Elora cocked her head to the side and looked at Ram. "What does that mean?"
"'Tis from very old writings, the beginnin' of a sayin' about young speakin' wisdom beyond their years."
"Oh. Well. Why is that part of this discussion?"
"My meanin' is that she must finish what she started because I'll no' abide her hidin' behind adages and the like."
Elora looked at Song. "I agree. Spit it out." Before Aelsong could say anything, Elora sucked in a gasp. "You did see Ram in this vision as well?"
"Aye. You two be at ease. I see the both of you, the sweet babe who is so pretty he could near break your heart with just one of his twinklin' smiles... And somethin' else."
Ram and Elora both spoke at once. "What?"
"He is sittin' in the green grass while black puppies crawl all over him waggin' their little tails and nippin' at his tiny fingers and toes. I can see him laughin' so hard in his adorable baby way that he is gettin' hiccups and his skin is turnin' adorably pinkish."
Ram and Elora exchanged a smile that said they needed the room cleared in a hurry as it was needed for overdue make-up sex.
Kay turned toward the door. "Well, seems my work here is done..."
On the way out, he said to Aelsong: "You know those croissants you were having? Where did you get those? Did they have some deer sausage and gravy to go with that?" As he pulled the door closed, they could hear him tell Aelsong. "My sisters are coming in later with my fiancée, Katrina. You'll like her. Everybody does."
An hour later Ram and Elora had showered, dressed, and were about to go down for breakfast.
"...and they've got us dressing up in these ridiculous sixteenth century costumes. I mean, what is it with royal families and period costumes?"
Ram laughed. "Do no' know. Maybe 'tis a heyday thing." Instead of opening the door he gently pushed her back into it with the front of his body and said in a voice that implied intimacy. "Do you mind? We could just run away to the New Forest and spend a week f**kin' like minks." He nuzzled her ear and then talked into the most sensitive part of her neck. "'T'would be fine by me."
Elora's laugh got caught low in her throat as she felt her body respond to the feel of her mate pressing against her, which was amazing considering that she had been so recently and so thoroughly loved and satisfied. On the floor. In the bed. In the shower. All before breakfast which meant that she was hungry. Really hungry. Eating for two and all that.
"There's a part of me that would very much like to take you up on that offer, my darling. All this is way too close to my own upbringing for comfort. But I can't take this away from your mother and your sister. You should see their excitement and dedication. It's become their raison d'être - a modest little affair for fifteen hundred people. How do you think they're going to come up with that many costumes? It's impossible, isn't it?"
Ram chuffed lightly at that one spot in her ear that always made her knees threaten to buckle. "If we're to be doin' this then let's have some fun with it. I very much plan to enjoy showin' you off to fifteen hundred of my mother's closest friends."
She laughed. "If only jokes would sustain me, I would never leave this room. But, alas, I need food as well."
"Did you actually say 'alas'?"
"See? The period costumes screw with your head. Now, feed me or get out of the way so I can find a man who will."
He pulled back and looked at her through half hooded, half smiling eyes. He lowered his voice to the tone he used for raspy pillow talk. "That's no' gonna happen."
Fond memories of the last time he'd said that to her triggered a rush of images that made her tummy flutter. He gently pulled her away from the door so that it could be opened. In unapologetic contradiction, after just saying no, she brushed past him suggestively and had to claim one more sweet, lingering kiss before heading downstairs.
Elora had only met Ram's family a few days before. They had come up with a cover story as to why her ears were different. Supposedly a childhood accident with a bicycle had left one ear irreparably nipped so her parents had decided the best cosmetic result would be to round both ears to match. It was a good story that she had almost blown by babbling about her acute desire that the baby have ears like his da.
Ram had said it was impossible to hide much from someone as psychic as Song, but that she was better at keeping secrets than anyone he knew. "She does no' tell other people's news or thoughts or secrets." There was no mistaking the pride with which he bragged about her.
His parents had turned the kingship over to Aelsblood for reasons that were unclear to her. Ram's older brother was nothing like him, but was very much like his father in looks and temperament. Both had light brown hair, grim, serious personalities and were buttoned up, tightened down, zip locked for better or worse. Judging by her first impressions, Elora was not the least surprised that the king was unmarried. Fate couldn't be so cruel as to mate some poor girl with a man who seemed so cold and distant. Except that, apparently it had happened to Ram's mother, Tepring.
Ram's mother and younger sister both looked and acted like Ram: emotionally effusive, bright as sunshine on snow, lively as a kickin' dance of the reel. Fortune had blessed the three of them with beauty, charm, magnetism, optimism, and golden auras that were just barely out of the range of human visual acuity, but sensed nonetheless.
When they'd arrived, Ram's mother had burst into tears on seeing the scar on his face for the first time and was inconsolable for two hours. His father, Ethelred, took one look at him and said, "An' how'd the other fella fare?"
Ram cocked his head for a second and then laughed, never taking his eyes away from his father. "Come to think of it, the other fella got away with no' so much as a scratch."
Elora watched her father-in-law-to-be draw his mouth into a judgmental purse of the lips. She started to rise up in Ram's defense, but he grabbed her around the waist and drew her into an embrace so snug that she almost lost her breath, while his smile never wavered. She got the message. Families do no' know what we do. But - oh, how she wanted to say - "I'll have you know that a few days from now my elf will be the first knight in the whole of this century to be inducted into The Order's Hall of Heroes."
Aelsong's response to this exchange was to laugh and ask Ram if she could have the "other fella's" phone number. Elora stared at Song. Great Paddy! She's Rammel in female form.