Image (Insight #3)(31)
“Perodine waited until Aliyanna was three months old before she presented her to Donalt. I was standing at his side. To say the least, he was shocked; he had his doubts. Perodine took our daughter back to her wing, only emerging when she was forced to for social occasions. Donalt turned to me; he said he didn’t trust the child, that its purpose was to destroy him. He had me and three other priests construct her birth chart, then move them forward in time throughout her life. I led the project and carefully omitted anything that would allude to the fact that Perodine and I had conceived Aliyanna.” Alamos let his eyes fall to the table to the scroll before him. He then folded his hands, and his dark eyes seemed to echo a pain he was feeling.
“As I moved my daughter’s chart forward, I saw not one amazing life - but several. I saw her moving people; not only restoring Esterious to the way it was – but better than it could ever have hoped to be. I simply told Donalt that she’d have a good life, that the man she loved would rule his throne well after his final days. I’d hoped that would be enough to calm him – but it wasn’t; he was enraged. He sealed the wing that Perodine was in and said that his daughter was the most valuable thing in the kingdom and that every man that would seek her – would seek to kill him. His resolution was to choose the man for her. He found a young boy, Alazar; the child was an evil little person. He found pleasure in not only tormenting other children, but anything that had a heartbeat. I tried to steer Donalt in another direction, but he said, ‘A man such as he will be will keep my daughter in the place she needs to be.’”
Regaining her composure, Perodine looked over her shoulder at me. I stared back, feeling an overwhelming sympathy - not only for her, but also for Alamos.
“There was a servant woman who’d cared for Perodine since she was a child, a sickness took her daughter from this world. By law, children must be raised by a woman,so the servant’s grandson, Guardian, was sent to live in the wing with Perodine and Alyianna.”
Alamos looked at Drake, then to Landen. “I was there when Guardian and Aliyanna saw each other for the first time. They were barely six years old – yet they stared at each other with a magnitude beyond anything I’d ever seen before.”
I felt Drake’s eyes on me, and Landen tightened his arms around me. Dane leaned in closer.
“I knew...I knew then that she’d never submit to Donalt’s request to be given to Alazar; she was too stubborn to hide the way her mother and I had. I did what I could do to conceal this love for the next twelve years. I had Guardian’s name removed from the book of residence; Perodine and I never allowed them out of this wing. With each day that passed, our heart broke; we knew that our daughter would have to endure what we’d already lived through: she’d have no choice but to be given to the evil man Alazar had grown into.”
As Alamos leaned forward, his eyes found August, then fell back to the scroll.
“Just before Aliyanna’s eighteenth birthday, she decided to explore. She found her way to Donalt’s chambers and heard him with the other priest, speaking over Alazar. She ran terrified to Guardian, then they went to Perodine for help. They called for me, and I told my daughter to submit – that I would find a way for her to still see Guardian...I’m sure that was the moment she decided to hate me.” Alamos’ eyes found mine; I could see a pain in him.
“Perodine sent me away. A few days later, rumors surfaced in the palace - and then in the kingdom - that Donalt’s daughter would be joined with a servant boy. The world was elated; they thought it was Donalt’s way of joining the classes again. Celebrations were on every street in every town - and you can only imagine how Donalt took this news: he was enraged that there was happiness in his kingdom.”
Alamos’ eyes moved to Drake, then to Landen, then he cleared his throat.
“Guardian proved to be a brave man. He came to me and asked me for the scroll, the birth charts; he feared that Donalt could use them to bring harm to Aliyanna. I told him where they were, and that night they sought to retrieve them. I stayed in the shadows, prepared to give my life to protect them. Somehow Donalt knew; he knew everything. There were priest waiting for them, and Donalt stood before them and told Aliyanna to give him the necklace her mother had made for her and submit to Alazar - or she would take Guardian’s life with her own hand. Like her mother, Aliyanna didn’t respond well to threats; she took the scrolls and Guardian’s hand and turned to leave. The priest then forced their energy to her. I was on the other side of the room, and I sent mine to them. When our energy collided, a passage opened, and the force pulled both Guardian and Aliyanna in – never to be seen again.”
Silence filled the room; we were all taking in the wealth of information that Alamos had given us. I’d tried to imagine the person I was in my first life; the conflicts I’d faced, the choices I’d made. It had never occurred to me that sacrifices were made on my behalf – that I was conceived out of love.
“I’m sure it’s not hard for all of you to imagine Perodine’s response to the news of the vanishing of Aliyanna: her grief was mirrored by the world around us. The skies turned gray, and silence came to the voices of the people. I assumed we’d all die a sad, lonely death – to pay for the mistakes we’d made; but death never came. Twenty years later, Perodine, Donalt, and I looked the same. Others in the court died off one by one. I surfaced from my grief and began to study the stars again, looking for the hour of my death; instead, I found every reason to believe that my daughter was still alive, happy, and in a world so beautiful that my imagination couldn’t even take me there. I went to Perodine, overjoyed with what I’d found.”