Elizabeth Haydon - Prophecy - Child of Earth

“Years later I did meet MacQuieth; it was quite by accident, really. And since he is a legendary hero in your lineage, I will spare you the details of how that occurred. I don’t want to dispel any of his mythos. I guess some things run in the family.”

Ashe laughed. “Could it be that your meeting had something in common with the way I, er, met Jo?”

She smiled sadly. “Well, in a way, yes,” she admitted, “but you were far nicer to Jo than he was to me. I asked him about you, and he said he had never seen you. And it was at that moment that I gave up; I knew that either you were dead, or a liar, but either way you weren’t coming back for me; and I would never see you again.

“But, as I said, that was years later. After a few days, when I could find no one who had even seen you, I decided to go home. Then I realized I didn’t even know where home was. The trip to Easton had taken several weeks, and I had no real knowledge of navigation then, and no horse. I always thought I would make it home someday, anyway.

“I needed money, so I sold the buttons; the silver buttons that matched the one I gave you.” He winced, remembering the excitement in her eyes, the pride on her face as she displayed them for him that night. “They brought a decent price, and that allowed me to live, at least for a little while; the money bought me shelter and food. But then the money ran out, and I had to find another way to support myself.

“At first I found work cleaning houses. I was a farm girl, and I knew at least how to do that well. But always something would happen. Sooner or later the master of the house and his wife would begin to argue about me, and sometimes he would even—” She turned away from him, crossing her arms and staring at the wall. The firelight reflected off the shimmering dress, casting shadows that undulated through the creases in the fabric, as though it sought to comfort her.

“Anyway, I would be out on the street again. And, unfortunately, there is a whole class of people who prey on young girls who are on the street. Then again, there are occasionally some who, while profiting from girls like me, also seek to protect them, and I was lucky enough to meet one of them, just before some of the more unsavory types moved in on me. Everyone called her Nana. She took me in, and wrapped her network of protection around me. All I had to do was—was—”

His voice was choked with pain. “Emily—”

“I guess I don’t need to spell it out for you, Sam. She sold me, often, I’m sorry to say. I wasn’t exactly the easiest commodity to sell; my body wasn’t womanly, my breasts small for the profession, and I didn’t help things by refusing to service married men. That severely limited my clientèle. Yet despite all the obstacles, she still managed to find work for me.”

Tears touched the corners of Ashe’s eyes. Easily, no doubt , he thought bitterly.

“I thought I wouldn’t care; nothing really mattered anymore, I was just marking my days. But I remember the first time,” she said, each word becoming softer “I was just fifteen. It had been a long time since you, and, well,

Nana was able to sell me as untouched. She expected I would bleed again, and she was right. I guess she got a much better price because of it. She would always give me a treat or small gift when that would happen later on, but then it was due to violence, not inexperience. The first time there was both. I tried to be brave, but in truth I cried all the way through it. I probably would have anyway, but the kind of man who is willing to pay extra for that particular privilege-She stopped when she heard a deep sob from behind her. A look of alarm shot across her face; she gathered her skirts and hurried to him, throwing her arms around his neck.

“Sam, I’m sorry; gods, I shouldn’t have told you. It’s all right, Sam, I’m all right. Oh, Sam, please don’t cry. I’m so sorry.”

He pulled her into his lap, burying his face in her shoulder as he wept. She held him to her heart until he calmed. At that moment she decided she would never again tell him anything about that time, locking the door in her memory. That was nothing , she thought ruefully. He would never survive hearing about the bad stuff .

“What is really ludicrous here,” he said when he could speak again, “is that you are comforting me . You’re the one who lived it, I’m the one who caused it.”

“That’s nonsense,” she said, dabbing his eyes gently with her skirt. “You had nothing to do with it. I’m the one who chose to run away. And it’s a good thing, too—the truth is if you had not come into my world, for however short a time, I never would have followed you. I would have spent my life, married to a farmer I didn’t love, never seeing the world you told me I would see, and have. I would have perished long before the Island sank; probably I would have died inside even before my body did. If you hadn’t come along, I wouldn’t be here now. You saved my life, Sam; think of it like that. Kyle hira . Life is what it is. Whatever we have suffered, at least we are together now.”

He pulled back and looked at her, sitting on his lap, holding his hands. The perfection of the image she had made earlier was gone; the dress was rumpled, her hair beginning to come down, but in the firelight she looked as close to angelic as anything he had ever seen.

“I was wrong,” he said, his voice quiet. “What you’ve told me does change the way I feel about you.” Rhapsody went pale. “If it is possible, it makes me love you even more.”

Relief flooded her face. “Gods, don’t scare me like that,” she scolded, slapping his arm lightly. Her face grew solemn. “But there is one more reason you might want to reconsider marrying me.”

“Impossible.”

“Sam—”

“No, Rhapsody.”

“I don’t know if I can give you children,” she blurted, her face growing pale again. “I think I’m barren.”

Ashe stroked her cheek gently. “Why do you think that?”

Rhapsody stared into the fire. “Nana used to give us an herb called Whore’s Friend, a leaf extract that prevented pregnancy and disease. I don’t know what, if anything, that has done to me inside. I have had none of that preventative in this land, but you and I have certainly made love often enough to have—”

He pulled her rapidly into this arms. “No, Aria; I’m sorry. I thought you knew. I’m a dragon, one of the Firstborn races. In order to sire a child, it would have had to be a conscious decision on my part, and, since you didn’t tell me you wanted me to—a wise choice, in my opinion, by the way—I haven’t done so.” Painful memory lingered in his eyes. “In fact, one of the greatest reasons for my despair about leaving you behind in the old world was that I never knew for certain whether you had become pregnant after our first night together.

“I had no control over it then. My dragon nature didn’t come out until much later, when the piece of the star was sewn into my chest. It was my first time, too—I was utterly lost to you, even then. So for all I knew, when I left you, you were with child. The thought of it almost killed me, imagining you alone and vulnerable, probably disgraced, in pain and frightened, with my daughter or son who I would never know. It was as if, in addition to the loss of the love of my life, my soulmate, I’d lost that child, too.” The hand that caressed her cheek trembled slightly.

Rhapsody took his hand in hers and kissed it. “There was no child. Gods, Sam, I wished for so long that there had been, but it didn’t come to pass.”

His eyes sparkled sapphire-blue in the firelight. “I’m happy to hear you say that you wished for a child, because I very much look forward to granting that wish someday, when the land is safe and the F’dor is destroyed. I dream of it, in fact, and have, even before you gifted me with your love again. And you needn’t worry about your fecundity; it is I who have withheld progeny from you, not the other way around. It’s not a reflection on you, or your fertility, in any way. In fact, my senses say you’re fine.”