Free Bound by J. Elizabeth Hill Page A

truth. Now, do you see where you need to lay those thoughts I mentioned?"
    "I think so. There seems to be almost a hole in the center that it's all built around, like a real lock."
    "Exactly there, yes. The two thoughts should be laid one across the other, intersecting at the center of that void in the spellwork. It shouldn't be too hard if you take your time laying them." She watched as he placed the first fairly quickly, the thought of himself. He had more trouble laying the second, his right to open it. She knew some of it was the placement, but she sensed doubt as well. She said quietly to him, "Tavis, you are meant to open it. I'm sure of it. You can hold the box, handle it, where the locking spell gave me a clear warning not to even touch it. This box is for you alone. I don't know who gave it to you, but I am certain that they meant for you to open it."
    For a moment, his doubts lingered, his thoughts and feelings shifting rapidly. Before she could think of how else to encourage him, his concerns resolved into determination and the necessary thought quickly fell into exactly the right place. She watched the spell spin into motion and then dissolve, the top of the box splitting down the center and falling open. A slender rolled parchment lay inside. Fay withdrew her mind from his and sat back, pulling her bag of supplies onto her lap and taking out bread and dried meat for herself for dinner. Beside her, Tavis stood and returned to his side of the fire.
    Though she tried to concentrate on eating, she was distantly aware that he had pulled the rolled parchment out of the box when he sat down and was now unrolling and reading it. Part of her was surprised to find that he could read, a skill rare among country folk, but then she realized that his mother could have taught him before she left. No one could graduate an academy without mastering the written word. She tried not to see the sad smile that spread across his face or the frown that followed it. When he let the parchment roll back up, he returned it to the box and closed it. Unable to pretend she didn't seen the tear glint in the firelight as it tracked down his face, she asked, "Tavis, are you all right?"
    It was a while before he answered. Finally, his voice low and a little rough, he said, "I'm fine, Fay. Go to sleep. I'll take first watch. I've got a lot to think about, that's all."
    She couldn't think of any way to argue with him, so she laid out her bedroll and climbed in, her head pillowed on her pack. Before she fell asleep, she wondered if helping him get the box open had been a mistake.
    The moment her eyes closed, the dream claimed her. The blond man was watching her again, his smile broader than before, triumphant. He came to her almost immediately. When he put his hands on her waist though, she saw a minute change in his expression, a touch of confusion, there and gone so fast that she wasn’t sure what it meant.
    "At last, so close, Faylanna."
    "Why do you know my name and I don’t know yours?" She was startled by the sound of her own voice. She’d never spoken in one of these dreams before. She’d always been sure that she couldn’t, or that he wouldn’t be able to hear her.
    "Does it matter," he asked as he pulled her closer, inhaling deeply as his arms encircled her. "I know you. After all these years, does it matter how, or why you know me?"
    She looked up into his eyes, surprised. He’d heard her and spoken, responding to her question, though not with an answer she understood. Thinking back, she had only ever heard him speak once, in the last dream of him she could remember.
    "It’s almost time, Faylanna. Will you be there, when the time comes?" His expression had become troubled. "I’ve waited so long, watching. I need you."
    "Why? What time? I don’t understand."
    He kissed her forehead, then lay his own against it. "It doesn’t matter, just be ready. I can’t let you go, not after so long. He can’t have you. We belong together,