Naamah's Blessing Read Online Free PDF

stories to tell, haven’t you?”
    I thought of the long history that unfurled behind the shining wake of the ship that had brought us to these shores; of the bronze cannons of the Divine Thunder booming on the battlefield, our princess Snow Tiger dancing on the precipice of a cliff with an arrow in each hand, brave Tortoise blown into a smoking crater.
    Of the dragon in flight, summoning the thunderstorms; of the vast blue sky unfolding above the Tatar steppe.
    Of Vralia and chains, scrubbing the endless tiles of the floor of a Yeshuite temple. The Patriarch of Riva’s creamy smile, and my sweet boy Aleksei’s reluctant heroism, until he became a hero in truth.
    Of Bao tossing and turning in sweat-soaked sheets in the Rani’s palace, purging the poppy-sickness from every pore and orifice.
    Of Jagrati seated in the throne-room of Kurugiri, the black fire of Kamadeva’s diamond at her throat, glaring at me through the twilight while the Rani Amrita stood between us, her hands raised in a warding
mudra
.
    “Oh yes, we’ve stories to tell,” I murmured to my father. “And I daresay you’ll not believe half of them.”
    He inclined his head to me. “I will try.”

FIVE

    T o his everlasting credit, my father
did
try to believe and understand.
    I could not blame him for struggling with it.
    Even to me, who had lived through it, the tale Bao and I told seemed like a child’s fable.
    “Enough,” I said at length. “There will be time aplenty to tell the whole of it. Tell me, Father, what passes here in Terre d’Ange? I was surprised to learn you’ve become involved in politics.”
    He gave a graceful shrug and spread his hands. “Not involved, not really. Rogier asked me to provide a shoulder on which to lean, a willing ear to listen without judgment. As I think you came to know, it is one of the most important aspects of serving as a royal companion. You would have done the same for Jehanne if she’d asked it.”
    I was silent.
    “Ah, gods!” My father looked stricken. “Forgive me, Moirin. That was uncommonly thoughtless of me.”
    “No, it’s all right.” I fidgeted with my bangles. “Do people… does everyone blame me for her death?”
    “Of course not!” His reply was swift. “Why would you even think it?”
    “Moirin blames herself,” Bao murmured.
    I shook my head. “It’s not that simple. I couldn’t have chosenotherwise. But I cannot escape the knowledge that Raphael and I could have saved her if I had stayed. And… folk look askance at me. They must know it, too.”
    My father steepled his fingers, touching them to his lips. “Moirin, I’ll not pretend there wasn’t a good deal of speculation surrounding your departure,” he said slowly. “And there’s bound to be the same surrounding your return. You’re a child of the Maghuin Dhonn. That alone is cause for suspicion. It always was. Given the history of our people, it cannot be helped.”
    I looked away. “I know.”
    My mother’s folk were wild and reclusive, and all that was known of them in Terre d’Ange was that the bear-witches of the Maghuin Dhonn possessed dire magic, even if it was no longer true.
    “If you had stayed, it would be different,” my father said gently. “Those who came to know you came to love you. And they will again. Give them time to acquaint themselves with you once more, time to forget tales of summoning demons, and remember that you were the one who coaxed Jehanne de la Courcel into going forty days without making a chambermaid weep.” He smiled. “Do you suppose you could manage to avoid causing a scandal for a month or so?”
    I gave a reluctant smile in reply. “I’ll try.” Taking a deep breath, I confronted another prospect I didn’t relish. “I should pay my respects to King Daniel on the morrow, shouldn’t I?”
    He nodded. “It would be the proper thing to do.”
    The three of us talked long into the evening, and then my father departed to return to the Palace, with a promise