Page 5 of Ties of Deception

The couple startled in their saddles before turning to me with awkward expressions.

Hermon dabbed his forehead with his kerchief. “Er, well, you see…it’s a bit of a distressing situation, my lady. The Adamo family’s youngest daughter is ill. They wish your Blessing on her to bring her back to health.”

I licked my lips, indignation growing inside me. “And all that needs to happen for her to be Blessed is for her to be near me? Why are we even questioning this if she is sick? Of course, I must heal her.”

Drusella glanced at her husband, her eyes full of worry. She slipped from her horse and approached me quietly. She reached out to take my hands as she gazed up into my face. “Purity, it’s not quite that simple. You must be very happy while she is nearby for her to receive a Blessing. Can you look on a sick child and remain happy? If you become upset, you could make the child distressed by breaking things nearby. Additionally, all those around you might doubt your ability to Bless and fear for their safety. Even bridges and houses might be badly damaged. The stronger the emotion, the wider the distance you affect.” She squeezed my hands. “It’s very soon for you to try this. You are so young. You haven’t yet learned to control your emotions or become confident in your abilities. You have to see the joy of what is to come when you heal her, even when she appears broken and suffering before you.”

I closed my eyes, understanding the gravity of the situation. “Do I have to see her? If I am happy inside the litter and the girl is brought close, would that work?”

Drusella half nodded. “It depends on your innate power, the level of your happiness, and the seriousness of the illness. Whereas it is simpler for you to spread luck and happiness, healing a child from near death may require you to touch her.”

I looked away back into the litter and the richly embroidered cushions within. How could I control my happiness? How could I be so happy that I could heal people even from a distance? Was it evenpossibleto control my emotions as tightly as that? I had no memories or experiences to dwell on. When I looked inside myself for strength, I felt like an empty amphora.

I frowned. Surely I had to try? A child would die otherwise. I looked straight at Hermon. “Bring the child to me. I will cover my eyes and think happy thoughts. If you need to, guide my arm to touch her.”

Hermon didn’t wait for Drusella to respond but bowed his head in relief and dismounted from his horse, quickly giving orders to a servant. I called to Flavia to join me in the litter, and she found a strip of material to cover my eyes. I held still while she tied it around my head, taking care not to catch any of my braids.

I caught her hand. “Stay in the litter with me, Flavia, and tell me what’s going on.”

“Yes, my lady.” I heard the soft rustle of the silk cushions as she settled. “I think we’re just waiting for the sick girl to be brought here.”

“Maybe we should go to their house, instead?”

Flavia’s voice was hesitant. “I think it might be safer this way, my lady.”

I puzzled over the meaning of her words—and who or what exactly might be ‘safer’—when Flavia announced the girl was being carried through the crowd.

A small stab of panic sharpened my senses. I needed happy thoughts. What happy thoughts could I dwell on? I had nothing but memories from the last two days. Still, there had to be something.

I closed my eyes and thought of the gentle ripple of the curtains blowing in my room. The sound of bird songs. The taste of fresh mangos. I clung to them fiercely, willing them to make me happy.

Another image bloomed in the back of my mind, and I couldn’t place it at all. A basket full of pomegranates. A note tied with a silver ribbon. A navy silk cushion, half covered by my hair. Only my hair wasn’t wavy and blonde but black and straight and long enough to form a cloak.

I snapped my eyes open but could only see hazy shadows through the material covering most of my face.

Flavia touched my shoulder, and I suppressed the urge to flinch. “She’s close now, my lady. Concentrate on your emotions. I will guide your hand if you need me to.”

I swallowed, reeling with shock and confusion. But when I thought of that basket…I’d felt joy…hope…excitement.

The feeble cry of an infant threatened to distract me further. I could almost feel the tension and expectation in the air.

I thought back to the basket, trying to bring it back to its previous vividness. The shining scarlet fruit flecked with yellow, begging to be sliced open and tasted. The silver ribbon. The feel of a promise. My expectation of something wonderful. Something I had only dreamed of. Excitement so deep, I couldn’t sit still. Happiness.

Slowly the intensity of the picture returned, and I couldn’t hold back a smile.

A gasp from Flavia broke the picture. “My lady! My lady, you just did it. She’s stopped crying. The lesions are gone! She even looks a normal, healthy weight now!”

The image of the basket vanished, and I couldn’t help a moment of sharp loss and the sensation of being bereft and alone. But before the emotion could take root, there were sounds of shouts from the crowd. I pulled the blindfold off and stared in wonder. A man was lifting his toddler daughter to the sky by the litter, tears of joy streaming down his face. Flowers had bloomed everywhere to enormous sizes. The crowd was rejoicing, some shouting about their own ailments that had been healed, pointing at hands or legs or stomachs. The world seemed brighter somehow.

Everywhere was…happiness.

I drank it all in, letting it feed my joy with something far more tangible than that strange memory I couldn’t explain. Thinking back and wondering about the basket made the feeling of loss return, so I smothered it and concentrated on my joy that the little girl was better.

The father handed his little girl to another and bowed before my litter. I hurriedly gestured for him to get up. Then the litter was turned around, and Drusella informed me we were returning to the villa.

The crowds didn’t stop their cheering, and nobody was beaming more than Drusella and Hermon, who sat proudly atop their horses.

Flavia settled down on the other side of the litter, the excitement even making her smile. “You did so well, my lady. Everyone will be so grateful for what you did today.”

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