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But I was staring at ie, had pecked

That peck had kind of hurt

What?

You weren’t supposed to feel pain in dreams, were you?

Then I heard a noise I’d never heard in real life before The kind of noise you hear inon cobblestones or the ie flew up and to theto alight on the balustrade of the Juliet balcony

It looked down then it started hopping up and down as it turned its head towardme, “Come quick, Cora, oh no! Come quick! Dashiell is here! With Orlando and…” the bird looked back down then urgently toin a dire chirp (yes, seriously, a dire chirp), “Noctorno!”

So about the bird’s dele out of the bed (seriously, feather beds were awesoracefully nor dancing on ie kept chirping at me

“This can’t be Dashiell can’t see Rosa! Not before the wedding! If he does…”

I made it to the balcony and looked down to see that indeed three horses were in the courtyard But I lost ency when I saw the courtyard, its cobbles sun-war clean and blonde It was flanked by fountains, their waters blinking brilliantly in the bright sunlight There were also an abundance of flower beds of every shape and size, ditto with flower pots and hanging planters There were flowers here, there and everywhere, willy-nilly, on the house, on the cobbles, in the lush, green lawns The stone of the house itself was nearly covered either in flowering vines or jutting planters with bright petals and dripping greenery

Wow Unbelievable It was so beautiful I couldn’t breathe

Then I looked up and out to see what surrounded the house Tofall of water that pooled in a glinting pond that fed in a thin stream to a river at the opposite side To the front beyond theforest as far as the eye could see To the left, a winding river so clear you could see the rocks on its bed even from a distance

God, ie shrieked through a chirp

I looked down at hihtly dazed from the spectacle before me

“What?” I asked

He twitched his bird head to the courtyard and I looked back down to see the three horses with the three riders again They finally got nificent Just the horses were nificent but the riders Yowza I couldn’t see faces but those powerful thighs

Uray and one was black

The white horse’s rider earing a white hat with a fluffy scarlet feather flowing along its side and around its back He was also wearing a scarlet vest over one of those shirts with puffy sleeves His shirt hite With this, he earing biscuit-colored breeches and dark brown boots

The gray horse’s rider earing a gray hat with fluffy deep blue feather flowing along its side and around its back He earing a deep blue vest over a dove gray puffy-sleeved shirt, charcoal gray breeches andall black Black hat Black puffy shirt Black boots No vest No feather

H