Decima: Two Hold - Chapter 17 - A'mara Books

17

(Tharnday, cont.)

Tranas A’mara Retreat

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Varice spent more time dressing than usual. Most of the time, she dressed practically, but today, she put on a flattering long dress in blue swirls that went well with her light blue Narcía cloak with the abári fringe. She was glad of her station which notionally put her at an almost equal status with Fain. Not that equality of rank was required in order to bond with another A’mara – or non-A’mara, but maybe it would make her ideas worth more in his eyes.

He’d as good as agreed to sleep with her. Once. To produce a child, in order to get her kidnapped – to find out what the Empress wanted with pregnant women. He’d agreed to stay with her and help her raise the child. But he’d also pointed out that feelings weren’t part of it. It would be a contractual agreement only.

She’d wanted him since she met him on Çtarest. And now, she could have him.

Why did it weigh on her heart so heavily?

She left her quarters and was halfway down the hall before she realized that she was on her way to seek out the stella, Auraka.

Indeed, the aged woman was just going back into her quarters after obtaining an early breakfast, if Varice had to guess.

“Abári, you came to see me?” Auraka stated more than asked. She looked Varice up and down. She nodded her head. “Come in. I’ll see what we can do.”

Varice had always wondered how the woman knew so much from looking her patients up and down, but then, she supposed normal leya-sensitivity looked strange to outsiders. It was the reason why the Empress had got away with such crazy laws – because sometimes people were intimidated by those who could do so much more than they.

“Please sit down. May I get you some tea?” Auraka offered.

“No thanks. I wasn’t planning on staying very long.”

“Ah… Yes, I understand. Your heart is very heavy this morning… heavy with confusion.”

“What do I do, stella?” Varice asked, feeling the fullness of her state of being.

“You are worried for your daughter. I definitely see that… If my daughters were still young, I would worry too – that’s the job of being a mother.”

“Do you think Vinnia is dead? Like they said at the hospital?”

“Dead? Good grief! No, she’s not dead. Of that, I am certain.”

“In danger then?”

“I don’t think she’s in danger either. Just because someone is missing, it doesn’t mean they are in danger.”

“Why do they want her?”

“That’s a better question. Who is going missing?”

“Pregnant women… That’s why I’m considering…,” she stopped herself. The whole thing sounded ridiculous.

“Why?” the stella asked.

“Presumably the Empress wants the children for something.”

“I’m sure of that. That’s why I’m certain Vinnia isn’t in danger. But I was asking you why you think your plan is ridiculous.”

“It’s wrong, that’s why! Fain was right. He made a mistake when he slept with Oleana.”

“Except his children were in grave danger. He’s right as well that they would probably have died. As much as the Empress wants the children for her own selfish purposes, she also needs her enemies dead… Fain’s two sons, his daughter… his daughter-in-law and her unborn… they were all in grave danger.”

“He doesn’t see his actions as justified,” Varice replied.

“And that’s something you can help him with. He’s still grieving the loss of his wife.”

“But I don’t want to trap him into a loveless marriage. He will stand by my side, he’s said it… but he also said that emotions weren’t any part of it.”

“And when you kissed him?”

“How did you know that I kissed him?!”

“It’s there – in your aura. What happened when you kissed him?”

“He kissed me back. Properly.”

“So, maybe he does love you, but he’s afraid that if he loves you it minimizes the love he has for his late wife. She was an amazing woman, by the way. I got to meet her once when she was expecting her daughter… Hrista. The pregnancy almost killed her, so she protected that child more than the boys.”

“Fain regrets leaving her on Irola.”

“Fain could no more have made Hraeva leave Irola than he could have made the Empress accept A’mara again!” Auraka replied. “Her fierce independence was one of the things that endeared her to him, but it was the thing that broke his heart long before she died.”

Varice felt the tears in her eyes.

“He needs you,” Auraka assured. “Your window of opportunity is here. Trust that the Guardians have guided you to him at precisely the right time to make him fall in love with you. He doesn’t think anyone gets true love more than once in their lives, but you have the chance to prove him wrong in that too.”

“You’re saying that I need to push him?”

“Just that little bit,” Auraka replied. “That which you haven’t said tells me that you know exactly what I mean… He doesn’t need much more than simple encouragement – and the confidence that you know what you’re doing. You don’t want to wait until the trail after Anney grows cold.”

“You’re saying she’s going to be taken?”

“Those who took Vinnia know who she is. The temptation to grab Anney – and then you – will be too great to resist.”

“And Decima?”

“Is a cover story. Yes, there is a sickness that we haven’t seen before. But those happen every year… We just don’t bother to name them. Decima is less dangerous than the others, actually. Those deaths are as you and Fain found… faked. And those who actually died didn’t die of Decima… like Hraeva Hollins… She was killed. An enemy of the Empire.”

“Thank you, stella,” Varice said getting up. “You’ve put things into perspective for me. I should have talked to you last night.”

The old woman smiled. “One last thing, abári.”

“Yes?”

“To bond with Fain is to put yourself in the sights of those who wish to kill him.”

“I’m not afraid of death. I’m more afraid of not living with the man I love.”

“Then he deserves you. In time, he will understand the truth.”