He began to gain some control over his emotions. ‘Do you plan to explain this?’ he asked in as level a tone as he could manage, ‘or am I supposed to guess?’

‘Be nice, father. You wanted children, didn’t you?’

‘Well –’

‘And mother’s a queen. She has to give birth to a successor, doesn’t she?’

‘Of course, but –’

‘She wouldn’t have, you know.’

‘What?’

‘The poison Annias gave her made her barren. You have no idea how difficult it was for me to overcome that. Why do you think Sephrenia was so upset when she discovered that mother was pregnant? She knew about the effects of the poison, of course, and she was very put out with me for interfering – probably more because mother’s an Elene than for any other reason. Sephrenia’s very narrow-minded sometimes. Oh, do sit down, Sparhawk. You look ridiculous all stooped over like that. Either sit or stand. Don’t hover in between.’

Sparhawk sank back into his chair, his mind reeling. ‘But why?’ he demanded.

‘Because I love you and mother. She was destined to be childless, so I had to change her destiny just a bit.’

‘And did you change mine as well?’

‘How could I possibly do that? You’re Anakha, remember? Nobody knows what your destiny is. You’ve always been a problem for us. Many felt that we shouldn’t let you be born at all. I had to argue for centuries to persuade the others that we really needed you.’ She looked down at herself. ‘I’m going to have to pay attention to growing up, I suppose. I was Styric before, and Styrics can take these things in their stride. You Elenes are more excitable, and people might begin to talk if I were to remain a child for several centuries. I guess I’ll have to do it the right way this time.’

‘This time?’

‘Of course. I’ve been born dozens of times.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘It helps to keep me young.’ Her small face grew very serious. ‘Something terrible happened in the Temple of Azash, father, and I needed to hide from it for a while. Mother’s womb was the perfect place to hide. It was so safe and secure there.’

‘Then you knew what was going to happen in Zemoch,’ he accused.

‘I knew that something was going to happen, so I just covered all the possibilities.’ She pursed her pink little mouth thoughtfully. ‘This might be very interesting,’ she said. ‘I’ve never been a grown woman before – and certainly never a queen. I wish my sister were here. I’d like to talk with her about it.’

‘Your sister?’

‘Sephrenia.’ She said it almost absently. ‘She was the eldest daughter of my last parents. It’s very nice having an older sister, you know. She’s always been so very, very wise, and she always forgives me when I do something foolish.’