Page 22 of The Musician and the Monster

“She died in childbirth. Three years ago.”

Ceridwen had been her last successful birth. Dierdre and Emrys were born already belonging to the Goddess, taken by her Eidolon of Rest before they ever breathed life. Fionn lived for two days after Mother birthed him, two days longer than her after the hard labor took all her spirit and caused her to bleed out. Or Ceridwen’s song killed her. She never knew which. Maybe both.If only I hadn’t sung for her. If she’d never taken that walk and—

Movement out of the corner of her eye made Ceridwen glance up under her lashes to find Lord Winterbourne sliding closer. His hand drifted a breath from her shoulder before fisting and returning to his side. “I am sorry to have brought it up.”

She shook her head, blinking away the tears that threatened to form. “You did not know.” An inquisitive Lord Protector who knew his people well might have heard the tale, but this man knew nothing of his people, at least nothing that he let on. “I miss her. Even now.”

“She must have been quite the woman,” Lord Winterbourne said.

“She was. She was so talented.”

“Did she teach you other things?”

A tentative smile rose to her lips. “Most everything I know. She was an incredible singer, a storyteller, but mostly, a very kind and loving woman.”

Lord Winterbourne blinked rapidly and looked away. If Ceridwen didn’t know better, she might think him moved to tears by her memories of her mother.

He coughed quietly into his hand before looking at her. “Did she teach you to sing as well?”

Ceridwen’s throat tightened up in response, even the mention of the talent stealing her voice. Instead, Ceridwen just nodded.

“Would you sing for me sometime?” he asked.

“No.” The reply came out more sharply than she intended, and he startled. “I’m sorry, my lord. I do not sing anymore. I cannot.”

“Drystan.”

“Pardon?”

“My name. You may call me Drystan.”

Ceridwen blinked at him. A commoner should not address a noble so informally, yet little about their arrangement was normal.

“Drystan.” She tasted his name on her tongue, the richness of it surprising.

The sound of his name brought a smile to his lips, one that started a fluttering low in her stomach.

“I hope… I hope you can find some happiness here,” he added.

This time he did cross the room, ringing the bell for Jackoby.

Rather than stand by the braided crimson rope that rang the bell, or return to his chair as he often did, Lord Winterbourne joined Ceridwen at the window. She flinched as he took her hand in his.

“Good night, Ceridwen.”

He raised her hand to his lips. A velvet soft kiss graced her knuckles as his beard tickled her skin, but it was his eyes locked on her face that sent a pleasant shiver up her spine.

Chapter 11

Drystan

Ceridwen had opened up about herself the night before, and he found he wanted to know more, so much more. The thought distracted him from his work much of the night, making his task impossible. He should be angry about that. After all, his time before returning to the capital was running short. But somehow, he couldn’t be cross with her.

She intrigued him, sparked something in him other than the burning desire for revenge that fueled his purpose. It was that little flame that urged him to seek her out during the day rather than leaving her to her own ministrations or watching her from a distance as he sometimes found himself doing.

When she wasn’t in the gardens, nor her rooms, he finally asked about her whereabouts and discovered her in the library. He opened the old wooden door slowly, holding his breath that it wouldn’t squeak. When it was wide enough, he slipped inside and walked slowly beside the wall, looking for sight of his quarry.

He found Ceridwen sitting in the cushioned window seat, her back propped on one wall, sunlight spilling in through the window. The light added a shimmer to her golden hair and cast itself across the exposed skin of her arms, where they sat in her lap with an open book. Whatever she read held her full attention. She flipped the page. Ceridwen pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, and he almost groaned aloud.

---