“Then don’t start now,” she said, seizing him by the tunic front to pull him even closer. “Captain Staeli . . . he traded places with you?”
Fallon nodded. “I didn’t hope for it. I had no expectations. I only found out when your father came for me . . . yesterday? I can hardly fathom it. I was living at the ruins, in the little kitchen.”
“But what about the soldiers? What about the sheriff’s men?
You have to tell me everything!”
“What’s so important about all that?” Fallon scoffed.
She wanted to hit him. “When we left you, I thought you’d been captured!”
“Please, Trynne! You give me no credit at all. The sheriff of Mendenhall is a blazing idiot. I slipped behind the oak tree and pretended to be one of the injured ones. Then I stole away in the confusion and hid in that huge mound of stones.” He snapped his fingers. “It was easy. I hid in the cave outside Myrddin’s lair until he returned from helping you. I could spend weeks telling you all this, but it’s not what I’ve been waiting for. I’ve been waiting for you.
Waiting very patiently, I might add.” He looked down at her face and then tipped her chin. “And even your mother has said yes this time.
Please don’t tell me no again.”
“I don’t understand,” Trynne said, shaking her head. It felt like the world was still spinning.
His thumb caressed the side of her mouth. “Her visions don’t always show the full future at once. She did see you marry Gahalatine. But she has also seen this.” He leaned down and kissed her where he’d touched her mouth. The brush of his lips awakened a ravenous hunger inside of her.
He pulled back, his expression softening as he looked at her.
“Staeli, whom I will esteem forever, saw little worth in a dukedom for an old bachelor like himself. When he heard the story of what I’d done, it gnawed at him like a hound on a bone. He felt it wasn’t right that you’d be left without a husband after all you’ve done. And that I was stranded in another world because of what I’d done. So . . . he went to Lord Owen and asked if he could trade places with me.” He reached up and smoothed some hair from her forehead. His touch made her skin tingle.
“Naturally, Lord Owen consulted with Lady Sinia, who can, as you already know, see the future. She had already seen it and had not said anything because it needed to be done willingly. It didn’t happen right away. She wasn’t sure how long it would take. She saw it happen after Gahalatine’s death, and they have been preparing to fetch me ever since.”
Trynne felt unworthy of so much devotion. In her mind, she saw Captain Staeli’s gruff manner. He wouldn’t want recognition or thanks. Seeing her happy would please him very much.
“I could cry,” she said, hiccupping. “What’s to become of him?”
“I already have shed plenty of tears,” he boasted. “But your mother’s vision appeased me.”
Trynne looked at him in confusion.
“Apparently, the posterity of our good captain will continue to be of service in the future. Yes, our dear bachelor will find love.
Surprising, I know! Your mother had a vision that the mastons would return someday. They will lead the fight against the hetaera. She saw in a vision that a hunter and his hound would protect a banished princess. I don’t recall if it was his grandson or great-grandson, but Staeli is supposed to stay in that world. He’s done the Fountain’s will.”
Trynne tucked the seed pod into her girdle and then squeezed Fallon’s hands. Bringing them to her lips, she kissed them. “I’m so thankful. And you . . . you, Fallon, of all people, have become Fountain-blessed at last? Truly?”
He nodded in a very humble way. “It happened at the grounds of that abbey after I let you go. Myrddin has an extensive library and I read a great deal while I was away. I learned about apple orchards and abandoned kitchens. And I learned I can summon fire from stone. That I can sense danger before it comes. But the greatest gift of the Fountain, the gift that I’ve always wanted, was discernment.”
He smiled and placed his hand on her cheek. “I can hear people’s thoughts, Trynne. It’s the same gift Myrddin has. I’m still raw with it.
And I have to be cautious not to misuse it. But I’ve always tried to understand people’s true motives. It’s what always attracted me to the Espion. I know when someone is lying, when they are being sincere. I’ve much still to learn, but Myrddin gave me a book of sorts to bring with me. To help me continue to grow this gift.”