Reign of Shadows - Deborah Chester [79]
Elandra’s mouth went dry. She was so tired. Her eyes felt like grit. Her wits were muddled. All she wanted was for him to dismiss her so that she could escape this room and this woman. But she dared not give way to tears or exhaustion. Albain despised weakness in anyone. The only way to keep his good favor was to be strong. She could not whimper. She could not sway. With all her willpower she forced herself to meet his gaze steadily, her chin high and her aching shoulders straight. It was a struggle to keep her mouth from trembling.
Albain snapped his fingers. “Jinja, here.”
The creature darted to his side immediately.
Albain pointed at Elandra. “It is ended,” he said angrily. “It has gone on long enough. Release her.”
Before Elandra could even guess at what he meant, the Jinja jumped at her. Its hands brushed across her face, and it was as though ice touched her skin.
A wave of dizziness passed through her. She swayed, blinking against a sudden blur in her vision. For a moment she felt strangely cold and empty. Her mind was blank. She opened her mouth, but could not speak.
Albain’s arm steadied her. “Gently, my girl,” he said with kindness. “It will pass quickly.”
Even as he spoke, the dizziness faded. She blinked and felt stronger, more confident, somehow free. She could not explain it, and gazed at him in puzzlement.
Oddly enough, it was he who avoided her eyes now.
His gaze returned to Hecati, who still looked alarmed.
“You took much advantage of what has been commanded of us, sister-in-name. How will you treat her now?”
Hecati’s nostrils flared a moment; then she seemed to rally. “She has always been difficult. What will she do now that you’ve unleashed her to act as she pleases? Let her tear down the palace?”
Elandra’s puzzlement grew. She looked at first one and then the other. “I don’t understand.”
“Well,” her father said uneasily. “Well, perhaps it is better some things are left unsaid.” For a moment he studied her with an odd expression on his face. “You are a good girl, Elandra. A good daughter. You think I don’t know what goes on in this household, that I’ve been blind to the way you’ve been treated, but that’s not so. I let it happen.”
Elandra’s eyes widened. She stared at him with growing shock.
“Aye, I did. And hard it was, too. I stepped in sometimes, when Hecati was getting too harsh with you.”
Her eyes filled with angry tears. He knew nothing about it, for all his boasting. He knew not a tenth of what she’d undergone. For an instant she felt larger than he, older than he, wiser than he. She saw that her hope of becoming his companion was doomed. It was too late for them. Too much had happened. Too little had happened.
Her silence seemed to disturb him.
“I had ... advice as to how to raise you,” he said, wriggling his blocky shoulders uneasily. “None of that matters now. I see you can stand up for yourself when you have to. But you’re not vindictive or petty. You’ve got a generous heart, my girl. And I’m proud of you.”
A few minutes ago his unexpected praise would have made her smile. She would have soaked it up like sunshine after long days of rain. Now she stared at him, unmoved. She felt as though she were being turned to stone, losing all feeling an inch at a time.
He took her hands in his and turned them over. His eyes flickered when he saw how work-roughened they were. Then his gaze turned misty and he pulled her into his arms for a hard, fierce hug that nearly crushed her.
“I’ll miss you most of all,” he whispered.
When he let her go, she stared at him in bewilderment. “But I’m staying here with you,” she said. “I thought—” She broke off abruptly, fear piercing her anew.
He shook his head. “No, my child,” he said gently. “I could not tell you before. You’re going with Bixia.”
Elandra’s mouth fell open. Anger rushed over her, driving back the fear and the disappointment. So this was her future? To spend her life at the beck and call of Bixia? To mouse about with her head down and her back beaten, pledged in eternity