Read Dream Trysts: A Sleeping Beauty Story (Passion-Filled FairyTales Book 4) for Free Online

overnight. She ran barefoot from the small room, down the little hallway to the main room of the house, and there sat Dwennon and Hilly on the sofa.
    Dwennon, short with a friendly smile and wild grey hair that always reminded Rose of a dandelion, smiled as she approached. He had a bulbous nose, a slight stoop that had developed with age, and walked with a cane. He was seated at the moment, his hunch pronounced. Even a few years ago, he stood straighter than he did now. Next to him was Hilly, equally short in stature, but a woman of decent girth and a steady smile. Her white wavy hair flowed neatly to her shoulders, and her bright green eyes were always full of warmth.
    Hilly, who had been speaking softly to Dwennon, stopped and raised both her eyebrows at Rose. “You ready, my darling?”
    Rose joined them on the sofa. “Of course I’m ready, Auntie.”
    On the low rectangular table in front of them was a small box wrapped with golden paper and tied with a silver bow. The box looked the size of something that might hold jewelry, perhaps earrings or a necklace. Rose tried not to look as if her joy had dimmed, though it had dimmed just slightly as she looked at the perfectly wrapped package on the table. It wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy a pretty trinket for her neck, but something about the way Hilly spoke made her think the present would be something out of the ordinary.
    “Before you open it,” Hilly said. “I thought Dwennon could tell you a story.”
    “A story?” Rose said. “What kind of a story?”
    Dwennon, leaned forward and grinned, his aged teeth showing. “I thought I’d tell you about the fairy realm, the land from whence your mother came.”
    Rose nodded. Dwennon often spoke about the realm, a magical place that seemed too good to be true. Dwennon and Hilly had lived there before Rose was cursed by an evil queen who hated her mother. It’s why Rose couldn’t live with her parents. Going home would have just tempted the queen to unleash more of her wrath.
    Dwennon cleared his throat and spoke. “As you know, child, your mother was the fairy princess, heiress to the throne.”
    “Yes,” Rose said. “But she fell in love with my father and had to renounce her throne and her powers because fairies and humans are not allowed to marry.” Rose paused, her mind churning with a thought that had never occurred to her before. “Why is that? Why are humans and fairies forbidden to marry?”
    Hilly pursed her lips, and said, “You’re a woman now, and I suppose I should tell you, and I will. But for the moment, let’s just say there are good reasons to forbid mating between humans and fairies. There have been dire consequences, consequences your mother knows too well.”
    Rose raised an eyebrow and stared at Hilly. Consequences her mother knew too well. Was the evil queen’s curse a consequence of Blissa choosing Rose’s father? It seemed so strange a thing to consider now, but Rose could think of no other dire consequence her mother had faced as a result of her alliance with the king. Well, she supposed there was one — the loss of her powers — but her mother seemed to have readily accepted that fate.
    “Rose,” Dwennon said, drawing her attention back to him. “When she abdicated her throne, she gave up her powers. She had the power of emotion. She could modulate the emotions of any with a simple touch. Your mother brought peace, love, warmth. And had she been hurt or angry or hardened of heart, she could have sowed anger, deceit, mistrust, or so many feelings that are bad for the world. But no, Blissa was true to her name. She used her powers to bring joy to those in need.”
    Rose nodded. She’d heard Dwennon tell tale of her mother, at her grandfather’s side, trying to negotiate peace, trying to reconcile parties, and a single touch by Blissa calming everyone so they could listen freely, without anger and prejudice. So they could listen with reason and kindness.
    “And so,” Dwennon