Realm of Light - Deborah Chester [73]
Elandra stared at the Magria, her eyes wide. “What are you saying?” she whispered.
“I am saying that it is a time for truth. The veils and mysteries must be swept aside if we are to become united against our common enemy. Your mother is well married. She did not desire the affair which produced you. She was given no choice by the sisterhood.”
“You mean—”
“Yes, Elandra. Long before your birth, we cast the future and knew the final empress must be special, must have the strong blood of Fauvina as a forbearer. We sifted through all the lineages and found the necessary combination between your father and mother. The spell was made. The affair happened. You were born.”
Elandra felt stunned. “Small wonder she never loved me.”
“Oh, child,” Anas said with sudden emotion, gripping her hand again. “She did not give you up by choice. We commanded that as well.”
Elandra stared at her a moment, soaking in the revelation, then jerked her hand away from Anas. “Why?”
“To test you—”
“Tests!” Elandra said furiously, jumping to her feet. “Always tests. What good are they? Do they make anyone’s life better? Do they help anyone?”
“You were strengthened and tempered by adversity to prepare you for your destiny.”
“My destiny was to marry a great man. I have done that,” Elandra shouted at her. “Now what is left but civil war I have little hope of winning? Or should I simply go home to my father’s household and live the rest of my days in a widow’s veil?”
“Stop reacting emotionally and use your wits,” Anas retorted. “There is more destiny ahead of you, girl. More than you can imagine, if you have the courage to face it.”
“What?” Elandra demanded. “You said there would be no more mysteries. Tell me all.”
“It is sometimes better to face life blindly than with knowledge.”
Elandra gestured impatiently. “Tell me!”
“According to the visions, you have two possible destinies. Soon you will come to the fork that determines the course of the world.”
“I don’t understand.”
“One destiny is this: You will wade in blood. You will wear armor like a man. You will stand atop Sidraigh-hal and watch the destruction of the world.”
Aghast, Elandra stared at her in horror. “And the other?” she whispered.
“The second destiny is this: You are chiara kula na, the woman of fire. You will reap the tears of the world.”
Elandra waited to hear more, but Anas stood silent.
After a moment Elandra frowned. The first destiny was too horrible to contemplate, and the second destiny made no sense.
“What does it mean?” Elandra finally asked.
Anas spread her hands. “That is up to you, and the actions you take.”
Elandra stared at her. “You aren’t telling me everything. There is more to what you know.”
Anas hesitated.
“Tell me! What do I face besides war and destruction? What of Caelan’s destiny?”
“My visions do not concern men,” Anas said sharply.
“But does your vision show us together? Or do you intend to keep us apart?”
She looked at Elandra very hard and said, “The only one who has kept you and Caelan E’non apart has been you. In the past you have been told that fear keeps you from spreading your wings like an eagle.”
Elandra flushed. She did not like to be called a coward. “Perhaps too many tests create their own bonds,” she muttered.
“Perhaps,” Anas agreed. “But they are feeble bonds, easily broken. Better you should confront yourself now and work out your own desires before you face what is to come.”
“And that is?”
“The portents are very dark,” Anas said. “I will have another vision soon, but all those that have come thus far are frightening. Something terrible is taking shape in our world.”
“Does Beloth rise?”
Anas shot her a sharp look as though surprised to hear Elandra speak the god’s name aloud. “Perhaps. But I think it is something we do not yet recognize. Do not look at me thus.