Dreams Made Flesh

Warlord Princes and him in particular. She had no doubt he was a trained warrior and a born predator whose temper could turn deadly in a heartbeat. She could see it in the way he moved, the way he looked at everything around him. But she hadn't actually seen a display of temper. Well, not much of one. The only time he'd snarled at her since she'd arrived was when he'd come home early one afternoon, taken a long look at her, and decided she needed something to eat. When she'd told him she wasn't hungry, he informed her that anyone who worked as hard as she did was not going to deprive her body of food. Then he marched her into the kitchen and rummaged through the cold box until he put together a plate of food that he considered sufficient. His idea of sufficient was vastlv different from hers, but her
    token effort at eating had satisfied him enough that he'd eaten what was left on her plate.
    Since he didn't seem to care what she did as long as she was pleased with the result, she didn't think he'd mind her clearing some ground and having the pleasure of a little garden of her own.
    After vanishing her coffee mug, then calling it back in so that it would reappear on the kitchen counter next to the sink, Marian pushed up her sleeves, stepped outside, and got to work.
    As she stepped back into the eyrie, Marian understood the purpose of the little room. If it had pegs in the wall or a coat tree, wet or muddy outer garments could be hung in there to dry. Boots could be removed instead of tracking dirt or mud through the rest of the eyrie. And it was close to the big sinks in the laundry room for a quick wash if it was needed.
    If there was a bench in here, it would make removing boots so much easier, Marian thought, groaning softly as she bent over to unlace her boots. At least Tassle was off doing his daily trot around the land surrounding the eyrie and hadn't heard her groan. He'd just start howling again.
    Wolves had a very effective way of nagging. When he'd started telling her around midday that it was time for her to rest and eat, it had been easy to tell him she would do that in a few minutes, or after she'd moved a couple more rocks. But after she'd done that several times…
    That howl rising up over the land was not something that could be ignored. He wouldn't hush, she couldn't catch him, and she suspected everyone in Riada could hear him. Since there was no way to shush him except to do what he wanted, she warmed up a piece of casserole and spent an hour reading at the kitchen table. When she came back out, he was pleased enough by his success in taking care of a female that he'd used Craft to help her move rocks until the game bored him and he went off for a while to do something wolfie.
    So it was just as well that she'd announced it was time to quit for the day before he'd decided it was time for her to quit. One howling experience was quite enough.
    She closed the door and touched the stone in the wall that had been
    spelled to engage the Ebon-gray locks Prince Yaslana had put on all the doors. He'd worked out a way for the spell to recognize her and Tassle so that they could come and go, but he'd been adamant about the doors being locked whenever he wasn't home, especially the front door. He'd been equally adamant that she not allow anyone but his family to enter the eyrie when he was gone.
    The command had baffled her, but it was his home, his business. As she hurried along the domestic corridor to the kitchen, she dismissed all thought of the locks, her focus now centered on a long, hot bath to ease the deep ache in her muscles. Those aches, and the shivers of pain that occasionally came with them, worried her sometimes, but she hadn't said anything to Jaenelle whenever the Lady asked how she was feeling. Luthvian had warned her that removing her wings was the only way her back would completely heal. But she didn't want to lose her wings, didn't want to lose the hope that, someday, she might fly again…even though she was too afraid of crippling herself to even try.
    She pushed those thoughts away by focusing on the pleasure of soaking in a hot bath, eating a big piece of casserole for dinner, reading her book, and turning in early so she could get back to her garden at first light tomorrow.
    As she stepped through the kitchen archway, she was concentrating so hard on not thinking about her wings that she let out a breathless shriek when the front door suddenly rattled.
    With a hand pressed against