He said, "You may be the daughter of a princess, but you have no way of proving it."
She reached up to feel the pendant. It was not there. It never would be there. Why hadn't she stopped long enough to pick it out of the water? It would have been so easy.
MorToak spoke quietly. "My dear Meeral, I'll give you grander jewels to wear around your neck. I can have a pendant made for you just like the one you had, that you can wear outside those high-necked blouses that I love to see you wear. Just believe in me, Meeral, and be my wife."
Meeral knew that it made no difference that she could not prove she was Princess Janshei's daughter. Her mother had raised her so she could be whatever she wanted to be. She did not have the narrow choice of a princess who decides not to be a princess.
She reached out her hand to MorToak, and he took it in his. From that time on they had a great deal to talk about. MorToak told her that he would go through the formality of asking King ParToak's permission to marry her; he also said they would have to live in the City of Lurdoa. He was the owner of his father's estate, but could not tell his stepmother to leave. And they talked of how Meeral would train enhancers.
"Lurdoa City needs enhancers, Meeral. Perhaps some of those who came with Kaldoat will stay. They'll have good jobs in the army, and, if King ParToak agrees, I could develop ways of attracting more enhancers to work at spinning, ship building, agriculture. Drarie needs properly trained enhancers, too, and we need to learn to make the machines they are making in Drarie - - but I don't know if the king will trust me . . ."
Meeral interrupted. "He trusted you to take an army across Lurdoa. He'll trust you with our plans to help Lurdoa."
Meeral was right. Weeks later in Lurdoa City, she watched King ParToak's reaction when he met MorToak. She saw the warmth in the king's eyes as he greeted his nephew, the delight when MorToak asked permission to marry Meeral, and his active support for Meeral and MorToak's ideas for economic and military development and growth.
From Drarie, they heard that the old king had not died, as had been rumored, but he was too paralyzed to govern. Xankald became regent. He attracted enhancers to Drarie. With Lenera's help, he developed an educational program for the ethical use of enhancing, which he reinforced with strict laws.
Lenera was the only person the old king tolerated because she was not afraid of his blustering. Xankald claimed she was much too valuable to ever take the chance of losing her, so he married her. Lenera said she was too happy and too busy to miss her twin, though often late at night, the twins communicated with each other by enhancing their writing. Kaldoat said his wife "talked" to her twin for hours. Most of the times it made her very happy, but once in a while she would sigh and a tear would fall.
MorToak and Meeral did not live in Lurdoa City as MorToak said they would. King ParToak and his advisors showed their gratitude to Meeral for saving Lurdoa. He gave her High Pastures, the estate that meant so much to MorToak.
The wedding of Prince MorToak to Meeral, the Enhancer, was a grand social event in Lurdoa City. The nicest surprise for Meeral was that MorToak arranged for Grandma Varis to come all the way from Cyrtuno. When the old lady met MorToak she reminded Meeral that everything did turn out all right, just as she had said.
When she ate the food and watched the dances she beamed at Meeral and said, "Oh, how Shejani would have loved this. Too bad she couldn't be here."
From under the high neck of her silk wedding dress, Meeral pulled out a gold chain. From it hung a locket with a miniature that Xankald had an artist make from the portrait of his sister that hung in the gallery in Binrel. Meeral showed it to her grandmother and said, "She is here."
Meg Baxter is the mother of Teresa McCullough
Meg Baxter lives in Fairhope Alabama and Teresa McCullough lives in Rockville, Maryland
Email: [email protected]
The Enhancer Page 22
