“Riders approaching.” The soles of the Sentry’s leather boots were thick with mud already, and stepping out of his shack to greet the two men climbing down from their horses wasn’t making them any cleaner.
He lifted his chin to the man with long, sun-bleached hair and threw out his hand to shake. “It’s been a long time, Your Highness.”
With his helmet in his hand, Eason gave his other to the Sentry and shook his head with a smirk. “I just go by Eason these days.” His brown eyes rolled to the man coming to his side as he tipped his head to him. “My friend and I are looking for lodging and work if you have it.”
The blue-eyed stranger gave his hand to the Sentry and nodded his head once. “Good to meet you.”
With Sigrid’s chubby palm slapping Daniel’s lips as he tried to answer the library guardian, it took a few tries to get the door to open. “Rosemary.” The lock bolt clicked open, and Rosemary slapped her hand over her heart as she flinched. “Goodness.” She giggled at her own silliness and her eyes rolled at Daniel. “Why my name, though?”
Daniel’s eyes rolled over the wooden door, and he shook his head. “I can’t remember.” They both snickered to each other, and he shrugged it off. “The password. I think it’s whomever our mate is.”
She bumped her bottom against the door and tilted her head inside as she backed in. “Let’s go see what we’re working with.”
She snapped out a blanket and laid it across the carpet at the center of the library, then Daniel kneeled down and placed Sigrid on top with her toys. Hearing Rosemary’s pleasant chuckle, Daniel glanced up to see her playing in the dust on the colored light that passed through the stained glass window.
A soft huff left his nose as he grinned at her childlike playfulness before looking back to Sigrid and lifting his brows. “It’s a funny thing that your Uncle Agi is so afraid of this room, and your mother has made it her playground.”
Rosemary’s hands wrapped around Daniel’s arm as she tugged at him to stand. “Come. I think I know where we should start.”
As she moved sideways along the shelves and bounced her finger along the book spines, she hummed to herself until she came to the right one. “There we are.” She glanced at Daniel and nodded. “Glamours.”
He scoffed at the ridiculousness of the word and pulled his face together as he shook his head. “Glamours? What does that mean?”
She bit her lip as she tried to tug the book from the shelf until she finally let out a frustrated sigh and pouted at Daniel. “I don’t think I’m aloud. You try it.”
He slid his hand around the spine and pulled it away with ease, then shook his head. “I don’t understand.”
She lifted it from his grasp, then tugged on his sleeve. “I think it has to be you…or your blood at least. Maybe it’s some enchantment that keeps the magic safely behind these doors.” She sat down on the blanket beside Sigrid, then poked Daniel’s shoulder as he sat next to her. “That’s quite clever of you.”
“Clever?” Daniel leaned into her ear and rubbed the tip of his nose against the curve of her jaw. “If I’m so damn smart, then why can’t I remember any of this?”
“It’s the magic of rebirth.” Rosemary flipped through the pages as Daniel narrowed his eyes at her.
His eyes snapped to Sigrid as a flash of panic raced through him. “What do you mean?”
She glanced up from her book and shrugged. “We all come back, that’s true, but we have to start over.” She pulled her feet around and crossed her legs under her skirt, and sighed. “We’ve been in this place before, but we can’t remember. It’s that way for everyone when they reincarnate. We have to leave those things in the past so we can move on to something greater. That we recall anything at all is quite curious.”
Rubbing the pain in his chest, Daniel shook his head. “But she remembers. Sigrid knows me.”
Her hand went to Daniel’s and squeezed his fingers. “It will be less soon. She will learn new things, and those old memories will go back to the little place in our minds where we keep them safe.” Her fingers slid to his chin and turned it towards her. “Just like this room keeps the dark magic safe, our minds keep the memories. They aren’t lost. We use them every day; we just don’t know why.”
He snatched Sigrid in his arms and held her close to his chest as he kissed her forehead. “I don’t want her to forget. She’s mine. She’s ours.”
Rosemary’s always kind smile crossed her face as she came to her knees in front of him and wrapped her arms around his neck. “She will always be our Sigrid, but she has a new life, Daniel. It’s this way so she can grow up and have new adventures and meet her mate all over again.”
She rubbed her lips across Sigrid’s fat cheek before she looked into Daniel’s eyes. “Despite the things that led up to it, being able to fall in love all over again has been amazing, hasn’t it?”
He bit his lip and his teary eyes curved away from her to the window as he nodded. “Of course.”
She pressed her forehead to his and shook it from side to side. “We don’t want to rob her of that, do we?”
His eyes pinched tight, and his nose wrinkled as he shook his head. “No.”
Her lips placed a soft kiss over the track of the tear that fell from his eye. “This is her life. Perhaps, just like us, she will remember some things, or maybe she won’t, but it is her journey, and we can’t make it for her.”
Her fingertips slid down his cheeks as she pulled away. “We have our own memories to make, Daniel. Don’t be sad, not for us and not for her, because no matter what, we are together.”
With Sigrid’s chubby hand around his finger, Daniel brought it to his lips and kissed it.
The light rap of knuckles on the door pulled Daniel’s attention from the bitter topic of conversation. “Open”
When the metal bolt clicked, the burst of warm air from the fireplaces rushed in with Agamori as he peeked his head inside. Bowing his head to Rosemary, he closed the door behind him, and his crystal blue eyes twinkled as he wiggled his fingers at Sigrid. “My apologies for the disturbance, but Eason and a companion are at the gates seeking lodging and work.”
With his eyes darting between the siblings, Daniel shrugged his shoulders. “Who’s Eason?”
Her hands pushed against the floor as she stood and dusted off her bottom before dipping back down to take the book. “The Prince of the Eastlands who fancies himself as more of an adventurer these days. He’s an honorable man and a dear friend of our family’s. A distant cousin, actually.”
“Well, then, yes, of course.” His arms held Sigrid tight against his chest as he lifted himself from the floor, then placed her in Rosemary’s arms. “And this companion, do you know him, as well?”
His arms wove across his chest as Agamori twisted his lips and shook his head. “I do not; he’s Earthborn.”
The burst of adrenaline shot through Daniel’s body, and the falling feeling came to his palms as the room where he locked the memory away opened. “What does he look like?”
Daniel glowed with a blue aura, but as it melted into charcoal, Rosemary rested her healing hand on his shoulder as she peeked over it. “Did this man give his name, Agi?”
“He calls himself Haldir.”