rain poured down, drenching me as completely as Rajak already was. Our feet sank down into the sand as the rain doused us, and lightning coursed overhead. I turned to my prince and beamed at him, and he took my face in his hands and kissed me, over and over, memorizing the taste of my lips. Then, he paused, and frowned.
“I seem to remember there was something you were going to tell me,” he said, over the roar of the downpour.
“Oh, yes,” I nodded. I took up both of his hands, then cocked my head at him. I gazed deep into his eyes, and he grew serious. I took a breath.
“King Rajak, son of Niro, Lord of Nazre and the plains of Seshem,” I said. “Would you like to be my husband?”
For an instant, he just stared at me. And then his black eyes sparkled. He leaned his forehead down against mine.
“It would be my honor.”
This time, I kissed him.
Dimly, I became aware of the others watching us, and blushed. I turned to see Aeleth, Hashim, Aedus and the remaining Bràithrean, and the slaves, all staring at us as if they were seeing angels. I stopped.
“Where are the old man and woman?”
“Harith and Kanta?” Rajak said, glancing at me. My head whipped around.
“What?”
He blinked, then studied me.
“The shining king and queen standing with you—the tall king wearing the Stone of Inheritance, the ones who called me out of the water…”
He trailed off. My mouth fell open. His eyes twinkled again as realization came to his face.
“Ah. I suppose that was to be their secret.”
I could not speak. Rajak’s amusement increased. Then he nodded to Aeleth.
“Linnet, my love—I don’t suppose you could introduce me to this lady?”
“Aeleth…I…” I stammered.
She stepped closer, wide-eyed.
Then, I just laughed. “Rajak, this is my sister, Aeleth. And Aeleth…stop looking at him like that!”
FIN
Other Books by Alydia Rackham
The Beowulf Seeker
The Riddle Walker
The Last Constantin
The Campbell River
The Paradox Initiative
Lady Rackham
Christmas Parcel: Sequel to Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol
The Mute of Pendywick Place and the Torn Page
The Mute of Pendywick Place and the Scarlet Gown
The Mute of Pendywick Place and the River Thames
The Mute of Pendywick Place and the Irish Gamble
The Mute of Pendywick Place and the Ghost of Robin Hood’s Bay
Christmas at Pendywick Place
Dear David: The Private Diary of Basil Atticus Collingwood
Scales: A Fresh Telling of Beauty and the Beast
Glass: Retelling the Snow Queen
TIDE: Retelling the Little Mermaid
Curse-Maker: The Tale of Gwiddon Crow
Bauldr’s Tears: A Retelling of Loki’s Fate
Alydia Rackham’s Fairytales
Amatus
Linnet and the Prince
The Web of Tenebrae
The Rooks of Misselthwaite Book I
The Oxford Street Detectives
The Last Scene
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Camelot stifles under the tyrannical thumb of Mordred, and the entire land has been swallowed in shadow. Now, a ragtag band of knights and peasants must attempt to seize the castle and retake the sword of the true king, led only by an obscure young man who pulled a sword out of a stone, and a wizard who has been sleeping in the depths of the earth for three hundred years.
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About the Author
Alydia Rackham graduated from McPherson College with a bachelor's degree in English. She has published 75 fanfiction stories and 27 original novels.
In addition, she is a singer (winning superior ratings at state competitions in both high school and college), an artist, an avid traveler, and has performed in 21 theatrical productions, 6 short films and one feature-length film to date (winning a Jester Award in high school for the role of Mrs. Higgins in My Fair Lady, and a gala award for Best Female Performer in a Musical for her role as Mary Poppins in Salina Community Theatre's Production of Mary Poppins.)
She wrote the screenplay for the feature-film Inkfinger, which was featured in four film festivals, including the Hollywood Dreamz International Film Festival and Writers Celebration in Las Vegas, Nevada, where it was nominated for Best Cinematography. It also won the Award of Merit at the IndieFest Film Awards in La Jolla, California.
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