Destiny's Lovers (31 page)

“We only have a moment or two,” Janina began,
intending to tell him how much she loved him. He interrupted her,
and she let him speak, recognizing the great effort it was taking
for him to get the words out, and knowing there must be something
important he wanted to say.

“I felt you slip away,” he whispered. “My
hands were numb from the cold. I couldn’t hold on to you any
longer. When you were gone, I wanted to die, too.” Janina saw tears
in his eyes.

“Tarik says I must have fought my way out of
the whirlpool and into a minor current that took me away and tossed
me ashore,” she told him.

“If Tank hadn’t found us, we would both
surely have died. And if Osiyar hadn’t had his vision of you
drowning, they never would have looked for us where we were.”

“Osiyar is here?”

Janina answered Reid’s question with brief
explanation.

“I cried out to Tamat,” Reid said. “Do you
suppose Osiyar heard me?”

“It is possible.” Janina bent down to kiss
him. Their tender moment was interrupted by a loud voice.

“You can’t keep me out, Herne, so don’t
try.”

The door to the sickroom opened and Alla
appeared. Janina drew away from Reid. She would not upset him by
quarreling with Alla in front of him. Behaving as though Janina was
not in the room, Alla went to Reid and took his hand, smoothing his
hair with her other hand as she kissed him.

“Herne says you will be better soon. Reid, I
never stopped believing you were alive. I knew we would find
you.”

“Thank you, Alla,” Reid said in a weak voice.
“Have you met Janina?”

Alla’s back went rigid. She glared at
Janina.

“She,” Alla stated hotly, “is the cause of
all this. It’s all her fault.”

“I got lost,” Reid told her, making an effort
Janina could almost feel, “when I deliberately separated myself
from you and Herne because the two of you were quarreling and I was
sick of all the talk. I just wanted a few minutes of peace. But the
forest was too thick, and I couldn’t find you again.”

“Are you trying to blame me?” Alla cried.
“Reid, you are the closest thing to a brother I’ve ever known. I
love you. I would never cause you harm!”

“Perhaps you love me too much,” Reid
whispered.

“She is the reason you were almost killed!”
Alla pointed an accusing finger at Janina.

“She saved my life. I love her,” Reid said,
closing his eyes in obvious weariness.

“Love her?” Alia gave a bitter laugh. “What
about all the other women you’ve known? You never claimed to love
any of them. Why this one?”

“Since the first day I met her,” Reid said,
forcing out the words, “there has been no one but Janina, nor ever
will be. If she will have me, I’ll marry her. I love you, too,
Alla, and I want to be on good terms with you, but you will have to
accept Janina.”

“Never!”

“Alla,” Janina said, seeing how ill and tired
Reid was and wanting to spare him further argument, “face the thing
you fear most, and fight it. That is what I had to do when we met
the sea monsters. Let Reid go. You will be alone for a while, and I
think that is what you fear most. But in time you will find a new
center for your life.”

“Don’t you dare tell me what I ought to do!
Reid is my cousin, my only relative, my closest friend. I will not
let him go.”

“If you cling to him, he will pull away on
his own and you will lose him. If you accept me, Reid will remain
close to you, and in time we can all be friends.”

“Reid, I will come back,” Alla declared,
“when you are alone and we can talk as we used to do.”

“You will not be allowed back,” Herne said,
coming into the room. “I’ll not have you two women fighting over my
patient. Look at the man; you’ve drained what little strength he
had. I want both of you out of here right now.”

“Let Janina stay,” Reid whispered.

“No,” Janina said. “I want to be with you,
you know that. But Herne is right. You need to rest.”

She wanted to kiss him good-bye, but Herne
had his silver diagnostic rod out and Alla was glaring at her, so
she only smiled at Reid before she left him.

She was allowed to sleep in the hospital room
that night, provided she did not try to talk to Reid. Herne stayed
with them, periodically checking the lights and numbers on the
panels behind the head of each bed. She slept better knowing he was
there, keeping close watch over Reid.

Reid was still asleep when she rose in the
morning. Though Herne, still in attendance, said nothing to her
about his condition, she noticed that the lights and numbers behind
his bed were very different from those behind her own bed, and the
thought of what that might mean nagged at her.

When she had been to the bathing room and was
dressed again in the pale green robe, she tried to re-enter the
hospital room to see if Reid was awake yet. Narisa prevented
her.

“You may not go in,” Narisa said. “There has
been a sudden deterioration in Reid’s condition. Herne and Suria
are with him. Herne said to tell you he will let you know soon just
what is wrong. He ordered me to make certain you eat something in
the meantime.”

But Janina could not eat. She paced back and
forth in the central room, all her thoughts on Reid. When Alla
appeared, Narisa gave her the news about her cousin. With a grim
face, Alla took her position at the computer-communicator, having
said not one word to Janina.

Time passed with excruciating slowness until
at last the door to Reid’s room opened and a woman came out whom
Janina had not seen before, a woman with flaming red hair and a
beautiful face, set now in serious lines.

“I am Suria,” the woman said to Janina.
“Herne wants me to examine you and take tissue and blood specimens
for analysis. Reid has developed a raging infection, and Herne
thinks it may be the same infection he detected in you
yesterday.”

“Do you mean she’s contagious?” Alla spoke
from her seat at the computer-communicator across the room. “In
addition to everything else she has done to Reid, she has also
infected him with some unspeakable disease? Is that what Herne
thinks?”

“What Herne thinks,” Janina answered her, “is
that the infection may have entered Reid’s body during our battle
with the sea monsters. Because I only have a small welt on my
wrist, I may have a lesser infection. That is what he told me on
our way here.”

“So of course poor Reid must suffer, after
fighting to save you,” Alla cried, rising to come toward Janina.
“Let me see this so-called welt.”

“I am the one who fought off the monster when
it would have eaten Reid,” Janina said quietly, holding out her
left arm.

She calmly faced a searching look from grey
eyes unnervingly similar to Reid’s, before Alla turned her
attention to Janina’s wrist.

“Look here, Suria.” Alla pressed a slightly
swollen spot, then bent closer to inspect a second area of darker
red marks. “I’ll take a tissue sample here, and extract what fluid
I can from this area of induration. I’ll analyze it at once. I may
be able to make an antitoxin.”

“Alla, Herne warned me to keep you away from
Reid,” Suria said gently. “You are too involved emotionally to be a
rational nurse.”

“I’m not going to nurse him. I have to admit
Herne is right about that,” Alla said. “But I am the one best
qualified to investigate an injury caused by an animal. I’m the
zoologist here. You do the examination and take the blood specimen;
I’ll worry about these welts. Janina, will you give me permission
to remove some tissue?”

“If it will help Reid,” Janina replied,
looking right into Alla’s eyes, “you may take my entire arm.”

“Don’t tempt her,” Suria warned.

“If I refused,” Janina said wryly, “she would
probably hit me over the head and amputate my arm anyway, if she
needed it. Wouldn’t you, Alla?”

“Yes, I would.” With that matter-of-fact
statement, Alla swung around. “Narisa, can you monitor the
computer-communicator for a while?”

“I am already here,” Narisa replied. She had
taken Alla’s seat at the table in the center of the room. “Do
everything you can for Reid. You are relieved of all other duties
for now.”

The two women took Janina to a small room
that served as a laboratory. There Suria examined her with the
silver diagnostic rod and took a series of specimens. Then Alla
made Janina lay her arm on a sterile cloth while she removed from
her wrist the fluid and tissue she needed to analyze the infection.
Alla was not gentle about it, but Janina did not care. She could
endure anything if it would help Reid.

“It has been several days since we were
attacked,” Janina said in answer to one of Alla’s many probing
questions about the sea monsters. “I’m not sure exactly how long
ago it was. I soaked my arm in cold sea water shortly afterward. It
seemed to help.”

“Salt water.” Alla pursed her lips. “What
about Reid? Did he soak his legs?”

“He was asleep. He was so tired, I guess he
just ignored his injuries. It wasn’t until the next day that he got
into the water, when we repaired the rudder. Do you think that is
why I’m not sick and he is?”

“I will know the answer to that question
after I’ve analyzed these. That’s all, Janina. I’m finished with
you.” Alla turned away, holding the tray with the specimens she had
taken.

“Thank you, Janina,” Suria said, smiling at
her. “Why don’t you try to sleep now? Herne suggested that you
return to the second bed in the hospital room so he can check on
you regularly. And I’m sure you would like to be with Reid.”

Alla said nothing. She was busy at a nearby
counter, working on the specimens.

Janina slept all that day, waking in early
evening.

“There is no change,” Herne told her when she
sat up on the edge of her bed to see Reid better. He was
unconscious. There were so many tubes and machines surrounding him
that she was unable even to take his hand. She choked back a
sob.

“Osiyar is waiting for you in the central
room,” Herne said, sounding annoyed. “Go talk to him. You can’t do
anything here except get in my way.”

She did as he suggested, knowing
instinctively that Herne’s harsh manner concealed a depth of
concern for Reid and for her. Tamat had sometimes treated her in
the same way when she was worried about her.

She found Osiyar just outside the hospital
room door.

“Herne suggested I take you for a walk,” he
informed her. “I will introduce you to the Chon.”

“I think we’ve met before,” Janina said,
recalling the large birds that had preceded Tarik’s rescue crew.
“Reid spoke about them to Tamat. I would like to see them
again.”

They walked on the soft white sand, watching
the birds at their evening fishing while the sun sank into
pink-gold glory, its last rays setting fire to the burnished
late-season leaves of nearby trees. Osiyar went to the water’s
edge, where he stood silently for a while, until a large green bird
lighted next to him.

“You may touch it,” he said. “Open your mind,
then put your hand on its wing.”

“My mind will not open as yours does,
Osiyar.” Nevertheless, Janina followed the mental ritual she had
used over and over again at Tamat’s command. The bird stood
watching her. Nothing happened except that Janina had an impression
of patient politeness. She reached out to make contact with the
stiff feathers of one wing. The bird let her touch it, then let her
stroke the wing a few times, before it turned its attention to
Osiyar. Janina saw Osiyar’s face go smooth and still, and she
sensed that the two were communicating. Then Osiyar smiled,
nodding, and the bird flew away.

“I am in communion with them every day,”
Osiyar said, his expression and his voice filled with wonder. “It
is a privilege beyond anything I ever dreamed of in Ruthlen. This
is a place unequaled in my poor experience, Janina. Here, for the
first time in my life, I feel free. Here I sense wonderful
opportunities waiting.”

Janina bowed her head, understanding what
Osiyar meant. She felt much the same way about Tarik’s colony. But
there was a matter she could not let pass without discussion. She
broke into the peaceful evening mood in order to obtain the answers
she needed to know.

“Explain to me what happened in Ruthlen,” she
commanded boldly, knowing there would never be a better time than
this to have the truth from Osiyar. “I have speculated frequently
about Sidra - and about your relationship to her.”

“Sidra was to blame for much of your
unhappiness at the temple,” Osiyar said. “She not only criticized
you directly, but also in private, to the other priests and
priestesses, to me, and even to Tamat. She wanted you eliminated
from our ranks because she knew that Tamat loved you. She was
jealous of that love. After Reid arrived in Ruthlen, Sidra
understood that you were more truly bound to him than you could
ever be bound as a priestess. She feared the power of your love for
each other, feared it would change Ruthlen and imperil her own
plans. She believed Reid had guessed her decision to destroy both
of you as soon as Tamat was dead, and she intended to make certain
that Tamat died once she had completed the Sacred Mind-Linking with
Sidra. Whatever Tamat’s true condition at the end of that Linking,
Sidra would make it appear that the strain had killed her, so Sidra
would never be blamed. In her own strange way, she loved Tamat, but
after so many years as Tamat’s assistant she had grown impatient to
assume what she believed was her rightful position. That
impatience, coupled with her jealousy of you, led her to devise her
evil plan.”

“Was it your plan, too, Osiyar?” Janina
silently vowed that if he had caused or even intended any harm to
Tamat, she would see him punished.

“Sidra slowly drew me into her schemes,”
Osiyar admitted, “and then held me fast by the visions of forbidden
ecstasy which she planted in my mind. But I never wanted you or
Reid to be harmed. I agreed with Tamat that Reid was capable of
bringing new vitality to the next generation. And eventually I came
to understand that however carefully Sidra had cultivated her
portion of the Gift, she was unfit to be High Priestess. Tamat knew
it too, at the end, thanks to Reid’s willingness to open his mind
to her. It was only then that I at last knew the full extent of
Sidra’s plans.”