Even thin from the weight she’d lost, her glorious eyes shuttered, her bright hair dull and lifeless, she still took Blayne’s breath away. He stroked the deep red kuruvinda pendant he’d given her when he’d first Promised to her, and adjusted its position on her breastbone.
The healers had wanted him to remove the rare, extremely valuable pendant when she’d first been brought to the Healing Hall. It got in the way when they tended to her, they said. But she’d never once taken it off since he’d given it to her—not even to bathe—and he hadn’t been able to bear the thought of her without it. So far as he was concerned she could take it to her grave.
The healers hadn’t quibbled about the opalescent ring she wore, however. The ring was a prison for the being that had once possessed Romana. Even if it had been able to be removed—which it couldn’t unless Hope consciously willed it so—none of the healers would touch it for reasons that went beyond mere superstition and rumor. It was beautiful in a way that made people uncomfortable, as though they could sense that the evil captured within had tainted it. And the ambre earrings Varaya had given her were safely stored in his belt-pouch, along with the rings that had belonged to her parents. He’d give them to her when she woke.
It wouldn’t be long now.
He watched the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest and thanked the Dayamari gods, the gods of Earth, and every other deity in existence, that her sleep was a true sleep now. Through his link to her he’d known the exact moment Rowan and Ryley had brought her back—the moment her mind had healed and she’d crawled from the dark abyss that had claimed her.
Her eyelids fluttered. She blinked once. Again. And then her eyelids stayed open and she focused on his face.
“Hello, you.” He smoothed the stray locks of hair back from her temples.
She cleared a throat hoarse from disuse. “Blayne.”
“How do you feel?”
“Weak.” She struggled to sit.
“Hey. Easy, now.” He supported her into a sitting position with an arm around her back. “You’ve been unconscious for a week. Are you sure you feel up to this?”
She rubbed her eyes and then she frowned. “Blayne.”
“Yes, dearling?”
“Something’s wrong with me.”
His stomach lurched. No. Please gods, after all she’s been through, don’t do this to us. His heart was racing in his chest and he willed himself to speak with a calmness he didn’t feel. “What’s do you mean wrong?”
She smiled tremulously at him. “I can see, Blayne.”
He jerked back from her, uncomprehending. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that I can physically see. You. This room. Everything. I can see.”
The man in him wanted to snatch her up and dance around the room. The healer in him remained skeptical. He held up three fingers. “How many fingers am I holding up?”
“Three.”
“And now?”
Her smile was radiant. “Seven. And four. Satisfied?”
Her beautiful golden eyes focused directly on his face and he couldn’t dispute the truth any longer. He realized he was shaking like a healer alone with his first patient. “How… how do you think this could have happened?”
“I don’t know. Nor do I care. I can see, Blayne! I can see.”
He gathered her into his arms, holding her while she cried. And although he gave thanks to the gods for this precious gift, a part of him quailed at the price that would be demanded in exchange for this miracle. There was always a price. Always. But hadn’t they’d both sacrificed enough?
In the crystal-clear water of the viewing pond deep in the heart of their Realm, the four Dayamari gods viewed the touching scene taking place. Marc turned to Wisa with raised eyebrows. “Well? Was it a good surprise or not?”
She surprised him by hauling him into a hug and burying her nose in his tunic. “Oh, yes,” came her muffled response. “It was the best surprise I’ve ever had. Ever!”
He patted her back as she sobbed.
“Very good, Marc.” Shikari clapped him on the shoulder.
“What he said,” Kunnandi said.
Marc beamed like an idiot. And his smile lasted until Wisa used his t-shirt to blow her nose.
Kunnandi shook his head in mock despair. “You always have to have the last word, don’t you, Wisa?”
“I can’t help it,” she said. “I was willed into existence this way.”
~~~
Maya knocked hesitantly on the door to the private quarters attached to the Sehani Hall. “Shhh.” She soothed the fretful infant in her arms. “We’re meeting your Great-Aunty Hope. Won’t that be exciting?” Rynna discovered her thumb and began sucking it with enthusiasm. “It’ll be even more exciting than your thumb,” Maya assured her.
Blayne answered the door. “Maya!” He hugged her, careful of her burden, and ushered her inside. “How are you?”
“I’m doing all right, Blayne. I’m coping fine.” And to her astonishment she discovered it was the truth.
Blayne bent to scrutinize the tiny bundle in her arms. “And who’s this little beauty?” He chucked her under the chin and Rynna grinned gummily at him.
“Rynna, meet your Great-Uncle Blayne.”
He visibly winced. “That makes me feel positively ancient, Maya.”
Maya smothered a snort. He appeared no older than his fourth decade but he was older than she. Self-consciously she patted her graying hair. “Like you’ve got anything to complain about.”
He fixed her with his healer’s eyes—eyes that although brown and not Sehani-gold saw far more than Maya was comfortable with him seeing. “And Cayl?” he asked.
“He’s… okay. Most of the time. He misses her dreadfully. As do I. If we didn’t have Rynna to dote on, I think we’d both be a mess.” She nuzzled the baby’s downy-soft cheek. “He wanted me to tell you he’ll visit soon. When he’s ready.”
Blayne nodded and she knew he understood what she wasn’t saying. Blayne, too, had lost a daughter once. And even though he’d known she still lived, the pain had almost been too much for him to bear. And as for their son Aryn…. Maya shook her head. If anyone deserved some happiness in their lives it was these two.
“She’s in there, Maya.” Blayne gestured toward the sleeping quarters. “She’s still weak but she really wants to see you. Thank you for coming. It means a lot to her.”
She pushed past the drape.
Hope reclined on a heap of cushions, her nose deep in some dry-as-dust historical tome. Maya shuddered, and stalked over to pluck the book from her blood-sister’s hands. She glanced at the title and groaned. “History of the Establishment of the Elders? Gods’ grief, Hope. Haven’t you got anything more exciting to read?”
Her blood-sister and best friend laughed. “You’ve no idea how exciting it is to be able to read a book at all, Maya. Any book will do.” She sat up, peering at the bundle Maya held in the crook of one arm. “Is this little Rynna?”
“Yes. This is my granddaughter. Would you like to hold her?”
Eagerness lit Hope’s face. “Please.”
Maya transferred her precious burden to Hope’s arms, watching carefully to ensure the baby’s head was supported correctly. But Hope seemed to be a natural. Her expression was rapt with wonder as she cradled the infant. She caressed Rynna’s cheek with a gentle knuckle. “Oh Maya, she’s beautiful.”
Maya’s heart squeezed tight as she abruptly realized that Hope had never physically seen any of her own babies. And Maya felt very grateful to be a normal woman right then—even one in her twilight years. “How are you, Hope?”
“Oh… I’m fine. Yumanos and Chryss think I’ll recover full use of my Sehani powers in time. But you know what?”
She already knew just from looking at Hope’s face, but she played the game and asked anyway. “What?”
“I don’t really care. I’m happy to be alive. I’m happy to have my sight. Ryley has been reunited with his soul mate. Romana is well again. If Blayne and I could be left alone to grow old together I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
“I know exactly what you mean.”
Hope tore her glance away from Rynna’s enticing baby features to focus on Maya.
Oh no. Here it comes. She braced herself.
“I’m so sorry about Merryn. If we hadn’t all gone rushing off to kill the wyverna perhaps Ryley could have—”
Maya cut her off with a sharp gesture. “No. Don’t you dare blame yourself. You’ve been through enough, you hear me?”
Hope’s eyes filled with tears. She cuddled the baby to her chest and her gaze slid away. “I can See her,” she whispered. “She invades my dreams. And Romana’s, too. She hasn’t passed on. Something holds her here, binding her to this plane of existence.”
Maya’s insides twisted into a knot. “Merryn?”
“Yes. She can’t rest.”
Sweet Wisa. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. I tried to help her pass on to the spiritual world but she resisted. I couldn’t help her, Maya. She pushed me away.” She choked back a sob as her chin lifted and those drowning golden eyes focused on Maya again. “But at least she bears me no ill-will. She haunts Romana. Literally.”
Maya sank to the edge of the bed and covered her mouth with a hand. “But we buried her two days ago. Hopian presided over the ceremony and he preformed all the rituals correctly. What more can we do?”
“I think I know how to help her. If you’ll let me.”
“Whatever it takes, Hope. Please.”
Hope handed Rynna back and Maya cuddled the baby close, rocking her more for her own comfort than Rynna’s.
“Marc, we need you!” Hope called softly. And then added as an afterthought. “Now.”
The young god appeared so abruptly at the foot of the bed that even though Maya had been expecting him she jumped. “You called?” he said.
“I did.” Hope smiled at him. “It’s good to see you again, Marc.”
“Likewise.”
“You didn’t have anything to do with Hope’s miraculous cure, did you, Marc?” Maya asked.
“Me? Uh uh.” He shook his head. “I’m in enough trouble about Rowan.”
“Hmmm.” Maya narrowed her eyes at him.
“You don’t believe me. Ohhh, gutted.” He flung the back of one hand against his forehead and mimed swooning.
“Oh, please,” Hope said, rolling her eyes ceiling-ward.
Marc laughed. “Look ladies, as much as I’d love to take credit for curing Hope’s blindness you can blame Rowan and Ryley for that one.”
“Really?” Hope sounded doubtful.
“Exposing Rowan to the spore did more than transform her into a Sehan with an affinity for healing. According to Kunnandi, the way she links with Ryley is a natural human evolution that shouldn’t have occurred for another century or three.” The young god grinned. “Hence why I’m so deep in the shit right now. Anyway, when Ryley and Rowan linked together and looked inside you, they discovered you’d always had the ability to see things as normal humans did. You just didn’t want to. So they kinda made you want to.”
Hope’s jaw dropped, and Maya found her own mouth gaping, too. She snapped it shut. And then opened it again to ask, “Are you saying that all these years Hope’s blindness was purely psychological?”
“What she said,” Hope murmured.
“Yep. That’s what I’m saying.”
“Cervida-shit!” Maya said. And then glanced at her granddaughter. “You didn’t hear me say that, by the way.”
Marc shrugged. “Whatever. But she can see now, right? And that’s all that matters.”
Hope rubbed her eyes with her knuckles and blinked at him owlishly. “Right. I’ll have to think about that for a while and get back to you. In the meantime, I’d like your help with another matter.”
“Of course. What’s the problem?”
“Merryn.”
Marc’s lips compressed to a bloodless white line and his open expression became shuttered. “I can’t bring her back to life, if that’s what you’re asking.”
Maya shook her head. “As much as I’d give my own life for that to happen, I wouldn’t ever ask that of you, Marc.”
He sagged with what she suspected was relief and her heart went out to him. He’d loved Merryn, too. This wasn’t going to be easy for him. “Hope says her spirit hasn’t moved on. Something binds it to this earthly plane. And she’s haunting people. Can you help her, Marc? Please?”
All the brash confidence had vanished and before her stood a desolate young man who didn’t resemble a god in any way, shape or form. “I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe.”
“Will you try?” she asked. “You loved her so much.”
“I still love her.” His voice was rough with grief that hadn’t eased. “She was my first true love. I… I thought the reason I couldn’t find her in the afterlife was because she didn’t want me to find her.”
Hope leaned forward, gazing at him intently. “Call her to you, Marc.”
His face crumpled. “I don’t know how to do that yet.”
“Just think about how you feel and call her spirit, Marc. Ask it to follow you home.”
Maya rose from the edge of the bed and approached him. She reached out to squeeze his hand. “I believe in you Marc. You’re the only one who can do this.”
“Thank you,” he whispered. And then he disappeared.
Maya opened her mouth but Hope held a finger to her lips. “Shh. Listen.”
Merryn, are you there, sweetheart? Marc’s voice echoed softly in Maya’s mind.
Marc…. The reply was a breathy sigh brimming with longing and loss.
You need to rest, Merryn. You can’t be with me if you don’t pass onward. Come with me, sweetheart. Leave all this pain and hurt behind and come with me. It’s time to rest.
Yes… rest now… with you… forever.
“She’s ready now,” Marc’s voice said aloud. “I’ll make sure she’s happy in the spirit world, Maya. I promise.”
“Goodbye, dearling,” Maya whispered. Your father and I love you.”
Love you, too… Tell Romana… I’m sorry… so sorry….
A flurry of warm air caressed Maya’s cheek like a phantom kiss.
“She’s gone,” Hope said. “Marc will take care of her now.”
Hot tears trickled down Maya’s cheeks. Someone—Blayne—entered the room and gently plucked Rynna from her unresisting arms. And then, through her tears, Maya saw that Hope was holding out her arms. Blayne gave her a little push and Maya scrambled onto the bed and let her best friend hold her while they both cried.
~~~