Elandra looked up.
"The man in your dreams. Caelan E"non."
Heat flamed in Elandra"s face. She looked away hastily, embarra.s.sed by the question. The pa.s.sion she had felt in those dreams was very private. In her heart she cursed the Penestrican dream walkers who robbed her of her secrets.
"You are free of your marriage vows," Anas said. "Have you realized that yet?"
Elandra"s eyes widened. She was a widow, no longer married, no longer bound to a man she did not love. Her heart suddenly leaped in her chest, and she looked at the mouth of the cave in longing for Caelan"s return.
"Does he know you love him?"
Elandra shook her head.
Anas walked over to her and crouched down beside her. Her hand covered Elandra"s in a brief clasp. "Your feelings are not wrong or forbidden. You think your mother broke her marriage vows for a wanton affair, but this is not true. Iaris was destined to have an affair with Albain. Fate-not her free will-decreed their union. She fought us. She fought him. She fought herself."
Elandra stared at the Magria, her eyes wide. "What are you saying?" she whispered.
"I am saying that it is a time for truth. The veils and mysteries must be swept aside if we are to become united against our common enemy. Your mother is well married. She did not desire the affair which produced you. She was given no choice by the sisterhood."
"You mean-"
"Yes, Elandra. Long before your birth, we cast the future and knew the final empress must be special, must have the strong blood of Fauvina as a forbearer. We sifted through all the lineages and found the necessary combination between your father and mother. The spell was made. The affair happened. You were born."
Elandra felt stunned. "Small wonder she never loved me."
"Oh, child," Anas said with sudden emotion, gripping her hand again. "She did not give you up by choice. We commanded that as well."
Elandra stared at her a moment, soaking in the revelation, then jerked her hand away from Anas. "Why?"
"To test you-"
"Tests!" Elandra said furiously, jumping to her feet. "Always tests. What good are they? Do they make anyone"s life better? Do they help anyone?"
"You were strengthened and tempered by adversity to prepare you for your destiny."
"My destiny was to marry a great man. I have done that," Elandra shouted at her. "Now what is left but civil war I have little hope of winning? Or should I simply go home to my father"s household and live the rest of my days in a widow"s veil?"
"Stop reacting emotionally and use your wits," Anas retorted. "There is more destiny ahead of you, girl. More than you can imagine, if you have the courage to face it."
"What?" Elandra demanded. "You said there would be no more mysteries. Tell me all."
"It is sometimes better to face life blindly than with knowledge."
Elandra gestured impatiently. "Tell me!"
"According to the visions, you have two possible destinies. Soon you will come to the fork that determines the course of the world."
"I don"t understand."
"One destiny is this: You will wade in blood. You will wear armor like a man. You will stand atop Sidraigh-hal Sidraigh-hal and watch the destruction of the world." and watch the destruction of the world."
Aghast, Elandra stared at her in horror. "And the other?" she whispered.
"The second destiny is this: You are chiara kula na, chiara kula na, the woman of fire. You will reap the tears of the world." the woman of fire. You will reap the tears of the world."
Elandra waited to hear more, but Anas stood silent.
After a moment Elandra frowned. The first destiny was too horrible to contemplate, and the second destiny made no sense.
"What does it mean?" Elandra finally asked.
Anas spread her hands. "That is up to you, and the actions you take."
Elandra stared at her. "You aren"t telling me everything. There is more to what you know."
Anas hesitated.
"Tell me! What do I face besides war and destruction? What of Caelan"s destiny?"
"My visions do not concern men," Anas said sharply.
"But does your vision show us together? Or do you intend to keep us apart?"
She looked at Elandra very hard and said, "The only one who has kept you and Caelan E"non apart has been you. In the past you have been told that fear keeps you from spreading your wings like an eagle."
Elandra flushed. She did not like to be called a coward. "Perhaps too many tests create their own bonds," she muttered.
"Perhaps," Anas agreed. "But they are feeble bonds, easily broken. Better you should confront yourself now and work out your own desires before you face what is to come."
"And that is?"
"The portents are very dark," Anas said. "I will have another vision soon, but all those that have come thus far are frightening. Something terrible is taking shape in our world."
"Does Beloth rise?"
Anas shot her a sharp look as though surprised to hear Elandra speak the G.o.d"s name aloud. "Perhaps. But I think it is something we do not yet recognize. Do not look at me thus. I am not withholding information. The visions offer many possible futures, many possible outcomes. Not one only. It is confusing. It is my prayer that the right future will happen."
"But what shall I do?" Elandra asked. "What course should I take? If I am to ensure the correct future will-"
"The witch Hecati accused you of being our puppet," Anas said with unexpected patience, "but you are not. You cannot follow, Majesty. You must lead. You must find your own way. I have told you all I can."
Elandra dropped her gaze. She felt far from rea.s.sured. "I cannot lead Caelan," she said. "He will not-have you no knowledge of him at all?"
"Only that he has long been in your dreams. Nowhere else in our visions does he appear. Nor has he appeared in the auspices cast by the Vindicants. What this means, I do not know. Perhaps you will walk beside him, as he will walk beside you. Enough," Anas said with a curt gesture. "This cave is cold and dark. Its magic is not mine. I must go."
With that abrupt farewell, Anas headed for the exit.
Elandra hurried after her. "Wait! Please, there is one more thing I must ask."
Anas climbed outside and stood impatiently in the snow. Her bare arms were blue with cold, but she did not shiver. "Yes?"
Elandra met Anas"s impatient eyes and felt her nerve waver. But she did not back away. "Is there a way to alter time, to make it possible for Caelan and me to return to Imperia more quickly than a normal journey? If we must return on foot or even on horseback, it will take many days."
"Nine weeks," Anas said.
"In that length of time, Tirhin will have secured the throne for himself. I will have no chance-"
"You will find the way you need," Anas replied curtly. "I must go."
Frustrated, Elandra again hurried after her. "But, please, I-"
Anas held up her hand to silence Elandra and shot her a stern look. "I have done all I can. There are many preparations which I must oversee if the sisterhood is to survive. I can do nothing else for you at this time."
She quickened her pace and strode away into the swirling snow, until the mist engulfed her and she was gone.
Chapter Thirteen.
Shivering within the folds of her cloak, Elandra frowned against the snowflakes stinging her face and realized it was nearly twilight.
Caelan, wherever he had gone, should have been back by now ... if he meant to return at all. For the first time she wondered if he had abandoned her, believing her lost to the poison of the shadows.
Pain filled her heart. She had lost her opportunity, lost him before she understood what it meant to have him. Anger squared her shoulders, and for a moment she wanted to choke him for not giving her more time.
Yet, in fairness, how much time was he supposed to grant her? She had drawn away. She had refused him. She had reminded him of her marriage vows, pretending they were not false hypocrisy and clinging to them to ward off her fears.
Now Caelan was gone.
She pressed her hands to her lips, trying to hold back her emotions. He would not return. Just as he had left his sister behind, so now had he left her.
Her anger came surging back, trampling her grief. She wouldn"t stay here. She couldn"t hide in this cave forever, like a rabbit in a hole. How was she supposed to live? What was she supposed to eat? How was she supposed to occupy herself while he went forth without her?
Furious and frightened, she ran up the bank, telling herself he must have left tracks she could follow. Yet she knew she could never catch up with him if he had indeed left her.
Was she letting her fear command her common sense? Was he not instead only out hunting? She must believe he would return.
As she struggled up the bank, she saw him emerge from the woods into the clearing.
A cloak lined in fur hung from his broad shoulders, and he had acquired a sword from someplace. The scabbard tip showed just below the hem of his cloak.
For a moment she couldn"t believe he was there. She froze, unable to breathe or look away, waiting for him to notice her.
When he glanced up and saw her standing there, several emotions chased across his face. He started to smile, then frowned instead. He came running across the clearing and scooped her off her feet.
"Caelan!" she said in surprise. "Put me down."
He was scowling as he carried her back toward the cave. "You mustn"t be outside. It isn"t safe."
"Put me down. Caelan, stop!"
"It"s for your own safety. The cave is a place of sanctuary. It will keep the-"
"I no longer have the poison within me."
He stopped in his tracks and stared at her, puzzlement filling his eyes. "How can this be?"
"It"s gone."
"Are you saying it faded away? I don"t believe it."
"No, I am not saying that. The Magria took it from me."
He blinked. "The Magria?"
"The leader of the Penestricans. Don"t say you"ve never heard of her."
"But where is she?" he asked, looking around. "How-"
"Never mind how," Elandra said impatiently. His arms still held her effortlessly, and her heart was thudding too fast. She had never felt like this before-other than in her dreams. She felt fire in her cheeks, and pushed free of his embrace. Not until her feet were firmly on the ground did she dare trust her voice again.
"I am free, do you understand? Aren"t you pleased?"
"Yes, of course. I"m pleased, very pleased." He found a smile for her, but it didn"t last long. He seemed restless, jumpy. He looked guilty, almost disappointed.
Frowning, she glared at him with disappointment of her own.
Men were brutes, every one of them. They had all the wit and understanding of a sack of flour.
She had thought he would be joyful. She expected him to sweep her into his powerful arms and kiss her. Instead he stood here, looking as though he had been caught doing something he shouldn"t, and he did nothing.
Right then, she almost hated him. Why couldn"t he look into her eyes and know that her heart had softened? She would rather be strangled than bend her pride enough to tell him so. If he couldn"t tell, then he didn"t care. She had misled herself. She was a fool.
"The emperor is dead," she blurted out.
Caelan stared at her, and she could have bitten her own tongue. Her face was aflame, and she felt as though she"d been dipped in burning oil.
That wasn"t what she had meant to say, but now it was said, and he did need to know.
Only she wasn"t ready for the ambition to come surging back into his gaze. She wasn"t ready to see him square his shoulders and lift his head like a eagle. She had wanted a few more minutes of his attention, but already he was gazing into the distance, the wheels of his mind turning rapidly.
"How do you know this?" he asked.
"I was told by the Magria."