**BOOK 1 IN THE TALES FROM DROMISSE SERIES**
Silvia considers herself the luckiest woman in all Dromisse. Her soon-to-be fiancé, Duncan Ora, is a candidate for Light Within, the greatest gift that the Almighty Gale can bestow upon someone. Then a ra...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Silvia teeters toward the apartment with her head drooping on her shoulders, her feet flying in zigzagging incoordination. She shoves through the apartment door to hear Duncan and Talael talking animatedly. Paper grocery bags litter the kitchen. She smudges a knuckle across her eyelid. "What's going on?"
Talael stands at the counter cutting a variety of vegetables. "We bought supplies for a dish my mother used to prepare," she says. "How was your shift?"
Silvia drags her fingers down her cheeks. "It was so busy." She melts into a chair at the kitchen table. "People wouldn't stop coming in, but it died down enough to where I could leave. And I thought about the dance studio again." She casts a forlorn gaze out the window. "Stevie and Penny made such a big hoot and holler that I'd feel guilty about leaving."
"If you want to leave, then do it," Duncan says as he skirts around her from behind, massaging her shoulders with swiveling thumbs.
Silvia audibly groans. "If you hadn't been a priest, you should have been a masseuse." She fingers her taut jaw. "You didn't have to make Talael, dinner." She blinks. "Oh, I said that backwards, didn't I?" She falls forward and bangs her head against the table. "Duncan, bring me my cardamoms, pleeeease."
Duncan's eyes sparkle a vivid red. He swipes his palm through the air as though beckoning to the pot in the living room. It leaps up and flies over, the spray bottle soaring alongside it. Silvia grasps the lip of the pot and shoves her nose into the flowers.
Duncan scoffs, "You kiss the flowers before me?"
Silvia drums her fingernails on the planter. She gives him a tired peck. "Is it okay for you to be using your magic like that?" Her eyes flick to Talael.
Duncan places his hands on the back of Silvia's head, drawing her forward by the base of her skull. He envelops her frazzled senses with a deep, tingling kiss. They carefully pull apart, and he glances at Talael. "I see no reason why I shouldn't use my blessing for harmless help around the house."
A pan sizzles on the heavy gas stove. Talael jerks it around and stabs at it with a wooden spoon. She appears to be fighting a battle more than cooking. "Hmm ..." She leans over the pan. "Needs more broccoli." She releases her weaponry and twirls toward the cutting board, swinging a chopping knife. "Some might frown upon using a blessing in such a way," she says without looking up, "but I am not one of those people. It is harmless. Gale has given you a gift, and so you should use it."
Duncan motions to Talael. "There you have it. Words from a Councilor. If I want to float the cardamoms over, I can float the cardamoms over." He prods Silvia's nose, and lunges toward it for a kiss.
Silvia shrieks and wrenches away in a fit of shrill laughs. "Enough with the nose! It can't be that good to kiss!"
"How would you know?" Duncan says. "Have you ever done it—?"
