Sonoe moved over to stand beside the princess. “Perhaps if we tried…” she began.
Ashinji took Jelena’s hand and led her toward the doors, out of earshot of Sonoe’s suggestion. They sat down and Jelena snuggled against him, laying her head on his shoulder. Ashinji could feel his backside going numb with cold, but he ignored the petty discomfort.
They sat in silence for a time, concealed by the darkness, their arms locked about each other. At last, Ashinji spoke. “You don’t know how much I want to get up and run as fast as I can from this place, get you away from here to somewhere safe.” All of the anger, pain, sorrow, and fear he had, until this very moment, managed to keep in check, now clamored to break free.
“I do know, my love,” Jelena replied, almost too softly to hear. “But we both know we can’t. We have to do this, for our daughter, so she can live.”
Ashinji removed a glove so he might caress Jelena’s face and feel the softness of her cheek. A rush of desire, so powerful it made him dizzy, swept through him. He pressed his lips hard against hers, feeling as though he would drown in the sweet ecstasy of her taste. “I want to make love to you so badly right now,” he whispered.
“Then do,” she replied then wiggled onto his lap. Freeing her hands of her own gloves, she began pulling at the laces of his trousers.
“No, wait!” he gasped, grabbing her fingers. “We can’t!” His body shivered with swelling passion.
“Why not?” Jelena breathed into his ear.
“Because there’s not enough time!”
Jelena looked over her shoulder toward the altar where the four mages worked, then back at Ashinji. “They’ll just have to wait for us, then,” she declared, smiling.
With a groan, Ashinji surrendered.
Amara found them sitting by the doors, arms around each other, heads together, eyes closed. Regret, sharp as a serpent’s strike, stung her heart.
They look so innocent and beautiful, like two children asleep , she thought. For a moment, she wondered if she could somehow spare them the agonies to come.
No.
The sweet smell of incense tickled her nostrils.
All is prepared.
She felt a subtle shift in the energy of the room, a growing heaviness in the atmosphere, seeping up from below.
He knows, Goddess help us!
“Ashi…Jelena.” Ashinji’s eyes snapped open as if he had been waiting for her summons. He rubbed Jelena’s hands and kissed her eyelids until she woke. Amara waited until they had both gained their feet. She glanced at the altar where her fellow mages waited, then looked back at her son and daughter-in-law.
“It is time,” she said.
The Sundering
Arm in arm, they approached the altar where the other Kirians waited.
The last time Jelena and I stood before an altar was on our wedding day.
Ashinji felt himself losing his grip on his emotions; fiercely, he struggled to regain control.
I must not falter, not now!
Jelena walked with a firm, purposeful tread. Without hesitation or help, she stepped up to the polished black stone slab and lay down. Gran stood ready with a small cushion for her head. Ashinji took his place, standing at her side.
Jelena reached up and clasped his hand. “Don’t hesitate, Ashi,” she whispered.
He nodded, half-blinded by tears. She let go of his hand, undid the ties of her heavy jacket, and pushed the quilted wool aside. Loosening the laces at the neck of her tunic, she pulled down the thick fabric to expose the bare skin above her left breast.
The fog of their breath, mingled with incense smoke, wreathed the Kirians’ forms in a bluish haze. The mages looked like a quartet of spirits, called up from some otherworldly plane to perform an unfathomable, arcane task. They formed a circle around the altar, and Ashinji could feel their combined Talents enclosing them in a wall of protective energy.
The floor shuddered. Ashinji looked around apprehensively. “What was that?” he whispered.
“We must start now,” Taya said, ignoring him. She picked up a plain leather sheath and withdrew a knife, a double hand-span in length with a slight curve to the blade. Ashinji could tell, even without holding it, that the knife was very fine, well balanced and razor-sharp. The princess reversed the blade to lie along her forearm, then offered it to him, hilt-first. After a moment’s hesitation, he took it from her. At any other time, he would have appreciated the feel of such a finely crafted weapon, but now, he just wanted to hurl it away.
“Sonoe, activate the circle,” Taya directed. Sonoe turned and muttered a single word. The crystalline powder on the floor flared and burned with a white flame for several heartbeats. When the fire flickered out, a glowing, circular trace remained, like a thread of light carved into the stone itself. A shimmering haze sprang up from the trace and arched over their heads, enclosing them within a dome of magical energy.
The floor shook again. Ignoring the tremor, Taya looked down at Jelena and said in a commanding voice, “Open your mind to us now, Niece.” The great ruby hanging at her breast glowed like a blood-red star. She laid her hand on her niece’s forehead and Jelena’s eyelids drooped. Taya glanced at the other Kirians. “Follow me in,” she instructed. All four women closed their eyes.
Wracked with shivers, Ashinji could do naught but wait. The knife felt cold in his hand, and his mouth had gone so dry, he doubted he could speak beyond a croak if called upon.
Grab Jelena and run! Get out of here, now! his panicked, inner voice screamed, but the part of him that recognized duty and responsibility prevailed.
No, I can’t. I must see this through.
Impulsively, he sent his consciousness plunging in after the Kirians.
Jelena’s mind lay open, without any protective barriers to slow his entry. He dropped like a stone through water, pushing toward the blue light pulsing with each beat of her heart, nestled there at the center of her being.
It’s always been so beautiful , he thought, remembering when he had first seen the Key, in his earliest visions of Jelena, before he knew she truly existed in the flesh.
The four Kirians hovered over the Key like fireflies near a lamp. Ashinji moved closer, straining to discern their thoughts.
Ashi, get out at once! We need you to keep watch!
Amara’s mental command stung him like a whip. Ashinji considered defying his mother, then conceded that she was right. Reluctantly, he withdrew. He opened his eyes and sucked in the smoky air. The mages stood unmoving, hands at their sides, eyes shut. Ashinji had no choice but to wait.
He began to count.
When he had reached one hundred and fifty seven, all four Kirians opened their eyes simultaneously. Jelena stirred and moaned his name. Ashinji crouched so his lips could touch her ear.
“I’m right here, my love,” he whispered.
Her hand fluttered up to his cheek and she sighed, “Almost done now.” Ashinji looked up at Amara, a question in his eyes.
“We’ve soothed her, just enough so she won’t feel the full pain of the knife,” Amara explained. “We need her to be partially aware, so she can help to expel the Key from her body. She knows what she has to do.”
With gentle strokes, Ashinji ran his fingers through Jelena’s coiled locks.