could help it.
"Hold your anger," she said. "I come as a favor for a friend. Garranon was worried about you. He asked me to see you if I could. So I took his request to Aethervon. My master has been interested in you since he awoke to your presence when you visited His temple at Menogue."
"Go away," I said again. Aethervon could hang for all I cared. He had used my sister without her consent and hurt my friend. Granted, the Tamerlain had little part in either—but I despised her master.
"I can help you," she said.
I gave a short laugh and tried to hide how much even such a slight movement hurt.
"You tell me Garranon is your friend," I said.
"Garranon is my friend," she agreed.
I stared at her and she met my gaze steadily. I hadn't really considered the Tamerlain as anything except a servant of a weakened, treacherous god. That Garranon was a friend of the Tamerlain was beyond belief. Had he had such a powerful ally, surely she would have shown herself sooner—saving his brother,
destroying his enemies. Something. If my life had been hard at the hands of my father, Garranon's had been worse.
"How long have you been friends?" I asked.
My disbelief stung and she jerked her chin up, a low growl in her throat. "He has been mine since he came here to Estian, a child, alone and afraid. He saw me—as no one from that place has ever seen me—and he feared me not. Since that night when he slept curled against me, a child even by your short-lived reckoning, he has been my friend."
I believed her suddenly, but it didn't improve my opinion of her. "A friend who watched as the king raped a child."
"It was never rape, that happened before he was here. The king used herbs … magic." Even in her Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html inhuman face I could read anguish. She'd known that herbs and magic don't mean it wasn't rape. While we'd talked, the last of Jade Eye's drugs had left me. Without their aid, my terror of the Asylum, my claustrophobic anger at my inability to fight back effectively against Jade Eyes had been growing in my belly. The addition of bone-deep anger at the pain of a child—for all that he was now an adult well able to take care of himself loosed the ties on my spiteful tongue.
"And now I'm supposed to allow you to help me?" I asked.
She shot to her feet as if I'd hit her, and for an instant the rage in her eyes made me think my worries about my current situation would be over even sooner than I'd believed possible—though I'd been hoping for Oreg rather than death.
She snarled soundlessly, then stalked away from me. Facing the wall she said, "You know nothing about it. I was constrained, as was my master. I had to watch and do nothing." The tension left her in a rush and
when she turned back to me, there was only sorrow in her eyes.
"So much damage had been done to the fabric of this world, it was all my master could do to hold it together. Do you think He wanted to let His temple fall to foreign armies He could have destroyed with a
touch? But even so much might have been enough to burst the dam built to keep humankind alive. He … I couldn't even save one child."
I had been ashamed of my words almost as I'd said them. "I'm sorry," I said.
"So am I," she whispered, but I don't think she was talking about the past few minutes. She sighed and shook herself like a wet dog. " 'Tis done now. Know you this, though: I was not the only
one chafed by the little we could do. Aethervon was constricted to giving visions and hoping that they allowed the humans to whom He gave them to make better choices. Then you came to Menogue."
"He gave me back my magic," I said.
"He saw in you the chance to mend one of the greatest rifts—so He did what He could to help you," she replied. "When you cleansed the land of the great evil done at Hurog, you released some of the constraints He has to work through. There are monks now at Menogue for the first time in centuries.
"Hold your anger," she said. "I come as a favor for a friend. Garranon was worried about you. He asked me to see you if I could. So I took his request to Aethervon. My master has been interested in you since he awoke to your presence when you visited His temple at Menogue."
"Go away," I said again. Aethervon could hang for all I cared. He had used my sister without her consent and hurt my friend. Granted, the Tamerlain had little part in either—but I despised her master.
"I can help you," she said.
I gave a short laugh and tried to hide how much even such a slight movement hurt.
"You tell me Garranon is your friend," I said.
"Garranon is my friend," she agreed.
I stared at her and she met my gaze steadily. I hadn't really considered the Tamerlain as anything except a servant of a weakened, treacherous god. That Garranon was a friend of the Tamerlain was beyond belief. Had he had such a powerful ally, surely she would have shown herself sooner—saving his brother,
destroying his enemies. Something. If my life had been hard at the hands of my father, Garranon's had been worse.
"How long have you been friends?" I asked.
My disbelief stung and she jerked her chin up, a low growl in her throat. "He has been mine since he came here to Estian, a child, alone and afraid. He saw me—as no one from that place has ever seen me—and he feared me not. Since that night when he slept curled against me, a child even by your short-lived reckoning, he has been my friend."
I believed her suddenly, but it didn't improve my opinion of her. "A friend who watched as the king raped a child."
"It was never rape, that happened before he was here. The king used herbs … magic." Even in her Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html inhuman face I could read anguish. She'd known that herbs and magic don't mean it wasn't rape. While we'd talked, the last of Jade Eye's drugs had left me. Without their aid, my terror of the Asylum, my claustrophobic anger at my inability to fight back effectively against Jade Eyes had been growing in my belly. The addition of bone-deep anger at the pain of a child—for all that he was now an adult well able to take care of himself loosed the ties on my spiteful tongue.
"And now I'm supposed to allow you to help me?" I asked.
She shot to her feet as if I'd hit her, and for an instant the rage in her eyes made me think my worries about my current situation would be over even sooner than I'd believed possible—though I'd been hoping for Oreg rather than death.
She snarled soundlessly, then stalked away from me. Facing the wall she said, "You know nothing about it. I was constrained, as was my master. I had to watch and do nothing." The tension left her in a rush and
when she turned back to me, there was only sorrow in her eyes.
"So much damage had been done to the fabric of this world, it was all my master could do to hold it together. Do you think He wanted to let His temple fall to foreign armies He could have destroyed with a
touch? But even so much might have been enough to burst the dam built to keep humankind alive. He … I couldn't even save one child."
I had been ashamed of my words almost as I'd said them. "I'm sorry," I said.
"So am I," she whispered, but I don't think she was talking about the past few minutes. She sighed and shook herself like a wet dog. " 'Tis done now. Know you this, though: I was not the only
one chafed by the little we could do. Aethervon was constricted to giving visions and hoping that they allowed the humans to whom He gave them to make better choices. Then you came to Menogue."
"He gave me back my magic," I said.
"He saw in you the chance to mend one of the greatest rifts—so He did what He could to help you," she replied. "When you cleansed the land of the great evil done at Hurog, you released some of the constraints He has to work through. There are monks now at Menogue for the first time in centuries.
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