Rex Regis

4

“No!”

Vaelora’s cry was so wrenching that Quaeryt, deeply as he was sleeping sometime after midnight, bolted awake instantly. He scrambled up from the pallet on the floor where he slept, less than a yard away from her, to the side of her bed.

“No!”

Even in the dimness of the old stone fort, he could see that she was fully awake, her eyes wide, but focused somewhere well beyond Kephria. He stood, looking down at her, afraid to touch her for fear of interrupting what she might be seeing, yet worried about what she might be experiencing.

Abruptly her eyes focused on Quaeryt, and he bent down. “What was it?” he asked, his arms around her. “A nightmare … or a farsight?”

“I wasn’t sleeping. I woke up a while ago, maybe a quint or so ago, thinking about how much we have left to do, and worrying about what the Khellan High Council will do … and about what has happened in Variana since we left, and how Bhayar was … and … whether we could … you know, dearest.”

“I know … and I’m sure we can.” Quaeryt didn’t want to say more, not since it had been such a short time since Vaelora’s injury and miscarriage.

“Then … out of nowhere, I had this flash.”

“About what?”

“I don’t know. Rather … I know, but it didn’t make any sense at all. It was extremely clear. You were standing in a well-lighted room. I didn’t see anyone else. It could have been a High Holder’s study, or a library, even a salon. Then, there was total darkness. You were still there. I could sense you, but there was only darkness … and the darkness was filled with danger.” Vaelora shuddered again. “That was all.” After a moment she added, “Maybe I shouldn’t have told you at all.”

“It wasn’t familiar to you?”

“No … but that doesn’t mean anything.”

Quaeryt held her a bit more closely for several moments before he spoke again. “Like the way you didn’t recognize the entrance to the Telaryn Palace years before you were actually there?”

He could feel her nod.

“Did I look like I do now … or was I older?”

“You looked much like you do now … but you’ll look the same for at least a few years more.”

That doesn’t help much.

“Don’t ask me more questions. I may have told you too much already.”

Quaeryt unfortunately understood. As he and Vaelora had discussed before, she feared that his questions would be based on what he thought and expected and not what her farsight really had shown … and too many questions could result in him misleading himself and creating even more problems when whatever she had foreseen did occur.

“Just hold me.”

Quaeryt did, shifting his weight slightly on the edge of the bed. He couldn’t help wondering what her farsight portended … or when and where those events might occur.