The Gates of Winter - Mark Anthony [147]
Ten moons later, the deception was completed. Narenya told the king the time for their child's birth had come. She ordered all from her chamber save her handmaidens and an old midwife who was Crone of her coven. At the same time, in a room deep in the castle, Ivalaine birthed her own child—a son, fine and healthy. The threads of the Weirding coiled themselves around him like a blanket woven of light. And before she could even kiss his damp head, he was taken away from her and spirited into Narenya's chamber. And that was how Teravian was born.
“Get out!”
The queen's shrill cry pierced the air, breaking the spell. Aryn staggered, clutching a hand to her head as Lirith gripped her shoulders to steady her.
“Get out now!”
Rage twisted the queen's visage. But did she mean get out of the room, or out of her head? Ivalaine picked up a plate, threw it, and it smashed against the wall behind them. Aryn and Lirith stumbled back.
“I see now what I must do.” Ivalaine's voice was low, trembling with power. “You would use him just as she would, but there is a way to be certain no one uses him.” She shuddered, and a softness stole across her visage. “I am his mother. It is the last thing, the only thing, I can do for him.”
With that the queen moved past the two stunned women, through the door, and was gone.
Aryn slumped down into a chair, no longer caring about the stench in the room. Her legs seemed incapable of bearing her; she had to sit for a moment.
“Oh, Lirith . . .”
“Hush, sister.” Lirith stood above her. “I touched your thread as you touched Ivalaine's. I saw everything. Sia help us, what cruel treachery. I wonder, when did Boreas finally realize what Narenya had done?”
Aryn didn't know; that had been missing from the shards she had glimpsed. “Whenever it happened, by then it was too late. Boreas couldn't tell the truth—not if he wanted Teravian to be his heir. And I think, even then, he still loved Narenya.” However, it surely explained the king's attitude toward Ivalaine and the Witches. They had used him. Just as they meant to use Teravian. Only how?
“I don't know, sister,” Lirith said, not requiring magic to understand Aryn's thoughts. “I don't see how using Teravian can help Liendra.”
Aryn sighed. “It's broken Ivalaine. She was a queen, and a witch, and a mother, but circumstances wouldn't let her be all three at once. Each required something different of her, and in the end it drove her to madness.”
Sorrow shone in Lirith's dark eyes. “Ivalaine has been a victim of these deeds, just as Boreas and Teravian have.”
These words plunged a needle of fear into Aryn's heart. “A victim of these deeds,” she murmured. “A victim . . .”
Fear became panic. Aryn leaped to her feet.
“Sister, what is it?”
By Sia, she couldn't be right. Only she knew that she was. “Ivalaine said there was only one last thing she could do, one way to make sure no one used Teravian.”
Lirith's eyes went wide. “Sia help us, we have to stop her.”
They dashed out the door and careened down the passageways of the castle as servants, knights, and nobles alike hurried to get out of their way. By the time they reached the prince's chamber, they were gasping for breath, their gowns askew.
“My ladies,” Duke Petryen said, “what's the matter?”
The duke stood outside the door to the prince's chamber, along with one of Boreas's men-at-arms. Since the attempt on Teravian's life, Petryen and Sai'el Ajhir had taken turns standing guard outside Teravian's chamber. The behavior seemed excessive to Aryn—were not the king's men-at-arms good enough? However, it showed great loyalty on the part of Petryen and Ajhir to be so solicitous of King Boreas's son. Aryn could only hope that loyalty had helped the prince now.
“Queen Ivalaine,” Aryn said, fighting to get the words out between gasps for breath, “did she come here?”
“Yes, my ladies, just a minute ago.”
Lirith gripped his arm. “Did you let her in? Did you let the queen into the prince's chamber?