“Father,” he said, formally and with a bow. “Your wishes are known, but if I were ruled by them, would I rule others wisely?”

Knowing that question would irritate, Liam turned away before the smile could touch his lips. Once more he lifted his face. “I call Earth.” He opened his hand to reveal the deep, rich soil he held. “And Wind.” The breeze rose up high and wild, tossing the earth into a spiral. “And Fire.” Two columns of ice blue flame speared up, shivered. “Witness here what fate will conspire. A song in the blood, the power at hand.”

His eyes began to glow, twin flames against the glowing dark. “To honor both I’ve come to this strange land. If she’s mine, we both will see. As I will so mote it be.”

Then he turned, lighting each of the candles with a flick of his hand until their flames shot up clear gold and straight as arrows. The wind leaped up, howled like a thousand wolves on the hunt, but remained warm and fragrant with sea and pine and wildflowers.

It billowed the sleeves of his robe, streamed through his hair. And he tasted in it the power of the night.

“Moon rise full and Moon rise white, light her path to me tonight. Guide her here to the circle by the sea. As I will so mote it be.”

He lowered the hands he had flung up to the sky, and peered through the night, through the trees and the dark, to where she slept restlessly in her bed.

“Rowan,” he said with something like a sigh, “it’s time. No harm will come to you. It’s the only promise I’ll make. You don’t need to wake. You know the way in your dreams. I’m waiting for you.”

*  *  *

Something … called her. She could hear it, a murmur in the mind, a question. Stirring in sleep, she searched for the answer. But there was only wonder.

She rose, stretching luxuriously, enjoying the feel of the silky new nightshirt against her thighs. It was so nice to be out of flannel. Smiling to herself, she slipped into a robe of the same deep blue as her eyes, tucked her feet into slippers.

Anticipation shivered along her skin.

In that half dream, she walked down the steps, trailing her fingertips along the banister. The light in her eyes, the smile on her lips, were those of a woman going to meet her lover.

She thought of him, of Liam, the lover of her dreams, as she walked out of the house and into the swirling white fog.

The trees were curtained behind it, the path invisible. The air, moist and warm on her skin, seemed to sigh, then to part. She moved through it without fear, into that soft white sea of mist with the full white moon riding the sky above, and the stars glimmering like points of ice.