Darksong Rising (105 page)

“The others of the Thirty-three cannot fault that you made him Lord of the Western Marches.”

‘There’s plenty that they can fault. They can fault the dreadful sorceress.” Anna shook her head,

recalling other words, other times, and how those words had a different meaning. Be not proud,

for though some have called you mighty and dreadfid, you are nor so… Donne hadn’t meant the

words that way but you certainly have no reason to be proud… not after this season.

‘Too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart,” Jecks said quietly. His eyes were warm and

deep—and fixed on her.

“What?” With the intensity of Jecks’ words, Anna looked closely at her lord high counselor.

“You said that... you spoke of. . . but that was before you went to Arien. The words are yours,

but you do not take them to your heart.”

The words belonged to a true poet, one she’d sometimes wished had seen more of his work put

to the music she’d once sung. “We all make sacrifices ... and sometimes they go on. You’ve left

Elheld to come to Falcor for Jimbob.”

“I did not come to Falcor just for him, my Lady.”

Anna knew that, somehow welcomed and dreaded the words at the same time. “I know that. I’ve

known it for a long time. I’m glad you did." You said it… you are glad.

“Lady. . . would you return to the mist world. . . if you could?” Jecks’ voice was soft, deep,

concerned.

Would you return if you could... would you...The words seemed to spin through Anna’s mind...

over and over. Would she return? Her mouth was dry, and her hands trembled. She clasped them

together tightly. “That’s an impossible question. I can’t. I can barely send a message once a

season, and I risk my life doing that."

“You know you cannot,” Jecks persisted. “But would you if you could?”

Anna swallowed. To see Elizabetta and Mario again... A colder, harder voice appeared. And

then what? And then what? Do you want to go back to struggling as an untenured professor?

How would you even get a job... or explain two years’ absence? And what would you do when

Elizabetta graduates and starts living her own life?

Would you if you could? The words rattled through her Iikc an ice-edged blade.

Jecks sat, patiently, a man of action, yet one who had stood by her, helped her, reined in his

nature, even changed who he had been. His eyes were bright.

Anna swallowed. "... and we are here, as on a darkling plain.. .“ Another poet, another set of

words. But our armies aren’t that ignorant... “They don’t have to be..."

Jecks raised his eyebrows at her murmured words.

The softest of unheard chords echoed through her mind, and she rose and stepped around the

table-desk. As he stood, she took his hands.

Those strong weathered hands and muscular arms slipped around her, and Anna’s arms went

around Jecks, the lord who had always been there.. . and who always would be, through the

seasons.. . through Darksong and Clearsong.

The End.

I apologize for the punctuation and spelling errors that got thru the OCR editing, especially

toward the end, when I was getting a little weary. But the author appears to have tired toward the

end too. In the last chapter how was Lejun able to tell Jecks that Anna was awake and moving

about her chamber, when a few paragraphs later, Anna tells Jecks the she had left Lejun at

Flossbend the day before?