Page 44 of From the Edge

She finished the dishes, dried her hands, and headed outside once again. “Come on.”

He walked with her, and she asked, “Who’s covering your patients?”

“Dr. Oriel.”

“I hear good things about her.”

“Where?”

She laughed. “I can use lust. I hang around strip clubs, and strippers need gynecologists more than the average lady. Those outfits do not breathe, and they get in places no underwear should go.”

He chuckled. “You are not wrong. You really consume sexual energy?”

“No, I gather it, like picking up a battery and holding onto it until you need the power. When I need more, I gather more. With Keres and her mates around, it was like picking up dropped apples. I am short. It wasn’t even a stretch.”

She passed the carriage house and said, “Hi, Aspen.”

There was a sleepy trill of sound.

They walked into the woods, and Ren kept step with her. There was a path that glowed to her senses.

“How do you know where you are going?”

“Uh, everything glows. Can’t you see it?”

He chuckled. “I can, but I don’t know how you can.”

“These were my people. This is my land.” She said it matter-of-factly. “I know where everything is.”

The small cemetery was just ahead, humming with power.

He exhaled. “You didn’t cremate them.”

“No. Grandfather said not to.”

“Good. I do not believe they are dead.”

Rowan looked at the power signature, and she blinked. “I think you are correct, but I don’t think tonight is the right time to wake them up.”

“Why not?”

“Because I need to focus on the family member whose survival is likely and necessary. Grandma and Grandpa are holding each other, and they can wait a day.”

Ren looked at her. “You knew.”

“Yup. I know all living things in my territory.” She smiled. “I have called my parents, and they are getting ready to host them when the time is right. It isn’t quite right. I have to bring Avor and Regis here for it. They don’t have to watch the waking, but they do need to be there to know that the king has returned.”

Renyet blinked. “Right.”

“My grandmother got tired right before I went to high school. The trust was already in place, and my parents stayed here until I entered university. Then they headed to the islands and settled on Emerald.”

“So they are unaware of this situation?”

“That Aspen was cursed? They are unaware. They never even met Mell.”

“Why did you hide it?”

She sighed. “I didn’t. Our calls cover their bed-and-breakfast and the sun and the surf. That’s it. They don’t ask about me. They see me, and I look fine, so that is good enough.”