I laughed. I couldn’t help it. It was all so ridiculous.

My world was a magical place. Yes, I could have believed that I’d been enchanted. But he had taken it too far. This Rune… and what kind of a name was Rune anyway? A witch’s name, I supposed. That’s what he was really claiming to be: a witch who came to my rescue and married me. Cursed by one and freed by another.

“Seraphine!” My father scowled at me.

“Are you having a laugh at my expense?” I asked him. “This is a rather elaborate ruse. Did this witch enchant your faces?” I waved a hand to indicate Rune. “The aging is quite believable.”

Rune’s expression went a little sad. “I see that you have no memory of me at all. It’s not too surprising. Dreams can become elusive upon waking. But I have confidence that our dreams will return to you. If they don’t, I shall help them along.”

“I don’t think so.” I pushed back the covers, and all the non-family members in the room turned to leave. All except for Rune. “If you don’t mind, sir”—I gave Rune a pointed look—“I’d like to get dressed.”

“Go right ahead, Seraphine.” Rune smirked. “I’ve seen it all before.”

“Father, this has gone too far!” I turned to glare at my father. “Tell this man to leave. The charade is discovered. You cannot allow him to speak to me in this manner!”

“It is no charade, child.” My father sighed. “He speaks the truth. The only way to break the curse was through love. Rune undertook a dangerous spell to be able to merge his mind with yours. The two of you courted and eventually married, all inside your dreams. Then he returned to his body, and we held a ceremony out here in the physical world. It was the last step to breaking the curse, a bond between your mind and your body, which your heart forged. That was mere minutes ago, sweetheart.”

“So, now you’re saying that I was married just before I woke?” I huffed.

“It was why we had all those witnesses here.” My mother nodded. “Seraphine, we would never deceive you in such a manner. You must know that.”

I stared from my mother’s somber face to my father’s. An unease started to build in the pit of my stomach. But I’d always had a rebellious streak, and I intended to unearth the truth. There was one way to test my parents, one boundary they wouldn’t allow to be crossed.

“All right.” I narrowed my eyes on my parents. “If I am truly wedded, then I should be bedded, correct?”

My mother’s eyes widened as my father scowled. I heard Rune chuckle behind me. I thought I had them then, but my mother stood on shaky legs and nodded to my father. He began to escort her from the room.

“You’re going to continue this farce?” I asked them. “Truly?”

“It is no farce, Seraphine.” My father’s jaw clenched. “You are married, and you’re right; you must now be bedded. We had intended to have your marriage feast first, but I see that this is the only way to prove the truth to you.”

“Fine.” I climbed from the bed and crossed my arms over my chest. “Go on to the feast without me.”

I would play this game until they finally admitted their deception. No one tricked me. My parents walked out the door, shutting it firmly behind them. Then I was alone in the room with Rune. I stood there, waiting for them to come back in and stop this madness, but they didn’t return.

“Seraphine,” Rune said softly. “This is not a jest. We are married. I love you, and you love me.”

I turned to face him slowly, horror shooting through my body. Even if this was the truth, I didn’t know this man. I had no memory of falling in love with him, in my mind or otherwise. He was a complete stranger to me.

“There, you’re finally accepting it.” He nodded. “Can we have a real conversation now?”

“As opposed to what?”

“This play you’ve been putting on.” He smirked and headed to a sitting area near the window. “Come here. I only want to talk. I promise you that I expect no intimacies from you until after you remember us.”

Relief flooded my body. It wasn’t like this hadn’t been the plan for my life anyway. I was a princess after all. I would have been married to a stranger eventually. I’d have been lucky if I were given a small amount of courting first. Princesses didn’t usually have the luxury of falling in love before marriage. Though it seemed as though I might have.

How ironic that I didn’t get to remember it. Still, the fact that Rune would allow me more than any other husband would have—a chance to get to know him before we slept together—made a difference. Enough of a difference that I willingly went to sit with him.

“All right.” I faced him steadily. “Let’s talk.”

“The first time I saw you was actually inside my own dream.” He eased back in his chair, giving me some space. “I thought you were simply a beautiful construct of my own mind. But there was something about you. I remembered you vividly when I woke. And all day, I had this horrible feeling. When I went to sleep that night, I saw you again, but this time, you seemed to be asleep.”

He swallowed roughly and looked out the window. Rune seemed to contemplate the rolling fields, golden with ripening wheat, before he turned his attention back to me.

“You weren’t really asleep, though,” he said. “I tried to wake you, and you didn’t respond. That’s when I knew there was something wrong; I had to find you.”

“You saw some ‘sleeping beauty’ in a dream and decided you had to find her?” I lifted a skeptical brow.

“I felt a connection to you.” He smiled. “I’ve always had a touch of the sight, though it’s not my main talent. I knew enough to follow my instincts.”

“And those instincts brought you here?”

“Indeed.” Rune cocked his head and considered me. “You warned me that this would happen. That if you failed to remember our time together, and I tried to tell you of it, you would scorn me.”

“Really?” I grimaced. “And did I tell you how to get around my scorn?”

“Yes, you did.” His gaze softened as he leaned forward. “You said to tell you where Brandywine was buried.”

I gasped, my mouth falling open as tears rose in my eyes. They always did at the mention of my favorite pet. He had died just two years past, and I mourned him still. My Brandywine. He was a little lion with fur as golden as the drink. I was lucky to have had the cat as long as I had.

Brand had made it to the ripe old age of sixteen, nearly as old as I was, before he died in his sleep. I had buried him by myself beneath his favorite tree—the one he climbed as a young tom, and the same one he had lazed beneath in his later years. It was a wide spreading oak within my private gardens.

“Where?” I swiped at my wet eyes. “Tell me then.”

“Beneath the oak that he loved.” Rune’s face had gone sad as he witnessed my sorrow, and he reached a hand tentatively for me.

When I pulled back, a tear slipped out of his eye. He looked away quickly, but I caught it. That single tear resounded through my soul like a rung bell.

I had rarely seen a man cry. That one would do so, not for his pain but for mine, was astonishing. That kind of response—the sort which a man would not want a woman to see—couldn’t be faked. His tear, that single drop of sympathy, had convinced me even more than the mention of my beloved Brandywine.

“I believe you,” I whispered.

Rune turned back to me with a sigh, not at all surprised by my announcement. In fact, he set his vibrant stare on me confidently.

“So, what shall we do now, my angel?” Rune’s voice slid into a deep purr. “Where shall we go from here?”

“Tell me about yourself.” I settled back into my seat. “Remind me of what I’ve forgotten, Rune.”