He’d always suspected the clairsights were coming from something rather than somewhere; the messages were far too apt, too fortuitous, while others’ premonitions were typically more fragmented. But there were gaps in Acheron’s claim. “If this is true, why didn’t we meet when I came to Rivenholde before?”
“I needed for you to know the way and to know the obstacles, on your own, before bringing Aelloven with you.”
“All right for me to perish to some unfortunate accident, but not Ellie?” Taven laughed bitterly. “I see.”
“I never said you were expendable,” Acheron said coolly. “That conclusion stems from your own insecurities with my sister.”
“It’s a shame your mother never taught you about your time magic,” Dasha said. “You could have seen backward and forward in time, seen this entire line of truth in forward and reverse. The fluidity of the unending circle of existence and nonexistence.” She flapped her fingers like a butterfly’s wings. “You’d have known Aelloven could not have come here before now. The Aelloven before her trials was not ready. She’d not yet been broken on the wheel of hardship, ground into the remnants required for destiny’s purpose.”
“I do know that,” Taven replied, growing hot in the face. Did they take him for an imbecile? “You think I’d have let her suffer so horribly otherwise?”
“No, you don’t,” Dasha said and turned toward Acheron. “He still doesn’t see it.”
“Aren’t you a beacon of clarity?” Taven growled.
“Dash...” Acheron stayed her with a gentle raise of his hand, drawing out the sh in her name. “Taven’s right. The show is starting soon, and we need to be there. I only wanted you to know we’re on your side, where Aelloven is concerned.”
“There are sides?” Taven’s eyes narrowed as he took in Ryquin, Lexsea, and the others sharing conspiratorial looks. He needed to know what the devil was going on in that box. Why Jesstin looked like he’d put his sword to all of them.
“We want you to bond with her. We encourage it. Fate encourages it.”
Taven hadn’t expected that. But could he trust it? “You think we require your endorsement?” Could he trust any of them, now that he knew they’d been manipulating him from afar, for years? Could he even count on his own intuition, when it had been so easily led?
Taven deeply disliked these insinuations.
“You think we’ve been manipulating you.”
“And reading my mind.”
“If only we could,” Dasha said with a tight grin.
Acheron held out his hands as if to say, You got me. “Mal intent isn’t required to meet the definition of manipulation. You wouldn’t trust someone you didn’t know, and if you were aware a stranger was sending you the visions, you’d never have come here, would you?”
Taven watched, his eyes narrowed, as some aerialists in skintight gold uniforms approached Ellie. He couldn’t shake the sense he was being kept from her intentionally, but revealing the depth of his suspicion would render him even more vulnerable. “Why? Why do you want this?”
“There’s a lot you need to know, but we don’t have time now. Things are moving faster than we anticipated,” Acheron said quickly, with a dark glance at the box. “But I will tell you this much. Esmeray is not your friend. She worked against you and Aelloven for years, going so far as to bring my sister to Curia Rosedown in secret when she was a little girl.”
“No. No, she didn’t do that. Why would she?”
“To ward Aelloven from mating with you. But as all solace comes at a cost, the payment was Aelloven’s suffering. All those years she spent in torment with the sylvan sadist? Esmeray bought that for my sister. What kind of ‘mother’ enables such a thing? Encourages it?”
Taven was floored by the enormity of Acheron’s claim. It was stunning if true, but it did not harmonize with the Esmeray he knew. “Ellie hasn’t been back since she was taken.”
“Aelloven doesn’t remember visiting.”
“What are you saying, that Esme had her sterilized?”
“Not exactly,” Dasha said sweetly. “Aelloven is only warded from having your child.”
“But why? Why only mine?” Taven had always been good to Ellie, even if their relationship was hard for others to understand. If there was anyone she’d needed fertility protection from, it was her late husband. Had she birthed a child by that man, she’d never have seen it again.
Acheron glanced anxiously at the box again. “While she cannot have your child, she could certainly have Jesstin’s.”
Taven blurted a laugh to cover his dread. Jesstin and Elloven kept returning to each other, over and over. Choosing each other when they didn’t have to. Their behavior confirmed what their words denied. “She has no interest in that cretin.”
Acheron said nothing.
“And he’d never force himself on her.” Taven wasn’t being charitable. For all the heathen’s faults, he seemed to possess some limitations.
