Page 50 of Boudicca

“To the Aqua Springs? Of course, but now they are filled with Catuvellauni traitors and Romans,” said Rhan, her expression twisting in disgust.

“I meant return to our childhood,” I said.

Rhan cocked her head and studied me before she answered. “Not unless I could know then what I do now.”

I met her gaze and thought how foreknowledge could have changed the events of my life, and nodded slowly. “Agreed.” We didn’t speak again as Phaedra plaited my hair for the night and helped me into my soft sleep shift. “Phaedra, you may go.”

“Yes, my queen.” She bowed and left me alone with Rhan.

I climbed stiffly onto my thick bed pallet and looked up at my old friend. “I would ask that you move into the lodge.”

“As you ask, so will I do,” said Rhan.

I shook my head. “No, I don’t command it. Iaskit.” I patted the side of the bed. “Come. Sit.”

Rhan did so, still studying me with that particular way she’d had since she was a child. I used to believe she could see through my body to my spirit. I realized then that I still believed she could see my spirit.

“Why do you ask me to move into the lodge?”

“Except for Enfys and Ceri, you are the only family I have left. You are also the only person in Tasceni who I know will always tell me what I should hear and not simply what I want to hear.”

Her lips twitched up into a smile. “That I will.”

“I need my family close,” I said softly.

Rhan reached out and put her hand over mine. “Then I shall happily live in your lodge, my queen, my friend.”

I squeezed her hand in thanks and then winced as I leaned back and my shoulder hit the thick oak headboard.

“Where is that mint paste I heard Maldwyn speak of?” Rhan asked.

I jerked my chin toward the table beside the bed. “There, but I cannot make myself get up to fetch it.”

Rhan laughed as she went to the table and lifted several wooden cups, sniffing each, until she found the correct one. Then she returned to the bed, and in a voice that sounded exactly as it used to when we’d been girls pretending to be queens speaking to our beloved subjects, she said, “Roll over so I can rub this on your shoulders and arms and back.”

“Yes, Queen Rhan,” I muttered into my goose-down-stuffed pillow.

She began working the mint salve into my protesting muscles and my healing scars. “You know, I never really believed I’d be queen of the Trinovantes.”

“No, I did not know that.” I paused and then added, “Well, perhaps I did when you had the vision by the pool, but I didn’t want to believe it. I wanted us to be queens together—allies of neighboring tribes who visited each other often.”

“And demanded only the best cuts of meat be served to us and draped ourselves in jewels,” continued Rhan. “Though I remember you used to speak of a golden sword you would wield. Even then you were Victory.”

I snorted into my pillow. “If my sword was made of gold, I wouldn’t be Victory. I’d be the queen whose sword was cut in half by the first iron blade that struck it.”

“You know what I mean. I never wished for any weapons, even gold- or jewel-encrusted ones.”

“What is it you wished for, Rhan?” I asked sleepily. Her strong hands were easing the ache in my arms and shoulders and I could feel the herbs making my eyelids heavy.

“Perhaps I will tell you one day,” said Rhan softly.

“I will be happy to listen when you choose to tell me.” My eyelids fluttered and I fought to keep them open. “Will I be victorious? Can the Romans truly be defeated?”

Rhan was silent so long that I thought she would not answer and was almost asleep when she whispered, “You will fulfill Andraste’s curse. The Romans can be defeated.”

I sighed. “That is good to know.” And then, while her hands continued to soothe my aching muscles, I was pulled into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Chapter XIX