Embrace the Power: A Paranormal Romance (The Blood Rose Series Book 9) Read Online Free Page A

much.
    Rosamunde felt a new soft vibration in the air, very fae. She also felt the elf-lord power ramping up again.
    Vojalie looked around and lifted her arms. “I can feel that Stone needs you, or rather Aralynn. I’m getting something about Charborne, the village where Stone grew up.”
    “Me, too. And a vision is coming.”
    “I’ll stay with you.”
    “Thank you.”
    Rosamunde closed her eyes and accepted the terrible pain all over again. Because it was the second wave of the evening, she bore it better than the first.
    This time, it was the vision she’d been waiting for and it came swiftly, as often happened after she’d channeled the elf-lord power for mist-rebuilding. She wasn’t surprised that Vojalie felt it as well. These were fae attributes.
    In the vision, she saw Stone’s Vampire Guard battling a number of wraith-pairs in the village of Charborne. At what was twenty minutes in the future, she saw herself in the woods approaching what looked like an abandoned mine. She had the sense that Stone was on his way as well and would meet her there. At that point, the vision ended.
    As the elf-lord power eased away, she shook out her legs. She also let a degree of healing flow through her body, which helped to ease the troublesome elf-lord power.
    Despite the discomfort, there was one other thing that the elf-lord frequency had given her, which made transportation a non-issue for her: She could teleport. She only knew of four other realm-persons who could do that: Vojalie, Davido, a powerful elf named Kaden, and of course, Margetta.
    She shared the vision with Vojalie, who took it as her cue to take her leave. She kissed Rosamunde’s cheeks in turn, then wished her a successful night batting the Invictus. Rosamunde thanked her again for coming to her and for sharing her troubles.
    One last lovely smile, and Vojalie vanished.
    Rosamunde informed her staff that she would be in meditation through the night and that she wasn’t to be disturbed for anything. It was a ruse, of course, the best she’d been able to concoct while she went out as Aralynn. She didn’t want any of her people knowing that she was living a dangerous double life.
    Locking her door from the inside, she focused on ‘Aralynn’s’ forest cottage. She’d taken many precautions to keep her dual identity a secret. Stone, for instance, believed that Aralynn had once served with the Castle Guard. She’d also told him that she was obedient always to the queen’s wishes.
    Arriving in her cottage bedroom, she transformed quickly into Aralynn. She no longer felt like Rosamunde, but took on Aralynn’s experiences, her thoughts, and her wolfish love of battling. She wasn’t sure how she’d achieved such a strong separation of personas, but for the sake of her work with Mastyr Stone, it had been necessary.
    She opened her closet and pulled out her battle leathers, donning a dark green leather vest with fringe at the bottom, black leather pants and matching boots that zipped up the sides. She tore at her braids, the careful work of three maids. She caught the upper mass of her curly red hair in a woven clasp similar to the ones that Stone and his Vampire Guardsmen wore. But she let the lower half float free. She adored the sensation.
    Freedom was what she felt as Aralynn, freedom from responsibility, from the drudgery of castle life, from a sense of invisibility. She’d never felt like a real person as the queen.
    Once she had her long, silver dagger strapped to her hip, she prepared to contact Stone and let him know about the vision of Charborne.
    She loved this moment every evening because now that she was Aralynn, she could let herself feel everything she felt about her battle partner.
    She blew the air from her cheeks as pure desire raged through her. She wanted Stone bad, but had been holding back because he didn’t approve of ‘Rosamunde’. Yet, given the situation, she wondered if she should take Vojalie’s advice, to accept Stone as