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left,” she continued. “She took you to the
hospital to leave you with the Everlys , and brought
home another baby that wasn’t mine. She wanted me to hold him, to care for
Rhys. She said that it would make it easier. But I didn’t want him. You were my child, and I wanted you.”
    Elora turned to look at me then, her eyes looking clearer
than they had in a while. “I did want you, Wendy. Despite everything that
happened between your father and I , I wanted you. More than anything in the world.”
    I didn’t say anything to that. I couldn’t. If I did, I would
cry, and I didn’t want her to see that. Even as open as she was being, I didn’t
know how she would react to me weeping outright.
    “But I couldn’t have you.” Elora turned back to the window.
“Sometimes it seems to me that that’s all my life has been, a series of things
that I loved deeply that I could never have.”
    “I’m sorry,” I said in a small voice.
    “Don’t be.” She waved it off. “I made my choices, and I did
the best I could.” She forced a smile at me. “And look at me. This is your
birthday. I shouldn’t be whining to you.”
    “You’re not whining.” I wiped at my eyes as discreetly as I could
and took another sip of my tea. “And I’m glad you told me.”
    “Anyway, we need to talk about switching the rooms around,”
Elora said, brushing her hair back from her face. “I plan to leave most of my
furniture in here, unless you’d like to change it, which is your prerogative,
of course.”
    “Switching what rooms?” I asked, confused.
    “You’re taking my room after you get married.” She motioned
around us. “This is the wedding chamber.”
    “Oh, right. Of course.” I shook my
head to clear the confusion. “I’ve been so busy with everything else that I’d
forgotten.”  
    “It’s no matter,” she said. “It shouldn’t be much work to
move things around, since it will be only personal items we’re moving in and
out. I’ll have some of the trackers move my things out Friday, and I’ll be staying in the room down the hall.”
    “They can move my things in then,” I said. “And Tove’s
things too, since he’ll be sharing the room with me.”
    “How is that going?” Elora leaned back in her chair,
studying me. “Are you prepared for the wedding?”
    “Aurora is certainly prepared for it,” I sighed. “But if
you’re asking if I’m prepared to be married, I’m not sure. But I guess I’ll
wing it.”
    “You and Tove will be alright,” she smiled at me. “I’m
certain of it.”
    “You’re certain?” I raised an eyebrow. “Did you paint it?”
Elora had the ability of precognition, but she could only paint her visions of
the future in static images.
    “No,” she laughed, shaking her head. “It’s mother’s
intuition.”
    I ate a little more, but she only picked at the food. We
talked, and it was strange to think that I’d miss her when she was gone. I
hadn’t actually known her for that long, and most of that time our relationship
had been cold.
    When I left, she was climbing back in bed and asked me to
send someone up to clean the mess from breakfast. Duncan was waiting outside
the door for me, and he went in to take care of the plates.
    While Duncan was with busy with Elora, I stopped at Loki’s
room to see how he was feeling. If he was better, I wanted to find out what was
going on.
    Thomas was still outside, so I knocked once and opened the
door without waiting for a response. Loki was in the middle of changing clothes
as I came in. He’d already traded his worn slacks for a pair of pajama pants,
and he was holding a white tee shirt, preparing to put it on.
    He had his back to me, and it was even worse than I’d
thought.
    “Oh my god, Loki,” I gasped.
    “I didn’t know you were coming.” He turned around to face
me, smirking. “Shall I leave the shirt off then?”
    “No, put the shirt on,” I said, and I closed the door behind
me, so nobody could see or