Naamah's Blessing - By Jacqueline Carey Page 0,169

me and thumped a gauntleted fist on his breast-plate. “Oh? What gifts do you bring, woman? Armor that shines like silver, yet is as hard as stone?” He gestured at my insectile entourage. “Can you command the black river?”

“No,” I murmured. “But actually, the armor—”

“I do not care!” Prince Manco’s nostrils flared. “I will not listen to your lies! Lord Pachacuti told me not to! You think you are clever, yes, but I agreed to this only so I might tell him what you say!”

I sighed. “Lord Pachacuti will use you and discard you, along with all of the Quechua folk.”

He glared at me. “Lord Pachacuti will give me Tawantinsuyo to rule once he returns to his homeland!” His sword cut the air. “Everyone will fear me. My father’s head will roll! My brothers will kneel and beg for their lives!”

Ignoring him, I turned to his attendants. “Remember that I brought this warning,” I said to them. “Tell others.”

“You do not speak to them!” Prince Manco shouted at me. “Go away!” He hefted his blade, menacing me awkwardly. “I do not know why Lord Pachacuti lets you live. I should kill you for him!”

I stared at him. “Lord Pachacuti needs me. Do it, and you will answer to him.” I nodded at the ants. “Or them.”

Manco lowered his blade. “Go away,” he repeated. “I do not want you here.”

I went.

“I am sorry,” Machasu said to me. “It is as I told you.”

“It is,” I agreed. “Still, I had to try.”

In my quarters, I lay down on my bed for a few hours of much-needed sleep, instructing Machasu to wake me when the moon began its ascent into the night sky. It seemed only minutes had passed before she shook me gently awake.

“So soon?” I mumbled.

“Yes, lady,” she said apologetically. “The moon begins its climb.”

I ran my hands over my face. “Look away a moment, will you please?” The glistening black ball of ants on their sisal rope caught my eye. “And stand between me and them,” I instructed her. Mayhap the ants could not see in truth, but their faceted eyes disconcerted me, and I did not want their blind gaze upon me.

Machasu obeyed.

I summoned the twilight. It came with a gentle rush, embracing and easeful, softening the world into muted hues.

“Lady?” Machasu glanced around with sudden alarm, finding me vanished.

“I am here,” I said, willing her to hear me. “All is well. Rest, and be calm. When you awake, I will have returned.”

She drew a shuddering breath. “What magic is this?”

“Mine,” I said. “And it will not harm you.”

The trek across the terraces to the far side of the mountain took the better part of an hour, but it was the first time I’d made it alone, free from the ever-present stream of ants. I sensed Bao’s wakeful presence in the distance, his diadh-anam quickening as mine drew nigh. There were a handful of thatched huts at the foot of the field.

When I entered the one that contained Bao, he sat upright, wedged on the floor between a pair of slumbering D’Angelines.

A sisal rope like the one in my bedchamber hung from the rafters of the hut, and its ball of nesting ants began to stir.

“Be still,” I whispered to Bao.

He nodded.

I breathed the twilight over him, encompassing him. The ants settled. I held out my hand to Bao, beckoning.

He threaded his way deftly through sleeping figures in the hut. “Moirin,” he breathed, wrapping his arms around me.

Safe.

Raphael was wrong, so wrong! There was nothing dull about the feeling, nothing at all. I buried my face against Bao’s throat, reveling in the comfort of his presence. Although I wanted it to last forever, I knew it could not. “Come with me, will you?” I made myself say. “Cusi is waiting.”

Reluctantly, Bao released me. “Lead on.”

By the time we made our way back to the city, the moon was standing high overhead, silvery-dim in the twilight. The door to the Temple of the Sun was unlocked, opening to our touch.

Inside, there was a faint gasp as the door opened onto apparent nothingness. Ocllo and Cusi and several of the other Maidens of the Sun awaited us around the sacred fire, its flames burning silver-white. Their gazes darted all around the temple as I closed the great door softly behind us.

All save Cusi’s. She was gazing directly at Bao as though she could see him despite the twilight, and I wondered if it were true, if by dint of her choice,