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Miriam awoke gasping for air. She felt disoriented and it took her a moment to realize that she was in her room at the back of the antique shop. She'd had the most strange, vivid dream.
A handsome, enigmatic man strolled through a room full of courtiers. He was dressed in traditional Elizabethan wear, but his clothing couldn't hide the fact that he appeared out of place in a room full of opulence, deception and schemes.
He spoke to a well-dressed couple first, before he approached the red-haired woman sitting upon the throne. She smiled down at him, revealing blackened teeth. It didn't seem to disturb him, as if he had seen far worse than a woman who had allowed her penchant for sweets to ruin her smile.
He bent to whisper something in her ear; Miriam strained to hear.
Miriam continued to watch him from afar, as if she were an outside observer looking in on a scene that she should never have witnessed.
The man must have sensed her gaze, as he suddenly turned away from the woman on the throne and leveled his piercing brown eyes at her.
Their gazes locked—
She'd awoken with a gasp.
She’d never had such a vividly accurate dream before. Furthermore, she had never seen that man in her life, yet he appeared as real as if he were standing before her now. It left her with a sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach.
She got up and went about her morning rituals in an attempt to push the strange dream—and even stranger man—to the back of her mind.
Miriam opened the shop and went about her job of assisting customers, moving items and assessing the condition of questionable antiques. Her day was ritualistic, predictable, and slow—until he walked in.
He was exactly as she had seen him in her dream: tall, muscular, and exuding a dark intensity that Miriam found intriguing. She felt like her heart stopped the moment she sensed him walk through the front doors. He gave off such an intense energy that Miriam could literally feel him from across the room.
When he looked at her for the first time, her heart stopped for just a moment. The room felt a lot smaller as his eyes caught hers, and she suddenly had the feeling that he was looking at her the way a hawk would survey its prey.
Miriam opened her mouth to speak, but she found it difficult to think clearly enough to form proper sentences. Her mind kept racing with the realization that she had seen him before.
He was the man from her dream. The sinfully handsome man that had at walked amongst Queen Elizabeth's courtiers, spoken to the Queen herself, and had shot her a curious look when he saw her watching him.
She knew that it couldn't be him; that wasn't logical. Yet, as her mind rebelled against the notion, something primitive within her sensed that it was him.
"Beautiful shop." The man spoke in a deep, sensual voice, and as he came closer, he continued to hold Miriam's gaze.
"Thank you," she whispered. She was relieved to have regained the use of her tongue again. "It belongs to my grandfather," she added.
As he glided towards her, Miriam had the sudden image of a lion entrapping his prey. His brown-eyed gaze traveled down the length of her body before coming up to lock with her eyes once again. Miriam let out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding.
"And a beautiful granddaughter," he said with a mischievous grin.
"I agree," interrupted her grandfather.
Her grandfather's voice jolted her out of her thoughts. She turned her eyes away from the stranger to look at her grandfather as he stood next to her; she had been so enchanted by the mysterious stranger that she hadn’t even noticed him come in.
Her grandfather extended a warm smile to the man before him. "How can we help you today?"
"I hope you can," the man replied darkly, but with a shimmer in his eye that hinted at mild amusement. "I'm a collector, and I'm looking for a certain type of copper medallion. Do you have anything resembling that?"
"Hmmmm," her grandfather thought out loud.
Miriam had a sudden vision of herself slipping a copper disk into her jean pocket. She also had the sudden urge not to relay this information to the stranger.
"We did get a box of copper objects yesterday, now that I recall." Her grandfather moved around the edge of the counter looking for the mysterious box. "Ahh, here it is."
"Allow me." The stranger moved to pick up the box and carry it back to the counter. He pulled back the flaps and looked inside. "Sorry," he said. "I don’t see what I'm looking for."
Her grandfather moved towards the box. "Oh, sorry about that." He took a peek inside himself. "I could have sworn that we received something that matched your description."
All this time, Miriam stood silent. Although he didn't explicitly describe the object in her pocket, something within her new that it was exactly what he was looking for.
"Well," the stranger gave a heavy sigh, "how about I leave you with my card," he said, reaching into his pocket, "just in case you find something similar." As he spoke, he sent Miriam another one of those curious looks.
"No problem," her grandfather said as he took the card. "I'm very sorry we could not help you out more today."
"Oh, but you have," he smiled. His eyes briefly locked with Miriam's before he turned away.
As the door clanged shut, Miriam once again let out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding.
"Very odd," her grandfather mused. He glanced at the card in his hand.
"Oh, how so?" she asked, prodding him for his thoughts.
"Just that…oh well." He handed her the card. "Put this on file in case we find whatever it is he is looking for."
"Sure thing," she said with forced cheerfulness. Once her grandfather had left the room, she eagerly glanced at the card.
She whispered his name, "Dominic Kane."
It also included an address that she recognized as being in the wealthy part of town, which only added to the mystery, she thought.
Miriam reached into her back pocket to retrieve the copper medallion she'd been carrying since yesterday, running it through her hands. She still wasn't able to get a reading from it, yet, somehow, she knew that the arrival of this copper medallion and the strange dreams about a handsome man—and his sudden appearance in their store—could not just be a coincidence.
She quickly put it back in her pocket, along with the mysterious man's business card.
"Grandfather!" she yelled to the back of the store. "I'm going out for a bit."
She knew there was more to the story and she'd bet her life that Dominic Kane held the answers she craved.