She rubbed her temples wearily. “I did what had to be done. I cut the legs out from under the Pureblood Alliance and ensured that my son can leave war behind him and finally claim the peace he has earned many times over.”
“But to vow the sacrifice of your own life—from the Sea Throne, you swore it.” Calivan’s horror was clear. Everyimlanichild—especially every daughter—was born with seagifts because both theDonimaof their House and their closest femaleimlanirelatives passed on a measure of their own gifts before that child was born. But the great power stored in Calberna’s native-born women was not limitless. Animlanifemale could drain herself unto death, just as theMyerialsdid on their deathbeds as they passed their power on to their successors. And Alysaldria had just sworn an unbreakable vow to do just that, if she could not gift Dilys’s half-blood daughter with sufficient power any other way.
“Nima...” Dilys was as horrified as his uncle. “Nima,you cannot do this. I won’t allow it. I will accept the betrothal to Coralee Calagi. I will wait ten years or twenty if I must.”
“It is too late for that,moa elua.I have Spoken.”
“Then I will not wed. I will live as Calivan does, bound to you and no other.”
Her head jerked up. Blazing eyes met and held his. “You will do no such thing. I will see you wed and settled before this year is out. I will see my son—my only child—made happy.”
“How can I ever be happy to wed anoulaniif the price for that choice is your death?”
She made a sound of disgust and flung herself to her feet. “How? The same way I have found happiness without your father. Because you must. Because duty to House Merimydion and to Calberna means that you and I both must always find a way to be strong for others, even when we cannot be strong for ourselves.” Then her expression softened. “Dilys,moa elua,tomorrow you will sail to the Æsir Isles, and you will bring home a daughter for House Merimydion, a daughter to fill my soul with joy and gladness, alianayou will love with your whole heart. And she will bear sons and, Numahao willing, a daughter for our House and for Calberna. And your children will be fine, gifted Calbernans who will bring honor to our House, and our country, and our people. So I have Spoken. So shall my will be done.”
Tears filled his eyes. He blinked them back with effort. His voice was choked as he bowed his head in submission and said, “Tey, moa Myerial.”
“Good. Then come here and kneel before me, my son. I will give you my blessing now, rather than tomorrow.”
He ascended the coral steps and knelt before Calberna’s pearl-encrusted throne. His mother leaned forward to cup his face with both hands. “My strong, brave, beautiful son,” she said. There was a tremor in her hands that made him frown, but before he could remark on it, her large, heavily golden eyes flashed sun bright.
His body jerked. Power raged through him like a hurricane. The golden trident birthmark on the inside of his left wrist burned and throbbed, glowing the same yellow gold now blazing from his mother’s eyes.
“Let my love bring you strength that you may conquer whatever challenges come your way,” she whispered, and then she placed a kiss on hisulumi-lia,the iridescent blue tattoo that curled from the corner of his right eye across the ridge of his cheekbone.
His eyes rolled back. His muscles locked, else the energy that shuddered mercilessly through his body would have felled him. When she released him, he collapsed before her in dazed breathlessness. His lungs heaved and his racing heart stuttered in his chest.
She guided his head to her lap with one hand, and he laid his head upon her knees in a gesture of love and devoted submission, an acknowledgment that for all his dominance on the seas, his victorious ferocity in battle, and his intimidating height and build, he derived his true strength and greatest magic from this small, slender woman who had borne him. She loved and ruled him as ferociously as she loved and ruled her nation. And like every devoted son of Calberna, he just as ferociously loved, served, and defended her.
Dilys closed his eyes as his mother gently stroked the soft, obsidian ropes of his hair. The power she’d poured into him raged like a tempest inside him, filling his body so completely, his skin felt stretched and on fire. He fought to assimilate that power, to contain it and store it in his cells, to be called upon in future.
Gradually, his thundering pulse slowed and his breathing returned to a calm, unhurried rhythm. Alysaldria gave his locks one last maternal stroke, then released him.
He rose on trembling legs, humbled by his mother’s tremendous gift. “Moa nana, Nima.” My thanks, Mother. “But you should not have given me so much.”
Her eyes still shone pure molten gold, but she looked weary and drained. Pale beneath the deep bronze of her skin.
He was about to express his concern when Alysaldria’s eyes rolled back and she collapsed into the cradle of her throne.
“Nima!” Dilys lunged for her, catching her slight, slender body and lifting her out of the throne. “Uncle Calivan!”
“Get the healer!” Calivan snapped to one of the guards standing by the throne room. “Dilys, this way. To the antechamber.” Swiftly, his face etched with concern, Calivan led the way down the stairs behind the throne to the antechamber below. “Put her on that chaise.” He pointed to the long, cushioned lounge set against the wall of the private chamber beneath the throne room and went to fetch a cool cloth and a glass of chilled, salted water while Dilys set his mother down.
She had already come around by the time Calivan returned with the cloth and the water. She waved off their hovering concern, though she accepted both the drink and the damp cloth. “It’s all right. I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine,” Dilys argued. “You fainted.”
“And it’s my own fault,” she said. “Calivan has been telling me I’m not eating properly. I suppose I should have listened to him.”
Dilys cast a concerned look at his uncle, who snapped his fingers at one of the guards who’d followed them down to the antechamber and ordered, “Have the kitchens send up something for theMyerialto eat. Immediately. Tell them to send whatever they have on hand. No delays. They can make something more substantial for her later.”
“Tey,Lord Merimydion.” The guard bowed and hurried out.
Dilys turned back to his mother. She struggled to sit up, only to collapse weakly back against the chaise. A cold hand of fear squeezed Dilys’s heart.
“Nima,it is more than not eating. You are not well.” Her paleness today. That tremble in her hand before she’d given him her blessing. She was beginning to Fade, that loss of strength that befell some Calbernans, particularly after great tragedy or heartache, when their sorrow became too great to bear. To Calbernans, love and happiness were not simply emotions. They were as essential as air and water. A Calbernan could not live without them.
“Nima,you cannot ask me to leave you now. I won’t do it. I won’t go.” He would devote himself to her entirely, pour upon her all the love in his soul to keep her strong. He would do whatever it took, no matter the cost to himself.
