Page 75 of Charmed

“The answer to your question is yes and no,” she told him. “I really can scry now, and I am thankful that our love awakened the crystal’s magic.” She reached up and kissed him.

“But you only told Elric what he wanted to hear, right?” he said, tapping his finger against her lips. “That is being a naughty girl. Plus, you told me what I wanted to hear as well.”

“Elric was so forlorn. Didn’t you see the way he perked up once he thought he had sired me?”

“Still, that was being dishonest. I’m not sure you should have done that.”

“Well, we only have King Kapion’s word to go on that he is really my father. So, I’m not sure that Elric didn’t really sire me after all. No one knows the truth. My mother didn’t even seem to know.”

“Well, you don’t look like you have an ounce of elven blood in you.”

“Weren’t you the one who just agreed that it was possible that I inherited more of my mother’s looks instead?”

“Mmm hmm,” he said, still giving her the scolding eye. “Because I wanted to support you.”

“And you knew it was want Elric wanted to hear,” she said with a knowing nod.

“Well, it could be true. I mean, yes, it could have happened.”

“Stone, you need to remember something. I never even knew about King Kapion before I came here to Mura. However, I grew up thinking Elric was my father for the last twenty-five years. Granted, Elric wasn’t all that kind to me, and didn’t visit me but a few times in my life. Still, those few visits meant something to me. It gave me hope. Hope that someday I would have a relationship with him the same way that others do with their fathers.”

“You mean like Elric has with Lira?”

“Yes.”

“But you don’t.”

“Not yet, but these things take time. And remember, Lira didn’t get along with Elric either until recently.”

“I’m not surprised. I don’t know how anyone can really tolerate that man.”

“Stone, that’s my father you’re speaking of. Please, be nice.”

“Yes, I suppose I can see your point. I think mayhap you might be Elric’s daughter, after all. Or, at least, I’d like to think so. Even if the man is irritating, he’s a much better choice of a father than King Kapion who never had and never will have love in his heart.”

“I agree. So, I have to go with the one man that I feel in my heart is the one who sired me. After all, I am sure I was born on love and not hate and lust.”

“Me, too.”

“Persimmon, are you sure you will never want to go back to Taelgonoth to talk to King Kapion again?”

“Never. And just to make sure I won’t be tempted, is one of the reasons I gave the stones back to Elric. I don’t ever want that portal to Taelgonoth opened again.”

“Good idea.”

“Will you miss your home, Stone?”

“Nay. I have no one there anymore. Everyone I care about is here in Mura. Besides, this is my home now, Persimmon. With you. In Mura.”

“Yes. And Elric is my father now and will always be. That is all that matters. I have no need to look any further. I have found everything I have ever longed for right here. Especially you, Stone. I wouldn’t give that up for anything.”

“I am only thankful that the portal brought us together in the first place.” He hugged her. Fang’s head came up between them, looking for food.

They both laughed.

“I never expected that the sky would open up one day and the man I would marry would fall atop me and knock me to the ground, but it happened, didn’t it?”

“Yes, it certainly did, sweetheart. If that’s not a sure sign that we belong together, then I don’t know what is.”