Dream sight was almost as useful as secret speak, though that was a fairy skill one either possessed or didn’t. Having dream sight tended to open one’s mind well enough that they might be able to pick up secret speak — the power to communicate during waking hours by simply thinking what you wanted to say. If the other fairy were accomplished in Secret Speak and willing to communicate, you could have a useful conversation without others in the room realizing.
The assembled crowd finished their applause at Dwennon’s gift, and now Hilly stepped closer to the bassinet once more. Blissa looked on as Hilly smiled down upon her child. Hilly put her hand to her chin, poised to speak, when there was a commotion in the back of the hall. The floor-to-ceiling doors opened faster than they should have, and in strolled someone Blissa thought she would never see again. For a moment, she actually smiled when she saw Maurelle.
Her cousin’s face was the same: long and thin, her lips ruby red, and today she wore the crown decorated with sharpened elk horns that had been Blissa’s father. But rather than wearing the royal fairy white, Maurelle was dressed in black, a long black cloak over a black dress. Maurelle did not smile.
The fairy queen marched down the center aisle, towards the bassinet, the crowd murmuring at her cool approach. The entire air of the room changed, a chill overtaking the crowded hall. Blissa realized there was no reason to smile. Maurelle’s presence couldn’t be good.
Blissa stood and moved forward, forcing a smile to her lips, trying to remember the cheer she’d felt — even momentarily — when she saw Maurelle. Blissa knelt briefly, then stood. “Your highness,” she said. “I’m honored that you have come to my daughter’s Nomorray ceremony.”
Maurelle stared at her, venom in her eyes. “Honored?” she asked, her voice high and brittle. “I’m surprised, given that you didn’t bother to invite me.”
Blissa bit her lower lip, holding back the things she could say. About how she’d tried to leave on good terms, how Maurelle had been her very best friend in the world, and she’d cut Blissa to the core with her final declaration three years ago. Her declaration after Blissa had returned her powers to the Sacred Pool, after Blissa had begged her once more to please forgive her.
“Blissa,” Maurelle had said when they last spoke. “Never speak to me again. I will mourn you as if you are dead, because as far as I am concerned you are. You died the moment you chose a man over your own people.”
Blissa swallowed and focused in on Maurelle, realizing that her cousin wore the exact same look now as she did the last time they’d spoken. Blissa felt broken inside. She hated being looked at with such venom by someone she loved so much. “Maurelle,” she started.
“Call me Queen,” Maurelle said.
“Queen,” Blissa started again. “The last time we spoke, I gave you my word I wouldn’t contact you, and I have kept it by not sending you an invitation. But if you have found it in your heart to attend anyway, I am more than glad to welcome you. I hope it is the beginning of a new peace between us.”
Maurelle, a tall, statuesque woman with jet black hair that flowed to her waist, turned and surveyed the room, before returning her glare to her cousin. “You thought it wise to keep your word of not speaking to me by not inviting me to the Nomorray, the most sacred of ceremonies we have in the fairy realm. Yet you saw no problem in breaking your vow to renounce claim to my throne for yourself and all your descendants.”
Blissa widened her eyes, confused. “Maurelle, I have made no such claims. Not for me, and not for Briar Rose.”
Maurelle squinted at Blissa, as if trying to discern if she were telling the truth. A few moments passed, and Maurelle sighed. She reached into her cloak and pulled from it a small folded paper. It was trimmed in gold leaf and Blissa realized it was the invitation. Only it wasn’t the one she’d sent out to the fairies. This was a different one. Maurelle handed it to her cousin.
Blissa read the invitation silently:
King Edmund, son of Errol the great and Queen Marguerite
and Queen Blissa, daughter of King Roldan and Queen Belinda of the Fairy Realm
invite you to the Nomorray of their daughter:
Briar Rose,
Heiress to the thrones
Blissa’s heart sank when she read it. She turned to Edmund, who sat there looking slightly frightened of Maurelle’s appearance but having no idea what he’d done. Having no idea of the seriousness of what he’d set in motion. He’d given her this invitation, and she’d told him emphatically not to list Briar Rose as heiress to the thrones. Both thrones. For humans, it was simply a matter of respect, but in the fairy realm it was a claim. She wanted to fume at him, but there was no time for that. She had to try to fix this. Immediately, or Maurelle would …. She didn’t even want to think about what Maurelle would do.
Blissa closed her eyes and tried something she hadn’t done since she’d left the realm. She wasn’t even sure it would work. She’d given up fairy magic of a physical nature. But this wasn’t physical magic, and it was related to a gift she’d been given — dream sight — by Dwennon as a babe. In her mind, she spoke to Maurelle. “I swear to you, I didn’t know. I didn’t do this. Edmund did it, but he didn’t understand what it meant. In the human world, these things are just titles, just words. There is no magic in them. My husband does not understand that there is magic in titles in our realm, that listing her as my father’s heir is more than descriptive, that it binds her claim to the throne, should she choose to exercise it. But I swear to you, this was not me being deceitful or false. It was a mistake, one made by my husband, who doesn’t understand fairy customs well enough.”
She opened her eyes and looked at Maurelle, who stared blankly back at her. Then, Blissa heard the response in her head. “Cousin, I told you these humans are vile backstabbers. He wants my throne. If not for him, for this thing he’s made you bear him.”
“My child is not a thing,” Blissa declared. “And she doesn’t want your throne. Please, Maurelle, do not act in haste. We are cousins. We share the same blood. We spent our childhood playing together, sharing each other’s secrets. I would never hurt you. I wouldn’t lie to you. Please let this go. I am not trying to hurt you.”
Maurelle took a step toward the bassinet and looked down into it. Then Blissa heard her cousin in her mind. “Leave him,” Maurelle said, reaching into the bassinet and gently stroking Rose’s cheek. “You could come back to the kingdom. We could ensure this child wasn’t sullied by her human half. Look at how well our friend Eldred turned out. You don’t have to stay with this awful man. You could be happy again, Blissa.”
“I am happy, Maurelle!” she shouted in secret speak. Maurelle put a hand to her head, as if that had pained her. Blissa concentrated, remembering how to modulate her tone for secret speak. “Maurelle, I am not leaving my husband. I love him, and I love my child. AND I love you. Please just be happy for us. Please don’t take offense at what was a simple mistake. Stay for the celebra—”
“I have a gift for the baby,” Maurelle spoke aloud.
Panic flooded Blissa. “What are you going to do?” Blissa pleaded in her head.
“For the princess Briar Rose,” Maurelle said aloud.
“Please, Maurelle. She’s just a baby,” Blissa begged.
Maurelle turned her icy eyes to Edmund. “Your wife doesn’t believe that you understand fairy customs,” she said.
The king looked affronted, but sat up straighter and spoke politely. “I have taken an interest in the customs of my wife’s homeland, but I am sure that not being a native, some nuances escape me.”
Maurelle smiled wickedly and Blissa tried secret speak again. “Please. Just because you don’t like him, don’t take it out on my baby.”
“There is magic in words Edmund, even when they’re not spells,” she said.
Edmund nodded, and Maurelle looked down at Briar Rose.
Blissa took a step toward Maurelle. She reached out and touched the arm of her cousin. In her mind, Blissa tho
ught “peace and forgiveness.” Not a message in secret speak, but just the thought of it, the feeling of it. She tried to send that to Maurelle, the way she used to, back when she was young, back when she had fairy powers.
Maurelle pulled her arm from her cousin. “Even now you are reneging on your agreement. You are trying to muster fairy powers you no longer have in order to control me.”
“I’m not doing that,” Blissa replied, trying to seek understanding both with her eyes and with their secret talk. “I just want you to understand how much I love you, how much I want us to be the way we used to be: friends, family. I want you to have peace.”
Maurelle sneered aloud, but spoke secretly. “I’m about to have peace.”
“Briar Rose,” she said aloud, in a voice that carried through the hall. “On your seventeenth birthday, you shall prick your finger on a spinning wheel and fall into a deep sleep, one that will last a hundred years. The world will continue to age and grow old. So will you. You will age in your sleep, but will not awaken until the hundred years has passed. You will not awaken unless …” she paused and turned to Blissa. “What is it that you told me this worthless husband of yours was? Oh wait. I remember.” She turned back to the baby and spoke aloud. “You may be awakened by a kiss from your true love.”
“Maurelle,” Blissa said aloud. “I’m begging you. Please take it back. Please don’t do this.”
“True love,” Maurelle sneered in secret speak. “That’s what you told me was so important, what would make everything alright. Well, let’s see how it works. Your true love violated your promise. A fairy’s rule is a hundred years. Your daughter will sleep through mine.”
Maurelle turned and walked away.
END SAMPLE. You can read the rest of this story in Dream Trysts: A Sleeping Beauty Story, available on Amazon. (Book is FREE to Kindle Unlimited subscribers.)
Also by Rosetta Bloom
The Princess, the Pea and the Night of Passion. If you love royal romances, and princesses in distress, you’ll love this story!
In this grown-up version of the famous fairy tale, Princess Adara is running from her old life and a forced betrothal. Adara wants love and passion, but knows she can’t get them back home. When a raging storm halts her escape, Adara seeks refuge in the first dwelling she sees.
Prince Richard is tired of the trite, vain, frigid princesses his mother introduces him to in hopes he’ll marry. On this stormy night, he’s in the mood to love a woman, but he’s all alone. Then, Adara arrives on the castle doorstep, saying she’s a princess in need of help. The queen is doubtful and decides to lock Adara in a room with a pea to determine if the girl is a real princess. Richard believes the beautiful, charming stranger, but he wants her locked in a bedroom for other reasons.
When Richard and Adara hook up, there's more than a pea-sized bit of passion involved....
(This ebook is free on all retailers.)
Beauty and Her Beastly Love. In this grown up version of Beauty and the Beast, we meet Beauty, a sheltered young girl living in the French countryside with her father. She doesn’t get out much, but her tutor has given her books that she is supposed to read privately. The books all have a rose imprinted on the cover and describe the ways in which men and women love each other. The books give Beauty ideas about pleasures of the flesh.
Just like in the traditional tale, Beauty’s father, Pierre, sets off on a journey and ends up taking refuge in an enchanted dwelling. Pierre takes a rose-covered book, like the ones his daughter reads, and is caught by the beast who lives in the manor. Pierre agrees to send his daughter in exchange for the Beast not killing him.
When Beauty arrives, she feels disappointed that she will spend a lifetime imprisoned with this beast, rather than experiencing the type of relationship between a man and a woman described in her books. Only, as she gets to know Beast, she develops an attraction to him. Later, Beauty discovers that she and Beast can take pleasure in each other’s company in more ways than she’d ever imagined. (This book is FREE to Kindle Unlimited Subscribers.)
Dream Trysts: A Sleeping Beauty Story. A wicked fairy who curses a child to a hundred years of slumber because she wasn’t invited to a party. Seems harsh… but the real story is so much more interesting and way sexier.
In this re-telling of Sleeping Beauty, the wicked fairy Maurelle isn’t mad at not receiving an invitation — no she’s got deeper reason for being upset at King Edmund and Queen Blissa. And little princess Briar Rose, before she’s cursed, is given the gift of dream sight, which allows her to interact with others in her dreams. All is not changed, though. Prince Charming is still, well, charming. He’s just a tad bit sexier and knows exactly how to please.
Find yourself a comfy spot and make yourself at home as you start this imaginative, adult version of the classic fairy tale.
(This book is FREE to Kindle Unlimited Subscribers.)
Romance: Trysts Short Story Series
No. 1. Dr. Carter & Mrs. Sinn. Mrs. Sinn has been having heart palpitations and is in need of advice, so she seeks out the muscular, handsome Dr. Carter. The very forward Mrs. Sinn implores the good doctor to figure out the cause of her problems.
Initially nervous that he might be crossing the line, the doctor eventually warms up to Mrs. Sinn and takes an unorthodox approach to diagnosing his patient.
This story sizzles as doctor and patient heat up the exam table.
FREE on Amazon.
No. 2. Nikki & Mike. Nikki is a good girl who tries to follow the straight and narrow path.
When a breakup turns her life haywire, Nikki realizes it isn’t enough just to be good. She needs to be good to herself.
Enter Mike, a handsome stranger with farm boy charms and a rocking body. Can he give Nikki what she’s been missing recently?
In this hot and steamy tale, Mike and Nikki find each other and a little something else, too.
Buy it on Amazon. (Get it FREE when you sign up for the mailing list)
No. 3. Tristan & Blair. Can a person know when they first meet someone that it’s love? Can they know they're destined to be together?
Tristan met a girl when he was just a boy — a girl who changed everything about him. He knew she was the one, but she disappeared from his life.
When Tristan, now a painter, meets a girl from his past, he feels an instant connection to the sexy redhead. She’s not quite who he imagined, but that doesn’t mean he won’t take this second chance to make this girl his.
Do second chances at first love really exist? Tristan gets a lesson in life’s quirks in this red-hot, sexy tale.
Buy it on Amazon.
No. 4. Jack & Brenda. Jack is a firefighter, who’s a man down at his station due to a massive snow storm. Alone, pondering the evening when he hears a knock on the fire house door.
Brenda is a nurse trying to get to her shift whose car goes kaput outside the fire station.
Jack offers to warm Brenda up and things smoke for the firefighter who has a thing for pretty feet and the nurse who’s in need of some TLC.
Buy it on Amazon.
Romance Trysts – Box Set (Volumes 1-4). Want all the shorts at once to thumb through at your leisure at a cheaper price? Pick up the boxed set.
Buy it on Amazon.
About the Author
Rosetta Bloom loves a good love story. She also likes a steamy tale with two characters who find solace in each other’s arms. So, she writes romance and erotic romances, and all of them end happily, because Rosetta hates sad endings. If you want a story that has a few surprises, and lots of heart, then she’s writing the story for you.
Rosetta Bloom’s primary novels and novellas are sexy retellings of classic fairy tales. They include The Princess, the Pea and the Night of Passion; Beauty and Her Beastly Love; Cinders and Ash: A Cinderella Story; and Dream Trysts: A Sleeping Beauty Story. Rosetta loves adding new life to these classic tales and hopes you enjoy the tweaked versions, too. Rosetta also has a series of really short erotic love sto
ries called the Romance: Trysts series. You can read the first one, Dr. Carter & Mrs. Sinn, FREE. There are four in the series, and if you like the first, you can grab the rest individually or pick up the boxed set, Romance: Trysts Volumes 1-4.
To learn more about Rosetta Bloom or either series, visit her website, http://rosettabloom.com.
Cinders & Ash: A Cinderella Story (Passion-Filled Fairy Tales Book 3) Page 22