After weeks of silence Magon returned, true to her word. Charlon had been in the birthing tent mixing a tonic for a woman with intense morning sickness when the goddess spoke to her. She could not see Magon, but the goddess’s voice rang clearly in Chalon’s head.
Do you still serve me loyally, Charlon?
Charlon threw herself to the deck. “Yes, goddess. My allegiance is yours. I have done as you asked. I have served as a midwife. Will you take me back to the Vespara?”
Soon. But first I have two tasks for you.
“Anything, goddess.”
The first is simple. I have learned that Sâr Trevn Hadar will soon be on his way to this ship. When he arrives, call on me. We must do whatever it takes to keep him preoccupied aboard the Rafayah.
Charlon bowed low. “It will be as you say, Great Goddess. And the second task?”
The woman Mielle Allard is on this ship. Have you seen her?
Charlon stiffened. “Yes.” She had come with Prince Wilek’s guardsman. The scarred one. Thankfully neither of them had ever seen Charlon’s real face. “She does not know who I am.”
She has a friend who is pregnant.
“Her name is Kellah. She will give birth any day now.”
You must be there when the child is born. That child is the Deliverer.
The words stabbed deeply. “What?” Charlon couldn’t believe it. Felt like she was falling. Hope destroyed. “I am not the Mother after all?”
Fear not. You will be Mother once you claim the child as your own.
“But I thought . . . You told me I would carry the child myself.”
You failed, Charlon, but I have rewarded your faithfulness. You will soon see that as the Mother of the Deliverer, you will be blessed more than the child’s birth mother.
Charlon did not understand. But she would not question. Not today. “Whatever you ask, Great Goddess, I will do.”
Once the Deliverer is in your arms, use your magic to set sail for the Vespara, which will be nearby. Take the child before Mreegan, claim it as your own flesh, and stand before all of Magonia as Mother.