| No one, not even Scelto, especially not Scelto, who knew her too well, must be allowed to see anything in her for the next few hours but quiet pride, and a certainty of success
The hours that would lead her to the margin of the sea and then down into the dark green waters which were the vision of the riselka's poolLead her to where her path came clear at last and then came, not before time, and not without a certain relief beneath the fear and all the loss, to an end
It had unfolded with such direct simplicity, from the moment she had stood by the pool in the King's Garden and seen an image of herself amid throngs of people in the harbor, and then alone underwater, drawn toward a shape in darkness that was no longer a source of childhood terror but, finally, of release
That same day, in the library, Brandin had told her he was abdicating in Ygrath in favor of Girald, but that Dorotea his wife was going to have to die for what she j12 chanel watch had doneHe lived his life in the eyes of the world, he saidEven had he wished to spare her, he would have no real choice
He didn't wish to spare her, Brandin said
Then he spoke of what else had come to him on his ride that morning through the pre-dawn mists of the Island: a vision of the Kingdom of the Western PalmHe was going to make that vision real, he saidFor the sake of Ygrath itself, and for the people here in his provinces
Only those Ygrathens willing to become people of his four joined provinces would be allowed to stay, he said; all others were free to sail home to GiraldNot just for Stevan and the response shaped in his heart to his son's death, though that would hold, that was constant; but to build a united realm here, a better world than he had known
That would hold, that was constant
Dianora had listened to him, had felt her tears beginning to fall, and had moved to lay her head in his lap beside the fireBrandin held omega constellation her, moving his hands through her dark hair
He would need a Queen, he had said
In a voice she had never heard before; one she had dreamt of for so longHe wanted to have sons and daughters here in the Palm now, Brandin saidTo start again and build upon the pain of Stevan's loss, that something bright and fair might emerge from all the years of sorrow
And then he spoke of loveDrawing his hands gently through her hair he spoke of loving herOf how that truth had finally come home into his heartOnce, she would have thought it far more likely that she might grasp and hold the moons than ever hear him speak such words to her
She wept, unable to stop, for in his words it was all gathering now, she could see how it was coming together, and such clarity and prescience was too much for a mortal soulThis was the Triad's wine, and there was too much bitter sorrow at the bottom of the cupShe had seen the riselka, though, she knew what was gucci handbags australia coming, where the path would lead them nowFor one moment, a handful of heartbeats, she wondered what would have happened had he whispered these same words to her the night before instead of leaving her alone with the fires of memoryAnd that thought hurt as much as anything ever had in all her life
Let it go! she wanted to say, wanted so much to say that she bit her lip holding back the wordsOh, my love, let the spell goLet Tigana come back and all the world's brightness will returnKnowing that he could not do so, and knowing, for she was no longer a child, that grace could not be come by so easilyNot after all these years, not with Tigana and Stevan twined together and embedded so deep down in Brandin's own painNot with what he had already done to her homeNot in the world in which they lived
Besides which, and above everything else, there was the riselka, and her clear path unfolding with every word whispered by the fireDianora felt as chanel cambon ligne bag if she knew everything that was going to be said, everything that would followAnd each passing moment was leading them, she could see it as a kind of shimmer in the room, towards the sea
Almost a third of the Ygrathens stayedIt was more than he'd expected, Brandin told her, standing on the balcony above the harbor two weeks later, watching most of his flotilla sail away, back to their home, to what had been his homeHe was exiled now, by his own will, more truly than he had ever been before
He also told her later that same day that Dorotea was deadShe didn't ask how, or how he knewHis sorcery was still the thing she did not ever want to face
Shortly after that came bad tidings thoughThe Barbadians were beginning to move north toward and through Ferraut, all three armies apparently heading for the border of SenzioHe had not expected that, she sawIt was too unlike careful Alberico to move with such decisiveness
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