Destiny's Lovers Read Online Free Page A

Janina like an attack.
    “What are we to do about her prophecy?”
Osiyar demanded. “We all know it must be true, though we followed
your command and did not touch her mind during the Test. We could
have helped her, you know. It is allowed.”
    “You surprise me, Osiyar,” Tamat replied with
a touch of dry humor in her voice. “I did not know you cared about
Janina’s welfare. She had to do it alone. It was the only way to
make the Test a true one.”
    “What of this dark man she saw?” Sidra asked,
shivering. “Is he a Cetan? Does the prophecy mean they will attack
us again?”
    “He’s not a Cetan,” Janina answered her,
advancing into the room. Her intent in speaking had been to
reassure Tamat, but when Sidra and Osiyar swung toward her with
puzzled faces, she realized her error. She wasn’t supposed to
remember what she had seen. “From what Tamat has described to me of
my prophecy, it was not violence I foresaw. Therefore, the man
cannot be Cetan.”
    “Just so.” Tamat looked relieved. “We can’t
know if the man is friend or foe until he comes here.”
    “But if he will change everything,” Sidra
insisted, “then we ought to prevent him from coming. We need to
strengthen the blanking shield. Let us join our power, Tamat, you
and Osiyar and I. We will search for his mind, too. Once we hold
him in thrall, we can destroy him or send him elsewhere.”
    “Later. I will speak with Janina now.” Tamat
dismissed Sidra and Osiyar with a slight gesture of one hand.
    “Dear Janina,” Sidra said in her khata-sweet
voice, “when Tamat has finished with you, remember it is your turn
today to visit the pool in the mountain and bring us the Water. I
know you won’t mind, as you are so fond of the grove.” She went out
with a smile in Tamat’s direction.
    “I sometimes wish,” Tamat said, “that we were
not bound so tightly by the laws our ancestors laid down for
telepaths, to control the Gift and preserve the privacy of each
person. I would dearly love to steal deep into the minds of those
two.”
    “They would know at once what you were
doing,” Janina said, more than a little shocked at Tamat’s
suggestion. Prying into the minds of fellow telepaths was strictly
forbidden except in dire emergencies.
    “I think that in her heart of hearts,” Tamat
went on, “Sidra is not so chaste as she would have us believe.”
    “She would never break her vow,” Janina
whispered, horrified at the idea.
    “She would not,” Tamat agreed. “Not since my
great-grandmother’s day has any priestess willingly surrendered her
body to a man. You will recall from your studies that the High
Priestess Sanala was soon discovered in her lustful perfidy. When
the time came for the Sacred Mind-Linking, she could not hide what
she had done, so she was overthrown and set adrift. That was when
my great-grandmother’s older sister became High Priestess, and the
honor has remained in our family ever since.”
    “Until this day.” Janina spoke the last words
of the story, knowing them by heart. She had heard the tale many
times.
    “The honor would have ended with you in any
case,” Tamat said, making light of a sorrow Janina knew hurt her
deeply. “Since your parents left no younger daughter to marry and
bear future priestesses, you would have been the last Tamat to hold
the position. Sidra will be no worse than many High Priestesses we
have had in the last six hundred years.
    “My child, are you well today?” Tamat changed
the subject abruptly. “The potion you drank can have unpleasant
aftereffects, but it was necessary to give it to you.”
    “I’m so sorry I failed you.” Janina’s
silver-blue eyes were filled with tears. “I wish I could be
everything you wanted me to be.”
    “Hush. I love you no matter what you are, or
are not.” Tamat’s frail hands cupped Janina’s face. “You have never
failed in love or respect toward me. We cannot change what is. You
can still live a safe and useful life here in