Naamah's Blessing - By Jacqueline Carey Page 0,184

them, there will be no suspicion. Will he do so?”

“I think so.”

Her eyes glinted beneath wrinkled lids. “You must make it so!”

I took a deep breath. “Then I shall.”

“Good.” Iniquill gave an approving nod. “The Maidens of the Sun weave the wool of the vicuña for the garments of nobles. Tomorrow, we will provide you with fine clothing so that the priests do not doubt your men are in Lord Pachacuti’s favor.”

“What of the ants that keep watch over my companions?” I asked. “They may not allow them to leave.”

“I do not think they do so any longer, lady,” Machasu offered. “Lord Pachacuti has greater purposes for his black river now. They guard him and they keep anyone from leaving the city, but not from moving about within it.”

“You’re right,” I said. “They do, don’t they? That was clever of you to notice.”

Machasu flushed with pleasure. “Thank you, lady.”

“So it is decided?” the high priestess Iniquill inquired.

My palms were sweating, and I rubbed them on my knees. “It is a great deal to arrange in one day, my lady.”

Her dark gaze was implacable. “I can give you no more aid than I have offered. If you are right, if we are all right and have read the signs correctly, it shall be as the ancestors willed it. I suggest you make an offering to them tomorrow. If we are wrong…” Her age-hunched shoulders rose and fell. “I fear we shall pay the price, every last one of us.” Her gaze settled on Cusi, softening with compassion. “And for some, it will be terrible.”

It was not exactly comforting.

In the chamber I shared with Machasu and a handful of other maidens, I drifted in and out of another night of restless sleep, my mind sifting through the myriad details I must accomplish on the morrow. I tossed and turned on my narrow pallet, shifting my body this way and that in a quest for comfort, avoiding the thought that troubled me most.

My oaths.

In all this time, I had still not found a way to resolve that conflict—and I was fast running out of time.

“You must gather stones from the river, Moirin,” Jehanne’s sweet, lilting voice informed me.

I opened my eyes. “What?”

She was perched on the edge of my pallet, her legs tucked beneath her. “Is that not how you discovered it was done? Warding a place within your twilight?”

I glanced around wildly. “Jehanne!”

“Hush.” Jehanne touched my cheek. “I am here. Did I not tell you I would be here at the end?”

“Aye, but—”

“Aye, aye, aye,” she mocked me, leaning forward to kiss my lips. “Do not be alarmed, my beautiful girl. I am here, but you do but dream yet. It will not wake the others. You must gather stones from the river and anoint them with your blood, placing them in Raphael’s quarters so that you might invoke your magic. It is the only way I may come through and speak to him.”

My eyes stung. “Can you turn him from his course?”

“I can but try,” Jehanne said gravely. “I fear it may be too late. But at the least, I mean to free you from his oath. Call my name. It is all you need do.” She kissed me again. “Trust me.”

“Jehanne!”

I startled awake. I could still feel Jehanne’s kiss lingering on my lips, the scent of her perfume in the air.

For the first time in many long days, hope stirred in my breast. Jehanne had saved me from Raphael’s ambition before. If anyone could do it again, it was her.

Although it was not yet dawn, I rose and dressed. Summoning the twilight, I slipped forth from my quarters, taking with me the satchel that contained the wurari poison and the thorns wrapped in a length of fabric.

Following the pull of Bao’s diadh-anam, I walked unseen through the streets of Qusqu. As the course through the city was not so straightforward as the bond between Bao and me, it took me several false turns and sojourns into blind alleys before I found the humble dwellings on the outskirts of the city where Bao and the others were lodged. The sun was rising in the east. In the twilight, it painted the snow-capped mountains beyond Qusqu with a mantle of pale silvery flame.

I stepped over the threshold of the dwelling that held Bao and a dozen others. Fast asleep, he had not sensed my approach. His face was serene and beautiful in sleep, but I could see the bright shadow that limned