Of Fire and Night - Kevin J. Anderson [169]
"I swear to you I did not know where you were all those years," he said again, as he had several times before. "I did not know you were alive."
"I was already pregnant with our daughter, but they beat me." Her voice hitched. "As soon as I was capable, after they took Osira'h from me, Designate Udru'h forced himself upon me again and again until I finally conceived his son. After that, there were more fathers, more tortures, and more children. Those poor children. I am glad we could save them."
"I did not know you were there." It was a chant.
"But you must have known about the other breeding captives!" Her words became hard now, and her muscles tensed. "All those people, for generation after generation. You had to know what was happening."
"The program was established long before my father took the throne. I was not told about it until just before his death." His words caught in his throat. "And he killed himself to prevent me from finding you. Then, when I ordered the Dobro Designate to release you, he told me you were dead."
"You should never have believed him." Nira was aware of the harshness in her voice. "You are the Mage-Imperator! You touch the minds of every living Ildiran, and yet your own brother tricked you? How many people have you allowed to lie to you, Jora'h?"
Jora'h clenched his hands into fists. "Right after the Hyrillka rebellion, Udru'h came to me like a penitent and confessed that you were alive after all. He must have known I would learn the truth. I had never even considered that Udru'h would deceive me. That he could deceive me."
"I've heard enough lies to last ten lifetimes," Nira said. "Thoughts of you kept me alive. I called out to you, dreamed of you. I would have given anything just to see you while I was in the breeding barracks. I . . . love you, Jora'h." She lowered her gaze. "But I am no longer sure I trust you."
She understood the impossible decision the hydrogues had demanded of him, and understood--now--that he was trying to find a way to stand up against the enemy. But if none of his plans had a chance of succeeding, how quickly would he change his mind? How easily would he bow again?
Adar Zan'nh would be coming home any day now after delivering his message to King Peter, and the Solar Navy was gathering the requisite warliners over Ildira, ready to dispatch them like gamepieces played by the hydrogues.
Jora'h seemed to sense her doubts and concerns. "I promise I will do everything I can to stand up to the hydrogues, Nira."
"But what if everything you can do is not enough to save your people, and mine?"
After the quiet calm of their journey, Nira felt an old measure of excitement as they descended through the sun-swept sky and landed on a platform atop the Prism Palace. Mijistra spread out like an incomprehensible fantasyland. Guard kithmen marched forward across the rooftop, accompanied by well-dressed courtiers, bureaucrat kithmen.
Behind Nira, Osira'h led the other half-breed children. Raised on drab Dobro, her younger brothers and sisters had never seen such marvels. For a moment, the delight on the faces of her children made Nira forget her other concerns. "This is your home now," she said.
"We will find quarters for all of you in the Prism Palace," Jora'h promised.
Adar Zan'nh was also there, standing at attention but looking deeply disturbed. He gave a swift, formal salute, and his voice was leaden. "Liege, King Peter has accepted our offer of warliners, as you expected he would."
Nira shot a swift glance at Jora'h. He squeezed her arm as if to reassure her. He wanted her to trust him, and a Mage-Imperator was not accustomed to assuaging doubt. Jora'h straightened his reflective robes. "Send them as soon as they are ready. Two cohorts, if possible."
"Two cohorts, Liege?" The Adar wrestled with his surprise. "That is twice what the hydrogues demanded. And it takes defenses away from Ildira!"
"If we are going to do this,