Page 16 of Dark Shaman: Eternal Hope
How many conversations had they shared on that bench?
How many secrets whispered, tears shed, small rebellions planned?
Areana looked up as Tamira approached, and something in her expression suggested she'd been expecting this. Perhaps even waiting for it.
"May I?" Tamira gestured to the space beside her.
"Of course." Areana shifted slightly, making room. "I'm surprised that you are actually seeking me out. You've been avoiding me for the past few days."
There was no accusation in the words, just a statement of fact.
Tamira sat down, the familiar stone cool through the thin fabric of her dress. For a moment, neither spoke. The fountain's gentle splash filled the silence, a sound that had once been soothing but now seemed to mock the turmoil in Tamira's stomach.
"The beach was lovely," she finally said, her voice carefully neutral. "The water was warmer than I expected. I hope we get to experience that again soon."
Areana tilted her head with a frown. "It was indeed lovely, but it seems a little random to bring it up now."
"A guard brought me a towel." Tamira kept her eyes on the water, watching the ripples spread and fade. "I told him I didn't need one, but he insisted."
Areana nodded. "I remember wondering what was going on."
"He wanted to tell me something." Tamira's hands clenched in her lap, fingers twisting the fabric of her dress. "The towel was an excuse."
The air between them seemed to thicken. Areana had gone very still, the kind of stillness that came from five thousand years of learning to control every reaction.
"He told me that he knew my son." The words came out flat, emotionless, because if Tamira let herself feel them, she might shatter. "My son, Darien. The guard served under him."
She turned then, watching Areana's face with the intensity of someone who had learned to read the smallest tells. There it was, the flash of recognition, quick as lightning. Then came the calculation, the rapid assessment of what to say, what to admit. And finally, what seemed like a decision to stop pretending.
"You knew." Tamira's voice was barely above a whisper, but it carried the gravitas of centuries of trust. "You knew Kalugal took him when he defected."
Areana closed her eyes briefly, and when she opened them, they held a weariness that seemed infinite. "I didn't know that Darien served with Kalugal."
"But you knew Kalugal defected. You knew he took others with him."
"Yes." The single word fell between them like a stone into still water.
Tamira felt something crack inside her chest. "How long have you known?"
"Since it happened." Areana's voice was steady, but her hands trembled slightly before she clasped them together. "Navuh told me. Not everything, he never tells me everything, but he gave me morsels of news about our sons. Occasional fragments. It's not like I got daily accounts."
"Morsels." The word tasted bitter in Tamira's mouth. "And you never thought to share these morsels with the rest of us?"
"What was I supposed to say?" Areana turned to face her fully now, and there was pain in those ancient blue eyes. "That I occasionally received news while the rest of you heard nothing? That my mate's love, twisted as it is, granted me privileges you were denied?"
"You could have told me about Kalugal. You must have known there was a chance?—"
"I didn't know." Areana's interruption was sharp. "Navuh told me Kalugal staged his death in Japan during the nuclear attack. He had no proof, but he said it didn't make sense. Kalugal and his men had no reason to be anywhere near the epicenter, or even in the outer zones."
Tamira studied her face, searching for deception. "But you suspected that they survived."
"Navuh believes they did. Whether he told me that to spare me grief or because he genuinely believed it, I don't know." Areana's composure cracked. "Navuh is not kind, but he's not needlessly cruel to me either. It's complicated."
"Complicated." Tamira stood abruptly, unable to sit still any longer. She paced to the fountain's edge, staring into the cascading water. "This is simple. My son might be alive and free, and you knew there was a possibility, and you said nothing."
"I didn't know that Darien served under Kalugal," Areana repeated. "Navuh prefers to keep his sons away from one another so they won't collude and plot against him, so I didn't have a reason to even suspect that. I didn't even know that he was allowed to keep the name you gave him. Most of them have their names changed when they're taken from us."
There was something in her voice, a note of genuine surprise about the name that rang true. But Tamira could sense layers beneath, secrets within secrets.
