Page 40 of Dark Destiny: The Turning Of The Loom

He was not sure he wanted to hear that part of her story. Intellectually, he accepted that she needed to survive and that she believed he was gone. But hearing the details was another matter.

"You still have not told me how you learned all those things about the Eternal King and how he was involved in your father's death. We can return to the North after that."

She lifted her head and gave him a knowing smile. "If you do not want to hear that part of my story, just say so."

He leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "I want to hear everything. Just not all at once."

Annani scooted even closer to him and rested her head on his arm. "I like sitting like this with you. I have missed it so much." She sighed contentedly. "Anyway, I was in the North, still mourning your death and doing nothing but surviving, when rumors drifted up about a terrible disaster that killed hundreds of thousands of people. Tales of a deadly wind that killed every living thing in its path but left everything nonorganic intact. Naturally, only the gods could have deployed a weapon like that, and as more rumors made their way to the North, I realized that my people were gone. I pieced the rest together over the centuries."

Annani closed her eyes. "The story I had was that Mortdh flew with his flyer over the Assembly of Gods, deployed the terrible weapon, killing all of them, but was caught in the deadly wind and perished alongside them. What I did not know until recently was that El had sent assassins to kill Ahn and all of his co-conspirators, but because he wanted to make sure that none of that would ever come back to bite him, he instructed them to do so in a way that would not incriminate him. Mortdh and I handed them the perfect opportunity to stage things so that Mortdh would be blamed for the deaths of all the rebels."

Khiann was not following. "I do not understand. Did Mortdh take his flyer and drop a destructive weapon, or not?"

"We do not know," Annani admitted. "The speculation is that the assassins detonated their own weapon while Mortdh was flying overhead, either shooting him down and triggering the weapon he had on board, or just using their own on the assembly and him getting caught in the deadly wind."

"That is a lot of guessing. Why assume assassins when Mortdh acting on his own could have done it? The simplest explanation is usually the correct one."

Annani chuckled. "You used to say that a lot."

She patted his chest with her small hand, and he felt his heart strain toward it.

"This feels good." He covered her hand with his own to keep it where it was.

"It does," she said.

He cleared his throat. "So, why not just blame Mortdh?"

"Because he was too smart to drop a bomb and get caught in its blast. He also was not suicidal. Crazy, homicidal, yes, but he loved himself too much to sacrifice his life for revenge."

16

ANNANI

Khiann was quiet for a long moment, his arm still draped over Annani's shoulder, his fingers stroking her exposed skin, his warmth radiating into her through his shirt.

It was not warmth that could be measured in degrees, though. It was the flame of their connection that had never died and was now slowly coming back to life.

"Your grandmother," he finally spoke. "You said that, according to her, Anumati will fall apart without El. You also said that El severed all communication with Earth and erased it from the charts. So, how do you know what your grandmother thinks?"

There he was. She had wondered how long it would take him to ask that question. He had always been quick to put things together.

Khiann's sharp mind was coming back to life, along with the warmth blossoming in his heart.

"Remember the new arrivals from Anumati?"

He nodded. "That is how this conversation started. Did they come on the settler ship?"

"No. As it turns out, the Eternal King forbade the citizens of Anumati from ever visiting Earth, but he kept sending scouts in case the lost ship ever arrived. A ship patrolling the sector would drop them off. They would spend a few hundred years on Earth, and then they would be replaced by a new team. Aru, Negal, and Dagor were on the last team the king sent, and the Fates arranged a chance meeting that brought them to us."

Khiann immediately tensed. "They work for the Eternal King. Do not tell me you let them into your village."

"Relax." She patted his knee. "They are part of the rebellion, and so is the crew of their ship. They are loyal to the queen."

He did not seem reassured. "How can you verify that?"

"By talking with the queen."

"So, she confirmed it."