A Lotus for the Regent (34 page)

“
Human? How?”

“
Do you know the story of Elemia and Abbas?”

“
Who were they?”

“
My great-grandparents. Elemia was full Ausir, but Abbas was only
half. Elemia was promised to the eternal King of the Larenai, Kelvirith, but
the prophecy was unclear, and many mistook it. In the end, it was not Elemia
who would wed the King but her daughter, Mirel. Mirel, my grandmother, a
quarter human.”

“
So there is human blood in you?” This thought pleased Kamen.

“
Yes, and it was for that reason my mother was so fertile as to
conceive twice in only a dozen years. Ausir are naturally rather infertile.”
She smiled wryly. “Otherwise, with our lifespans, we would have filled the
world long ago.”

Kamen did not
want to think about her lifespan. “And then Mirel married Arathan and had your
mother and uncles.”

“
Yes.” Her pause held more meaning than her word.

“
What is it?” Kamen fell to touching her cheek and running his hands
down her long, beautiful neck.

“
Mirel was granted the immortal life of her first lord, Kelvirith,
which means she would have outlived Arathan.”

“
You know I've been thinking about that, don't you?”

Ajalira rolled
over on her side so that she was facing Kamen. “It has consumed your every
waking thought. I want to ease your worry. Mirel went with Arathan to the mountains
when the Burning came upon him.”

“
The Burning?” So many new Ausir things, so much to learn from his
wife.

“
When death approaches, an Ausir feels it as a burning in his blood.
As the burning grows stronger, his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth begin to bleed.
And then he dies in agony.”

“
All Ausir die this way?”

Ajalira nodded.

“
Why?”

“
I do not know, but that is the way of things. The Burning would
never come for Mirel as it did for Arathan, whom she adored more than her first
husband, the God-King. So when it did come for Arathan, she went to the
mountains to die with him. It is the Tamari way.”

When Kamen
understood her full meaning, he leaped from bed. “No.”

“
No, what?” Ajalira sat up straight.

“
There'll be none of this 'going to the mountains' nonsense when I'm
at death's door. I am Sunjaa. We live in Arinport. We are more civilized than
to expect our wives to follow us into death.”

“
You are mistaken, my love.” Ajalira crawled forward to the end of
the bed, took Kamen's arms, and made him sit beside her. “If the Burning comes
upon the woman first, the man goes with her to die, too. When a couple has
lived a lifetime together, it is only natural. It is the Tamari way.”

So Ajalira would
kill herself when Kamen died. They would die together. “But the other person is
probably close to his or her own Burning anyway. Lira, you will be young and
beautiful and full of life when I am feeble and these dreadlocks have gone
grey.”

“
And what then for me?” Her eyes, blue this morning, hardened. “Shall
I go to my Burning alone? Or worse—with another man? You would deny me this
consolation to die by your side?”

When she put it
like that, what could he say? He had taken a Tamari for a concubine and secret
wife. He had to accept certain things about Ajalira.

He nodded and kissed
her lips.

“
Then I will ease your heart forever, my love. And mine, too, for I
had intended this from the moment I became your concubine.” Ajalira left him at
the foot of the bed to fetch the dagger of their oaths. She sat beside him
again and wrapped her left hand around the naked blade. “You, too.”

Kamen closed his
right hand over the cold steel.

“
Not you without me, nor I without you.” Ajalira looked up at him,
and he understood.

“
Not you without me, nor I without you.” He repeated the oath, and
Ajalira jerked the blade out from between their hands, slicing their palms
together, letting their blood mingle. The cuts were only slight, for she had
been careful.

“
Done.” She smiled sweetly.

And then all
thoughts of death and separation fled from his mind, driven out by the
realization that for Ajalira there was no more life without him than there was
for him without her.
They took turns bandaging each other’s hands, and then Kamen
pounced on Ajalira and kissed her all over as she scrambled back up
to the top of the bed.

As he lay down
beside her, the heat of the day began to seep into the room, banishing the
night's chill. “If it's a boy, what do you want to name him?” He rubbed her
belly and snuggled on her neck.

She entwined her
fingers with his, her pale skin next to his dark. Their children's skin would
lie somewhere in between, the soft color of coffee and milk.

“
If it's a girl, something Ausir.” Ajalira plucked at his dreadlocks.
“After all, our daughter will have to go to the Ausir to marry King Tivanel.”

“
I'm surprised he finally agreed to it. I'm just glad he did. The
happiest day of my life, watching his ship sail out of Arinport.”

“
What?” Ajalira almost laughed. “Why do you hate him so?”

“
Because he still wants you. I hope he rots on his Norivean throne,
and we never see him again.”

“
But we will see him when he returns for our daughter.” Ajalira
kissed his nose. “Kamen, my love, you have no rivals. I am yours until we go to
the mountains together, remember?”

Kamen hugged
her. “If the baby is a boy, let's give him a Sunjaa name.”

“
I hope to be able to use both.”

The End

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Other Books by Adonis Devereux:

www.evernightpublishing.com/pages/Adonis-Devereux

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