Page 46 of Dark Destiny: A New Thread in the Tapestry

"His name is Esag," she said. "He used to be your best friend, and his hair is red. He told you stories from your youth. Well, his youth. You are technically the same age you were before entering stasis. Do you remember how old you are?"

Two squeezes.

"You are twenty, plus about five thousand years, but since you were in stasis through all that time, your actual lived years are only twenty. Do you understand?"

Two squeezes.

Annani sighed. "I know it is difficult to comprehend, but I do not doubt that you will. It will just take time."

One squeeze, and the ghost of a smile that looked more like a grimace but was beautiful to her nonetheless.

Which made her hesitate to ask her next question, but she needed to know.

"Do you remember me mentioning my son wanting to visit you?"

Two squeezes.

Annani released a relieved breath, but she was worried. On the one hand, she was glad he did not remember his earlier reaction to the idea of Kian visiting, but on the other hand, it was concerning that he had forgotten something that had been very emotional for him just a day before.

"Never mind about that." She smiled. "What I wanted to tell you is that my daughter Sari is arriving today. She is my fourth, younger than Kian but older than Amanda. She lives in a place called Scotland, which, during your time, was simply labeled the North Lands." Annani rubbed her finger over the ring on his thumb. "She is using a flying machine to come see you. Do you remember those? The humans used to call them sky chariots."

He frowned, then squeezed her hand once.

Annani gasped. "I did not expect you to remember that. I had my own small flyer that I used to visit you on your journey. You were always worried that something would happen to me and I would fall out of the sky. I thought that it was so silly of you because those machines were infallible, but I was wrong. Nothing happened to mine, but supposedly that was how Mortdh met his end." She waved a hand. "But I digress. Sari is coming to see you because she knows how important you are to me."

He did not squeeze her hand, but then she had not asked him anything.

"She will come tomorrow. Today the family is meeting at Kian and Syssi's home to welcome Sari and her mate, so I will not be here for a few hours. Chances are that you will not wake up during that time, but if you do, I do not want you to worry. The medical staff will be here to take care of you."

His fingers remained loose over her hand, which was an answer of its own. She took it to mean he did not know how he felt about Sari's visit, or that he did not care one way or another.

Perhaps Esag's visit had shown him that it was not so bad to meet new people, or in Esag's case, someone he had known but did not remember.

Khiann had not said no to Sari's visit, and that was a win she was even happier about than if he had said yes to Kian. Sari was traveling halfway around the world to see him, and she was not going to stay long.

Annani decided to change the subject before he had a chance to start panicking over the visit and squeezing her fingers twice.

"Look at this." She lifted his hand a little so he could see the band around his thumb and not just feel it there. "It has not dulled in all the time you were in stasis. Even gold would have dulled or thinned where it rubbed against your finger, and after a few hundred years the wear would have shown. But this is not gold." She turned it around his thumb. "It is an alloy that does not tarnish, does not wear, and cannot be cut. The truth is that I do not know what is in it. The smith would not reveal his secret technique, and we did not press because we both suspected that it was an alloy from the planet of the gods."

His eyes widened.

She smiled. "That is another story I shall save for another time. Your father told you things, and you told me." She pulled the ring from his thumb and tilted it toward the light so he could see the inscription.

The letters were as sharp as the day they had been engraved.

"For eternity and beyond." She read them to him. "That is what it says."

She turned to look at him, but he was not looking at the words carved into the mystery alloy. He was looking at the ceiling.

"It is a very solemn promise." Annani put the ring back on his thumb. "It was made by people who believed in it wholeheartedly."

She should tell him what he was to her. What she was to him. She had told him that more than once, but it had been while he had been asleep, and that first time he had woken up and she had still hoped the Fates had been merciful and he would remember her. She did not want to say those words again and see him not comprehend the meaning.

When he was stronger. When he could ask her what it meant. When it could be a conversation instead of a proclamation.

Khiann stayed awake for almost a whole hour listening to her stories, which was a new record, and when his eyelids began to droop, Annani patted his hand.

"I have to leave soon," she said, and his eyes popped open. "Alena has already gone home to get ready, but Julian and the nurse will be here, and Bridget will come if there is a need for her. You also have your guards with you. They are quite useless in the state they are in, and they are mostly a silent company, but they are here, and you are not alone even when I leave." She smiled. "Perhaps a miracle will occur while I am gone and one of them will remember his own name."