Page 105 of Tashama
Listra nodded, then pulled the lever. As the water swirled out of the drain, Tashama smiled. But Listra frowned at the disappearing water. “If you see I marry someone, then how can anyone end my life.”
“We must always be able to thwart them, Listra. We cannot let our guard down ever.”
“Then you must leave here,” Listra said softly as she saw the first of the purple flowers plummet through the drain. “You cannot stay here with me.”
27
“You and I will remain the greatest of friends, Listra. This I do foresee. And you will be more powerful than Daveal can ever hope to be.”
“What will happen to her?” Listra watched the bathwater as it sank lower in the tub.
“That I do not know. I have never touched her. Quite frankly, I’m afraid of what I might see. Sometimes knowing the future can be extremely frightening.”
“Do you only know the future?”
“And the past.”
“Then if you touched her wrist, you could discover she had poisoned the lobster.”
“Only, like in Carissian’s case, if she were thinking of it.”
“Then youcansee what he is thinking.”
Tashama smiled. “Certainly.”
“But the word has spread across the court that you cannot. I don’t know what it was you couldn’t see, but…”
“I asked what had happened to the lobster when the servants removed it. He said he was thinking of what had happened, andI let on I couldn’t tell. He’s been suspicious of my abilities all along. He cannot believe a human could have them.
“But my family has had these abilities for centuries, the direct result of the mixture of a sorcerer in the family tree many generations ago. It caused quite a scandal at the time. In later years, the offspring had these abilities that only sorcerers had. We were able to keep the otherwise all-powerful sorcerers in their place when need be. My child will have some or all the same abilities someday.”
“But then what was Carissian thinking?”
Tashama shook her head. “He had the pigs’ slop pens searched for remnants of the lobster, but the pigs had already eaten everything from their troughs. Then, he had the pigs watched for signs of the poison in their systems. He felt they would die from the drug had they eaten it. The pigs are all still under quarantine. You might have noticed, no sausages for breakfast.”
“Ah, the food is His Highness’s favorite. I wondered why we hadn't been eating such a thing lately. But what did happen to the lobster?”
The last of the flowers disappeared down the drain, and Tashama said, “We will rinse out the bath first, then fill the tub. But no more flowers.”
“I will be more cautious the next time.”
“She will not try the same thing twice.”
Later that night,as the full moon cast a soft glow in the black velvet sky, Tashama strolled with Aleron through the gardens. He didn’t seem to be in a hurry to swim. Tashama sighed deeply. “I’m being blamed for your not selecting a wife, Your Highness.”
“Nonsense.” Aleron walked her to the middle of the bridge. They paused to look over the railing, and he smiled as the water sprites dashed out of the water, then fluttered about their heads. “They told me your secret, Tashama,” he said so softly, she had to turn to hear his words.
“What is that?” She motioned for the sprites to go away.
He smiled at Tashama, then lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it. “You said I kissed you…”
“Carissian said that.”
“But he saw what you envisioned, and yet I have not kissed you once since you spoke to me of this.”
“You’ve had more important business to attend to than kiss a royal personage in the typical form of a familial greeting.”
“That is not the kind of kiss I shared with you.”
