Chapter 5 Areana #2
"I'm sorry," she said quickly. "I didn't mean to raise my voice. But you must understand. Annani is my family. My blood. I have loved you for five thousand years, and I will love you forevermore, but I cannot pretend that my sister is a monster when I know she isn't."
The silence stretched between them, taut as a bowstring.
"How did Carol escape?" Navuh finally asked. His voice was controlled again, carefully neutral.
"Down the cliff next to the harem."
"The cliff is supposed to be unscalable."
"It is for almost everyone, but there are a few individuals worldwide who can scale even that sheer and wet rock.
The clan sent a team. Divers with underwater scooters, climbers with specialized gear.
They came up the cliff face in the middle of the night to extract Carol.
She pretended to be distraught over Gorchenco's abandonment and to take her own life, when in fact she climbed on the back of another immortal from Annani's clan.
He took her down, put her in a wetsuit, and from there they scootered to a waiting submarine. "
Navuh was silent, and Areana could almost see his mind working, analyzing the tactical implications.
"You intended to do the same for Tula," he said.
"Yes. After I promised to help her, I contacted Annani and begged her to extract the four who wanted to escape the island.
After consulting with all their experts, they realized that there was no way to save anyone other than Tula without implicating me.
Tula was devastated that the others would have to stay behind, but she accepted the offer because of her baby. "
"They were willing to do this for Tula, who had refused an offer of escape two years ago?"
"Annani did it for me, and for Gulan, Tula's older sister. She and Annani were best friends back home."
"Gulan? Who is Gulan?"
"She was Annani's lady-in-waiting, and they became best friends."
"A servant. Your sister, a pure-blooded goddess and Ahn's heir to the throne, chose as her best friend an immortal servant."
"So?" Areana lifted a brow. "I chose that servant's sister as my best friend."
"You didn't have the options that Annani had. There were no other goddesses left for you to befriend."
It was a sad reminder of how much had been lost, but this wasn't the time to mourn.
"The plan was simple," Areana continued instead.
"Tula would stage a suicide. She would go to the cliff in the middle of the night, make it look like despair had driven her to jump.
I would come to comfort her, and while my back was turned, she would slip over the edge and into the arms of the waiting rescuer, who was an accomplished shrouder and had convinced the human guards to see what he wanted them to see.
I would raise the alarm, the guards would find no body, and everyone would assume the ocean had claimed her. "
"But that's not what happened."
"No." Areana closed her eyes, the memory of that night threatening to overwhelm her.
"Tula slipped on the back of her rescuer.
She'd been crying for real, overcome by guilt and regret for leaving the other three behind, and she wasn't as careful as she needed to be.
She screamed, and I instinctively reached down to catch her and pull her up, but I forgot that I was wearing wet slippers, and you know the rest."
"I came to see what was taking you so long, and when I heard you scream, I ran."
"Yes." Her voice was barely a whisper now. "The Guardian who climbed up to take Tula somehow caught me, and Tula just hung from the harness that was still attached to him. When you jumped, I fought his hold because I wanted to jump after you. I didn't want to continue living without you."
"You would rather die?"
She nodded. "The Guardian refused to let go, even though Tula was still hanging in the air below, and he barely caught my hand.
He eventually convinced me to hold on because our sons needed me.
And our grandchild. That and the feeling in my chest that you weren't dead finally penetrated my panicked state and enabled rational thought long enough for me to comply.
The moment we got down the cliff, I begged him and the others to find you and save you because I knew you weren't dead. "
"Thank you," he said, sounding moved for a change. Was it because he’d just discovered he had a grandson? "Thank you for never wanting to leave me and for believing I had survived. I bet the medical help I'm getting is because of you. I doubt Annani would have cared whether I lived or died."
Apparently, Navuh had either missed the reference to his grandson or didn’t care.
Areana nodded. "I pleaded and begged the entire way here."
"How did they bring me here?"
"A submarine. A big one. They put you on one of those inflatable boats, covered you with a dark tarp, and dragged you to the submarine.
The rest of us put on diving equipment and swam to the submarine using water scooters.
It was a long journey, and the ladies all made it in the nick of time.
Some ran out of air in the tanks before reaching the vessel. "
"The ladies? You took them, too?" He didn't sound angry, only surprised. "How?"
"When Tula regained her senses and realized that you were gone, she insisted on going back for them.
She knew that without you, the island would descend into chaos and the harem ladies would be the first casualties.
We learned that lesson when we were hiding in your basement during the uprising.
She and the Guardian who can shroud human minds went back up the cliff.
They got all of them out. Tamira, Elias, Tony, Sarah, Beulah, Liliat, Raviki, Rolenna. Everyone."
"Where are they now?"
"Safe," Areana said. "They're in the clan's village in California, starting their new lives."
"What's happening on the island?" His tone lost the hint of emotion from before, turning matter-of-fact again.
"I don't know." It was the truth, and she watched his face as she said it.
"We have no information about what's happening there, but it seems quiet.
The construction workers keep arriving, materials are being offloaded, and there are no sounds of gunfire, so we assume that someone has taken control. "
She could see his mind working, calculating, planning. Even broken and paralyzed, even captive in his enemy's stronghold, Navuh was looking for angles, searching for leverage.
He wasn't beaten. Not by a long shot.
"Losham is capable enough of running things," he said. "But he can't hold the island alone. He would need allies, and my other sons would be circling him like sharks. Perhaps he's hiding the fact that I'm gone."
That hadn't occurred to her, but it was possible. "I doubt he would be able to keep up a pretense for long. You're not the reclusive kind of leader. People are used to seeing you."
"Perhaps he's waiting for me to return." His eyes focused on her again, sharp and calculating despite the drugs in his system. "My empire might not be lost yet. There are pieces still on the board, and the game is far from over."
He was probably deluding himself, but it was always good to have hope. It would help him heal. The question was what he thought of her now that he knew the truth.
"Are you angry at me?"
"I should be furious."
Areana's heart stopped. "Should be?"
"I am furious. Make no mistake about that. You went behind my back and conspired with my enemy." His eyes burned into hers. "If anyone else had done those things, I would have had them executed slowly and painfully."
She couldn't breathe.
"But you are not anyone else." His voice dropped lower.
"You are my mate. My partner. The only person in this world whose betrayal could truly wound me.
" He paused. "But you were willing to die with me the same way I was willing to die with you.
We are nothing without each other, and what you did was not meant to hurt me. You did it for love. For Tula."
"Navuh, I'm—"
"I'm not saying I forgive you," he interrupted her. "But I understand why you did it." He let out a breath. "And I cannot hate you for loving our sons and even Tula. I know she is like a daughter to you."
The tears came faster now, streaming down her face. She leaned forward and pressed her forehead to his, mindful of his injuries, needing the contact more than she needed air.
"I love you," she whispered. "I'm sorry for the secrets. I'm sorry for the lies. But I'm not sorry for what I did. I can't be sorry for that."
"I know." His voice was resigned. "And that's what makes this so complicated."
They stayed like that for a long moment, forehead to forehead, breathing the same air. Two mates bound by love and separated by countless choices that could never be undone.
Finally, Areana pulled back. "What happens now?"
"Now?" A ghost of a smile crossed Navuh's face—the calculating smile she knew so well, the one that meant he was already ten moves ahead of everyone else. "Now I rest. I heal. And I wait for Annani to come to me."
"What makes you think she will?"
"Because I have something she wants and I can bargain with.
" His smile widened, and for a moment, despite the paralysis and the captivity and the end of his empire, he looked like the powerful immortal Areana had always known.
"If she's reasonable and willing to negotiate, I'll tell her what I can help her with, and then, my love, we'll see who truly holds the power in this situation. "