Page 4 of Dark Island: Rescue
The tea was perfect—not too hot, sweetened with just a touch of honey, and full of flavors that bloomed on her tongue. Tula felt some of the tension begin to drain from her shoulders, the tight knot in her chest loosening, and with it the reason that had seemed to abandon her in moments of panic and despair.
"Why are you doing this?" she asked. "You love Navuh. You've chosen to stay with him despite everything. Why risk his wrath by helping us escape?"
Areana was quiet for so long that Tula thought she wouldn't answer. Then she sighed, a sound that seemed to carry the weight of millennia.
"I do love him," she said finally. "That's true. But love doesn't erase the reality of what this place is. I've made my peace with it. But you?" She met Tula's gaze. "You and the others never had a choice. The other ladies were a collection of precious objects that Navuh inherited from Mortdh and decided to keep, and you came with me as a young girl and blossomed into a beautiful female." She smiled. "You want to hear something I never told anyone?"
"What?"
"It was I who convinced Navuh to keep the ladies, let them have lovers from the harem staff, and claim their children as his own. I was afraid of what he would do with them otherwise. He and I are truelove mates, which means that neither of us can ever touch anyone else sexually. Navuh didn't need them, and I was afraid he would kill them or have them serve as breeders in the Dormant enclosure. I couldn't stomach the idea of them being sent there. Not that I can stomach what's being done to the poor Dormants either, but I can only save some, not all. At least the Dormants have the ultimate way out in death. Immortal females don't have even that. They would have been used and abused forever."
Tula shivered. "You did a good thing."
Areana sighed. "I think I did. Their lives were spared, made comfortable, but they had to pay a heavy price, which was giving up their children."
Tula felt fresh tears prick at her eyes, but these weredifferent—warmer, born of gratitude rather than despair. "Thank you for all you have done for us and are still doing."
Areana smiled and motioned at the cup. "Drink your tea and try to rest a little. You are still emotionally fragile, and I want my old Tula back. I miss the humor, the spunk, and the sharp tongue."
2
ESAG
Acanvas bag was inadequate as a gift container, Esag realized when it was too late to do anything about it. Then again, he wasn't bringing the twelve figurines of Khiann as a present to Annani. He just wanted to get rid of them because he was tired of looking at the likenesses of his best friend all day long in his workshop and feeling the pain of his loss.
There was nothing wrong with the figurines.
In fact, they were perfect—carved with painstaking precision over many weeks—but useless. Not a single prophetic dream had come from all the effort he'd put into them. Perhaps Annani would appreciate them for their sentimental value.
Ogidu opened the door before Esag could knock, his face creasing into a warm smile. "Master Esag. The Clan Mother is expecting you."
"Thank you." As he followed the Odu inside, the familiar scent of jasmine tea and something else,Annani's exclusive blend of herbs, drifted from the interior.
She rose as he entered, still looking as impossibly beautiful and radiating power just as she had five thousand years ago.
"Esag." She offered him her cheek. "It's good to see you."
The goddess was so tiny that he had to bend nearly in half to accept the gesture. "It is so good to see you, too, Clan Mother."
"I am Annani to you. How many times do I need to remind you?"
The scolding was done in good humor, and he smiled. "You need to visit me more often so I'll remember."
She laughed, the sound raising the small hairs on his arms. "You always were such a sweet talker." She sat back on the couch and patted the spot next to her. "Come sit with me."
He joined her on the elegant sofa and put the bag at his feet, the soft thud that followed seeming to echo his frustration.
"I brought all of them," he said. "They are perfect, if I do say so myself, or as close to perfection as I can get. The curve of Khiann's jaw, the way his hair fell across his forehead, even that infuriating smirk he'd get when he was about to say something clever. I finally managed to capture it all. I was sure visions of him would come, but nothing happened."
Annani's expression didn't change as she poured thetea into two delicate cups, her movements unhurried. "We knew it was a long shot."
She managed to keep the disappointment from her voice, but he did not doubt that it was difficult for her to accept that one more path to finding Khiann was a dead end.
"Maybe the visions will still come." Esag accepted the tea. "I don't understand how it works and why sometimes it does and other times it doesn't."
"Perhaps the Fates decided that it is not time yet for me to find him." Annani leaned back, holding the teacup. "Maybe I need to wait a little longer."
Her words made something twist in Esag's chest. "I hate letting you down, but it seems to be the story of my life. I'm always disappointing someone."
