Reign of Shadows (30 page)

Oh,
he could call it a great honor if he wished. She knew some people would sell
their souls for the chance to live at the imperial court. But she saw only the
hurt.

Worse
than that, it meant no escape from Hecati.

Elandra
could not bear it. “Please let me stay,” she whispered pleadingly. “I’ll do
anything, Father. I’ll work day and night, run the household or scrub floors,
in whatever capacity I can serve. Willingly I will do this. But let me
stay.”

He
flinched. “Is this what you have been taught? To beg like this? Where is your
pride, girl?”

Her
lips trembled. If she had to kneel one more time and thank the hag for a
whipping, she would die. She looked at her father, who refused to see what she
could not tell him. “I have no pride in this matter,” she said at last. “Let me
stay.”

“My
lord, consider,” Hecati spoke up. “This is Lady Bixia’s ascension into
greatness. After a lifetime of training and preparation for her ultimate
station in life, she must look ahead to new friends and new companions—those
more worthy of an empress.”

Albain
scratched his chin. “These protests are unworthy of you both. There is
something you do not know, Hecati. Something Elandra does not know.”

Elandra
felt tears burn her eyes and frowned to hold them back. “I won’t go,” she said.

“Elandra,”
he said to her, “you have your own destiny.”

She
glared at him, too defiant at first to understand what he had said.

“Nonsense,”
Hecati said with a sniff. “How can your lordship speak of trivial matters when
Lady Bixia’s good fortune outshines everyone?”

“Bixia
has no destiny, save what has been foretold to me about my own fate,” Albain
said flatly.

Hecati
twisted her fingers. “But the girl is to marry the emperor. We have known that
since her birth. It was—”

“My
destiny says that my daughter shall marry the emperor. That is true.”

Hecati
nodded emphatically, looking relieved.

“I
have worked long and hard to maintain the best relations with the imperial
court so this could come about,” Albain said. “But that has nothing to do with
Elandra.”

“And
Elandra has nothing to do with Lady Bixia’s future,” Hecati said with thin
impatience. “Nothing.”

She
glared at Elandra, who glared back.

“Father,
thank you,” Elandra said, her tone not grateful at all. “You mean to be kind,
but I will not go with Bixia. Empress or not, I don’t want to serve her
anymore.”

“Nevertheless,
I am sending you to the Penestricans,” he said and shot a warning look at
Hecati. “Not as Bixia’s servant, mind you. But as my daughter, to be trained in
the House of Women, and to be married advantageously through their selection.”

Again
Elandra felt as though all the breath had been knocked from her. Her anger
vanished, and complete astonishment took its place. Married? She didn’t want to
be married. She hadn’t thought about it. In fact, she was sick of the whole
idea after watching Bixia moon and plan and gloat for months.

“You’re
seventeen,” Albain continued. “Old enough to make a good match.”

Hecati
was blinking as though shocked. “Sent to the Penestricans?” she repeated
hollowly. “But that’s for wellborn—”

“You’re
a fool,” he broke in sharply.

Hecati
flushed to the edge of her wimple. Anger filled her eyes, and the
jinja
positioned itself between
her and Lord Albain with its sharp teeth bared.

All
expression smoothed from her face, which remained white and pinched. “Forgive me,”
she said, although she sounded as though her lips were too stiff to utter the
apology. “It’s just that I am surprised at so generous a gesture on behalf of
your
natural
daughter.”

The
scorn in that one word was like a slash from the willow switch. Elandra
flinched, then felt angry for letting either of them see she could still be
affected by taunts. She had to outgrow such foolishness, she told herself. She
had to learn to be impervious to the insults. Her mind turned to the
possibilities of the future her father offered. She had never even allowed
herself to dream of any kind of life such as other young women had. But if she
did go and if she was married well...

“Unlike
Bixia, Elandra has her
own
destiny,” Albain said proudly. “It was read by the soothsayer
in her mother’s household at her birth.”

Elandra
and Hecati exchanged an involuntary glance. Elandra took a step forward. “I did
not know this,” she said, intrigued despite a wary sense that she might not
like it. “Why have I never been told?”

He
smiled at her. “Because of your mother’s wisdom. She asked me not to tell you
until you were grown. I was also requested, by another party, to let you be
raised more roughly than Bixia, to test you for a purpose I do not know.”

“But—”

“I
did not like to keep such a secret at first, but as the two of you have grown
up together, I have seen Bixia spoiled and fawned over by everyone until she’s
vain and puffed up with conceit. I see you, resilient and wary, expecting no
favors.”

“You
cannot say that Elandra is better than Lady Bixia,” Hecati said with quick
jealousy. “She is too tall, too thin, all awkward elbows. That hair is a
fright. It will never stay combed.”

Albain
smiled at Elandra. “your hair has the same auburn tint as mine. And today you
make me think of the last time I saw Iaris.”

“My
mother,” Elandra whispered. Her mother’s name was never spoken. How she
thirsted to hear it, how she longed for any detail of what her mother was like.

“Iaris
was quite a beauty,” he said, his eyes growing soft and distant with memory. “Not
in the common way, but very fierce and reserved. When she sent me away, she
looked much as you look today, all haughty and tense, with tears in her eyes
she would not let fall. By the gods, it was not easy to win her heart at first.
Nor would she be tamed. Nor could I keep her.”

Elandra
bit her lip, and her yearning was an ache that filled her entire being. “I long
to hear more about her. All my life I’ve hoped that someday you would tell me.”

“I
know.” Gently he touched her cheek. “This is not the time. You must go today
with your sister, for training and preparation for marriage.”

“But—”

He
shook his head to still her protest. “We are not always given our choice in
these matters, Elandra. Had I been given leave, I would have warned you of your
future long ago. I would have given you a trousseau too. For you are as
precious to me as Bixia.”

“But
who commands you, Father? Who has told you to raise me thus? Who has made you
keep silent?” Elandra frowned at him. “My mother?”

He
shook his head. “Give up this guessing game. I am not at liberty to tell you. I
have defied them enough by taking off the spell of restraint.”

“But—”

“Hush.
You must learn to accept what destiny writes for you.”

“And
what is this destiny that has been foretold for her?” Hecati asked in a
spiteful voice.

His
gaze never wavered from Elandra’s. “She is to marry a man whose name shall be
known throughout the ages. Whether he is a warlord or a philosopher depends on
the match the Penestricans will arrange according to their wisdom.”

For
a moment there was only silence in the room.

Elandra forgot to breathe as her mind turned over his
words. In spite of herself she was pleased and Haltered. It was the destiny of
someone intended for greatness. Her life was not going to he dull or ordinary
after all.

“Well?” Albain asked, breaking the silence.

Elandra drew in a breath, and her involuntary half smile
flickered into a frown. “Must my life hinge only on what kind of marriage I
make?”

He looked startled by her reply.

“There, you see?” Hecati said scornfully. “All rebellion
and hopeless ideas. What is to be done with a creature like her?”

Albain ignored Hecati and gave Elandra his complete
attention. “What else would you have for yourself?”

She spun away and crossed the room to the window
overlooking the lush jungles beyond the walls. Hugging herself, she gazed at
the sky. A pair of wild parrots flew overhead, their crimson feathers bright. “I
don’t know exactly ... only I think I would like to be a scholar or a teacher.
I would like to explore the world and see its wonders. I would like to put my
own mark on history, not just content myself with running a household and
bearing a man’s children.”

Albain laughed. “What a silly child you are.”

Elandra turned around sharply. “Am I?” she asked, hurt by
his laughter. “Am I really foolish? Are my dreams wrong?”

He beckoned to her, still chuckling, and she crossed the
room to him. He gave her shoulder a little pat, then pushed her away.

“You are ready indeed to go forth and forge a path for
yourself,” he said. “The Penestricans can do much with you, I think. I am
pleased.”

“Must I marry?” she asked again. “Could I join the order of
Penestricans and find a different destiny for myself there?”

The
amusement slowly faded in his face. He shook his head. “Some think a destiny is
a curse. Others, like Bixia, consider it a blessing. Either way, you must walk
the path it sets for you. Now, go and make yourself ready. There is little
time.”

“I
want to stay.”

“I
know.” His voice was firm. “But you cannot. The Penestricans tell me it is
time. Today I must lose both my girls.”

She
heard the unhappiness in his voice. Her heart went out to him, and she reached
for his hand. But with a scowl, he abruptly turned his back on her and left the
room. She listened to the rapid jingling of his spurs and knew with a sinking
heart that she would probably never see him again.

The
jinja
lingered a moment. Its dark,
mischievous eyes stared up at Elandra in a strangely compelling manner. “Greatness,”
it whispered. Then it grinned and vanished.

Elandra
would have rushed out of the room then, but Hecati blocked her path.

She
handed Elandra a small key off her ring. “This will unlock the cupboard that
contains your things. See that you hurry. Wash your face and do something about
that hair. You will behave yourself. You will conduct yourself properly. You
will do nothing to bring shame to Lady Bixia, is that clear?”

Elandra
felt numb. There had been too many shocks, too many emotions. She wanted only
to flee, to be alone until she could understand some part of what had happened.

She
did not take the key, but Hecati forced it into her hand.

“Destiny
indeed.” Hecati sniffed. “You think you have won your father, but you haven’t.
He’ll forget about you within ten minutes of our departure.”

“I
know,” Elandra said softly.

“You
got out of the punishment you deserve, but let me tell you this. Make no
attempt to put on airs around Lady Bixia or me, my girl. We aren’t interested
in your destiny. It is nothing in comparison to her ladyship’s. Nothing! For
all we know, you’ll marry a scoundrel who’ll end up hanged from an imperial
road arch.”

Flandra
turned slowly to look at the spiteful old woman. For the first time in her life
she felt no fear. She wasn’t sure if it was shock that made her reckless, or if
the
jinja
had somehow changed her.

“Better
to wed a bandit than a darkness-riddled old man who’s afraid to die,” she
retorted in a quiet voice.

Hecati
blanched; then fury filled her eyes. “You— you—”

The
switch appeared, and Elandra lifted her hand quickly to block the blow. But it
never landed.

The
switch transformed itself into a thin black snake that writhed back toward
Hecati. Shrieking, she flung it away.