person and that was he. He didn't need Seren and her petty emotions tying him to her. All he needed was his sword and his magic. To hell with everything else.
Seren sighed as her dream turned to a sweet, warm day as she'd known in her youth before she'd become an apprentice. Her mother had taken a job with the tailor of a small village in Yorkshire.
While her mother worked, she was playing in a field not far from the cottage of the woman who watched after her. She wore her pale green kirtle that her mother had stitched with yellow dragons along the hem. It was her favorite gown.
With her head thrown back, she was turning circles in the field, watching the beautiful blue sky spin around and around above her.
"Seren?"
She paused in her play at the sound of her mother's cadent voice. She stumbled a bit as the dizziness hit her. "Aye, Mother?"
As her mother drew near and her dizziness passed, she realized that she wasn't a little girl anymore. She was a woman full-grown.
She was herself.
Pausing in front of her, her mother brushed the hair back from her face and smiled sweetly at her before she kissed her brow. "You've changed much, my little treasure."
A stinging wave of grief consumed her as she heard her mother's blessed voice again. Tears welled in her eyes. "I've missed you, Mama."
Her mother's lips trembled. Unlike Seren, her mother was one of the most beautiful of women. Her hair was a darker shade of blond, with honey gold highlights. As a child, she'd spent hours brushing her mother's hair at night before her mother plaited it. Her hair had always smelled of spring flowers. It'd been softer than the best woven silk. Those precious memories flooded her now and made her ache to her very soul.
"I have missed you, too, my Seren," her mother said in a tender voice. "I hear you whispering to me sometimes in the quiet haven where I stay." Her features showed her own pain and grief as she cupped Seren's cheek in her palm. "Many times, I've wanted to answer you, but couldn't. But you were never alone, my precious daughter. Never."
A tear of joyful sorrow slid from the corner of her eye. "Why are you here now?"
Her mother reached under the neckline of her golden gown to pull out a small medallion. It reminded her much of the one Kerrigan wore. It held the same star with a dragon. "It is past time for you to have this."
Her mother placed it in the palm of her hand and closed her fist over it. She held Seren's fist in both of her hands. "Your great-great grandfather was the one who betrayed his king and set all of this into motion. He allowed evil to seduce him, and he made a fatal mistake that destroyed the fellowship of Arthur's Table. We are of the bloodline of Emrys Penmerlin, and the daughter you carry now will one day meet the same challenge as our progenitor. I don't know what she'll choose. But if she follows in his footsteps, the world will be forever lost to Morgen and her demons."
Her mother wiped away the tear from her face. "Don't cry, Seren. Not for me. I'm at peace, child. I kept you safe until you were able to grow up, and now??our life is up to you. It will be what you make it."
If only it were that simple, but Seren knew better. There was so much that wasn't in her control. "What of Kerrigan?"
Her mother's gaze turned distant, as if she were hiding something from her. "His path is his own as well, and it's not for me to say. But you must be strong, child. Listen with your heart, and don't let others deceive you."
"But how will I know if they're deceiving me?"
"Seren?"
She turned at the sound of a deep masculine voice. Her mother began to fade.
"Mama, wait! Please don't leave me."
But her mother vanished anyway.
"Mama!" Seren woke up with tears in her eyes to find Blaise standing beside her bed.
He blinked twice at her. "Sorry, Seren, I'm not female." He frowned. "Actually, I'm not sorry that I'm not a female, but I am sorry that I'm not your mother??hen again, I'm not really sorry about that, either. Basically, I'm not sorry at all, I just felt the need to say something."
Irritated at him, Seren glanced about the room. There was no sign of her mother. No sign