“Stop, Ashi,” Jelena shook her head. “I don’t want to know. Whatever you did, it doesn’t matter now.”
“But it does. I betrayed you, and even though I did it to escape my captivity, it still tears me up inside! No. I have no right…” He fell silent, his face suffused with pain. After a few heartbeats, he whispered, “I don’t blame you…or him, I swear. You believed me lost to you forever. And if I really were dead, I would want you to move on and find love again.”
“Ashi, you are the only man…”
“ Shhh… my love. Just hold me.”
“Ashi…”
“ Shhhh ,” Ashinji breathed against her neck. Jelena could once again feel the heat of his arousal, and her own body’s powerful response. The words she wanted so much to say evaporated in the fire of their rising passion.
All guilt fell away as they lost themselves within each other. Their bodies had not forgotten, despite the long, cruel separation.
At the moment of climax, when her consciousness at last merged with his, Jelena’s mind cried out in wonder as the full light of Ashinji’s Talent lay revealed to her. When she had last seen it, it had looked wan and pale, like a candle flame at dawn.Something profound had occurred during the time of their separation, for now it shimmered with a multihued complexity that defied description. Jelena did not question the change, not yet, for her mind and body still rode the wave of sexual union.
Afterward, they rested, still joined in mindlink, savoring the rekindled flame of their love. Eventually, the sweet lassitude that comes after lovemaking ushered them both into sleep.
Sometime later, Jelena awoke from a dream in which she looked down upon Ashinji cradling her body in his arms, weeping. She shivered with dread and shifted to look at her husband sleeping beside her. He lay on his stomach and she noted the pale puckered scar above his right hip marking the place where another slave’s knife had nearly taken his life yet again.
Thank all the gods Magnes was there to save him that time!
She reached out to touch him, a little afraid he would disappear, chimera-like, into thin air, leaving her alone and heartbroken once again. When her fingers met warm flesh, she sighed with relief.
Ashinji awoke to her touch, almost as if he had not been asleep at all, but rather, waiting for her to stir. He rolled onto his side and pulled her close, his lips seeking hers for a drowsy kiss. She inhaled deeply, filling her nostrils with his unique scent, letting the feel of his body lull her back to sleep.
The raucous chatter of a pair of jays scolding each other below the bedroom window woke Jelena the next morning. She indulged in a full body stretch, luxuriating in the delicious comfort of the soft, warm bed. Shifting her head on the pillow, she gazed at Ashinji, snoring softly beside her.
Pressing her lips to his ear, she whispered, “Wake up, Husband. Your wife needs you.” Ashinji’s breath caught in his throat; he stopped snoring but remained asleep. “Wake up, Husband,” she whispered, louder this time. Ashinji’s eyes fluttered open and he smiled.
“Good morning, Wife. I still can’t quite believe I’m home in bed with you.” He caressed her cheek.
“You are home…in bed…with me.” She threw her leg over and straddled him, a wicked grin on her lips. “And now, I intend to make love to you until you beg for mercy.”
“That’ll never happen,” he growled as he twisted his fingers into her hair and pulled her down.
Later, as they lay dozing in each other’s arms, Jelena remembered what she had seen when her mind and Ashinji’s had joined last night.
“Ashi, your Talent, it’s changed,” she said. “It’s so much stronger now. How is that possible? I thought the amount of Talent an elf is born with is all he or she gets. A little or a lot…it doesn’t change. Was I wrong?”
“No, not really,” Ashinji replied. “The strength of my Talent hasn’t changed. It is as it’s always been, it’s just not blocked anymore.”
Jelena stared at him in confusion. “Someone blocked your Talent? I don’t understand. Who would do such a thing?”
“My mother.” Jelena both heard and felt her husband’s anger.
Why would Amara purposefully deny her son his birthright?
Jelena propped herself on an elbow and Ashinji followed suit. “How did you discover the block and how did you manage to overcome it?” she asked. “Your mother is a very powerful sorceress.”
“Gran discovered it and told me, but my mother did such a good job, not even Gran could break it.” Ashinji paused, as if remembering something painful. “I broke through on my own. It happened when I saw that slave catcher kill Seijon, the hikui boy we brought out of Darguinia with us. My rage was so great, it just blew through the barrier. I killed two of the slavers before I even had time to think.”
“I’m so sorry about Seijon, and I’m sorry it happened the way it did, but I’m glad you’ve regained what’s rightfully yours.” Jelena shook her head. “Why would your mother deny you something so important?”
“I asked her once why every second-born Sakehera was always pledged to the sovereign’s service,” Ashinji replied. “She said it was tradition. It had always been so, and it would always be thus. She advised me to learn acceptance. Ai, Goddess! I was so angry and frustrated.” He paused, and Jelena remained silent, waiting.
“My mother knew how much I wanted a different life,” Ashinji continued, “but she also knew my father would never break with his family’s tradition, nor she with hers. She would have known, even before I was born, the strength of my Talent, but only the females of her line are trained in high magic. So, she did the only thing she thought she could. I understand that now, though it doesn’t make me any less angry.”
Not until now did Jelena truly understand just what the block placed on Ashinji’s Talent in childhood had deprived him of. Her soul rejoiced at its unbinding.
They both lay back down and for a time, neither one spoke. At last, Jelena broke the silence.
“Ashi, how much do you know about the Ritual of Sundering?”
Ashinji frowned and propped himself up again to look at her. “Are you sure you wish to talk about this now, love?” His green eyes had grown somber.
Jelena nodded. “Yes, I’m sure. Tell me what you know.”
“The magical energy you harbor must be released from you in a controlled manner and recaptured into a new vessel, and the only way to release it is to…” He fell silent and turned his face away from her.
“To what, Ashi?” Jelena had never known Ashinji to lie, but she could sense he wanted very much to keep something from her. “What, Ashi?” she repeated. She grabbed his chin and pulled until he had to look at her.
“Did the Kirians not tell you?” he asked softly.
“Tell me what?” Jelena searched his eyes, then said, “If you mean about the danger to my life…yes, they told me, but I’ve been preparing for months! My Talent’s strong, or as strong as it can be.” She kissed him. “Your mother and the other Kirians will protect me.”
Ashinji sighed and fixed his gaze on the whitewashed ceiling. Jelena rested her head against his shoulder.
There’s something else he knows and isn’t telling me , she thought, something he’s terrified of. Gods, what could it be?
For now, she felt unwilling to push him.
Now is our time to just be together, as husband and wife.