Imager's Intrigue: The Third Book of the Imager Portfolio by L. E. Modesitt

was delicious, and, in the Pharsi tradition, no one talked about business or about troubles, but about the good things in life. Odelia’s place at the table was empty, and poor Kolasyn just looked bewildered.
    Sometime after eighth glass, Bhenyt went out and hailed a hack for us, as he often did, and we left.
    “Odelia thinks you can do anything, and that you didn’t really want to help Haerasyn,” Seliora offered in the darkness of the cab as we headed down the Boulevard D’Ouest.
    “I may be a powerful imager, but that doesn’t mean I can save people from their own weaknesses and stupidity. I have enough trouble trying not to do stupid things myself.”
    “She won’t ever approach you again,” Seliora said. “She’ll avoid you for months. It could be longer.”
    “I tried to be polite, but when she looked at you like that…”
    “Every bit of you that is the Pharsi heritage that your mother denies came forward. It joined with the part that is imager, and for that moment, dearest, you were truly terrible. Odelia is strong, but no one could have stood against that.”
    “You could have.”
    She shook her head. “Why do you think Iryela begged you to be a friend?”
    “She asked…”
    “For a High Holder, what she did was equivalent to groveling. It was bearable to her because she knew you respected her, and because you saved her life, but she knows you could destroy everything she has. She saw what Odelia just saw. Grandmama sensed that in you from the beginning. Why do you think you’ve been able to turn Third District around.”
    “It’s not turned that far—”
    “Rhenn.”
    “I’d like to think good ideas, and some golds from your family, have helped change things.”
    “Exactly. They helped. But the real difference is that the taudischefs don’t want to cross you, and the patrollers feel more secure. Even the conscription teams are very well-mannered in your district, and they aren’t in most.”
    “Yes, dear.” I wasn’t about to argue with her.
    She still mock-slapped me, her fingers barely touching my cheek.
    I would have liked to have held her, but Diestrya was dozing in my lap, and the last thing I wanted to do was to wake a sleeping three-year-old.
    Once we got home, we immediately went upstairs and put our daughter to bed, although she never quite woke up. I waited and watched her for a bit, to make sure that she slipped into a deeper sleep. She was sleeping easily when I finally walked back into the main bedchamber to talk to Seliora. At that moment, an image flashed before me.
    In the darkness, I was climbing out of a pile of stone and rubble, under the cold grayish-red light of Erion, dust and ashes sifted around me. Then, as suddenly as it had come, before I could make out more details, the image was gone.
    It wasn’t a daydream, but a Pharsi foresight flash. Seliora had flashes more often than did I, but I’d had one or two, enough to recognize it for what it was, but not enough to be able to seize on key details. For me, unlike Seliora, they tended to foreshadow troubles. Seliora had seen us being married as a foresight flash, as Remaya had seen being married to Rousel, and my dear wife had known I’d become a Patrol officer before I did—except that she’d only seen me standing amid patrollers, not knowing what it foreshadowed. That was unfortunately often the case when it came to understanding foresight flashes.
    “What is it?” she asked. “You looked stunned.”
    “A flash.”
    She nodded slowly. “Should you tell me?”
    “I don’t think so.” That was another problem with the flashes. Often, Seliora and her family had discovered, trying to change circumstances only made matters worse. The best strategy was to plan for what might happen in the unglimpsed moments that followed a flash.
    But…surrounded by stones and rubble? I managed to keep from shivering as I began to undress for bed.

8
    Solayi dawned bright and clear, but it could have been cloudy and