Legacy of the Sword by Jennifer Roberson

I wish to stay with you.” The question, even through her declaration, was implicit in her tone.
    “You have been with your
jehana
two years, Aislinn—longer than was intended,” Donal pointed out. “Carillon allowed you to stay because you wished it. He has been overly generous, I think—but now it is time you returned to him.”
    Electra smoothed the supple silk of her purple mantle. “He is a shapechanger, Aislinn. He can make man or woman do
anything
, does he wish it.” Her cool eyes glinted as she looked at him. “Can you not?”
    Grimly, he wished he could slay her where she stood, even before her daughter.
    Electra merely smiled.
    “I will
not
,” Aislinn declared. “I will go nowhere I have no wish to go.”
    Inwardly, he sighed. “Then you defy your
jehan
, Aislinn. It is Carillon who wants you back in Homana-Mujhar.”
Not me
, he thought.
Oh gods, not me
.
    “And you do
not
?” she demanded triumphantly, as if she had won the battle and proved her point.
    Donal laughed, but the sound lacked all humor. “No,” he said bluntly. “Why should I?”
    Slowly, so slowly, the color flowed out of her face. Her gray eyes were suddenly blackened pits of comprehension. Color rushed back and lit her face. “
Do you mean—
”
    “—do I mean I do not want you?” he interrupted rudely. “Aye, that sums it up. So gainsay your foolishness, Aislinn, and order your belongings packed. Carillon wants you home.”
    The breath rattled in her throat. “Wait you—
wait
you—” She shut her mouth, tried to recover some of her vanished composure, and frowned at him. “To gain the throne, you must have
me.
”
    “Oh, aye,” he agreed, “but have I ever said I
wanted
it?”
    “But—it is the
throne
—” She gestured. “The throne of all Homana…and now Solinde. The
Lion
Throne.” Her frown deepened. “And yet you tell me you
do not want it
?”
    “I do not,” he said distinctly. “Do you understand, now? We were betrothed because Carillon had no sons, only a daughter—and no
cheysula
—no
proper
one—to share his bed and bear him any more children.” His eyes went to Electra, standing stiffly on the dais. “And so, by betrothing his daughter to his cousin’s son, Carillon gets an heir for the throne of Homana.” He spread his hands. “Me.” The handsflopped down. “
That
is why I am here, no matter what your
jehana
tells you.”
    Aislinn gathered the heavy girdle in both hands, wadding the chain into the soft flesh of her palms. She was pale, so pale; he thought she might cry. But she did not. He saw her reach within herself to regain her composure.
    She looked at her mother. She looked at her mother, and waited.
    When he could, Donal looked at the woman also. She stood but two paces from him, close enough that he could put out his hands and throttle her. He knew, for the first time, a measure of the futility Carillon had experienced, and knew himself a fool for undervaluing the woman.
    Gods…even
now
she does not give up. She will hound him to his death
— He was brought up short.
Which is what she wants. Even now. Even imprisoned on this island, she will do what she can to slay him…even to using her daughter.
He felt ill.
I
cannot deal with this—
    Electra regarded him quietly. “Do you see?” she asked. “You may win back a part of her, in time—I do expect it, of course—but there is a portion of Aislinn I will always hold.” Her right hand scribed an invisible rune in the air between them, as if she dallied idly. She smiled composedly. “Her
soul
, Cheysuli wolfling. I have made that completely mine…and what is mine is also Tynstar’s.”
    Donal watched her hand, so slim and pale, as it closed upon the invisible rune.
By the gods, what has she done to Aislinn
?
    He looked at the girl. She stood very still, staring fixedly at her mother, and Donal felt an uprush of chilling apprehension.
There are Cheysuli here—Electra can practice no magic.
And yet he knew, watching the