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all."
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"But I have "
My father reached out and caught Devin's right wrist. By the look in Devin's
eyes I knew the grasp was firm. "Call for it now," Lochiel commanded.
"Summon it to you. Let the power fill you com-
pletely, and you will see what you must know."
Devin was tense. "I have tried "
"Try again." Lochiel's tone was hard. "Do you forget I am with you?"
I saw the alteration in Devin's eyes. He did in-
deed reach for it. but clumsily. I held my breath, knowing what my father
intended to do.
Devin cried out. Wonder filled his face so that his eyes glowed with it, and
then the light was extinguished. He cried out again, this time as if in pain,
and fell to his knees even as my father re-
A TAPSSTKY OF Uoivs
44S
leased his wrist. His breathing was loud. "You would have have me be that ?"
Lochiel looked down upon him. "That is what you are. It is what I desire of
you: power aug-
mented by service to the god, and a perfect obedi-
ence. Not powerlessness, Devin. Never that; more."
My father put a hand upon Devin's head. "To-
gether, with that power, we can tear down the
House of Homana and destroy the prophecy. Do you think I want a fool? Do you
think I desire a child? I need a man, Devin, who can augment my own strength.
A man to lie with my daughter and sire children for the Seker."
Devin still knelt. His face was drained by the knowledge of what he had felt,
of the power in my father. "How can I serve with such blankness within me?"
Lochiel smiled. "You are empty. It will pass. We will see to it you are
filled. The god himself will do it." He looked at me and smiled, then
stretched out his hand. "Take my daughter. Get a son upon her. The wedding
shall follow when I am certain she has conceived." He put our hands together,
flesh against flesh.
I could look at no one save Devin. My father's voice became a part of the
chamber, like a chair or a hanging; one did not acknowledge such things when
Devin was in the room.
His eyes burned brilliant green. His spirit could not contain the avidity of
his desire.
No more than I could mine.
"There is no need to wait," Lochiel said. "Much is lost, in waiting. The Wheel
of Life is turning; if we do not stop it soon, our own lives will end."
Four
We had blown out the candles and now lay abed, delighting in discovery.
Devin's breath warmed my neck. "What did he mean?" His mouth shaped the words
against my flesh. "Why do our lives end if the Wheel of Life keeps turning?"
"A Cheysuli thing ..." I turned my head to kiss his chin; to savor the taste
of his flesh. "Must we speak of this now?"
His laughter was soft, as were his fingertips as they cherished my flesh.
"Aye. You said you would teach me everything well, perhaps not this."
Indeed not this. It made me blush, to know my-
self so wanton. "I am not the one to speak " I
caught my breath short and bit into my lip as his hand grew more insistent,
" but it seems to me gods, Devin\ that with all the wits you have lost, you
did not forget this." I used his emphasis.
Devin laughed again: a rumble deep in his chest.
His hand moved to my breasts, tracing their con-
tours. His flesh was darker than mine I am Ihlini fair, and his eyes were
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green in place of my ice-
gray but our bones were similar. We Ihlini breed true.
His voice was vibrant. "A man forgets little in the way a body works in
congress with a woman."
"So it would seem." Our hips were sealed to-
gether. I turned toward him again, glorying in the feel of his flesh against
my own. "The Wheel of
446
A TWESTHY OF LlWS
447
Life is a Cheysuli thing. They speak in images.
often: the Wheel, the Loom, and so on. They are, if nothing else, a colorful
race." I traced the flesh of his chest, glad I could no longer count his ribs.
The muscle was firm again. I avoided the scar left over from the healed knife
wound. "This prophecy of theirs bids to end our people by making a new race.
The Firstborn. If we keep them from that, if we destroy the prophecy, their
Wheel will stop turning, and the world as we know it will continue
as it is."
"As it is?"
"Well as it should be. It will take time to turn them away from their gods.
They are ignorant people, all of them."
"The Cheysuli?"
It was difficult to concentrate as I explored his body. "And others- The
Homanans. The Ellasians.
The island savages." I touched his lips with my fingers. "Even the Solindish
must suffer it is a
Cheysuli warrior who holds the throne in Lestra."
"Heresy," he whispered; his tone was amused.
"So it is."
"And if we make a child, we can stop this
Wheel?"
"My father is convinced."
He turned then and put his hand on my belly, spreading his fingers. The warmth
of his palm was welcome. "Have we made it, then?"
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