Free Once upon a Dream by Nora Roberts

throbbing eased. “But not contrary enough, I notice, to ignore the comforts of a cup of tea, a book, and a pleasant chair.”
    â€œI wasn’t going to stand in an empty room wringing my hands while you worked out your tantrum.”
    He lifted his eyebrows. “Disconcerting, isn’t it? Emptiness.”
    She tugged her hand free of his. “All right, yes. And I have no true conception of what you’ve dealt with, nor any right to criticize how you compensate. But—”
    â€œRight is right,” he finished. “This place and what I possessed was all I had when first I came here. I could fill it with things, the things that appealed to me. That’s what I did. I won’t apologize for it.”
    â€œI don’t want an apology.”
    â€œNo, you want something else entirely.” He opened his hands, and the rich loops of pearls gleamed in them.
    â€œFlynn, don’t ask me to take them.”
    â€œI am asking. I give you this gift, Kayleen. They’re replicas, and belong to no one but me. Until they belong to you.”
    Her throat closed as he placed them around her neck. “You made them for me?”
    â€œPerhaps I’d grown a bit lazy over the years. It took me a little longer to conjure them than it might have, but it made me remember the pleasure of making.”
    â€œThey’re more beautiful than the others. And much more precious.”
    â€œAnd here’s a tear,” he murmured, and caught it on his fingertip as it spilled onto her cheek. “If it falls from happiness, it will shine. If it’s from sorrow, it will turn to ashes. See.”
    The drop glimmered on his finger, shimmered, then solidified into a diamond in the shape of a tear. “And this is your gift to me.” He drew the pendant from beneath his shirt, passed his hand over it. The diamond drop sparkled now beneath the moonstone. “I’ll wear it near my heart. Ever.”
    She leapt into his arms, clung to his neck. “I missed you!”
    â€œI let temper steal hours from us.”
    â€œSo did I.” She leaned back. “We’ve had our first fight. I’m glad. Now we never have to have a first one again.”
    â€œBut others?”
    â€œWe’ll have to.” She kissed his cheek. “There’s so much we don’t understand about each other. And even when we do, we won’t always agree.”
    â€œAh, my sensible Kayleen. No, don’t frown,” he said, tipping up her chin. “I like your mind. It stimulates my own.”
    â€œIt annoyed you.”
    â€œAt the first of it.” He circled her around, lighting the fire, the candles as he did. “And I spent a bit of time pondering on how much more comfortable life would be if you’d just be biddable and agree with everything I saidand did. ‘Yes, Flynn, my darling,’ you would say. ‘No indeed, my handsome Flynn.’”
    â€œOh, really?”
    â€œBut then I’d miss that battle light in your eyes, wouldn’t I, and the way your lovely mouth goes firm. Makes me want to….” He nipped her bottom lip. “But that’s another kind of stimulation altogether. I’m willing to fight with you, Kayleen, as long as you’re willing to make up again with me.”
    â€œAnd I’m willing to have you stomp off in a temper—”
    â€œI didn’t stomp.”
    â€œMetaphorically speaking. As long as you come back.” She laid her head on his shoulder, closed her eyes. “The storm’s passed,” she murmured. “Moonlight’s shining through the windows.”
    â€œSo it is.” He scooped her up. “I have the perfect way to celebrate our first fight.” He closed her hand over his pendant. “Would you like to fly, Kayleen?”
    â€œFly? But—”
    And she was soaring through the air, through the night. Air swirled around her, then seemed to go fluid so it was