The Ravenswynd Series - Boxed Set

by Sharon Ricklin Jones

  Taking step or two back, relaxing my arm and setting my sword down while he composed himself; I had to cover my grinning mouth with a hand.

  “It is not at all funny, Elizabeth,” Emrys mumbled while he examined his thumb, bending and unbending it with a frown, no doubt feeling more pain in his ego than anywhere else.

  I managed to stifle my glee long enough to apologize, but by the look on his face, I had a feeling that my lesson was over for now. And as much fun as I had been having, I really didn’t mind stopping for the day. I was sore and exhausted - both from the heavy sword, and from the exhilaration of the win.

  “And how did I do, my love?” I asked, just a tad of cockiness in my tone.

  “Great,” he answered, sounding put off and taking another quick glance at his hand.

  I felt absolutely fantastic...except for my sore muscles. Now that Emrys had bought me this new sword, it was almost like starting over; my arms and shoulders ached just like they had way back in the beginning, except this time, I was exhilarated by my unexpected ‘win’.

  Realizing how proud I felt as we made our way back to the estate, Emrys finally admitted, “You really did do well with your lessons today, Elizabeth. Perhaps I should have bought you a lighter sword, but I knew you would love the blue sapphire gem pommel.”

  It was a beautiful sword, although, to be honest, I never thought I’d receive a weapon as a surprise gift from my husband. The blade itself had a red wine finish and a solid metal dragon guard. And even though he was right, this sword was much heavier than the one I was used to, but now, after such a great session, I was all the more determined to learn with it, and sure that my arm would stop aching after a good soak in the hot tub.

  “I do love it,” I said, rotating my shoulder, hoping to stretch the tender muscles. “It’ll just take some getting used to, that’s all.”

  As we walked down the long hall to our suite, Emrys put his hand on my neck and massaged gently. “You are right. The hot tub will help.” It was good to know that he was already over his frustration at losing to me, and I gave him a sweet smile.

  “Losing? It was only because of the tree, my wife.” His attempt at looking serious was not lost on me.

  Nodding in mock agreement, I grinned again and said, “Yes, you’re probably right.”

  Back in our suite, I felt Emrys’ eyes on me while I undressed for our soak. My whole body reacted with a reflex I had no control over: a combination of tremble and tingle all at once as I envisioned how our soak would end. I knew exactly what was going through his mind, and now he knew my thoughts as well.

  The hot water was fantastic after all the exercise and fresh air. When I stretched my sore arm up out of the hot, bubbling water the sudden draft from the open window sent goose bumps over my wet skin and a quick shiver shot through me.

  “Would you like me to close the window, my lovely?” Emrys asked, running a finger over my arm with the lightest, yet electric touch.

  “No,” I said, shaking my head. “It’ll get too warm then.” I put my arm back under the water and moved closer to the jets to allow them to massage my muscles for a few more minutes. The hot water was relaxing and felt wonderful. We sat silent for quite a while, just enjoying the soft bubbly lavender warmth.

  I reached out and gently touched Emrys’ hand after noticing that he had taken off his thumb ring. This was unusual, and I was about to ask him why he’d taken it off. It was nearly as important to him as his medallion. The ring was a gift that his father had given to him before he’d left, and it was one of those things you’d notice right away: so beautiful, bright, shiny-silver and blood red, and such a part of his everyday attire. He had told me it was called a Trefoil Sanguis Alchemy ring, otherwise known as a gothic trinity band. And as far as I could remember, this was the first time I’d ever seen him without it. I didn’t have to ask; he read my thoughts as quickly as they ran through my mind.

  “As I mentioned earlier,” he said, looking a bit embarrassed. “Your fencing skills have showed great improvement. And truth be told, my thumb started to swell up a bit after your… assault.” He held up his thumb, wiggling it back and forth as he continued. “I suppose I should not wear it when we practice anyway. And now that you are more sure of yourself, I certainly do not want my ring to be chopped in half should you accidentally slice off my thumb!” His teasing was salted with a bit of uneasiness. I was quite sure that having his wife get the better of him had been a blow to his dignity, even though he insisted on blaming the stupid tree.

  I apologized again. Taking his hand in mine and bringing it to my face, I gently kissed his thumb saying, “I would never let that happen. Besides, you’re much too fast for me. I wouldn’t be able to catch you even if I wanted to. You just didn’t realize you were so close to the tree.”

  “And I am acutely aware,” he said with a grin and a raised eyebrow, “that you never bothered to warn me either!”

  I gave a quiet chuckle, and then suddenly he took me by my arm and pulled me onto his lap, and in one quick-fluid movement, he had me straddling him. Placing both of his hands on my hips and quickly thrusting forward, I gasped eagerly as he plunged deeper. Our mouths met; warm, wet kisses…electrical energy flowing… from him to me and back again to him, we became lost in each other. The hot steam enveloped us like a cocoon and the room gradually faded into a soft fog. All talk of sword-fights and jewelry long forgotten. The only thing that remained clear was our final destination. And what a grand splashdown it was. I couldn’t say for a fact what time we arrived. Only that we arrived together - and in great form.

  * * *

  Much later as we dressed, I found Emrys frantically rummaging over his dresser top. He pulled open the top drawer, searching; pushed and lifted things around and swore, at first under his breath. With each unsuccessful attempt he managed to get louder, slamming each drawer. Finally turning to me and squinting his eyes, he said, “Bloody hell!”

  “What’s wrong Emrys?” I had never seen him this angry or upset.

  “I cannot find my ring! I know I put it right here on top of this book,” he fired, picking up the book and slamming it down again.

  It was rare for him to raise his voice like this, and it made me uncomfortable.

  I don’t like this anger one bit; it’s kind of scary.

  Even though I kept my mouth shut, he turned at once to apologize, reading my uneasiness. “I am not blaming you, my sweet wife,” he said, trying to compose himself. “Do not take my outburst so personally.” Lowering his voice even more, he added, “Perhaps I left it in a pocket. Or, maybe it just fell when Kelsey was in here earlier.

  Kelsey was here today?

  “I’ve reminded her many times to be careful,” I said, wondering just when she’d been in our room. Surely not while we were so engrossed in the hot tub! But there had been a few times she’d forget to knock, and sometimes she could be quite scatterbrained about where things went, but I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt. After all, she did have a lot on her mind these days. I knew that she’d been thinking about the upcoming Fellowship of Regents, worried about the outcome of the meeting, and the wait had been driving her mad.

  I got down on my hands and knees joining Emrys in his search for the ring. We crawled around for a few more minutes, but both came up empty-handed. He picked up every single item on the top of the dresser one by one, went to his discarded clothes and shook them out, and even tipped his boots upside down, shaking them in hopes of finding his beloved ring.

  “Are you sure you left it on the dresser?” I asked, stepping back into the hot tub room without waiting for an answer. I looked all around, checked under the towels and on the window seat, but the ring wasn’t in there either.

  I hope it didn’t go down the drain!

  When I returned to the dressing room I found him sitting in a chair, a deep frown creasing his brow. “It did not go down the drain, Elizabeth. I took the damn ring off before undressing, and distinctly remember putting it
on top of that book.” He gazed at me earnestly.

  “It will show up soon enough, Emrys.” He so rarely called me by my given name; I realized at once how upset he really was. “I’ll speak to Kelsey the minute I see her. Alright?”

  I hoped he wasn’t going to become obsessive about the damn missing ring. It had to be here somewhere. It wasn’t at all like him to be careless; it simply must have fallen and rolled away under some furniture, and I knew we’d stumble upon it sooner or later. However, it certainly wasn’t unlike Kelsey to move things around whenever she dusted either. Perhaps she put it away somewhere, and I knew that once I got around to asking her about it, the mystery would be settled. I just couldn’t believe he was so upset. This same thing had happened many times with several items, and we’d always locate them eventually, with or without Kelsey’s help.

  “But the ring - was the last gift - I got from my father,” Emrys said defensively, responding to my uncaring thoughts. His hand went up to his medallion, an absentminded habit that seemed to occur whenever anyone spoke about Ambrose.

  “I understand how important it is to you, but we will find it. I promise you, Emrys.” I had a feeling, and that was good enough for me. I started walking toward him.

  After a deep sigh, he stood and met me halfway. His doubtful look somewhat diminished, he finally said, “Alright, if you say so.” We hugged for a few moments; he kissed my cheek, and said, “Let us go eat. I am famished.”

  No wonder you’re so damn crabby!

  He completely ignored my final thought on the matter, and we went down to lunch.

  * * *

  Kelsey was not at the table and, while we ate our meal, it occurred to me that she hadn’t joined us earlier for breakfast either. I could only assume that she was busy with something. When we were finished eating I dragged my reluctant sister up and down the halls of the estate looking for my assistant. I didn’t bother to ask Emrys to join me in my search; he retired to his office and was busy planning his trip. June was quickly approaching and, more than anything else, I had hoped Sibelle’s prophecy regarding rule changing was about to come true.

  As far as the other prophecy went, I hadn’t been all that worried about it lately. No one had heard from Rohan for nearly six months now and it was a great relief. A part of me hoped that he had somehow met with a premature death already; however, not knowing for sure still made me uneasy at times. And even though he had not been spotted in half a year, I still wanted Emrys to see if he could bring about those positive changes when he met with the Fellowship of Regents next month. It would be good for Kelsey and Royal; they deserved to finally live their lives out in the open instead of hiding behind closed doors and pretending to be nothing more than just friends.

  “Let’s go check in the garden. I bet that’s where she is, tending to her flowers,” I said, pulling Lindy toward the back door like a rag doll in tow. Even though I had begged and pleaded to be set free of the constant reminder, Emrys had not allowed me to be alone yet. And any time I left our suite, the guard was instructed to follow me. The one request Emrys agreed to allow me, was that the guard stayed out of hearing distance. Close enough to help if needed, always keeping me in his sights, but he didn’t need to hear every conversation I had with every single soul I spoke with. So, anywhere I went, I always noticed him lurking about out of the corner of my eye. And since I insisted that the guard keep his distance, Emrys continued to stand firm that someone stay close to me at all times, which is why my sister was in tow.

  “Quit yanking me,” Lindy complained, loud and whiny. “I’m coming!”

  The sunshine blazed into our eyes as we stepped outside. The sharp green smell of fresh cut grass met us and then the sight of Nicholas out in the distance brought confirmation. He’d been making crisscross tracks in the lawn, riding the mower back and forth. We ran into Fiona just as we turned toward the pathway to the garden.

  “Hello, girl-friends!” Fiona exclaimed, her red hair ablaze in the sunshine and her smile genuine and wide.

  “Oh good, Fiona!” Lindy said with a smile. “Please take my turn watching Lizzy. She’s driving me nuts running all over the place looking for Kelsey. Please? I have another headache.” Melinda seemed to conveniently catch a headache lately whenever she didn’t want to be bothered babysitting me. Not that I blamed her - this routine was getting old. But we all knew that her so-called headaches were just an excuse. All she had to do was take a drink of Ambrosia, and the headache - if it was even real - would be gone in five minutes. Because of the guilt I still felt, and the long time it was taking for her to come to terms with her barrenness, it didn’t bother me that every now and then she allowed her resentment to bubble up. It would always be my fault for allowing her to be turned in the first place. And as much as I wanted to tell her my vision of the three children I’d seen in her future, I still had my doubts. If only I could have seen a little more of the vision, or if I had been given an approximate date to attach to it. I simply couldn’t give her any false hope.

  Lindy took Fiona’s hand and placed it into mine as soon as Fiona nodded. “Here you go. Have fun ladies. I’m going up for a nap.” Without another word, Lindy disappeared through the back door with a swish of her hair and a clack of the latch. I felt nothing but empathy for her.

  Fiona seemed happy enough to oblige, but once again I found myself feeling guilty for needing constant watching over, and I gave her a grateful grin.

  “Where is Rufus?” I asked.

  I found myself asking questions for which I already knew the answers. He was in the study along with Emrys and Gavin. The three always met together when important preparations were being made. And with Emrys planning his trip, I was sure he wanted to reinforce the continuing program of “Elizabeth’s Day Care”.

  At least I had managed to talk Emrys into allowing me to spend my nights alone while he’d be gone. Of course, the plan was to have someone check and then re-check all of the locks, basically locking me in my suite of rooms so there’d be no opportunity for anyone to enter. It was silly. I didn’t even feel nervous about him leaving, what with a guard always posted outside my door, and the other guards patrolling the grounds continually.

  No one left any doors to the outside unlocked any more, since they locked automatically now. Everyone had been issued computerized key cards to get in and out of the building; each with their own personal number, so that at any given time, it was actually possible to know who was in the mansion and who wasn’t. The worst part of this new security system was that even if you simply wanted to go out for a walk, you had to remember to take your card. After a few months it had become habit, and it seemed all the kinks were finally ironed out. The alarm had not gone off now in over three months, and the two times it did, it had been only a glitch in the system. Of course, I had been immediately whisked off to my room, locked in like a prisoner, while everyone went crazy searching for anyone who did not belong.

  “Rufus is with Emrys and Gavin, you know that!” Fiona said, giving me a knowing smile. “What are you up to? Did you want to go for a walk? It’s a beautiful day for it, that’s for sure.”

  She tilted her face toward the sky and took in a deep breath. “No. I’m looking for Kelsey. Have you seen her?”

  “She’s in her garden. I was just there. But I should warn you,” she said, making a scowling face. “She’s in a foul mood.”

  Fiona and I had talked a little about Kelsey and Royal, but she didn’t know the half of it. And I had been sworn to secrecy. So, needless to say, it was difficult to stand before my one-time best friend and keep my mouth shut. “Come on, I don’t mind going back,” Fiona said, walking toward the trellis of Morning Glories with me, her new ward, in tow.

  The scent was indescribable - fresh flowers blooming, new mown grass, sweet, gentle, salty breezes blowing in off the sea...and then suddenly, I got a huge whiff of dog. I glanced around and saw the puppy tied to one of the nearby benches. She was sound asleep in the shade, curled up aroun
d her own white fur. Kelsey had finally named her, but I didn’t quite agree with the name. She called her Frosty, although I had thought it should be something more feminine, like Opal. But, since she was Kelsey’s pet, I didn’t bother to try changing her mind.

  My chest tightened from a sudden pang of thirst. And then I realized why my sense of smell was so acute: it had been three days since I’d had any blood. Emrys warned me plenty of times not to let it get past the three-day mark. We still had many humans living among us, and I couldn’t let myself be put to the test. After all, in Raven age, I was still a baby. And living with constant caregivers should have reminded me of that fact. But before I could go and refresh myself, I needed to find Kelsey. I had promised Emrys.

  We found Kelsey on her knees, hard at work, digging holes for new plantings. She was muddy up to her elbows, but didn’t seem to mind a bit. Her hair fell forward, and when she wiped it out of her face, she left a dark smudge of dirt across her cheek. She appeared so young, and yet she was actually older than my grandmother would have been. Sometimes this eternity thing still boggled my mind.

  “You’ve got some dirt, right there,” I said, pointing to her cheek.

  “I don’t care. I’m only half way done. I’m sure I’ll be much worse off by the time I’m finished out here.” Her tone was flat, half-angry.

  Fiona whispered as she elbowed me gently, saying, “See what I mean?”

  “What did you say?” Kelsey asked, glaring up at Fiona.

  I interrupted what could have been the beginning of an unnecessary argument. “Kelsey. I need to talk to you. Hey, why weren’t you at breakfast or lunch?”

  Hopefully, bombarding her with questions would get her mind off Fiona’s rudeness. It was plain to see that Kelsey was anxious and worried. The Fellowship of Regents meeting would determine her future, and whether or not her newfound love could be public. After all the years of skulking around with Rohan, even though they were legally married, she tended to keep his visits secret from her mother. She said that it was so much easier that way, hiding the fact that he only used her when he felt like it. Priscilla was already hard enough on her; she didn’t need to fuel the fire of her mother’s blatant hatred for the rogue. Now all Kelsey wanted was to feel normal. Royal made her happy, and yet she had to keep that hidden now too. My heart went out to her; it couldn’t be easy.