Free Sorcerer's Legacy by Janny Wurts Page A

indifference she had shown when Ielond transformed her dress, she held still as Taroith brought his focus to rest on her abdomen. The touch roused a chilly prickle of awareness. The Sorcerer cupped his hand, bent fingers eclipsing the white blaze, and exerted gentle but firm pressure.
    Elienne felt cold slip like water through the fabric of her dress. The light penetrated the skin beneath, then muscle, and sank deeper. An alien presence invaded her innards like frost.
    “Relax.” Taroith smiled and quietly slipped his other hand around her waist and placed it flat against her back.
    Elienne took a slow breath. The icy, tingling sensation of the soulfocus within her body totally absorbed her attention.
    “The Lady is innocent,” said Taroith presently. “Test for truth if you wish, Excellency.”
    Faisix rounded the chair and knelt beside the Sorcerer. He reached out and placed his narrow hand over Taroith’s. Despite all effort at control, Elienne’s stomach muscles knotted.
    “There is nothing to fear, Elienne,” said the Sorcerer gently. “The Regent will only atune his awareness to mine. There will be no pain, I assure you.”
    Elienne closed her eyes, forced herself to remain calm. The sensation of cold in her middle sharpened and grew heavy. Since she had no way of knowing whether Faisix could exert any control over Taroith’s probe, Elienne tried to limit herself to trivial thoughts as a precaution, until the trial should end.
    A small bubble of surprise rose in her mind. Startled by a swift flare of annoyance, Elienne repressed a shiver, certain the emotion was not her own. The feeling vanished as Faisix removed his hand. He had passed briefly through her awareness, and some of his own reaction had leaked through the contact. The Regent had expected to find evidence of Ielond’s meddling, Elienne realized. Faisix knew that she carried some means of establishing pregnancy. But the Prince’s Guardian had predicted accurately; no trace of her child by Cinndel could be detected yet through conventional sorcery.
    Elienne found little comfort in the fact she had passed safely through the examination. Faisix would now be forced to seek her ruin beneath the Law, and in a strange court with unfamiliar customs she had little defense against treachery.
    Taroith lifted his hands. Like a spark fanned by an air current, his focus withdrew from Elienne’s body. Numbness lifted and her own warmth flooded back like circulation returning to a cramped limb.
    “The Lady is indeed innocent.” Faisix mastered his disappointment with finesse, and his yellow eyes seemed empty of malice. “I owe you an apology, Master Taroith, for expressing doubt against you earlier. The Law has been satisfied. The Council will place its seal of approval on the required documents this afternoon. I will personally send word to the kitchens to prepare a banquet in celebration.” The Regent bestowed a smile cold as a snowdrift on Elienne. “Congratulations, my Lady Consort. May the Prince’s favor become you.”
    Elienne rose warily and curtsied. Her mistrust of the Regent proved justified; she had barely completed her gesture when the door opened and admitted two strapping women in armor. Their hair was cropped short as a child’s, and wide mesh belts clinked with weaponry. Broad, calloused hands and sinewy wrists offered mute evidence that scabbarded steel and heavy ash spears were not at all ornamental.
    “Aisa and Denji,” Faisix introduced. “They will stand guard at your door, Lady, until the royal grace period is past. They have orders to kill any man who enters your chambers—other than the Prince, of course. Questions will be asked afterward, should such a situation arise. Pendaire’s succession is no light matter, and with Ielond dead, the Select chose caution.”
    Elienne said nothing. Plainly, she would have no chance to speak alone with Taroith. Rather than place her escort on their guard, she smiled sweetly and