Dawn Of Desire Read Online Free Page A

Oriana’s enchanting tale. However, he was immensely entertained. “Was your mother always so poetic?”
    Oriana had only to close her eyes to hear her still. “Yes,and her voice was as sweet as a songbird’s. She was lovely in every way, a fit bride for a god. Her parents had expected her to make a fine marriage and enrich the whole family. But she couldn’t return home and wed another after giving her heart to Lugh, so she fled with him deep into the forest.
    “He was with her when I was born, and I imagine quite often after that, but he didn’t allow me to see him until I was grown, and he came to escort my mother into the Otherworld.”
    Egan thought it far more likely that Oriana’s mother had had a mortal lover of whom her parents did not approve. The scoundrel must have abandoned her when she had conceived, and she had hidden in the forest rather than face her parents’ wrath. That she had raised her daughter on a poetic fantasy rather than an ugly truth was understandable, but that Oriana claimed to have seen Lugh was absurd.
    “Wait a moment,” Egan urged. “I’ve no doubt that you saw someone, but how did you recognize him as Lugh?”
    Oriana turned slightly to face Egan and instantly took exception to his skeptical frown. “He was exactly as my mother described him, a being of such radiant light he could have been no one else. You may scoff as loudly as you please, but it will not change the truth of what happened.”
    Egan found the stubborn tilt of her chin so charming, he refrained from any such rude outburst. “No, I’ll not laugh, my lady. Now, I should not have interrupted you. Please continue, and tell me where you spent your childhood.”
    Oriana shook her head slightly and turned back toward the road. “No. I should have known better than to confide in you. The mistake was entirely mine. Please forgive me.”
    “There is nothing to forgive,” Egan stressed, but failed to hide his discontent. “Were you a happy child?” he asked. The slump of Oriana’s shoulders made it plainthat she had not been. He could easily imagine her chasing squirrels and climbing trees. He could not bear to think she had been unhappy.
    “Please,” he urged with surprising tenderness.
    Oriana could not recall a man ever speaking to her in such an intimate manner. While telling fortunes, she had heard everything from polite inquiries to bawdy teasing, but nothing ever quite that softly suggestive. It brought a strange longing for something she could not even name, and she spoke more to herself than to him when she replied.
    “I don’t like to recall that time because people were often cruel to my mother, but the creatures of the forest were kind, and once we discovered I possessed the knowing , we never lacked for anything.”
    “Wait a moment,” Egan urged. “Did your mother never return to her people to tell them about Lugh, or to show off her beautiful daughter?” He could not believe any family would disown Oriana’s mother if she had been even half as lovely as her daughter.
    “Once my mother left to be with Lugh, she never returned home. I’ve no idea who my mother’s people even are, but it’s always given me great comfort to know I am the daughter of a god. Would you like to hear his song?”
    Egan could not resist giving her a fond pat. “Please sing for me. I’m most eager to hear your father’s song.”
    From such a beautiful young woman, Egan anticipated a delicate soprano, and perhaps a pretty tune the minstrels would covet, but when Oriana began to sing, it was in a rich, throaty alto. There were no words, but the most haunting melody he had ever heard. It soared, then dropped to a near whisper, at once joyous and so poignant it brought tears to his eyes.
    He had not believed such a thing was even possible, but surely the song was divine, and Oriana really had learned it from Lugh. All too quickly she fell silent, and Egan had never felt so deprived. He was at a loss for ameans to