She was asleep before her head hit the pillow. She loved to pretend that exhaustion had won but truth was she’d slept ill for days without him there, worrying that something might happen to him, that someone might attack him while he was away. With his heat next to hers, her system immediately shut down, giving in.

Aurora woke up before him and watched him sleep. A smile played on her lips; how many times had she done that in the past? But it had never felt like this. Like she had a right to the possessiveness she’d always felt. Like he might be hers.

“I can feel you staring, you know,” said he, without opening his eyes.

“Sorry?” she then asked, “why are you pretending to sleep?”

“I’m waiting for you to be so good as to move from the bed.”

“Why?” She breathed.

“Because,” he replied, “I’m a man of my word and I said I was to be honorable. Only, I was exhausted, and quite stupid, too. If you’re still next to me in my bed when I open my eyes, I’m afraid I won’t be able to keep my promise.”

Oh.

What if I don’t want you to keep your promise? She almost asked. Aurora bit her lip.

She remained in the bed for a long minute, feeling each second, each of his heartbeats and hers. Then she finally moved. He opened his eyes

“Tell me about Aurora,” she asked, while putting her shoes on.

Rupert lifted a brow.

“Aurora?”

“Yes, your daughter.”

He hesitated. “She isn’t.” She frowned. “She isn’t my daughter, not by blood. I only touched Marina once, to ratify our union. Trust me when I say neither of us needed a second run of that particular mess. Officially, of course, Aurora is mine. And in my heart, she certainly is, too. Marina was a terrible mother. I started to care for the child out of duty and she ended up creeping her way into my heart.”

“Sounds like she very much is your daughter, to me.”

He smiled, visibly glad she got it. “Maleficent will know how to undo her blasted spell by now.”

“And what makes you so certain she’ll wish to help?”

Rupert shrugged. “She’s my closest friend. At least she was.”

Aurora’s jaw dropped and he laughed. “Why is that such a surprise?”

“She’s…” evil. “Not a nice person. Her reputation is dreadful. She got me in quite a fix a while back, too. Well, not me personally…”

She stopped talking, knowing they were going down a slippery slope now.

“I’m not going to let that go, Rory. Tell me.”

She groaned. “I was young and silly at the time.”

“Weren’t we all.”

“I was engaged to a man who didn’t care very much for me. I can’t say I cared either. A purely political match arranged by my father.”

“I’m not over-fond of your father. Go on.”

“Well, he cheated. I knew that, but when I witnessed it, I wasn’t very happy and I…” she winced. “I may have wished.”

He frowned.

“My aunts told me I have the power to wish for something; two things, in fact. My Fay ancestors have to grant them. I wished a very dreadful thing for Aiden and he was cursed. His entire kingdom suffered for it. It was Maleficent who granted the wish, I heard. I’ve always felt so guilty. My fault, you’d say, but she certainly didn’t need to make the situation so very dreadful.”

Rupert was now smiling fondly. “Sorry,” he said. “Mal is very, very vicious. A cat playing with her prey. She doesn’t make any apology for it, it’s in her nature. I take her for what she is and she takes me for what I am.”

He sounded just as fond of her as he was of his daughter. Aurora felt a nasty little heart pop out and whisper poisonous words. It was obvious that he liked Maleficent; perhaps he loved her too. He was so anxious to find her…

For the sake of his daughter, she told herself, wishing that feeling away. She wasn’t going to give in to jealousy, not for a man who wasn’t even hers. She just wasn’t. She’d seen how ugly she could be when she let that particular monster roar its head.

She hadn’t even liked, let alone loved, Aiden Archer, but she’d still hated seeing a man tied to her by honor stray that way. It had cut deep into her pride, creating insecurities that she’d taken years to master. Daniel De Luz had been just as indifferent to her but more discreet in his affairs. She hadn’t even cared, by then.

The very thought of Rupert preferring another woman to her set her teeth on edge though. So much for being over it.

“If you’re such good friends, I’m surprised you don’t know how to reach her.”

Rupert sighed. “I do.” He posed. “Her dwelling is less than half an hour’s ride from the palace.”

Aurora nodded; everyone knew that.

“Back in the day, all I had to do was pass nearby and she’d appear, when she felt so inclined. But it’s obviously been a long time. I figured that as she hadn’t come to welcome me back to life, she hadn’t heard of my return, but I still attempted to pass by her land. No news.” He sighed again. “Fays don’t always pay attention to our world. Sometimes, they even go to sleep for an extended amount of time.”

“So, what now?”

“Now,” said he, “We get the work we need to get done out of the way as quickly as possible. And once we have a government, and I finally can take a few days off, I’ll have to do things the hard way.”

“The hard way?” she repeated.

“Go to her home. Even if she isn’t there, should a human get to her fortress, she’ll feel it.”

Aurora couldn’t believe her ears. That was his plan? It sounded downright suicidal. “And what would she do to that stranger?”

Rupert just laughed it off.

“You honestly don’t want to know. But it won’t be a stranger. It’ll be me. It’ll work out.”

She sincerely hoped these words wouldn’t come back to bite him.