“Yes.” Sen gazed intently at the king. “She has a signet ring which she claims the man who fathered her gave to her human mother, so she would know that she came from a noble elven house.” Sen paused.
Raidan stared at his brother. Keizo now sat rigidly upright in his chair, his fingers clenched and bone-white upon the armrests. “Go on,” the king said slowly.
“I have the ring with me. I promised Jelena that I’d show it to you. I believe that you may be able to shed some light on…on her possible identity.”
“Show me the ring now,” the king commanded, holding out his hand.
Without another word, Sen reached into a small pouch at his belt and withdrew an object, which he dropped onto Keizo’s open palm.
The king stared at the ring in his hand for several heartbeats, then closed it up in his fist. He leaned back in his chair and gazed past Sen’s head, his eyes unfocused, as if lost in a memory.
Raidan stared at the king in astonishment. He recognized the ring immediately as his brother’s, made especially for Keizo and presented to him on the day he had achieved his majority. Supposedly, Keizo had lost it many years ago. Raidan wore a similar ring, in keeping with the tradition of all Onjara princes. Both rings were non-magical copies of the White Griffin Ring of State that now encircled the third finger of Keizo’s right hand.
How, by the One Great Goddess, did my brother’s ring fall into the hands of a half-human girl?
“You say the girl’s name is Ja…”
“Jelena, Majesty. A popular Soldaran name for girls, apparently. She soon proved herself a good worker and became a valuable member of my household. We all became quite fond of her, especially my son Ashinji. So fond in fact, that he married her!”
Keizo focused on Ashinji, his expression unreadable. “Your son is married to this girl? You freely gave your permission?” he asked.
“Yes, Majesty, I did. She had no family to speak for her…so there was no one else I needed to consult.” Sen’s eyes narrowed; his voice remained meticulously neutral.
A disturbing suspicion nibbled at the edges of Raidan’s thoughts. He cast his mind backward in time. A little over eighteen years ago, just before the tragic accident that had set him on the throne, Keizo had returned from a journey in the far eastern reaches of Alasiri, several weeks late and with a poorly mending broken leg. It had taken all of the skills of the court physician and the magical abilities of a well-known mage to restore his brother’s leg to full function. Keizo had always insisted an elderly farmer and his wife had rescued him after he had taken a nasty tumble from his horse.
Raidan had always known his brother concealed important details about what had really happened; long ago, the prince had suppressed most of his Talent in favor of scientific training, but he still retained the ability to Truthread. Despite knowing of his brother’s deliberate deception, Raidan had never pressed Keizo on it. He had decided to respect his brother’s privacy.
Now, it seemed that the truth might, at long last, be revealed.
“Sen, my old friend, I want you to bring the girl to me tonight… now, in fact.”
“Now, Majesty? I…I think she’s probably sleeping…”
“That doesn’t matter. Wake her if you have to.” Keizo’s voice held the unmistakable tone of a command.
“Yes…of course.” Sen stood and bowed, his sons following suit. All three men then left the room.
Raidan sat and stared at the side of Keizo’s face for several heartbeats. Finally, he summoned the voice to speak.
“This girl, Brother…who is she? I need to know the truth!”
“So do I, Brother,” the king replied.
Chapter 6
Questions And Answers
Keizo tightened his hand around the ring. “I’ve never told anyone the entire story of what happened to me during those weeks I went missing, just before I became king. There was a girl…a human girl. She saved my life. Let me show you her face.”
Raidan opened his mind and allowed Keizo to share the image-a face, unmistakably human, smiling and dark-eyed. Even now, the prince felt the potent emotions the memory awakened in his brother.
“You loved this human, Zin?” Raidan asked.
“Yes. I would have died, if not for her.”
“A human girl…”
“Is it so hard to believe?” Keizo snapped. “We elves and humans are not that different, not really! Yes, I loved her and she loved me, but in the end, I had to leave her. I gave her my prince’s ring as a token of my love. I never considered the possibility…” The king paused, then whispered, “Brother…I think Sakehera’s hikui stray might be mine.”
With those words, the very foundations upon which Raidan had built and ordered his life crumbled and blew away like dust upon the wind. A cloud of anger threatened to overwhelm his mind, but he quickly suppressed it.
I can’t let Keizo know how his confession has affected me. There’s too much at stake!
Raidan rose to his feet. “If this hikui girl is yours, Brother, you must handle the matter with the utmost care. The last thing Alasiri needs right now is a scandal.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” Keizo glared at Raidan with challenging eyes. “But if she is my child, I’ll not turn my back on her.”
“I think it’s time for me to leave you alone. When you’ve finished interviewing the girl, send for me.” Raidan turned on his heel and stalked from the room.
Keizo has fathered a child!
The words buzzed through Raidan’s brain like a swarm of angry hornets as he strode down the deserted, night-silent corridors of the castle. The implications were enormous and far-reaching.
What if my brother decides to acknowledge this girl? Will he attempt to set her above me and my sons?
That must never be allowed.
I’ll kill her myself if it comes down to that. I’ll not let some bastard hikui rob me and mine of what is rightfully ours!
Keizo the Younger had ascended the throne of Alasiri only after a freak accident had claimed the life of King Okame-Raidan and Keizo’s eldest brother-and his entire family. Keizo had yet to marry; in fact, he had shown total disinterest in the idea, and his longtime companion, Lady Sonoe, had so far produced no children.
As long as his brother remained unmarried and childless, Raidan and his sons were Keizo’s official Heirs.
It won’t matter if this girl is Keizo’s offspring. She’s a half-blood, and illegitimate. By law, she can’t be the Heir, unless…
Keizo could officially recognize and legitimize her, but in order to name her as Heir, he would have to change the law of the land. The King’s Council would surely fight such an action, and in the end, Raidan doubted the elven people would accept a hikui as their future sovereign.
Let Keizo recognize this girl as his daughter, let him bestow upon her every rank and privilege of an Onjara princess. She can be no threat to me, unless she foolishly dares to set herself up as one. And if she does, she can be eliminated.
Raidan took a deep breath to steady himself.
I must remain calm. I’ve nothing to worry about.
His heart ceased its headlong gallop and his steps slowed as he approached the double doors that led to his family’s private quarters. As he entered, the sound of his wife’s voice, raised in anger, drifted from an inner chamber. He followed the trail of heated words into his wife’s day room.
Princess Taya Onjara stood with her back to the door, hands clenched into fists by her side. Her head whipped around, green eyes flashing, as Raidan entered the room. “By the Goddess, your son has really done it this time!” she exclaimed.
Raidan’s heart skipped a beat. Even after forty years of marriage, he still thought Taya the most beautiful of all women.
The object of his wife’s fury-their eldest child, Raidu-stood before her, radiating defiance. She turned away from Raidan to face their son. “Go ahead… Tell your father, if you dare!” The young man’s chin lifted in obstinate refusal.
Ra
idu had always been rebellious by nature-even more so, now that he had officially reached adulthood. Raidan knew he ought to deal with his son’s perceived misdeed immediately, but he could not afford any distractions now.
“Not now, Wife,” Raidan responded.
Taya’s eyes widened in surprise. She opened her mouth to object but Raidan cut her off. “Whatever Raidu has done this time, we will deal with it later. I have serious news.” He turned toward Raidu. “It’s late, Son,” he said quietly. “Go to bed.” Raidu regarded his father speculatively for a few moments.
There’s so much of his mother in him, the prince thought. Same green eyes and auburn hair, same nose and chin.
Raidu departed with a final backward glance, leaving Raidan alone with Taya. He reached out and grabbed her hands, and before she could speak, he opened his mind to her.
Taya entered easily through the mental link they had forged years ago, a link that had grown stronger and more secure with the intimacy of their long marriage. She soon knew everything he did about the girl claiming to be Keizo’s daughter.
Taya withdrew, then lifted her right index finger and traced a glowing symbol in the air. As it flashed, then dissolved, Raidan felt the tingling caress of magical energy against the bare skin of his face and hands.
The two of them stood in silence for several heartbeats, then Taya said, “The room wards are up. We can speak freely.” Raidan nodded in understanding. “This girl is undoubtedly an Onjara, and dangerous, Husband, but not in the way you think,” Taya continued.
“What do you mean?” Raidan replied. “How do you know for sure?”
Taya drifted over to the room’s single, large window, open to the cool evening breezes. “What I am going to tell you now must not leave this room, Husband. Only two others know the entire truth, and it is vital that it remain so, for now.”
Raidan felt a chill finger stroke his backbone.
“I and my fellows in the Society have known about this girl for some time, and we believe…”
“What?” Raidan exclaimed, shock roughening his voice. “You’ve known about her… and you didn’t tell me…or my brother? How can this be?”
“Please, Husband, just listen to me, now!”
“You knew about this girl all along…and, yet you said nothing,” Raidan whispered. His nostrils flared, the only outward sign of his growing anger. For the first time in all the years he’d been married, he felt the bitter sting of…
No. Betrayal is too strong a word. Never that, not from her.
Unconsciously stroking the gold wedding bracelet on his right wrist, he chose his next words with care. “There is nothing you do that has no sound reason behind it, Wife, so…because I trust you above all others…I will listen and…hold…my…temper!”
Taya sat down on the padded bench beneath the window and after an instant’s hesitation, Raidan joined her.
“The Society believes that this girl is the vessel chosen by our predecessors to harbor that which they sought to safeguard from their…no, from our greatest enemy,” Taya explained in a soft, steady voice. “The Key has returned.”
“Is this…this key some kind of magic?” Raidan asked.
“Yes,” Taya replied. “A very powerful and dangerous magic.”
In addition to her high office as Crown Princess of Alasiri, Taya served as Mistress of the Kirian Society-the secretive collective of mages whose members were drawn from the most Talented of all of the land’s trained practitioners. Most of the time, Raidan stayed out of Taya’s way whenever she and her fellow mages met and conducted their business within the royal apartments, but occasionally, he couldn’t help but overhear some of what they discussed. He had never once doubted that he’d heard only what they had deemed safe for outsiders to know, and he had no memory of hearing anything about a key.
“The accounts are clear,” Taya continued. “The chronicles of the Society state that the Key will return to the material world harbored in the body of one born to the Onjara lineage. My colleague, Amara Sakehera, has lived closely with the girl for several weeks now. In fact, her son and this girl were recently married. It was Amara Sakehera who first discovered the Key within her new daughter-in-law, and she alerted the rest of us.”
“But this girl is hikui, and I’m still not entirely convinced that she’s an Onjara. How could a half-blood have the necessary strength to carry such a burden?” Raidan shook his head, his mind still unwilling to accept his wife’s words, despite his gut’s insistence that she spoke the truth.
“She is an Onjara, Husband. Sen Sakehera suspected the truth months ago, when the girl first came to Kerala, but he had to wait until he knew her character before he could act.”
“Goddess’ tits,” Raidan cursed, not knowing whether to be angry with Sakehera, or grateful. “My brother’s ring. Of course she would’ve shown it to Sen…That’s how he knew. She came to Alasiri looking for her elven sire, after all!”
Taya nodded. “Her Onjara blood gives her strength enough. I and my colleagues here in Sendai are to examine the girl tomorrow. We’ll know more then. But make no mistake. We all firmly believe she is the Key.”
Taya was the only person he knew with a keener intelligence than his own. Raidan trusted her instincts completely. “If you say this girl is your long-awaited Key, then I know it’s the truth,” he said. “Keizo will surely claim her. He might even attempt to get the council to go along with changing the law so that she can be named Heir. What then?”
“It won’t matter. Her fate is already sealed.” Taya looked down at the intricately tattooed palms of her hands. “We of the Society are tasked with re-securing the Key. In order to do this, the magic must be separated from its present vessel.” She paused, then added, “The vessel cannot survive the Sundering. The girl won’t live long enough pose any threat to you or our son.” Taya laid her head against Raidan’s shoulder. “Rest easy, love,” she soothed.
Raidan could feel her caressing his mind and using her magic to subtly influence his mood, but, because he trusted her implicitly, he allowed himself to be calmed.
“I know you are angry with me for not telling you the truth when first I learned of it, my love, but I was sworn to secrecy, as were we all. The danger was… is … just too great.”
“So you keep saying, Wife.” Raidan lifted Taya’s chin and stared deep into her eyes. Her hair smelled of jasmine, a fragrance she knew he found irresistible. He slipped his arm around her waist. “You know I’d rather leave magical business to you and your fellow mages, but this…this seems too important.” Raidan could feel his agitation returning. “Just how worried should I be?”
“This is the task of the Kirians,” Taya stated firmly. “You need not concern yourself directly…Not yet, anyway. All you need to be sure of is that this girl poses no threat to you, Husband.”
“If you say this is so…” He fell silent, but despite Taya’s assurances, he still felt unsettled.
With an effort, he forced himself to turn his mind to the matter of their son. “Tell me about Raidu. What’s he done now? I don’t suppose it will go away on its own, whatever it is?”
“Not without help,” Taya responded dryly. “It seems our son has been consorting with a certain hikui girl in the town… the daughter of his favorite boot maker.”
“Oh, Goddess, no!” Raidan groaned and covered his eyes. “Please don’t tell me…”
Taya sighed. “I’m afraid so. The girl is at least four months pregnant, Raidu tells me.”
“Damn him! Well, royal by-blows are nothing new. Is he certain it’s his?”
“Oh, yes. He admitted to taking certain…magical means to insure her fidelity, but not her infertility.” She clicked her tongue in exasperation. “He is quite proud of himself!”
Raidan shook his head. “Perhaps the girl won’t want the child.”
“Of course she’ll want it! It’s a royal bastard!”
“First my brother and now my own son!” Raidan muttered with bitter
amusement, unable to ignore the irony of the situation. “Raidu must learn to deal with his own messes,” he stated flatly. “Since he’s admitting it’s his, he’ll do the honorable thing and support the child and its mother, but with his own money, not ours.”
They sat quietly for a time, each of them lost in thought.
I must not let events control me! As soon as they do, all is lost!
All of these things can and will be resolved, my love, but you needn’t worry about them now… Let me soothe you, Husband…
Taya folded his hands in hers and leaned forward to gently press her lips to his. Raidan felt the familiar, welcome stirring in his loins that always happened whenever his wife touched him. The anger and frustration built up within him drained away, and desire took its place. He pulled Taya hard against him to deepen their kiss. The wards remained in place; no one could enter the room without Taya’s leave. They were completely safe.
Raidan reached up and removed the ornate gold pins that held Taya’s hair in place. With a shake of her head, she sent her auburn tresses tumbling down around her shoulders and back. Her jade-green eyes smoldered as she let her simple lounging robe slip to the floor. Languidly, she moved from the window seat to the couch and lay upon it, ready to receive him. Raidan took a moment to savor the sight of his wife’s nakedness, then eagerly freed himself from the confines of his own clothing.
With a heartfelt sigh, he sank into Taya’s embrace. After so many years together, they no longer needed words when it came to the mutual pleasuring of their bodies, and at the exact moment of climax, Raidan felt his consciousness merge with his wife’s; for a time, they were as one, sailing together on successive waves of ecstasy.
It was this unity of consciousness that Raidan so craved, loved, and valued. Because he could only achieve it with Taya, he had no desire to make love to any other woman.
Afterwards, they lay together on the couch, sipping cool, sweet wine from silver goblets. As Raidan stroked his wife’s smooth back, his thoughts were wistful.
Ai, when we were young, Wife, you could get me up again with just a smile…Ah, well. That time is past now. Age does take its toll.
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