“Let go, Maea. You have to live for our daughter.”
The specter slipped through the door, dragging Johai along with him, and the gateway began to close. I was going to lose my grip on Johai or we would both be pulled beyond. I cannot give up, not yet.
Elenna approached us. “The gateway has not closed completely. There’s time. A life must go through with the specter to bind him to the afterlife.”
My eyes were large as I realized what Elenna was offering. “No. I will not let you give your life for his.”
She tilted her head to regard me. “This was my destiny, Maea.”
Elenna touched the crimson thread. It broke from Johai and wrapped around her wrist. I cannot let her do this. She said Adair’s life would suit. Why is he not here? He was supposed to be the sacrifice.
A gentle hand touched my shoulder. I glanced up; my mother was kneeling over me. “You’ve done enough, daughter. This task is my own,” she said. She unwound the thread from around Elenna’s wrist. It tangled around her limbs and over her chest.
I watched her, unsure of what to make of this scene. “What are you doing? You died long ago.”
“Time moves differently beyond the veil. Only a moment has passed for me. I saw what trials awaited you. I knew I must guide you, to help you end the cycle. This is how I play my own part. This is my gift to you.” She turned to Elenna. “Thank you for all you have done, but your journey does not end here.”
My mother turned to the gateway. She looked to me one last time. Her face was sad but radiant just as I had seen her in my visions the day she took her own life. She opened her hands, and the gates opened wide. Hundreds of hands reached out and dragged her beyond the gate. Then the gate shut with a thundering slam. I was left holding Johai.
I looked at him, and he smiled. “You did it,” he said.
Then everything went black.
Chapter Twenty Three
I woke in my chamber. The canopy was blurry overhead. Everything hurt. There was a ringing in my ears that pierced through my skull. My first impulse on gaining consciousness was to feel my belly. My daughter stirred within my womb, as if rolling over in her sleep. I collapsed back onto my pillow. My limbs were leaden, my mouth thick. I need water and to relieve myself. I could not get my limbs to obey. I was beyond weary. I lived. I defeated the specter and saved Johai. Yet so many more had died—Jon, Sabine, hundreds of soldiers and Adair. His death affected me more than I thought it would. Of everyone who died, his death was more upon my hands than any other. He wasn’t the sacrifice in the end. He died for nothing. He had betrayed me and started a war, used me and countless others, but I still felt no justice in his demise. The war! I do not even know what the outcome of the battle was. Have we won? Does the siege continue?
I climbed out of bed; my limbs shook. I had to lean on the bed for support. Where is Elenna? Where is Johai? I had to find them. I needed to see Johai’s face to confirm that what had happened in the Sea Chamber had not all been a dream. I saved him… or rather my mother saved us both. I sank back on the edge of the bed, too weak to try to walk.
My mother said her death was a gift to me. By taking the specter beyond the veil, she prevented Elenna’s, Johai’s and my deaths. I had resented my mother for so long, thinking she had killed herself for selfish reasons, when in truth she had seen the future and died to protect me. I rested my hand on my stomach. My daughter kicked feebly against the pressure. I would do the same for her. I understood now why she had done what she did.
Everything that led up to the chamber was preparing me. My mother chose my father on purpose. She came to Keisan and gave birth to me. She killed herself, leaving me alone where Johai could find me. I fell in love with him, he took my memories at my behest, and it bound us together. The comingling of our magic created the bond. I was born of the old magic of the Biski and the Danhadines who had come to this land and defiled the original people’s sacred places. If I had not learned about the ancient magic, nor been born of a Danhad noble and a dreau of the Biski tribes, I would not have been the tool meant to save Johai. I broke the cycle, but it was not just me who ended it. Those around me played a hand in ending the cycle as well.
Everything had become clear upon waking, as if the very knowledge had been given to me with the power that had coursed through me. The door at the far side of the room swung open, and the magiker came in, carrying a tray with a cup.
“You’re awake, good. Then you can take your tonic on your own,” he said.
“What is going on? What news is there of the war?” I asked as he shuffled over to me.
He scowled as he set the tray down on the side table beside me. “Drink, and then we shall talk.” He pointed at the pewter cup.
I picked it up with both hands. It was a bitter tonic, but it felt good to have something to wet my dry mouth, despite the terrible taste. Once I choked it down, I looked at the magiker expectantly.
He harrumphed and scooted closer. “I want to check the baby.” He pressed a crabbed hand to my stomach. My daughter twisted around, perhaps feeling the foreign hand outside her home. “The child is active, good; then she has seen no effect from the magic that nearly burned you from the inside.”
“How do you know that?” I sat up a little straighter. Did everyone in the palace know what had happened in the Sea Chamber?
“The priest of Mrawa saw to you at first. He was the one who brought you out of that chamber. He told me what happened and gave me the herbs you would need to heal.”
The priest, he had known what would happen from the beginning. “What news do you have of the war?” I asked instead. I was curious to know the state of the kingdom.
“It’s over, or near enough. The leaders have come to the peace table to discuss terms.”
“Leaders?” I felt a hopeful fluttering in my chest. Had I slept long enough for an election? Was Layton the new king?
“Yes, the council elected Layton Florett as their representative. The Queen of Neaux, the leader of the Biski, and Duke Florett have been in talks for days.”
“How did the battle end? What happened?”
The magiker muttered under his breath, “What am I, the royal recorder?”
I grabbed his hand and sandwiched it between my own.
He looked up at me with his shrewd eyes. He sighed. “I heard only rumors. They say Layton swung in with a thousand men and drove a wedge between the Neaux and Biski forces. The lines of the siege broke, and the enemies began to scatter. Before they could run, Duke Wodell’s men, hidden among their numbers, blocked their escape. They were pinned between them, and that is when the duke called for parlay. He brought forth the proposition of peace talks.”
He did it! They will surely elect him king. How could they not? He practically broke the siege single-handedly.
“How long have I been sleeping?” So much had happened, and I felt as if I had only just entered the dream space in the chamber.
“You’ve been asleep for nearly a week.”
A week! The rebirth of our kingdom was happening while I slept. There is still time. I need to secure Layton’s place on the throne; then I can rest at ease at last.
“What of Johai and Elenna? Where are they? I would go to them right away.” I tried to stand, but my legs only trembled.
The magiker pushed me to sit once more. “You are not leaving this room until I say.” He tutted and shook his head. “I forgot how willful you are.”
“Can you bring them to me, at the least? I would speak with them.”
“The Biski woman is gone. She disappeared after killing the king. Duke Florett has sent men in search of her. As for Johai… he is not well.”
I sat back up. “What do you mean, not well?”
The magiker frowned, and it deepened the wrinkles around his mouth. “The thing that possessed him, it left him a near husk. He lives, but only just. I fear he will slip beyond the veil soon.”
No. Not after everything. I have to go to him. “He needs me,�
�� I said. I could feel his life force; it was a dim candle in a dark room. That was why I had not felt it right away.
He shook his head. “No, you would risk the child to leave your bed. You are not without injury. There is nothing you can do. If the boy is to die, then he must. Nothing you can do will change his fate.”
I cannot risk my daughter, but I know Johai needs me. I was torn. I did not want to go against the magiker’s orders. Johai will live. He has to; my mother sacrificed her life to protect us. I lay back down as the magiker insisted and stared at the canopy. Wait for me, Johai. I will come to you.
With Johai bedridden, Elenna gone, and the palace in chaos as the treaties were made, I found my confinement troublesome. I itched to go to Johai. I have to bring him back. The days ticked by slowly. The first few I slept and ate to regain my strength and did little else. After a few days the magiker allowed me short walks around my room, and then finally visitors when he was certain I was healing. One of the first visitors was surprising. There was a knock at my chamber door. I set aside the book I had been reading and called out.
The maid who had been assigned to take care of my minor comforts poked her head through the door. “Your grace, the priest of Mrawa is here to see you.”
“Let him in,” I replied.
I sat up straighter in bed and arranged the blankets over my legs. My hair needed to be braided, and I could not remember the last time I had a wash. It was a less than ideal condition in which to entertain a guest, but I was desperate for news of the outside world. The priest swept into the room. He wore the crimson robe and white sash of his order. His white hair was long and straight down his back.
“It makes me glad to see a familiar face. I was beginning to fear I would see no one other than my maid and the magiker,” I said by way of greeting.
He smiled. “I thought it was time we talked.” He pointed at a chair beside my bed. “May I sit?”
I waved towards the chair. “Please do.” His visit was unexpected and had piqued my curiosity. What would he have left to talk to me about? Is there some part of the prophecy I have yet to unravel? The very thought made me ill.
The priest sat with hands folded in front of him, staring at me serenely. “I am glad to see you well.”
“Thank you, the magiker says soon I shall be able to leave my chamber.”
“And your daughter?” he prompted.
“She is growing and active.” I smiled.
He inclined his head in acknowledgement.
“I have been told I have you to thank for my treatment. It would seem few magikers know much about ancient magics.”
He chuckled. “Think nothing of it. It was merely what I have been trained for.”
There was a lull in the conversation. I looked to my hands, which were resting upon the swell of my stomach.
“I have a confession to make,” he said at last.
I glanced up, curious, but said nothing and waited for him to continue.
“I played a role in the events that have transpired here, and for that I must beg your forgiveness.”
I frowned at him in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“I am not as I seem. I have worn many faces and gone by many names, but my first name, my birth name, was Garrison Slatone, Duke of Slatone and Prince of Danhad.”
As he spoke, his face altered and changed. The age lines around his mouth and eyes smoothed, and his hair changed from snow white to a gray-streaked brown. I covered my mouth to suppress my gasp.
He smiled. “I am Johai’s father.”
“You were supposed to have died years ago.”
“I did in a sense. My old life died many years ago when I left Danhad. I faked my death and left in search of the magic I would need to take my brother’s throne from him, but not before altering the lives of two young men beyond repair. Johai inherited a book that he used to summon the first king, the one you knew as the specter. Adair, he inherited the Order, which I founded. As a child Adair would come to my cell and speak to me through the bars. He wanted vengeance against my brother, Dallin. He blamed my brother for his mother’s rape and his father’s death. He also blamed him for sending Sarelle to Neaux. I filled the child’s mind with poison, and I tricked him into helping me escape. He stole keys from a guard and unlocked my cell. I learned later on that my escape was covered up and the body of another man was put in my place. I was thought to be dead.
“Had I had your ability, Maea, I might have been able to stop this from happening. But I did not realize the error of my ways until I took on the mantle of the sorcerer myself. By then it was too late, and the plans were in motion. I came back here and hoped to alter the path, but Johai had partially bonded with the specter, and Adair was plotting to take over the kingdoms.”
“Why… what changed?” It was difficult to grasp. Johai’s father has been here in Keisan all along, pretending to be a sorcerer-priest.
“I’m not completely certain. I went north in search of power and found the priesthood. Once a generation a man is chosen to take on the spirit of their god, Mrawa. I connived and won my way into their inner circle and hoped to take the power, come back, and take what I had failed to acquire. Once I had the power, I lost myself. I forgot my ambition and dedicated my life to the people. I became the original spirit. That was until three years ago. I dreamed of you and of my son. I knew I had to come here, to guide the prophecy the best I could, and to help save what I had broken with my selfish actions.” He bowed his head.
I stared at him. This is the man whose ambition nearly tore our country apart from within. He corrupted two boys, who grew up into men who were damaged and warped. Now Adair is dead, and Johai may die if I do not go to him soon. “I do not know if I can forgive you,” I said. He did not look up. “However, I can understand wanting to make amends. It may be too late. The magiker says Johai is at death’s door. Everything I did was for nothing.” A tear slid down my cheek. It was more difficult to speak the words aloud than I realized.
He glanced up at me. “It is true that he clings to life by a thread, but he will not die.”
“How can you know that?” I demanded.
“Do you know why I married Johai’s mother?”
“I thought it was a political match,” I replied.
“It was in part, but I chose her for a purpose. The prophecy spoke of the child of two crowns, one whose birth betokened the destruction of all things.”
“You mean Sabine and Adair’s son? He is the child of two crowns.”
“No. Johai’s mother was of royal blood. Though the Jerauchians have not had a true king in centuries, they were once a powerful kingdom, and Johai’s mother descended from the female line of that once powerful house. Johai was the child of two crowns, born of both Jerauchian and Danhadine noble lines. Our kingdoms share similar roots. The first king was from Jerauch, so his vessel would have to be made from that same blood in order for him to withstand the power of the specter. He needed Jerauchian blood to use the power. Many had come before, but they were not pure, and they were destroyed by the power just as they were destroyed by the diviners of old.”
He planned this from the beginning. It had always been his intention to make Johai the vessel. “Did you think you would be able to control him?” I whispered.
“I did.”
The prophecy rang in my ears. The daughter of sunlight slain by love… Johai’s mother had been blonde, and she had died giving birth to him. “The prophecy speaks of when east and west become one; what does that mean?”
“Johai was born in the middle of the war between Neaux and Danhad. Both Danhadines and Neaux died on foreign land, buried in unmarked graves; women were raped on both sides. When war happens, we all bleed and die just the same, and as our bodies return to the earth, we are nothing but ash and dirt,” he explained.
I could not believe it. I had misinterpreted the prophecy from the start. I never could have stopped any of this from happening. It was all destined before my own bir
th. Even my birth was part of the prophecy’s design. I felt a weight lift off my chest.
“Do not worry for my son. He will wake from this slumber. He was meant to be the vessel just as you were destined to be his.”
He stood and replaced his glamour. He once more appeared as the elder priest. “I am sorry for the pain I caused, but I thank you for what you have done for my son. Take care of him for me.”
He walked out of the chamber, and the door closed with an echoing thud. I sank back onto the bed. He will live. I needed to bide my time until we could be reunited. The days passed in a crawl. Visitors trickled in one by one. Beau came to see me. He said little, and I could not find the words to express my regrets about Sabine’s passing.
When he got up to leave, he said, “I have decided to live.” He left me with my thoughts.
Layton came by and filled me in on the negotiations. Arlene was demanding reparations for the battle in Sanore, and Aland was asking for land to settle along the borders of both Neaux and Danhad. Layton sat at the edge of my bed, his head cradled in his hands.
“I do not know if I can do this, Maea.”
I touched his shoulder. “I know you will be a fair and honest ruler.”
“They ask much of me. How can I make them all happy without upsetting someone? I feel as if I am dancing on a knife’s edge. Duke Nanore and Quince are red in the face from shouting against giving any land to the Biski. Duke Delanty, Ilore and others do not want to give gold to Queen Arlene. What should I do?”
I thought about his dilemma for a moment. The traditional dukes, born of long lines of houses, did not want to lose land. They were already threatened by the growing merchant class. The lower born merchants who had been raised up by Adair valued gold above land and antiquated titles.
“Make trade agreements with Arlene to help repay the damages from the Sanore attack, and as for the Stone Clan, if they wish to settle, they will need to pay tax and homage to the lords of the region in which they settle, as any other landed people would do. If they wish to live in our kingdom, they shall be like one of our kingdom.”
[fan] diviners trilogy - complete series Page 87