Free Dream Trysts: A Sleeping Beauty Story (Passion-Filled FairyTales Book 4) by Rosetta Bloom

Errol’s on her throne. Her mother’s murderer to have his way at last, if not for himself, but for his heirs. The thought turned Maurelle’s insides.
    “If I do nothing to the girl? If I recall the spell, what happens?”
    Finally, a smile came to Eldred’s face. “Then you will be happy.”
    Happy. Was that even a thing anymore? Did people still feel that? It seemed as if it had been so long since Maurelle had been happy and carefree. “And my throne? The kingdom?”
    Eldred looked down at the ground again. “Maurelle, this kingdom, it is not meant to be yours. You look at Briar Rose as a descendant of Errol, but she is also a descendant of Roldan. She will eventually inherit this throne. But if you let her be, you will be happy. We will be happy.”
    She stared at him, a hopeful glint in his eye. “We?”
    He slid his hands around her right hand, cupping it softly.  “I have not known what to say, or whether to say anything, for speaking of the future sometimes can change it, and I’ve not wanted to change what I saw. But we could be happy if you let go of your anger at Blissa for following her heart, at Errol for wanting a fairy kingdom to rule, and most of all at Briar Rose for being born to a king who sought to establish her birthright. If you could move past that anger, you would secure our happiness. You know how I feel about you. I told you on the eve of your coronation. I asked for your hand.”
    “Stop,” she said. He’d promised never to speak of it again. He’d promised her answer would be final. Only, sometimes she did wish her answer weren’t final.
    “Yes, my queen,” he said, withdrawing his hands and standing. “Just know that happiness could be yours.” He paused, then added quietly, “Happiness could be ours.”
    “But the realm will not be mine?”
    “For a time, it will be, as it is now,” Eldred said. “I just don’t know for how long.”
    “And when Briar Rose rules? Will it be good for our people, for the realm?”
    He closed his eyes, as if searching the heavens, the currents of time for an answer, and then he opened them again and said. “I can’t lie to you, my queen. My sight is inadequate on this issue. I believe her heart is good and she will do well. But I can see nothing of her reign. She will be influenced by humans, and as you know, my sight fails me on matters of human influence.”
    Humans. She would be influenced by her father, Edmund. The same man whose own father had murdered her mother. She closed her eyes and remembered the sound of her mother’s last gurgled breath as she huddled in the closet with Blissa. The terror at first, followed by the warmth that Blissa wrapped her in, to keep her from exploding with grief right then and there. No. No descendant of Errol deserved to influence the fairy realm. Maurelle had made up her mind.
    Eldred turned and began to walk away.
    “Where are you going?” Maurelle asked.
    He was halfway across the room now, but turned to face her. “You’ve made up your mind. There is no reason for me to stay.”
    She nodded.  “I’ll see you when I return.”
    “No,” he said. “My time here has come to an end, Maurelle. I can no longer be your oracle. You ignore my advice and you break my heart. I can stay no longer. Surely you understand.”
    She closed her eyes. She did understand. She’d thought having him near would be better than not seeing him. Better than not glimpsing the way he longed for her with those sweet, kind eyes. But she had been so wrong about it. She looked down at the stone in her hand. “This fairy stone is connected to the girl’s?” she asked. “The minute she returns home using it, I will be taken to her?”
    “Yes, you will,” Eldred said. “It was a simple fairy charm that did it. Once she used the fairy stone, I used a charm to connect this stone to her use of the fairy stone. Presuming she uses it again before the night is over — and if my vision is correct, she shall — then you