Liron's Melody by Brieanna Robertson

in a castle with no electric light that she was aware of,
but he wore modern-looking clothing. He had a pet falcon and tapestries adorned
his bedroom walls, but upon closer inspection of the room, she found a bathroom
with a real toilet and a tub. It was like she’d gone back in time, but not.
Weird.
    She wandered around the room, trying to see if it gave away
any clues about the man who lived there. The tapestries were the only real
decorations, but he didn’t need anything beyond them. They were beautiful and
rich in color. One of them depicted several women dancing with flowers in their
hair in lovely, flowing dresses. The other one was a menagerie of musical
instruments amidst red rose petals.
    His bed was colossal, something she would expect to see in a
decorating magazine. It was a four-poster made of dark wood carved with
intricate designs. As she studied them, she could see that even they were based
on music. Clef symbols, measures, bars, and notes swirled around the spires as
if music had been composed and written directly into the wood. She ran her
fingers over it and sighed. So much for distracting herself with things that
didn’t have to do with music. She was surrounded by it, even had a man waiting
outside who filled her head with it when he touched her.
    That should have freaked her out, but it didn’t. In fact, it
did quite the opposite. Every time Liron touched her, she felt calmed, soothed,
safe. It was completely bizarre. But even in the hallway after Siegfried had
scared the ever-loving crap out of her and she’d crashed into Liron, she’d had
no desire to move away from him. She had no idea what that meant. She wasn’t
sure if she cared at this point.
    She left the bed and went to the window. It was stained
glass, full of reds, blues, and greens. The design was nothing specific, just a
beautiful pattern that added a finishing touch to an already beautiful room. A
little bit Gothic, a little bit medieval, but with indoor plumbing. She could
work with that.
    A soft knock on the door sounded and brought her out of her
thoughts. She turned to look over her shoulder.
    “Melody, are you all right?”
    She smiled at his concern. The poor man probably thought she
was in the corner sucking her thumb. “I’m fine,” she called.
    “Can I come in?”
    “Yes, I’m changed.”
    The heavy door swung open and Liron entered. His eyes swept
over her as if assessing her state of mind. “Something wrong?”
    She shook her head. “No, I was just admiring your window.”
    He glanced at it and smiled. “Oh. It opens.” He strode toward
her and reached up to pull a latch at the top, then pushed the glass outward.
    Melody was instantly blasted by fog and salty ocean air. The
crashing of waves below drew her attention, and she peered down to see jagged
cliffs and churning black water. “Oh my goodness,” she breathed. “You have
quite the view.”
    His smile grew and he leaned against the doorframe. “Nature’s
most powerful symphony. It’s my lullaby.”
    She glanced up at him, captivated by his words. He closed his
eyes and inhaled deeply as the sea breeze drifted over them and tossed a strand
of his dark hair. The firelight from inside mixed with the silvery sheen of the
full moon and played upon his face in the most amazing way, highlighting the
prominent lines and shadowing contours. He was wickedly, brutally handsome, and
when he turned his blue-eyed gaze to her, she lost her breath.
    “Your music, that piece that brought me here somehow….” She
shook her head. “It was so beautiful. I’ve never heard anything like it before.
Not in all the classical pieces that I’ve played.”
    Darkness clouded his features and he averted his gaze. “I’ve
never written anything since that.” It was a soft admission, the words tinged
with pain.
    She stared at him, at the way the ocean breeze continued to
tug at his hair, at the muscle that worked along his defined jaw, at the sorrow
etched into his face.