Page 57 of A Touch of Royalty

“I don’t think my muscles would allow that,” she said, settling them against her back again. “They hurt just hanging there. I don’t want to think of how they would feel if I tried to use them.”

“Yet another thing we will research.” Asan said as Cas walked back into the room with Emryn’s cloak slung over one arm.

“Here we are,” he wound the cloak over her shoulders, it went to the ground, utterly hiding the star-shine of the wings.

“Come, we will go and see if the Mother has answers for us.” Asan grabbed his own cloak, slinging it on over his robes.

38

MOTHER

Cas was worried. Worried for his wife, worried for the implications to his marriage, to his nation. If the Empire were to come for Emryn, there would be war and Rodilla would be crushed under the foot of the armies of the Empire.

But they had time to figure that out. And it might be that the Empire would have no interest in Emryn, as they had never expressed an interest in Rodilla before.

He needed to deal with the issue at hand. Which, for the moment, was traversing the town close to his manor in order to get Emryn to the Mother’s House.

They were repeatedly stopped. Mostly so the townsfolk could thank Emryn for her actions the other day. Most of them inquired how she was feeling, and no small number wanted to know how she’d managed to heal everyone in one go.

Emryn just smiled, talked to each of the townsfolk as they approached and answered their questions as honestly as she could. For the last question, though, Cas could tell she was prevaricating when she only said “The Mother provides.”

Most of the people seemed to be content with that answer. There were a few that opened their mouths like they wanted topush the issue, but Emryn would just brush past them as though she hadn’t noticed.

It was remarkably effective in blocking the more intrusive questions. He was going to have to remember that method for the next time the courtiers came knocking about his marriage and the progress he’d made in securing an heir.

That was something he was going to have to research. Emryn had already talked to him about what the head healer had said, but he’d watched her entire back heal in a matter of moments, and he had to imagine that her entire body could do the same.

What would that mean for a baby?

That was a question for the future. Not something to worry about right now.

Right now he was going to focus on helping Emryn figure out everything that she was going through. Maybe she would be able to speak with the Mother: that would help.

But he had no idea how she was to speak to her own soul. He’d heard of soul searching, but this was on an entirely different level.

But if Asan was correct and her soul was actually a separate being, what did that mean?

Again, something to contemplate later.

They were stopped a half dozen more times before they made the threshold of the Mother’s House.

The doors were opened to them; they were always open during the daylight hours and usually long into the night. As long as the moon was in the sky, and the full moon was sitting right at its zenith at the moment.

It had to be a sign, and Cas was not one to search for signs.

They went in, bowing to the statue of the Mother that sat at the door to welcome her worshippers.

And they were met by the Mother’s priestesses before they were half a dozen steps into the house. “Highness, the oraclecalls,” the head priestess said. “She will not calm until you are brought and we are worried she will do herself further harm.”

“I will go immediately.” Emryn nodded at the priestess and walked off. How she knew where to go was a mystery, but it seemed as though his wife had a map of the house in her head.

And he knew she had never been here before.

All of the Mother’s houses had at least one oracle. They served as the Mother’s mouth, repeating her words to the priestesses, and they were supposed to disseminate the words to her people.

At least that was the way it was supposed to work.

Most of the Oracles were silent these days. And Cas had to wonder what had happened to them. Or was it the Mother? Did she have no words for her people?

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