Page 53 of Untouched Queen by Royal Command

‘May I do a visualisation exercise with you?’ Claudia reached out and took both of Sera’s hands in hers. ‘It’s one I’ve found useful whenever I find myself adrift. Close your eyes.’

Sera nodded and closed her eyes.

‘You’re standing at a crossroads. Seven paths to choose from, radiating out in all directions. Some safe, because you know where they lead. Some bright and beckoning and full of new adventures. Others dark and seductively forbidding. On some paths you can see family in the distance and maybe you’re not sure of your welcome because they look so happy. What else could they possibly need?’

Sera opened her eyes and searched the other woman’s face for some sign that she knew.

And found nothing.

‘Close your eyes.’ Claudia moved her thumbs in soothing circles over Sera’s skin. ‘Someone stands beside you at that crossroads. Someone you’ll never leave behind because you carry them in your heart like a talisman. Someone whose path was chosen for them the minute they were born. They couldn’t follow you even if they wanted to. All they can do is be there at the crossroads where your lives intersect and watch you make your choice and let you go. They’ll fight for your right to do that, you see. Of all the gifts they can give you, it’s the most expensive.’

Sera trembled. ‘I know who you’re talking about.’

‘Do you? Because it could be anyone. It could be me.’

Sera snapped her eyes open and saw nothing but love and gentle understanding.

‘It could be me saying I’m right here and ready to be whatever you need me to be,’ Claudia repeated quietly. ‘Close your eyes and breathe.’

Sera closed her eyes and breathed.

‘Whenever I do this exercise I see Tomas beside me. Whoever heard of a princess and a falconer? He won’t even lay a hand on me, can hardly bear to look at me, but I swear to you I’m laying down a new path for us, brick by brick, just in case he ever wants to walk my way. It’s not so easy to live a royal life, you see, and those already there will never force the issue. You don’t need to mention my regard for Tomas to him, by the way, unless it comes up in conversation. At which point, go for it and use embellishments.’

Sera opened one eye and arched her brow.

‘Shut it. No winking,’ her sister of the heart replied with a tiny grin. ‘I’m trying so hard not to make this about me. Close your eyes and open your heart.’

Sera obeyed.

‘I know there’s someone there beside you at your crossroads. I know you can’t move forward without resolving your feelings for them. Doing that is your next step and it might be the most important step you ever take.’ Claudia moved forward; Sera could feel it even if she couldn’t see it. The other woman’s cheek brushed hers, comfort, solidarity and warmth, as she whispered, ‘You know who you see.’

* * *

They walked back down the mountain in the crisp morning air, Claudia looking skyward more than once and smiling softly when a falcon appeared and circled above. ‘They questioned Tomas for days after I disappeared,’ Claudia told Sera. ‘He was eight years old and the last person to see me and they grilled him over and over again, with no mercy given for the fact that he too was a child.’

‘And now he uses falcons to track your every movement?’

‘Not my every movement.’ Claudia sprang from one step to the next, her feet sure as they made their way down the rocky path. ‘He’s been training himself to wait longer and longer each time I come up here before flying one of his hunting hawks to find out where I am. We’re up to almost an hour.’

‘And do you help him with the birds?’

‘You know I do.’ Claudia had skills of her own in that area. ‘Watching that man work is a pleasure I have no words for.’

‘And how will you manage to steer him towards romance if you’re the Princess in the castle and he’s but a mere falconer?’

‘By putting my own spin on this Princess gig and getting out of the castle a lot,’ Claudia offered drily. ‘It helps that Cas is so utterly overcome by my return that he lets me do whatever I want.’

‘He didn’t reprimand you for staying away?’

Claudia might have been kidnapped as a child—for her own good, as it turned out—but she’d had chances to return over the years and had never done so. Not until her father had died and her brother had taken the throne.

‘It wasn’t safe for me here. You know that.’

‘But it is now.’

Claudia nodded and looked to the sky and let the early morning light caress her face. ‘It is now.’

* * *

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