"I'm still stunned from hearing the news about Losham's brothers. Was Kian involved in planning that?"
"Not as far as I know. I believe it was Losham's initiative, and the actual execution was handled by the enhanced soldiers."
"I think it changes the dynamics in ways that favor us," Alena said. "From what I heard, Losham is pragmatic. He's not going to embark on any wild rampages."
Annani refilled her cup and lifted the teapot to signal to Ogidu that he should brew some more.
"Losham is a very dangerous male, but luckily, he is under Toven's control for now. As long as that lasts, he is not going to do anything we do not want him to do."
"That is leverage we have never had before."
Ogidu collected the empty teapot in silence, bowed, and retreated.
"No, we have not," Annani said. "Even when we had Lokan as an informant, he had to be careful because he was operating against the Brotherhood. He could not act openly, and there was a limit to what he could find out for us. Losham is the one giving the orders, and now he has no serious opposition left. Whatever Toven tells him to do, he will do, and his subordinates will carry it out without question, because he is now the only authority on the island."
"Until the next contender emerges."
"Yes. The junior brothers will not be content forever. One of them will eventually become ambitious enough to try something, and when that happens, we will have to decide what to do about it. But for now, the leverage is real, and it gives me some much-needed peace of mind." Annani smiled. "Especially now that I will want to devote all of my time to Khiann."
Thoughts of her mate had been her constant companion for fifty centuries. At first, it had been grief, then long centuries of hoping he would come back to her as a reincarnated soul, and then recently, the miracle of realizing that he might be alive and in stasis and return to her in the flesh.
Or whatever was left of it. Five thousand years in stasis didn't leave much behind, but the blueprint was there, and with proper care his body would know how to rebuild itself, and he would be whole again.
But would he?
Wonder had lost her memory after five thousand years of stasis. Eventually the memories came back, but that was not guaranteed to happen. Ell-rom, who had been in stasis longer, did not regain his memories. After seventy centuries, give or take, in a ship that had been sabotaged into taking ten times longer than it should have to deliver him to Earth, he had lost his memories of his life on Anumati. What he had recovered was through Morelle, who had not lost any of hers and remembered things for him. Luckily for Ell-rom, he and his twin sister had been inseparable, and all their experiences had been collected together, so he could recover most of it from her tales.
The three of them had healed, each in his or her own way, but they did not emerge as the same people they had been before the stasis. Each of them had changed.
Wonder had been a shy and reserved girl when she had been Annani's best friend. Now she was a confident and assertive female.
Ell-rom was still searching for himself, conflicted between his gentle disposition and his Fate-given ability to kill at a distance.His death-ray ability, as they were calling it. The Fates had burdened him with a terrible gift, but they had also ensured that the deadly gift was bestowed on the kindest and gentlest soul so it would not be used for evil.
The Fates were smart.
What did the Fates have in store for Khiann?
Would she get back a man who looked like Khiann but who did not remember her or their love and who was fundamentally different than the man she had fallen in love with five thousand years ago?
She could deal with that, but what she could not deal with was the worst possibility imaginable, that Khiann would not survive the resurrection.
She did not know whether she could endure losing him a second time. She had survived the first time because she had been young and she had a monumental mission to undertake and children to conceive and raise and a clan to build. But now that the mission was largely accomplished, or at least on the right track, and the children were grown, she might not have the strength to continue.
She set the cup down carefully.
"You are quiet," Alena said.
"I am thinking about Khiann."
Alena reached across the small space between them and put her hand over Annani's. "You do not have to be brave about this. Not with me."
Annani's eyes filled, but she did not let the tears fall. She was the Clan Mother, and she did not let anyone see her cry.
"I am being brave because I do not know how else to be."
"It's okay to be afraid. You are not made of stone."
"I am afraid, very much so."
