Page 30 of Dark Destiny: A New Thread in the Tapestry

One squeeze.

"Esag was your squire and your closest friend long before I ever laid eyes on you. He came to work in your father's house when you were both young, and you never treated him as a servant." She smiled. "He called you my lord only in public, and by your name the rest of the time. You told me you fenced with him every day in your parents' yard. What you did not tell me was that you did not train with practice swords. You trained with real ones. Esag told me about it when he found his way to my clan, and I was very angry to hear of this foolishness. But then he reminded me that you were a god and he was an immortal, and that your wounds healed immediately, so there was no good reason to use practice swords. I asked him if he enjoyed being pricked by a sharp weapon and bleeding. He said he gave as good as he got, which made me even angrier. I did not want to think about you getting injured. Do you remember any of it?"

Two squeezes.

"Did you understand everything that I told you?"

One squeeze.

"Good." She rewarded him with a bright smile. "I am just getting started. You two frequented a tavern called a temple because the goddess who created beer did not want to be regarded as a merchant." She leaned closer to him. "Your father and you never had a problem with that, and I applauded you for it. Anyway, you and Esag spent a lot of time and money in that temple. Does that paint a picture of your friendship with Esag?"

One squeeze, and another faint smile.

Khiann seemed to enjoy these tales from his youth. She had not told him about their own past while he was awake, only when he was asleep, hoping her stories would reach his subconscious and trigger memories.

It was difficult to talk about love and passion with a man who remembered none of it.

"I am thankful for Esag's stories. He only recently found his way to my clan, and since then he has been filling in your past for me, piece by piece. You and I had only four months together, my love. There was not enough time to form many memories, but those we had sustained me through the millennia."

She had called him my love again, and he had no context for her claim on him. He probably did not know his own name just as his guards did not know theirs. He might have heard her call him Khiann, but just as he had forgotten her mentioning Esag, he had probably forgotten that as well.

"Do you remember your name?"

There was panic in those expressive eyes as he squeezed her hand twice.

"Your name is Khiann," she said. "Khiann, son of Yaeni and Navohn. I have been calling you my love because you are, and because I have wanted to say it out loud for five thousand years, but you should hear your own name spoken more often so you can own it again."

One squeeze.

"It might sound foreign to you now, but one day you will hear it and know it is you."

She turned the ring on his thumb.

"It is such a lovely name, Khiann. When I thought I had lost you forever, I named my first son after you so I would hear myself say it to someone I loved. I changed it a little. It is Kian, not Khiann, because of our tradition of not naming children after those who died tragically, and I believed that had happened to you for thousands of years. I did not know you had survived in stasis. Credible witnesses testified that they saw you die."

She had not used the word murder intentionally.

He was not ready to hear the rest of it. That Mortdh had plotted to have him beheaded, and that her father had most likely planted the witnesses who swore it had been done.

Khiann just looked at her, and she did not have the courage to ask whether he understood what she had just told him.

"It is going to be confusing once you get better and join the community. My son Kian runs things as my regent, and he has been doing so for nearly two thousand years. He even has your jaw. I did not do that on purpose. I only realized how alike you looked when I saw the two of you next to each other." She caressed his hand. "He will come and see you when you are a little stronger. Perhaps in a few days."

Khiann squeezed her hand twice.

Annani stopped.

What was he saying no to?

Was it no, meaning he did not understand what she was telling him, or no, meaning he did not want Kian to come see him?

Given how his eyes widened and his breathing became shallower and faster, it was the latter. Khiann was afraid of meeting Kian.

"You do not want my son to come see you?"

One squeeze.

Annani swallowed the lump in her throat and forced her expression not to change. "You have nothing to fear from Kian. He went to great lengths to retrieve you and your friends from hostile hands. That too is a tale for another day. But you need to know that my son welcomes you to our community."