The Threshold Child (54 page)

The L’avan gasped in shock, and both E’nes and L’iam took a step
closer to Adesina. All of them seemed to be waiting for some sort of cue from
her, whether to run or fight.

She stood perfectly still, her face void of any emotion. Her mind
was racing over possibilities, trying to come up with the best way to survival.

One of the Shimat directly in front of Adesina removed their hood
and scarf, revealing the triumphant countenance of Basha.

“Well, well! Shimat Falcon! The report said that you had been
taken captive, but I must say you do not look like a prisoner.”

Adesina wanted dearly to punch her right in her smug face, but
knew it would accomplish nothing. Instead, her mind began working even harder
on a way to escape, relishing in the thought of the humiliation Basha would
encounter if they got away.

Basha’s venomous voice continued. “Are these a gift for the
Sharifal?” she asked sarcastically, glancing over Adesina’s companions.

Adesina clenched her jaw, controlling the rage she felt. Hatred
clouded her thinking, hindering her ability to plan quickly. Her
vyala
began swelling in power,
whispering visions of how many ways she could lash out at her lifelong enemy.

Basha saw something in Adesina’s face that she had never seen
before. There was an intensity and confidence that ran deeper than the arrogance
of her youth. Adesina stood more upright, her limbs seemed at ease but were
ready to spring into action and there was a strange glow in her eyes. The enemy
standing before her was no longer an overly proud Shi, but a L’avan warrior.

Whatever it was that Basha saw in Adesina, coupled with the clear
hatred in her eyes, made the Shimat uncomfortable. She tried to overcompensate
by puffing out her chest and giving a haughty smile. “If you will not answer to
me, perhaps you will answer to your former Shar.”

She gestured to the Shimat standing next to her, who slowly
reached up to remove the hood and scarf covering his face.

“Kendan!”

His dark eyes captured Adesina’s shimmering ones. Almost
involuntarily, she took a step toward him. E’nes and L’iam both started to
reach out a hand to touch her arms, but stopped themselves. Adesina also
stopped herself from moving forward.

Kendan spoke in a quiet voice, using the language of the Shimat.
“Where have you been, Adesina?”

Her eyes flickered to Basha and the other Shimat surrounding them
and she gave him a faint smile. “Away.”

His expression hardened. “That is hardly an answer.”

“I told you!” interrupted Basha, who was still speaking in the
common tongue, “She has betrayed us!”

Kendan waited for Adesina to dispute this accusation, but she
remained silent. His voice became even more quiet. “What have you to say to
this, Shimat Falcon?”

Adesina felt her chest constrict when he used her Shimat name.
This was not how she had planned this conversation going. How was she supposed
to convince him of the truth with all these other Shimat present?

“Kendan,” she began uncertainly, “this is not what it seems.”

Basha snorted in derision, but Kendan appeared willing to listen.
“Go on.”

She glanced around once more. “May I speak to you alone?”

“No,” protested Basha, this time in the Shimat language. “She will
use her witchcraft on you! Let her intentions be declared here before our
brothers and sisters of the Shimat order.”

After a pause, Kendan looked at Adesina expectantly. She lowered
her voice, silently cursing Basha for listening so intently. “They have lied to
you, Kendan. They have lied to all of us. The Shimat order is not what we
believed it to be.”

A look of wry amusement passed over his face. “What are they,
then?”

She struggled to find the right words. “They are assassins,
corrupters…”

Adesina trailed off when she saw the small, knowing smile appear
on his lips. She struggled to breathe as the awful truth washed over her.

He already knew.

He had always known. He was one of them.

Kendan spoke in a calm, almost loving voice. “Adesina, have you
ever stopped to think that perhaps
you
are the one who has been deceived?
By those people standing behind you.”

She shook her head fiercely, her thoughts whirling out of control.

Basha laughed mockingly. “So the high and mighty Adesina has
finally been brought to our level. How does it feel to stand in the mud?”

There was a hint of a glare when Kendan’s eyes flickered to Basha,
but it disappeared when he turned his attention back to Adesina. He held out
his hand to her. “It is not too late. All can be forgiven, and…we can be
together.”

She shook her head again, refusing to listen to his lies. The back
of her throat ached as she fought against the tears that stung in her eyes. She
had thought that he loved her, and she had grown to love him in return. Her
heart throbbed sharply as she realized that he had just been manipulating her just
as Signe had.

The pain and wrath was taken up by her
vyala
, whipping it into a frenzy. She did not try to control it or
restrain it in any way, and it flared around her into waves of palpable energy.
Those standing closest to her were forced to take a couple of steps back,
driven away by the sheer power of her being.

Oblivious to all of this, Adesina kept her eyes fixed on the man
before her. She raised her chin, defying him as she had the first day she met
him.

“Never.”

Kendan’s eyes were filled with disbelief. He had felt certain of
her answer, and he was shocked to find he had been wrong. There was something
else in his eyes that Adesina had never seen before: fear.

His seemingly unshakable confidence was nowhere to be found as he
stared at his former student in her unearthly radiance. He felt as if he were
staring at a complete stranger, and perhaps he was.

It was the sight of that fear that kept Adesina from obliterating
him on the spot. She reigned in her
vyala
,
and spoke a single, hate-filled word.

“Leave.”

Kendan was only too happy to comply. He signaled to the Shimat
surrounding them, and they silently melted into the shadows of the trees.

Basha was torn between her desire to attack and her compulsion to
obey. The latter finally won out, leaving Kendan standing alone with the
L’avan.

He gazed at her a moment longer before tearing his eyes away and
turning his back on them.

***

Adesina sobbed into the shimmering white fabric of E’rian’s dress.

They sat in the Garden beneath a large willow tree. A weeping
tree. E’rian clasped her daughter close, stroking her hair and whispering words
of comfort.

It was several minutes before Adesina could speak. “I do not know
what to do,” she said brokenly.

Her mother’s arms tightened around her. “About what, love?”

“I do not know how to get into the Shimat fortress without
Kendan’s help. I do not have enough information, and this mission cannot
succeed now! They have my father, and he is going to die there.”

A sad smile touched E’rian’s lips. “You have prepared for every
situation, Ma’eve. You can figure out how to succeed.”

She shook her head. “I cannot lead this group up against the
entire Shimat order.”

“You are not leading an attack against the fortress, dearest. You
are finding the L’avan prisoners and setting them free.”

When her daughter refused to be consoled, she asked quietly, “What
is really troubling you?”

Adesina was reluctant to admit the cause of the sharp aching in
her heart. Why else had she come to her mother, though?

“I…I loved him.”

She frowned. “Kendan?”

Her daughter nodded, a fresh torrent of tears coming over her. “I
thought he loved me too, but he was just using me.”

Understanding filled E’rian with sorrow for her child’s young
heart. She was already much too old for her age, why must this burden be placed
on her slender shoulders as well?

“I am sorry, Ma’eve. I am truly sorry that you must feel such
pain.”

Adesina smiled bitterly. “Yet I must still feel it?”

She brushed back a lock of hair that had fallen across her
daughter’s face. “I cannot take the pain from you.”

Adesina sat up straight, looking her in the face. “What can we do,
then?”

E’rian gently stroked her daughter’s hand. “I can hold you, child,
and share in your pain. You can pour your heart out to me, and our shared
sorrow can help you begin to heal.”

Logically, it didn’t make much sense to Adesina, but she still
liked the idea of sharing her heartache with her mother. She allowed her mother
to pull her close again and closed her eyes against the tears welling up there.

“Then,” continued E’rian, “when our tears are spent, I will help
you find the information you need to make this mission succeed.”

“How?” whispered Adesina.

Her mother’s tone became one of grim determination. “We will find
those who know the Shimat fortress, and convince them to share that knowledge.”

Adesina nodded slowly. It was the only reasonable option they had
at this point. Every day was taking them closer to the fortress, and they
needed a new plan. Time was running out.

***

Kendan and Signe stood in the Sharifal’s tent, quite a distance
away from where the encounter with the L’avan took place.

Some people shouted or threw things when they were angry, but not
Signe. She became very still, like a block of ice. Her voice was quiet, but
cold and biting.

“You said she was in love with you.”

Kendan felt his chest constrict painfully. “She was,” he insisted
softly. “She
is
.”

“Obviously not,” Signe snapped, “because she chose to go with the
L’avan.”

Again, the pain in his heart returned. Part of him agreed with
what Signe said. How could she have left him like that?

The Sharifal did not look at her nephew. Her eyes were fixed on
the subtle design in the fabric of the tent. “You were assigned as her Shar for
one purpose alone: to created an emotional bond that would tie her to us
permanently. Now we have lost our most valuable weapon. Seventeen years of
research, training, and experimentation are lost.”

“She-” Kendan cut himself off abruptly.

Signe turned for the first time since the beginning of the
conversation. “What?” she asked in a deadly tone.

He knew he shouldn’t go on, but couldn’t help himself. “She is
more that just a weapon. She is a person with integrity and honor. Perhaps if
we had treated her as such she would not have betrayed us.”

His aunt sneered at him mockingly. “How precious. You have fallen
in love with her.”

He started to deny it, but he realized that it was the truth. When
Signe saw he had nothing to say, she got so close he could feel her hot breath
on his face.

“Little good it does us now that she has turned her back on you.
She spent a year with you, day and night, and then all that time while she was
in the High City. Yet after a few weeks with the L’avan, she has forgotten
you.”

The words were meant to hurt Kendan, and they did. His stomach
dropped and his throat strained as he struggled to control his emotions. He had
never had trouble with self-control before he met Adesina. It was only after he
began teaching her that he discovered how quickly a heart could be lost.

Signe read his face as easily as she read the reports given to her
daily. Her derision for her nephew grew with what she saw there.

“You should have followed my orders, Kendan. Mistakes such as this
cannot be tolerated in the Shimat order.”

He only shook his head. Signe had suggested more extreme measures
to tie Adesina to himself, and he had begun his assignment with no qualms. He
had been immediately struck by her exotic beauty, and admitted to himself that
he had looked forward to following the orders given to him.

However, as their relationship grew and Kendan fell in love with
her, he began to have misgivings. Deep down he knew that everything between
them had been built upon lies. He had determined to start fresh, making her
truly his this time.

Then she had disappeared.

Kendan had scoured the lands looking for her, pulling together all
of his resources and devoting all of his energy to it. He had only discovered
her whereabouts when Basha had contacted him, also informing him that she had
turned against the order.

He hadn’t believed it at first, knowing the depth of Adesina’s
loyalty. Regardless, Kendan assured himself that it didn’t matter. He had
intended to convince her to run away with him. With their skills combined, no
one would have ever been able to find them.