He would allow her to return? Never to find her way back to Faery. "Mayhap."
"There is a man, yes? A mortal man who interests you?"
She shrugged.
"I am jealous."
"You are not."
"Oh, but I am. That a mere mortal can attract my lady wife?"
Did he work to make his voice sound so teasing? Almost flirtatious. Impossible.
"Who is but a mortal herself and who only draws pity from her husband's gaze. But my leaving will change nothing—we will be married still."
"As it must remain. It is not a requirement that the lord of
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Glamoursiege has a wife to stand at his side. I vow to you I shall not interfere in your mortal affairs."
"You do?" That this man would sacrifice for her? How he had changed! "It is too much to give, I do not deserve—"
He pressed his forefinger to her mouth, silencing her protest. "Return you, to find love and a long life."
Gossamyr clutched the staff, wanting to hug him, to let out a cry for joy. To simply thank him for understanding. For no longer did she belong. Yet she knew his truth in her heart; to release her was not a sacrifice—he put her from his sight as would please him.
He gripped the staff and stepped up to kiss her. A kiss goodbye, an acceptance of sorts. A seal to their agreement to join hands across the distance.
"I should ask to visit you from time to time?"
"Whatever for?"
Desideriel laid both palms to her shoulders. Not a single tingle in that touch, Gossamyr noted. "You are everything vour father is. I looked up to Shinn, almost as my own sire. He lives within you and in your strength and fire."
She nodded. "Suits me fine and well. Send me off. I don't want to lose another mortal moment!"
Staff clutched in one hand, she stretched her arms out and tilted back her head. Gossamyr felt her body lift into the air. Propelled by Desideriel's glamour, she soared over the balustrade and ascended slowly to stand in the center of the Passage. Looking up, she waved to the new lord of Glamoursiege.
"Verity d' Ange!" he announced. "Verity d' Ange! Verity d' Ange, claim your birthright now!"
And stabbing her staff into the ground, she suddenly wobbled but caught herself with a balance of her hand.
"Achoo!" Faery dust misted about her head.
Verity smiled and leaped from the toadstool circle. Her bare toes touched the familiar red dirt path and instantly she sensed the pounding approach of a horse and rider—a lick-for-leather approach.
408 Michele Hauj
Danger?
A smile curled onto Verity's lips.
But barely able to stumble backward, she caught herself from falling with a stab of her staff into the ground. A black palfrey, rider crouched and focused, galloped past.
"Kind sir—" she tried, but the rider did not slow.
He hadn't noticed he had almost galloped right over her!
"Mortals," she said, then laughed at herself. "They be a strange bunch, eh? Achoo!"
It felt grand to be back on the Other— "Home!" she shouted and spun a merry whirl until one foot stepped upon a toadstool. Veering from the spongy mushroom, she bowed to the Passage, acknowledging the gift Desideriel had granted her, then skipped across the path to the knee-high grasses.
So light! This was home!
The snorting, pounding approach of yet another rider alerted her. Spinning to witness the unwavering strides of a mighty stallion and his—
As the rider passed, Gossamyr scratched her head. Twice now. The horse had been black both times. The rider, merely a black blur for a cloak billowing about his shoulders, had looked.. .familiar?
It could not be possible.
On the other hand, this wood was rife with Enchantment.
Planting her feet and staff, Gossamyr waited. She didn't have to wait long. Again the horse and rider sped past her. So determined he was to get where he traveled! And if it truly be Ulrich he had found himself a fine destrier. Had so little time passed? Could it have been but one sunset since she had been to Faery?
Too much to hope for.
When the rider approached for the fourth time, Gossamyr decided to intervene. "Lest I be here all the day watching the dizzy circles of this rider unawares."
Springing to the edge of the path, she thrust out her staff. The beast stopped abruptly, its sweat-glossed breast heaving but an
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armshot from the staff. The rider sailed over the horse's head and landed a thicket of grass. But a single cry echoed up from the ground, in that deep, familiar tone Gossamyr knew.
Gripping her long wedding skirts in one hand, she scampered over to Ulrich. Leaning over his head, she stared down the length of his body. The same. Blessings, but he was the same!
"Who be—" Blinking and patting his chest, Ulrich finally looked up and above him to her face. He closed his right eye and cocked his mouth open. "Faery princess?"
"Yes, 'tis me, Ulrich. Be you fine and well?"
"Fine, yes. As for well, I've just flown like a faery through the sky and landed on my bottom." He eased a hand over the mentioned bottom. "It aches, but I don't think it'll leave a mark."
She offered both hands and he stood and flipped his cloak back over his shoulder. "You're.. .here?" He looked her up and down, touched her sheer sleeve and stepped back a stride to take it all in. "Looking the faery princess that you are. But still the same! The same, my precious one."
"Be you the same, as well. Save your blinking eye."
"Can't see a damned thing through it. Blind as the devil to fire."
Gossamyr's feet were lifted from the ground as Ulrich spun her and sang of her sameness and how gorgeous a dress made her look.
"Not that you were not gorgeous before," he added as they spun to a stop and he finally set her down.
"You've found yourself a fine mount."
"Fancy did not want to leave Paris. Uncle Armand kept her."
"You were in a hurry. Did you not notice me thrice over standing here?"
"Nay, I— You mean it happened again?" Swaggering a few steps, he held a hand over his brow to shield the sun as he looked over the forest wall. "I might have traveled all the day around and about? Ah! I am in a rush, so I thank you for stopping me."
"Why the hurry?"
"Rhiana, she is yet alive."
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"Yes, I remember the unicorn told you. So, no time has passed since my departure?"
"A few days, but..." He touched her cheek, trailed a soft finger up under her eye. Noticing the fine lines of age. "Not the same. Is that why you came back?"
"Do I look so old to you?"
"Mayhap the same age as me now. But yet young! You are back for ever?"
She nodded.
"Well then, you must come with me. There is room on my mount, as you can see."
"And your family?"
"I want to see Rhiana safe—be it from a distance—and my heart will be whole. But what of you? Did you not marry the faery man?"
"I did. Desideriel Raine is now lord of Glamoursiege."
"You have a husband."
"And you have a wife."
"Yes, but— Ah! We two are in such a fix! This husband of yours, he approves your coming to the Otherside?"
"He was the one who sent me here."
"I see. So.. .is it the same?"
Ah, that sound of desire. Of mortal passion all coiled within, waiting for release! "Is what the same?"
"Us?"
Pressing up on her tiptoes, Gossamyr leaned in to kiss Ulrich. He embraced her, shaking her from balance and toppling the two of them into the grasses. With laughter and kisses, they two rolled upon the ground.
"Is it Gossamyr or Verity?" Ulrich asked, one arm propped on an elbow as he lay over her.
"Verity. I like the name. Verity d'Ange."
"I will take you to meet your sister."
"You found her?"
"Do
minique introduced me after you left. He is married to her!"
Gossamyr 411
"You speak the truth? Why did he not tell me before?"
"He wanted to honor your quest. And then you left before he had opportunity to say anything. He suspected you would return."
"So you have met my sister. Is she lovely?"
"Very. But not so lovely as you. Her hair is dark and short and she is tall and strong like you. A warrior, the changeling affectionately called her. But I must to St. Renan first."
"Then will you take me to my sister?"
"I vow it, faery princess."
"Then let's be to it!"
Lifting her in his arms, Ulrich spun once and handed her up to sit the waiting destrier.
"My staff!"
"Ah!" He retrieved the abandoned staff. "A new one, methinks." He handed it to her and she tucked it under her arm.
"Can't go anywhere without my big stick."
"As well—" he tipped the arrets at her waist"—will you teach me to use these?"
"Of course."
He mounted before her and took up the reins. "Such times we will have together."
"I look forward to them. Oh!"
"What troubles thee, faery princess?"
Verity gripped the sleeve that had come away from the seam at her shoulder. "I think I shall need your cloak."
"Again?" He twisted to look at her dismay. Shrugging off his cloak, she wrapped it about her shoulders and moved close to slide a hand around his waist as the destrier took to the path.
"Indeed, the same," Ulrich sang. "And we are off to adventure! The soul shepherd and his naked faery princess."
What has happened to Rhiana? Find out in spring 2006!
THROUGH THE SHADOWLANDS:
WHERE THE TOUCH OF SILVER WAS
PROTECTION, POWER AND PERIL.
In this follow-up to Silver's Edge, we enter a world where the
first battles are over and devastation racks the lands. Now
Nessa, Cecily and Delphinea must fight to contain the evil
that edges closer. Because their honor demands that their
countries come before anything—even love. And life...
On sale June 2005. Visit your local bookseller.
No worries. No pressure. Never mind the lack of sleep. Forget
trying to deal with her perplexing new powers, and cryptic
coyotes who appear in her dreams...not to mention that
in the three years Joanne's been a cop, she's never seen
a dead body—until two this week!
On sale June 2005. Visit your local bookseller.
Joanne Walker has three days to learn to use
her shamanic powers and save the world
from the unleashed WILD HUNT.
In a land where the battle between good and evil is always near, the
Black Knight's sword fells enemies with silent grace. The Black Knight,
Seraphim D'Ange, has sworn vengeance on Lucifer de Morte, the
fallen angel, and she is determined to end his reign of terror.
Neither heaven nor hell can withstand the Black Knight...
On sale now. Visit your local bookseller.
Winter, 1433—and Jeanne d'Arc's ashes still glow with unsettled embers...
Michele Hauf lives with her family in a suburb of Minneapolis. Although this is her first fantasy novel, she has previously published paranormal and historical romances. For her, a sword fight is the key to a good read—with musketeers, vampires, faeries or dragons adding more interest. When not feverishly writing or plotting her next book, Ms. Hauf indulges her other creative outlets by tending her faerie garden, giving dragonflies glamorous makeovers, playing guitar and violin, and spending far too much time coloring. (Yes, that's right, coloring.)
Readers can write to her at P.O. Box 23, Anoka, MN 55303
or find her current e-mail address at the
Web site www.michelehauf.com.
Disenchantment threatens those who enter the mortal realm...
The Red Lady plots to destroy faeries who linger in the mortal world, by draining their essence. Only those without glamour can withstand the succubus's wicked enticements. So now Gossamyr de Wintershinn, half faery, half mortal, vows to use her wits, fighting ability and hint of glamour to face the Red Lady in her Paris lair.
But this is Gossamyr's first trip to the war-ravaged mortal realm, and it seduces with its own enchantments. With her new traveling companion—a soul shepherd with more than one secret—Gossamyr takes the first steps to save her people. Yet as she strives to defeat the Red Lady, she discovers that incredible power can be found in the truth—and in learning true names. And a danger, as well...
"History, fantasy and romance are cleverly blended
into a creative beautiful adult fairy tale that
will charm an enthralled audience."
—Harriet Klausner on Seraphim
www.LUNA-Books.com
Gossamyr Page 38