A Game of Crowns

“Maybe one day we’ll find the place where our dreams and reality collide.”

-unknown

It had been nearly a week since Rowan had shown up at my door and the time with him passed quickly. We had picked up a daily routine: we’d get ready, have breakfast together, do the chores, have lunch, train, clean ourselves up, then spend the evening together, and repeat. Tomorrow we’d be leaving for Clearwater and a part of me didn’t want to.

Rowan soothed a restlessness in me and I wasn’t ready to surrender our time here together. Although, I was curious about Clearwater. What would it be like? What would Thomas think about seeing me so soon after his proposal? Would he want to see me? What would crossing into the Hidden Realm be like? What would it be like to see Tobias again? I hoped I wouldn’t run into Siobhan, but with my luck, it would more than likely happen.

“You almost done there, Moonstone?” Rowan asked, pulling me out of my thoughts. “Or are you trying to stall training? Scared to face me again?” he smirked.

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. “Your ego has no bounds.”

Truthfully, I was scared to spar with him again. The last six days of sparring were full of heated tension that spilled into my dreams. It didn’t help that he was sharing my bed.

Well, in truth I was sharing his bed. I’d woken up that first night to the usual dreams of a burning Iron Forge and my family dead in front of our home. The visons from the other two Priestesses had haunted me ever since they’d shown them to me. That night, I wandered into his room and crawled under the covers.

He mumbled my nickname through the fog of sleepiness and pulled me close to his chest. I fell asleep to a dreamless slumber that night. I went to his room the second night and that’s when the other dreams began.

I didn’t want to see Iron Forge burn again so every night I fell into his arms and surrendered to him in my dreams.

The morning after our first night together wasn’t one I’d forget quickly. The embarrassment we both went through was seared into my memories.

“Moonstone,” Rowan rumbled sexily against my ear.

His morning voice sent tingles to all the right places. I was still encompassed in the cocoon of his arms and had yet to fully wake up, but I knew exactly where I was.

“Morning,” I answered shyly.

He snuggled closer and everything went to heck. Something was poking into the small of my back, something hard.

“What’s that?” I asked as tried to move away from him.

“It’s morning,” he chuckled.

Oh.

I scrambled to move away from him and accidentally pushed him off the bed. In my attempt to catch him I fell to the ground with him. My face landed near his crotch. I had no idea how it happened, but I ended up hitting his manhood...with my face.

He rolled up into a small ball on the ground and groaned. I pushed myself off the ground.

“Rowan,” I whispered.

I held out a hand for him to use in an effort to help him up, but he shook his head.

“I’ll need a minute,” he grunted.

I nodded and rushed out of the room.

It was beyond embarrassing. After, was even worse. I didn’t know how to act around him, so I avoided eye contact and tried to elude him throughout the day, but he was insistent on continuing with our training. I lost my embarrassment that second night.

I attempted to sleep on my own again, but the dreams continued to plague me, so I went to Rowan and he patted the bed. I gladly accepted his invitation. That night he made sure to place a pillow between us, probably more for his protection than for my sensibilities. I don’t know why I had acted the way I had. I’d already seen him fully nude and he’d already seen me nearly completely naked.

“Moonstone?” Rowan asked worriedly.

I shook my head. I had wandered into my thoughts again. “I’m fine, sorry. I was just thinking.”

“About?”

I blushed. He didn’t need to know I was thinking about his naked body.

“Our trip tomorrow,” I stammered. “I’ve enjoyed this week with you, Rowan. I’m glad you came. I missed you,” I said timidly.

He put down Silver’s dandy brush and pulled me into his arms. He breathed into my hair. “I missed you too, Penelope. I’m glad we got this week together. Once this whole mess with Xandra is over, maybe we can go on a date?” he asked.

“I’d like that,” I smiled as I removed myself from his arms. “Ready to eat dirt?”

He grinned. “We’ll see who’ll be the one eating dirt, Moonstone.”

He jogged to the small space he designated as our sparring square. It was a square outlined by four corners that held different items as markers, a rock, an old dandy brush, our water canteen, and my overalls.

The second day of training I’d worn shorts and a tank top under my usual overalls and Rowan’s eyes widened as I had began to undo the clips.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Didn’t you say you were going to get me flat on my back?” I asked with wide innocent eyes.

I shimmied out of my overalls and grinned as he took in my shorts.

He narrowed his eyes at me. “Very funny.”

“What did you think I was doing, Rowan?” I smirked.

He worked me hard in that session for messing with him, but I had to admit, it was worth the look on his face. I took off my overalls and laid them in their designated corner of our square.

Before I had a chance to find a solid footing, Rowan attacked. Thankfully, he pulled his punches, so my body wouldn’t be littered with too many bruises. I did have aches though. There wasn’t a way out of those. It had been too long since I trained with Trixie. I meant to have kept up with it, but I hadn’t and now I was feeling the consequences.

Rowan swiped his leg under me, nearly getting me to fall but I caught my balance just in time.

“You’re not paying attention,” he growled.

I ignored him and continued to dodge his hits. I worked to even out my ragged breathing, but it was difficult. A week of endurance training wasn’t enough to get me back to where I was. Maybe another week would have done it but it was a week I didn’t have.

“Penelope,” Rowan grunted.

I groaned as his fist landed a blow on my shoulder. He followed it with another attempt at a foot swipe, but I was ready. I side stepped it, but I was struggling. My head wasn’t in it today. Much more of this and I’d walk away with more aches and bruises than I cared for.

So, I did the only logical thing I could do. I tackled him to the ground. I don’t know what I thought I’d accomplish but I thought I’d have had a better outcome.

I laid pinned to the ground. Rowan’s legs straddled me as his hands held my wrists above my head, his face a mere three inches away. Our chests heaved dramatically due to our irregular breathing. I was tired, but Rowan was never winded. Did my proximity affect him?

I was feeling bold, so I lifted my chest and pushed it against his. His pupils dilated, and his breathing hitched. Down from his eyes, I followed the line of his nose to his full lips.

I lifted my head off the ground and closed most of the distance between us. I whispered, “Are you going to kiss me, Rowan?”

A second after searching my eyes, he removed himself from above me. Sitting with his knees up, he ran a hand through his hair. I let my head fall back to the ground.

What had just happened?

I sat up and faced him. “Rowan?”

“I can’t, Penelope. I want you to be sure it’s me you want before anything happens between us. I can’t get hurt again, Moonstone. Do you understand?”

I did, so I nodded. I understood that all too well.

***

I bathed quickly, not wanting to spend much time in the semi-dark room. I wrapped my towel around me and headed to my room to change. I should have changed in the bathing room, but I had forgotten my clothes on my bed.

Just as I turned the corner, I ran into Rowan’s exposed chest. I should have been used to his semi-nakedness since he rarely wore a shirt around here, but I was breathless every single time. I moved to put some distance between us until I hit the wall of the hallway that led to my room. Sweats hung low on his hips, accentuating the lines that cut across his abdomen and hips. I bit my lip as I tore my eyes away from his body and up to his face.

Rowan unabashedly dragged his eyes up my legs and lingered on my chest before meeting my eyes. I held my towel tightly around my body. I gulped.

We watched each other knowing one of us had to give in and look away. It was no surprise it was me who looked away first. I could no longer handle the heat his gaze left on my skin. I practically ran to my room.

I threw on my clothes and distracted my mind by packing. I had procrastinated the whole week which led to my last-minute preparations for our trip. I didn’t know what I’d need but I packed mainly jeans and blouses. I folded a dress just in case. What I’d need one for, who knows. According to Georgiana, it was always best to be prepared.

Oh Great Mother, how I missed her. She had quickly become one of my best friends and it felt like a part of me was missing. What had she and Killian decided to do? How was the baby growing? I wanted more than anything to write but I didn’t know where to send it to. Every day I had checked the mail to see if she had written, but nothing. If I was honest with myself, I’d admit I had been waiting on a letter from Tobias as well, but nothing came from him either.

I guess he really was done with me. I had finallycome to accept it, no matter how much it had hurt. I believed Tobias would make a great king and maybe he could help turn Siobhan into a tolerable person.

I zipped up my bag and set it on the floor. There wasn’t much left for me to do. Everything in the house was set to be without occupants. The White’s had agreed to do the needed chores for us on the farm. Now, all that was left to do was get to bed. I stared at my bed for a full minute before deciding to head to Rowan’s.

I knocked on the door tonight.

“You don’t have to knock, Penelope,” he chuckled.

I opened the door and the covers were already moved aside, ready for me. I smiled at Rowan before jumping onto the bed with him. The single candle didn’t illuminate much, but it was enough to see Rowan’s small smile before he blew it out.

“Get some rest, Moonstone. We have a long day tomorrow.”

He was right. I snuggled deep under the covers and sighed contentedly as he pulled me against him.