Naamah's Blessing

place within your twilight?”
    I glanced around wildly. “Jehanne!”
    “Hush.” Jehanne touched my cheek. “I am here. Did I not tell you I would be here at the end?”
    “Aye, but—”
    “Aye, aye, aye,” she mocked me, leaning forward to kiss my lips. “Do not be alarmed, my beautiful girl. I am here, but you do but dream yet. It will not wake the others. You must gather stones from the river and anoint them with your blood, placing them in Raphael’s quarters so that you might invoke your magic. It is the only way I may come through and speak to him.”
    My eyes stung. “Can you turn him from his course?”
    “I can but try,” Jehanne said gravely. “I fear it may be too late. But at the least, I mean to free you from his oath. Call my name. It is all you need do.” She kissed me again. “Trust me.”
    “
Jehanne
!”
    I startled awake. I could still feel Jehanne’s kiss lingering on my lips, the scent of her perfume in the air.
    For the first time in many long days, hope stirred in my breast. Jehanne had saved me from Raphael’s ambition before. If anyone could do it again, it was her.
    Although it was not yet dawn, I rose and dressed. Summoning the twilight, I slipped forth from my quarters, taking with me the satchel that contained the
wurari
poison and the thorns wrapped in a length of fabric.
    Following the pull of Bao’s
diadh-anam
, I walked unseen through the streets of Qusqu. As the course through the city was not so straightforward as the bond between Bao and me, it took me several false turns and sojourns into blind alleys before I found the humble dwellings on the outskirts of the city where Bao and the others were lodged. The sun was rising in the east. In the twilight, it painted the snow-capped mountains beyond Qusqu with a mantle of pale silvery flame.
    I stepped over the threshold of the dwelling that held Bao and a dozen others. Fast asleep, he had not sensed my approach. His face was serene and beautiful in sleep, but I could see the bright shadow that limned him, the shadow of death that Cusi had seen.
    Releasing the twilight, I whispered his name. “Bao!”
    He woke swiftly, reaching for a staff that wasn’t there, and then yawned, his eyes crinkling. “Moirin.”
    The others stirred, waking more slowly. “Lady Moirin,” Prince Thierry greeted me, his voice raspy with sleep. “I understand Raphael is to be coronated on the morrow. Tell me you come bearing welcome news.”
    “Whether or not it is welcome, I cannot say,” I said. “But I come bearing a plan.”
    I told them.
    I showed them the stoppered jar of
wurari
, explaining its usage and the timing of its effects. I unrolled the fabric-wrapped thorns,warning them that they must be very, very careful not to prick themselves.
    “This will be a tricky business to coordinate,” Thierry murmured. “How do we avoid rousing Raphael’s suspicions?”
    “Raphael has well nigh forgotten your existence for the moment, your highness,” I said to him. “The priestess Iniquill will assure him the Maidens of the Sun will see that the sacrifice is in place. I do not think he will take notice. And if the dead speak true…” I took a deep breath. “He will be otherwise distracted.”
    “Thinking on his forthcoming deification, no doubt,” Balthasar Shahrizai muttered. “The mad bastard.”
    Bao gazed fixedly at me. “That’s not what you meant, is it?”
    I shook my head. “No. My lady Jehanne…” I took another deep breath, my chest feeling tight. My sense of hope faded. Giving voice to my dream, it sounded as wild and unlikely as all the rest of our plan. “She means for me to summon her. She means to convince Raphael to free me from the oath I swore.”
    “Is such a thing possible?” Bao asked in a steady tone. “Can you summon her?”
    Hot tears slid from my eyes. “Stone and sea, I don’t
know
! But we have placed our faith in the dead, and it is too late to turn back now.”
    “Moirin—”
    “No.” Prince Thierry raised one hand for silence, and there was command in the gesture. “Lady Moirin speaks the truth. We have made our choice.
I
have made my choice. I will not falter.” He paused. “A dozen men, you say?”
    Wiping my eyes, I nodded. “Assuming he is willing, I will send Eyahue to bring you suitable garb. And if all goes according to plan, Temilotzin will come to fetch you before nightfall.”
    “We will be ready,” Thierry said firmly. “That I promise you.” He glanced