“What were you saying about your ‘so-called’ talent?” she asked me, still chuckling and enjoying herself. “I don’t think I ever got an answer this fast in my entire life, not even after all the experience I’ve had with Murdock. ”
“What are you talking about?” Irin asked her in annoyance, starting to get angry. “Terry’s life is about to fall apart and you think it’s funny?”
“ ‘Interpretation is the key to precognition,’” Ashton answered as though she were quoting, giving her sister a grin. “She said she would never belong to him, which is completely Rimilian and absolutely true. The conviction isn’t telling her she won’t stay with him, it’s saying she won’t belong to him. To Rimilian men women are belongings, but I saw myself that Tammad now thinks of her more as a companion adventurer. She’ll never be his belonging again, but that doesn’t mean they won’t belong to each other.”
I turned to look up at Tammad in shock, and when he felt in my mind that Ashton was absolutely right he let out a whoop of delight and reached down to lift me off my feet. He danced me around the room for a minute, laughing as hard as I was while I squeezed my arms tight around his neck, and then he stopped so he might kiss me. Together we made it a very long kiss, and when it was finally over we looked at each other.
“My happiness is now complete,” he said, still touching my lips with his. “The woman I have desired so long is now forever mine.”
“Only because you’re also hers,” I reminded him with a grin, holding his broad face between my hands. “Now we have all the time we need, and I’m going to use that time to good purpose. Of course, you’ll have to do your part if it’s to work. It takes two to make children, you know.”
His grin widened as his eyes began to shine, and then he kissed me again with a silent vow that he would make all the children in the world if I wanted them.
Beloved barbarian. He did.