He Shall Thunder in the Sky - Elizabeth Peters [200]
Abdullah’s words came back to me. “There will come a time when you must believe a warning that has no more reality than these dreams of yours.”
“Emerson,” I cried. “He lied to us, he must have done. It is for tonight. Something has gone wrong. What can we do?”
“Hmph.” Emerson fingered the cleft in his chin. “There is only one person who might know their intentions for this evening. I am going to see Russell.”
“Ring him,” I urged.
“Waste of time. He won’t tell me anything unless I confront him and demand the truth. Wait here, my dears. I will let you know the moment I have information.”
He hastened from the room. A few minutes later I heard the engine of the motorcar roar. For once I did not worry about Emerson driving himself. If he didn’t run into a camel he would reach his destination in record time.
“Wait!” Nefret said bitterly. She jumped up from her chair. I thought she meant to follow Emerson, and was about to remonstrate when she began tugging at her dress. “Help me,” she whispered. “Please, Aunt Amelia.”
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going to change. So as to be ready.”
I did not ask for what, but went to assist her.
My brain still reeled under the impact of the astonishing revelations she had flung at us. Exerting the full strength of my will, I considered the implications of those revelations.
“So all this while you have known the truth about what Ramses and David were doing? And you said nothing?”
“You said nothing to me.”
“I could not. I was sworn to secrecy, as was he—under orders, like any soldier.”
“That’s not the only reason. He was afraid I would betray him again, as I did before. But, dear heaven, surely I’ve paid for that! Losing him, and our baby, and knowing I had only myself to blame!”
I had believed myself impervious to surprise by now, but this latest revelation made my knees buckle. I collapsed into the nearest chair. “Good Gad! Do you mean when you miscarried, two years ago, it was—it was—”
“His. Ours.” The tears on her cheeks sparkled like crystals. “Perhaps now you understand why I went to pieces afterwards. I wanted it, and him, so much, and it was all my fault, from start to finish, every step of the way! If I hadn’t lost my temper and betrayed Ramses’s secret to Percy—if I hadn’t rushed out of the house without even giving him a chance to defend himself—if I hadn’t married Geoffrey in a fit of spite—if I had had the wits to realize Geoffrey was lying when he told me he was deathly ill . . . I didn’t know I was pregnant, Aunt Amelia. Do you suppose I would have married Geoffrey or stayed with him, under any circumstances, if I had known I was carrying Ramses’s child? Do you suppose I wouldn’t have used that, without shame or scruple, to get him back?”
I did not ask how she could be certain. Presumably she was in a position to know.
She had mistaken the reason for my silence. Dropping to her knees, she took my hands and looked straight into my eyes. “You mustn’t think we were—we were sneaking behind your back, Aunt Amelia. It only happened once. . . .” A faint touch of color warmed her pale face. “One night. We came to you next morning, to tell you and ask your blessing, and that was when . . .”
“You found Kalaan and the child and her mother with us. Good heavens.”
“You can’t imagine how I felt! I’d been so happy, happier than I could ever have imagined. It was like Lucifer falling from the heights of heaven into the deepest pits of hell in one long descent. Not that there is any excuse for what I did. I ought to have believed in him, trusted him. He will never forgive me for that; how could he?”
I stroked the golden head that now rested on my