It shouldn't have surprised me that Jehanne de la Courcel, Queen of Terre d'Ange and favored daughter of the Night Court, would be above death.

And I should have considered it passing strange that I'd meet her again in my dreams after all this time and distance. But after all that I had been witness to over the span of little more than a year, nothing surprised me any longer.

I closed my eyes and hoped I'd dream of her again.

When I opened my eyes again, I was no longer in the small, rustic tent I shared with Bao. I was in an elaborate bedchamber, filled with an assortment of trees and plants from every corner of the earth. In a rush, it dawned on me where I was: the room Jehanne had created for me at the Palace in Terre D'Ange.

I walked along the familiar room, touching and breathing in the menagerie of greenery that decorated my former palace bedchamber. The evergreens sang amongst the palm trees in greeting while the small bamboo forest reminded me so much of my Princess, Snow Tiger.

I passed a full-length mirror and paused my wanderings when I noticed my reflection. Gone was the coarse, but durable travel gown. Instead I found myself adorned in a rich copper-colored gown made of a thick, silk fabric. The bodice was tight around my torso, dipping low enough to reveal a surprising amount of cleavage. My dark hair was swept up in a loose bun, several tendrils framing my face and tickling the back of my beck.

"I wondered when I'd see you again, my little witchling."

At the sound of the all-too-familiar voice, I turned away from my reflection.

Jehanne stood before me, less formally, but no less beautifully dressed than myself. Her powder blue nightgown was modestly cut, showing an appropriate amount of her milk-white skin for a woman who held the unlikely dual status of Queen and Courtesan. The silk material hugged her small breasts. She was barefoot and beautiful.

I curtsied deeply and regarded her through heavy eyelashes. "Your majesty," I murmured lowly.

She laughed and it reminded me of the most delicate tinkling of bells. "Moirin," she reproached mirthfully, "whatever are you doing?"

Jehanne took me by the hands and pulled me to my feet once again.

The words tumbled out before I ever had a hope of reigning them in: "I missed you."

Her eyes twinkled. "I was hoping you'd say that."

I buried my face into the crook of her neck and breathed her in. I sighed and let the scent of her delicate perfume washed over me. It gladdened me that even in this dream-world, this world between life and death, her intoxicating and undeniable scent existed.

But it pained me to remember how she'd seen me off with a small bottle of it so very long ago. I wondered if, knowing what I knew now – that she would die during childbirth – if I would have still followed Master Lo Feng and Bao to Ch'in.

Yes, I had been following my Destiny, and yes I had done the world a kindness – first freeing the Dragon from Snow Tiger and then helping to defeat Black Robe, and other various adventures afterward. But the journey had taken me across vast oceans and thrust me into foreign lands, stranger to me than when I'd first arrived in Terre d'Ange and the City of Elua.

And it had torn me from my tropical bedchamber with my fair Queen.

After I first learned of her death, I must confess to countless hours of fitful sleep, well aware that if I'd been present at the birth of the newest member to the House of Courcel, I could have saved her. All of those realizations came rushing back to me as I nuzzled against her fragrant skin. I stifled a sob, but it didn't go unnoticed.

Jehanne gently pulled me away. "Moirin," she said, her gaze locked on mine. "We shouldn't dally. Who knows when you'll awake and leave me once again?"

"As my lady wishes," I murmured, a ghost of a smile playing on my lips. I hastily wiped at my eyes with the back of my hands.

Her icy blue eyes danced, and she placed a soft hand against my cheek. "Oh, I wish alright."

Her fingers were at the laces of my stays, and she made quick work of the elaborate bodice. "Whoever sent you to me must love a good joke," she said, her face set and determined.

"Whatever do you mean?" I managed to ask. With every tug and jerk on the laces that bound me to my elaborate costume, my breath hitched in my throat.

"They should know by now we don't require clothing."

Stone and sea, I wanted her.

Showing uncharacteristic impatience, Jehanne tugged the front of my loosened bodice down. My breasts heaved free, nipples already aching.

"Oh, my sweet girl," she murmured reverently. "My sweet, sweet girl."

Her hands went to my exposed breasts and she hefted their slight weight. She dipped her head and kissed my skin, her tongue snaking out to flick against the upturned nipples.

I sighed against the heat of her mouth, and my fingers tangled in her silken curls.

Releasing my tender breasts, Jehanne righted herself. She held out her hand to me, and smiled sweetly. Wordlessly, I took her hand and she gracefully led us toward our bed. My Queen ascended the elevated mattress as naturally as taking her rightful place on a throne. I obediently followed, falling to my knees beside her, feeling unwontedly comfortable despite my half-robed status.

She brushed her fingertips against the side of my face, and I leaned into her touch. Her soft lips found my own, and I eagerly accepted her tongue into my mouth. My lightly lidded eyes widened when I felt her hands desperately fumbling beneath the extensive skirts of my evening gown. I heard her softly curse beneath her breath.

I pulled away from her tender kiss, confused. "My lady?"

"There will be time for slow lovemaking later, my dear savage," Jehanne informed me, answering my unvoiced question. "Until then, I want you for myself."

I swallowed hard, my breath caught in my throat, but managed to nod my acquiescence. She pushed hard on my collarbone, encouraging me on my back. The down pillows billowed around my head, and Jehanne's angelic features swam before my eyes.

The thick material of my skirts rustled once again as she rearranged the lower half of my dress, and I felt the coolness of air hit my legs and upper thighs. She expertly peeled away at my lower layers until the only barrier remaining was my golden skin.

When her hot mouth first met my parted thighs, I made an inaudible noise in the back of my throat; my hooped skirts obstructed my view of her actions. My hips jerked at the unexpected touch, and her small hands clamped down hard on the tender flesh of my inner thighs, holding me in place.

"Don't make me tie you up, Moirin," she playfully taunted.

An image of my beautiful Jehanne floating above me, my hands bound tightly, yet willingly to the headboard, fluttered through my mind. I audibly groaned at the tempting imagery.

Her mouth resumed its task, expertly parting my thickened folds. I twitched again, but this time less violently.

"Good girl," she breathed into me, hidden by my full skirts. Her words tickled my skin.

I released a slow, shuddering breath, unaware of how long I'd been craving her familiar touch. My hands drifted to my naked breasts, and I twisted and pinched at my own nipples at my leisure as my Queen continued to drink from my core.

"Ready yourself, Moirin," she commanded me.

Before I could question her intensions, I felt her soft lips brush over my Pearl. I bucked into her mouth.

I gasped and clutched at her shoulders as she licked along my slick cleft. My back arched off the bed sheets, meeting her eager mouth. I groaned louder still when I felt her slender digits enter me. Her fingers worked inside me until I came for her, over and over again.

I'd nearly forgotten how it was with my White Queen.

It was good. So good.

Somewhere, the bright lady smiled.

Jehanne played with a lock of my hair as we lay together, now unburdened by clothing, on the same bed we had shared so many times before.

I traced the fair lines of her marque, my fingers gliding along her spine. Her skin felt unnaturally soft against my slightly calloused fingers. Having been away from the decadent luxuries of Terre d'Ange for so long, my skin had taken on the rougher texture as when I'd first arrived in the City of Elua. It was odd, this dream. So vivid. So real.

Jehanne didn't remark on the roughness of my touch.

"Why do you suppose this is all happening?" she posed to me. She ran the tips of her fingers between the swell of my breasts. "Why am I in this in-between world, and why can you visit me in your dreams?"

I remained reclined and stared up into her unreadable face. "I'm not sure, my lady," I admitted. "I imagine I can enter this space because of my gifts, but I can't imagine why you would be lingering here rather than ascending to the Terre D'Ange beyond."

Her unlined forehead furrowed. "It's lonely, Moirin. So damnably lonely. At first I was certain this was Hell – to spend an eternity by myself."

"With no one to dote on you?" I said, only half joking.

She frowned deeper. "This is no jest, Moirin mac Fainche. While you're free to gallivant around the world, I'm stuck alone in this bedchamber with nothing but trees and flowers to keep me company."

Her words stung, although they were true. "I don't gallivant," I protested stubbornly.

Jehanne sighed and laid her head against my breast plate. Her hair felt like the softest silk on my skin, and I felt my blood quicken in my veins. It was so easy with her.

"I know," she murmured. "You and that damned diadh-anam." She sighed once again, this time more deeply. I could hear the sorrow in her breath."Why couldn't I be your Destiny?"

Of all the lovers I have bedded in my young life, none surprised me as much as her. Married to the King of Terre d'Ange and courted by some of the most gifted lovers in the land, and yet Jehanne de la Courcel now lay in my arms. I blinked hard, surprised by my cresting emotions.

I wanted so much for her to be my Destiny. I wanted to feel my diadh-anam leap like an inner flame, just as it had whenever I'd been around Raphael de Mereliot. Jehanne had only ever showed me kindness, after all. She'd never used me like he or any of the others had. In fact, were it not for her rescuing me from Raphael, I'm sure I would have gladly let him use me up.

"Maybe you are," I murmured, stroking her corn-silk hair. "Otherwise why would this all be happening?"

"I always thought we'd have more time, Moirin." Her face was unreadable. "You left, and I never imagined I'd never see you again."

"Nor I, my lady."

She rolled onto her back and ran her palms down the flat of her stomach. "I didn't even get to meet her," she whispered.

My heart ached at the smallness of her voice and the truth in her words. I pressed my lips tenderly against her temple. "I'll go back," I whispered into her soft hair. "I'll go back to Terre d'Ange, and I'll tell her you send your love."

I thought about the City of Elua and the people of Terre d'Ange. For a brief moment, it had been home and they had been my kin. But I'd been gone for far longer from my birth home and my people of the Maghuin Dohnn. I missed my mother and wondered what she would think of all I had been through since leaving the shores of Alba.

She turned to me, her eyes looking wet. "Would you really do that for me, Moirin?"

"Of course, my lady! I'll tell her all about you."

"I would be indebted to you." A small smirk played at the corners of her lips. "But hopefully you'll be mindful to leave some parts out."

I propped myself on an elbow. "Aye?"

She stroked her hand from the hollow of my throat, between my breasts, and down to the taunt skin of my stomach, and lower still. My eyes fluttered shut when her fingers gently parted my nether lips, and she lazily circled Naamah's Pearl.

Her words were like music. "Some things should be left between the two of us, my lovely savage."

FIN