Naamah's Blessing - Jacqueline Carey [45]
Her face turned white. “No! Gods, no! Do you think it did? Is that even possible?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But I would not have thought it possible for my diadh-anam to be divided.”
Lianne gave another violent shudder and made an old-fashioned gesture to avert ill luck. “I didn’t see Raphael until after…” She hesitated. “After Jehanne’s death. And he was well nigh as broken as his majesty. She’d refused to see him, you know. After the summoning.”
“No,” I murmured. “I didn’t know.”
She nodded. “Jehanne was furious at him—truly furious, not like one of their usual spats.” There was sympathy in her gaze. “She blamed him for nearly getting you killed.”
“It was my choice,” I said. “And Claire Fourcay was killed.”
Lianne shook her head. “Claire took the risk willingly; we all did. Not you. Raphael blackmailed you into it.”
“I know.” That final summoning had been the price of saving my father’s life; but it was still my choice. “So Raphael never saw Jehanne again until…?” It was still hard to say the words.
“On her death-bed.” Lianne supplied them gently. “The King sent for him before the end. He tried to save her.”
I knew; I’d seen his majesty’s memory. But I hadn’t known it was the only time Raphael had seen Jehanne since I’d left. “Stone and sea!” My voice shook a bit. “That’s hard.”
“It is,” the poetess agreed. “So you can see why I’m reluctant to assail their tragic affair.” She cocked her head. “Moirin, if I may ask, why do you care? Why such an interest in Raphael de Mereliot?” She lowered her voice, eyes widening. “Do you really think a part of Focalor resides in him?”
I traced the rim of the tea-cup that sat on the table before me. “Truly, I don’t know. I only know that Jehanne came to me in my dreams and told me that I have unfinished business with him.” I glanced up at Lianne. “Does that sound too absurd for belief?”
“From you?” She smiled wryly. “Hardly.”
I sighed. “My lady Jehanne says she doesn’t know why, only that it’s so. And she cannot pass on to the Terre d’Ange-that-lies-beyond or to rebirth until it’s done. She says I’ll need her before the end.”
“Did she bid you serve as Desirée’s protector?” Lianne asked. “That would add a fine twist to the tale.”
“No.” I shook my head. “I’ve not dreamt of her since before leaving Bhaktipur. She asked me only to promise that I would tell her daughter good things about her mother, things no one else knew, things no one else would tell her.”
Her mouth twisted. “Like the fact that Jehanne tried to protect you from being killed by Raphael and the Circle of Shalomon’s ambition?”
“Aye.”
“And she did, didn’t she?” Lianne mused. “She sent aid because you left a note for her that day telling her what we were about.”
I nodded. “Raphael had made me swear not to speak of the matter, so I didn’t. It took me a while to find the loophole.”
Lianne eyed me. “Most sensible folk would simply have broken their oath.”
“I swore by the sacred oath of the Maghuin Dhonn,” I said simply. I touched my chest. “If I had broken it, my diadh-anam would have been extinguished forever, and I would no longer be Her child.”
“You and your bear-goddess,” she said, but the words were uttered in an amiable enough tone. “Well, assuming your dreams are indeed true ones, I suppose you’ll find out what unfinished business lies between you and Raphael when Prince Thierry’s party returns in the spring.”
“I was surprised to learn that he went,” I said. “Raphael lost both his parents in a boating accident. I wouldn’t have thought he’d embark on such a long, dangerous sea voyage.”
Lianne shrugged. “I told you, he was a broken man after Jehanne’s death. When his sister Eleanore succumbed to illness a year later, I suspect it was the final straw. Raphael de Mereliot didn’t care if he lived or died. As I heard it, when Prince Thierry asked him to accompany the expedition as their official