Page 74 of Dark Shaman: The Lost Treasure
Allegra looked torn, clearly wanting the doll but understanding it wasn't hers. "You should keep her, Evie. She's yours."
But Evie was insistent, practically climbing out of her chair to give Allegra the doll. Finally, Allegra accepted, but immediately got up and wrapped Evie in a careful hug.
"Thank you, Evie."
"She gets her generosity from her mother," Dalhu said quietly beside her.
Amanda snorted. "Her mother would have kept the doll."
As Gerard began cutting the cake and serving generous slices to the increasingly sugar-high children, Amanda looked around at her family, and her eyes misted with tears. Her mother was holding court at the main table, her brother and his mate were watching their daughter with such pride, her sister with her baby boy, and the rest of her extended family, all here to celebrate this milestone.
"Mommy!" Evie called, now thoroughly covered in frosting. "Cake!"
"Yes, baby," Amanda laughed, grabbing more wet wipes. "Lots and lots of cake."
This was what she'd wanted when she'd planned this party. Not just the decorations or the fancy dresses or even the cake, though those were all wonderful. She'd wanted to give her daughter a memory of being surrounded by love, of being celebrated and cherished by a community that would always be there for her.
Her baby was one year old, healthy, happy, and loved.
Everything else was just icing on the cake.
24
TAMIRA
Consciousness returned slowly, like silk scarves being drawn across her awareness one by one. First came the warmth of Elias's body pressed against her back, then the steady rhythm of his breathing against her neck, and finally the weight of his arm draped across her waist.
Seven mornings of waking like this, and still Tamira's heart stuttered at the reality of it.
A week.
How had it only been a week since that first night when he'd carried her to this very bed and proceeded to worship her body with a devotion that still made her breath catch?
It felt both like yesterday and like a lifetime.
Time had taken on a strange quality since Elias had entered her world, each moment stretching and contracting unpredictably.
Tamira kept her breathing even, not wanting to wake him yet. These quiet moments before he stirred had become precious, a chance to simply exist in the bubble of contentment they'dcreated. Outside this room, the harem continued its eternal rhythms. But here, wrapped in Elias's arms, she could pretend they were somewhere else.
Somewhere free.
She felt the subtle change in his breathing that meant he was awake, and then his arm tightened around her, as if to make sure that she was still there, that she hadn't been a dream.
He'd told her that just the day before.
"Good morning," he murmured, pressing a kiss to the spot where her neck met her shoulder.
A shiver ran through her. "Is it morning already? I never can tell when the drapes are closed."
Outside, the courtyard illumination changed according to the time of day, creating the illusion of the passing of time.
"Your body knows." His hand splayed across her stomach, thumb stroking her skin. "Don't you have a clock somewhere in here?"
"I prefer your method of timekeeping." She turned in his arms, wanting to see his face. "Tell me, do all shamans have special training in reading the body's rhythms?"
His eyes crinkled with amusement. "It's a professional secret known only to shamans."
There it was again—the deflection whenever she probed too close to anything real about his background. She'd grown used to it over the past week, though it still stung.
