Naamah's Kiss - Jacqueline Carey [120]
Me, I was just discomfited.
At the end of the second week, it was with a mixture of dread and relief that I retraced my steps once more and descended into the subteranean chamber of the de Toluard estate, donning the white robe and silver medallion and taking my place beside Raphael. As much as I feared the toll the night's proceedings would take, I hoped this would put an end to it. One gift, Raphael had promised.
I meant to hold him to it.
In the dim, flickering chamber, Claire Fourcay uttered the first invocation. I saw the doorway, summoned the twilight, and pushed.
When the crimson light faded, there was a lion with a black mane in the center of the six-pointed star.
I let the twilight go, curious.
Still a lion, only its mane was tawny. Its jaws were parted as if in a smile. Members of the Circle argued with one another. Orien de Legasse began uttering an injunction in a faltering voice. No one was looking at me.
I shifted back.
Moirin.
"Marbas?" I asked hesitantly. "If so, well met."
The black-maned lion paced the confines of the innermost segment of the star, its tufted tail lashing. Valac said you were polite.
I laughed. "I've seldom been accused of it."
To us. The lion sat on its haunches. What is it you want?
"Can you not give them one small gift?" I pleaded. "It would make an end to this, or at least my involvement in it."
Unless they can compel me to take human form, I am not compelled to speak in a human tongue. The lion looked smug. They failed to prepare for that possibility.
I sighed. "So that's the trick this time, eh?"
Yes. The lion Marbas regarded me with vivid yellow-gold eyes. However, you may ask me. You hear me. You are part of the summoning circle.
My heart skipped a beat. "Me?"
You.
I shuddered and didn't respond for a moment. I didn't want this responsibility—but I feared it might be wrong to refuse it. "I suppose… Raphael would be content with one cure. A cure for a single disease."
It's not so simple. The lion's eyes glowed. To learn the charm to cure, you must first learn the charm to cause. Leprosy, typhoid, pneumonia, plague… I can teach you to invoke and banish any one of these. Would you possess such knowledge? Would you put it into their hands?
I glanced around at the shadowy figures a half a world away. "No," I said at last. "No, I would not."
The lion's jaws parted, revealing enormous teeth and a bright red tongue. I have another gift to offer to you and you alone. We have studied the Maghuin Dhonn since you summoned Valac. You were once shape-changers. I can teach you that art.
I drew in a sharp breath.
It tempted me.
With a typical man's self-absorption, Raphael had assumed that whatever destiny brought us together, it would ultimately serve his purposes. But I was a child of the Maghuin Dhonn. My people had expected great things of me, had hoped I would show great promise. Even my name was a badge of hope.
What if this was what I was meant to do?
The lion waited patiently, only the tip of its tail twitching.
For the span of a few score of heartbeats, I hungered for the gift it offered. But there was a burial mound in Clunderry where the skull of the last great magician and shape-changer of the Maghuin Dhonn was buried a hundred years ago. He had sworn an oath on behalf of all our people and broken it. The Maghuin Dhonn Herself had taken away this gift. It was Hers and Hers alone to restore.
I bowed my head. "Thank you, but I cannot accept it."
Wise child. For that, I give you a gift unasked. The black-maned lion stretched its jaws wide and roared.
It was a roar without sound—and yet I felt the waves of it beating against my skin. Something settled into my thoughts like a bright topaz jewel and made a home inside my mind, and I cried aloud at the strangeness of it.
The charm to reveal hidden things. The lion Marbas looked smug again. Yours and yours alone. The words will be