She answered with her eyes closed. “Nay. Just yours.”
“Really?” There was silence that followed and she slowly opened her eyes to see him staring at her with hooded eyes.
“What is it, Stone?” she asked him. “Why did you stop?”
“You’ve never been with a man before?”
“Nay,” she admitted.
“And how old are you?”
“I’m twenty-five. How old are you?”
“Twenty-eight.”
“And you’re not married,” she pointed out.
“Neither am I still a virgin,” he mumbled. “Damn,” he swore under his breath, pushing his wet hair out of his eyes. He got up and pulled her along with him.
“Is it so shocking that I’m still a virgin?”
“It is, where I come from. Most girls are married by the time they are sixteen and have three or more children by their early twenties.”
“It is like that where I come from, too,” she said, wringing the water out of her long, black hair. “However, it was different for me because I grew up in a convent. I am an only child and my mother had me out of wedlock. She told me she had no choice but to put me in a convent so my reputation wouldn’t be sullied like hers.”
“But you’re a witch. Did the nuns know that?”
“They didn’t know or they never would have taken me.”
“So they never saw you use magic?”
“Nay.” She shook her head. “Never. If they had, they probably would have burned me at the stake.”
“If this is true, how can you blame Elric for never visiting you?” He took her hand and also the reins of the horse and they walked.
“Something went on between my parents that really affected them both. However, I could never get a straight answer from either of them what it was. I still don’t know why my father never married Mother.”
“Can’t you ask Elric?”
“Do you see the way he is around me? Especially when my mother is mentioned?” She raised her brows. “I think he’d rather walk through fire than tell me anything that involves him and my mother.”
“Well, mayhap someday that will all change.”
Persimmon felt a buzzing vibration and an odd warmth coming from the wet pouch at her side. “Stone, wait a minute. Something is odd here.” She dug out the orb and held it up. Her jaw dropped. “I can see those swirling colors again in the gazing ball. I really can, I’m not lying.”
“Why sound so shocked?” he asked. “After all, you’ve seen crazier things. Like ghosts.”
“Nay, this is the most amazing,” she said, straining her eyes, trying to see the silhouette like before but she couldn’t. “Stone, I almost feel as if I am on the verge of scrying. I don’t how or why, but it almost seems like it might actually happen.”
“I don’t understand. Can’t all sorceresses scry? I mean, isn’t it something you would have inherited from your mother?”
“I am not sure. But it seems like in the last few days I’ve been seeing the start of something. I guess, since I am half elf, there is the possibility I can’t inherit her magical abilities, at all.”
“But you are seeing something in the orb now,” he pointed out. “Why is that, if you don’t have the ability to scry? I don’t understand.”
“I just remembered something that the ghost of my mother told me.”
“What is that?”
“That the orb only works if its power is first unleased.”
“And how do you do that?” he asked.
“I’m not sure, but I have an idea.” She put her finger to her mouth in thought. “The last few times I’ve seen the swirling colors in the orb is when I was with you. Especially after you kissed me.”
“Really?” He seemed interested. “So our kisses somehow spark the orb to life?”
“It could be.”
“Shall we try it again? To see if it works, I mean.”
She smiled and wet her lips with her tongue. “I won’t stop you. As an experiment, of course.”
“Of course.” He cradled her cheek in his large palm and kissed her ever so gently. “Is it working?” he asked, his face still up against hers.
“I don’t know. I can’t see it.”
“We’d better try a few more kisses, just to make sure its power was unleashed.”
