But I hadn’t forgotten. I carried her and Grosbeak to where I could set them down to face the other heads piled by the entrance.
“Converse among yourselves,” I said. “After all, that’s why you’re all here. To talk together and find us answers.”
“I like the part about one hand living and one dead,” one of the heads said. “Perhaps she has a hand in midwifery and another in undertaking.”
“Or perhaps one of her hands is skeletal,” I suggested, lifting mine and wiggling my fingers. “Do better than that.”
“You can’t leave us here,” Grosbeak protested.
“I can for now.” I was already striding toward the other end of the room.
“But we’ll miss the romantic part where you two are alone!”
“Yes. Alone is the key to that,” I agreed and then I was hustling my husband to the far end of the room and easing myself behind the hourglass of garnets. There were so many in the bottom bulb now that it really was effective cover.
I sat carefully on the ground, making sure both of Bluebeard’s legs were facing the right way and then — with great care — I untied the cloth binding us together and gently eased him to the ground, keeping my bare back pressed to his chest until I could replace it with a palm instead, and lie down facing him.
We couldn’t stay here long. Things happened very quickly in the Wittenhame. But we needed this rest, if only for a moment. I had not slept in a long time, and Bluebeard seemed to recover more of his faculties when he had been resting.
Husband, can you hear me?I asked him with my mind.Remember you may not speak to me in the day, only with your mind.
Fire of my eyes,his words were strong in my mind, though his eyes remained closed.
Bluebeard,I sighed with my mind as a ghost of a smile raised the corners of his lips.
Your name for me thrills me yet.
It’s not your true name, which I remind you I have the right to as your wife,I teased him. I should be talking to him about where to go and what to do.Can you help me know what to do next? Where do I go to find this rib in the earth?
But he was still hung up on the request for his name.
What shall you call me?Call me victor, for I have triumphed.
It would not seem so, husband,I said tightly with my mind.It would seem, instead, that we hover on the verge of ultimate failure. If I lose touch with you, then you will die forever and likely, I will die with you.
As will all those who depend on me,he agreed, his eyes opening then, and his cat’s pupils widening slightly as they beheld me.And yet, I have indeed prevailed. It just is not yet apparent to all who observe, and we must see you fulfill your task to realize it.
I thought that when you won you would fix everything — the lives of the wives you took, the heads on your wall, Riverbarrow. You told me a story about the Divine Sovereign and how the word was set into his chest. Do you remember it? I must find the site where they extracted that rib.
You and you alone, light of my eyes, make my heart glad and my chest swell with pride.He seemed to be drifting again.
Now is not the time to wax poetic,I told him, but my hands had begun to move on their own at his words, they skimmed along his chest and up his neck, cupping his face.I need direction on how to get there and what I must bring with me.
I must walk when we go from here. Our hands can be bound together, but I must keep to my feet for this next part. It will take all my energy. I fear I may be incoherent. Do not forget that this heart of mine, absent though it is, belongs to you.
Then let me carry you,I pled. Things were hard enough without making them harder.
It cannot be.
At least tell me where to go. Please.
That also cannot be, for I must remain silent to you in this as well as in truth.
A hint then, a clue. Anything.
The blood of nations.His eyes flickered open, locked on my face as if he was drinking in life just by looking at me. He reached out, but his hand fell between us, unable to go farther.
The blood of the nations? What is that?
