Zoe returned with Davide to the council chamber after a pleasant conversation with his great-grandparents in an adjoining cave. While she joined Fawn and Rainey, he walked across the room to converse with his father.
"What a wonderful day this has been," Rainey said with exuberance.
"I agree wholeheartedly." Fawn reached to place her arm around Zoe's shoulders. "Your father is anxious to see you. He's more worried about how you're coping than his own injuries." When Zoe wrinkled her brow, she hastily added, "But he's practically as good as new. So stop stressing over him. In fact, he gave me explicit instructions that he wants at least a half dozen new dreamcatchers to hang on the porch."
Fawn's words made Zoe laugh. After her father's marriage to Fawn he had resumed his mother's tradition of hanging dreamcatchers throughout the ranch. Because of grief, the senior Mr. Spenser had stopped the practice and removed them when his wife died. It was Fawn who had convinced Wade that happy memories should be treasured, so he reinstated the practice. "Is there room on the porch for more?" Zoe joked.
"No, but your father has plans to enlarge the porch." She placed a hand on her belly. "He said our baby is going to need plenty of room to play."
For a second, Zoe and Rainey gaped at Fawn and then they both squealed. Roth and Davide stopped talking and stared at them. Rainey waved and called, "You'll find out soon enough." The men nodded and continued their conversation.
Zoe hugged her stepmother. "I'm so happy for you! Now I'll have a brother or sister like I've always dreamed of."
For several minutes they talked about the baby and then Roth and Davide joined them. Roth said, "Okay, what were you ladies squealing about?"
Rainey grinned. "Only the fact that Fawn and Wade will soon be changing diapers."
Both Roth and Davide looked surprised and then elated. "That's wonderful!" said Roth.
Davide hugged Fawn. "Congratulations!"
After several minutes of lively conversation about the baby, Roth turned to Rainey. "It's time to leave, dearest."
"I know. Just let me say goodbye to my grandparents."
To Davide he said, "Son, we'll meet you and Zoe at the cave's entrance in a few minutes."
"Okay, Dad."
Davide's gaze captured Zoe's and she saw a flash of anger. Why is he angry with me?
"Come on, Zoe." He started toward the entrance.
While he prepared the paraglider she racked her brain trying to understand his anger. When he motioned her over to be harnessed to him, she stood her ground. "Okay, what gives? Why are you angry?"
He choked out, "I can't believe you're asking that."
"Well, I am. I may be able to see your aura, but I can't read your mind," she retorted.
"Why didn't you tell me about your father being kidnapped?"
"That's what you're mad about? Me trying to keep you focused on your purpose and not on my father?"
"Yes, damn it. I'm furious about that. It just shows how little trust you have in me."
Zoe's mouth gaped. "You are so…so…wrong."
Roth, Rainey, and Fawn joined them, ending further argument. Davide made an impatient gesture motioning her over, and while he strapped her into the harness, she practiced deep breathing. She glanced at Fawn and the others to see bemused expressions on their faces. This is so NOT funny.
Finally, Davide said, "We're ready," and walked Zoe forward to the edge of the precipice. She heard a flap of wings and gasped when three bald eagles zoomed into the air, circling in front of them. She heard another sound, and then Davide said, "Oh, my God!"
While she watched, the sky darkened with thousands of birds of many species. The three eagles were joined by the mismatched flock who circled above the canyon waiting for their Great Prince. Zoe could feel Davide's pounding heart as he said two words, "Let's go," and stepped over the edge with Zoe. A breeze lifted their parasail and they soared high. Zoe forgot her anger and savored the rush of flying with Davide. She laughed and glanced around at myriads of birds of every size, shape, and color: seagulls, sparrows, parrots, egrets, storks, doves, humming birds, and untold others. Had the entire shapeling civilization come to bid them farewell?
Following the three eagles, Davide maneuvered the paraglider through the canyon. When they reached the towering pillars and exited into the forest, in the distance, they could see the waterfall sparkling and showing them the way. Following the ribbon of river to the waterfall, they entered a rainbow arcing off of it and Zoe lifted her arms in front of her, feeling the rush of wind while basking in the beauty of the intangible colors. Too soon, the interior beach came into view and Davide landed the paraglider on the sand. The eagles and the flock circled above.
Hastily, he unfastened the harness and Zoe stepped away from him. He unhitched himself from the paraglider and stood gazing upward. The three eagles separated from the flock, diving low, and then soared upward and toward the ocean beyond the protective cliffs. Zoe waved, and she heard Davide say softly, "I love you Mom and Dad." The flock of mismatched birds continued circling while he packed the paraglider away.
Zoe sat on the beach drawing doodles in the sand with her finger, but when he started to prepare the skiff for departure, she stood and asked to help. His reply was a gruff, "I don't need your help." Hurt, she sat back on the sand and couldn't decide if she wanted to verbally lambaste him or cry.
Suddenly, he said, "The tides going out. Come on." Zoe jumped up and ran through the water toward the boat. Davide met her halfway and lifted her into his arms to carry her there. She stared up at a sky filled with their bird companions and waved goodbye. Still holding her in his arms, Davide looked up, too. A grin replaced his displeasure for an instant, and then he was setting her on the ladder of the skiff. He followed her into the boat and started the motor. Steering toward the cave, the retreating sea sucked them into the passage. As before, he battled the currents to keep the boat centered and away from the stone walls. But finally they rounded the curve in the passage and a surging wave pushed them out of the cave and into the Pacific Ocean. Expertly, Davide maneuvered away from the looming cliffs and into open water. Two dolphins jumped and splashed in front of them and an eagle soared. Zoe laughed and Davide grinned. He steered their skiff toward the Dolphin with dolphins jumping and playing alongside them.
It wasn't until they were aboard ship and standing at the railing that the two dolphins rose out of the water on their tail fins, chattered, and then burst into the air as eagles to join their companion. Zoe watched them fly away and then turned to see Davide walking away. His aura still flashed with anger.
Rather than approach him, she went to her cabin and fell across her bed. What does he want from me?
A muffled sound awakened Zoe and she saw a flash of lightning through her porthole and heard thunder again. Leaving her bed she went to stand at the porthole and watch a lightening storm. It was night and occasional flashes lit faraway waters. The calmness of the sea surrounding the Dolphin contrasted with the turmoil in her heart, and every time the distant lightening flashed and the thunder rumbled, her heart surged with the need to vent.
She thought about the life that lay ahead of her—a life void of her greatest desire, Davide's love. Then she thought about his unfounded anger and that made her furious. The combination of her love and her fury finally exploded creating a byproduct of courage. With only a glance in the mirror at her corkscrew curls framing her tiny face and angry mahogany eyes, and her T-shirt only half tucked into her jeans, she marched from her room in search of Davide. He wasn't on the deck or in the galley or the main room, so she stomped to his cabin and pounded on the door. Without waiting for a response, she shoved it open. He turned from the porthole and watched her enter, saying nothing. His shirt lay across his bed and his Levi's rode low on his hips. His state of undress did not deter her. Her heart burned with the need to reveal the truth. Angrily, she stormed toward him until she was dwarfed by his size. Meeting his gaze full on, she poked her finger into his naked chest.
"Davide Roth Beowolf, you have no reason to be angry with me! I did what I did to protect you! If anyone has a right to be angry, it's me!" She saw something flash in the blue fire gazing back at her.
"And why is that, Princess?"
She didn't pause to consider his address, she simply vented.
"You may be the Great Prince, but you are blind. You want to know why I stopped attending your birthday parties; why I ceased all contact with you?" She poked his chest again.
"Yes," he whispered low.
She ignored the husky tone of his voice and forged on. "Because I couldn't bear seeing you with that woman, especially when she was so wrong for you." Tears filled her eyes. "Because…because…I believed the words of the pretty voice when she told me…" She tried not to cry.
"Told you what?" Davide lifted a hand as if to touch her, but held it in the air.
Zoe sniffed, "She said…she said… You are the Great Love of the Great Prince. You are his Princess." On a strangled cry she ran from his cabin.
Lightening flashed and thunder roared, closer now. She reached her room and covered her mouth with her hand. What had she done? Now she would have Davide's pity, which was worse than anything imaginable. She flung herself across her bed, weeping. She felt a weight on the bed as Davide sat on it and the thought of his pity sent anger surging through her again, and she jumped up, standing in front of him. "All those years I believed the voice. I kept waiting for you to love me as a woman, not as your childhood friend. But when I saw you with Mandy, I knew it was hopeless." She paused, inhaled a shuddering breath and whispered, "Davide, I saved myself for you. I've never been with a man. I'm…I'm…such a fool."
She looked toward the porthole at another flash of lightening and when the thunder rumbled, Davide said, "I am madly, deeply, passionately, helplessly, in love with you, Zoe, and I would rip to shreds any man who touched you."
Zoe snapped her head back around. She blinked, wondering if she'd heard him right.
He said, "I've always loved you as my best friend, but it was while we were watching the sunrise over Uluru that you stole my heart forever as a woman. At first, I felt confused by my feelings, but after I touched you in your bedroom, I was lost. Zoe, can't you see how lovesick I am? When I found out you didn't tell me about your father's kidnapping, I felt like anything between us was hopeless because you didn't trust me enough to confide in me."
Zoe sobbed, "I didn't tell you because I love you so much."
"I understand that now." Purposefully, Davide reached to encircle Zoe's tiny waist and pull her onto his lap, before twisting and laying her across the bed. His eyes roamed her face. "Zoe, will you become my bride, my Princess?"
Zoe's voice deserted her, so she nodded, and then nodded again…and again.
Davide laughed and whispered, "May the embers of truth always glow, lighting the path for the fire of love that reigns through the music of the Golden-Indigo Flame."
Lightening flashed, thunder roared, and Davide's mouth descended on hers—two auras merged into one.