Page 87 of Dark Destiny: The Fates' Bargain

"That eventually happens to all tongues." Annani refilled her teacup. "There is a drift. I like your idea, but I do not tell the stories with the intention of them being turned into audiobooks. There are many breaks, other voices, us talking with the medical staff, and a hundred other interruptions."

"They'll need some editing, of course. I just think that people will love hearing history in your own voice, even with some of the pauses and the laughter retained. I'll have to edit out some of your digressions, though, or people will lose the main thread of the story."

"I do not digress."

Alena lifted a brow. "You sometimes provide three generations of context per anecdote, Mother. It's wonderful, but some of it will need to be trimmed. Other than that, you're a very good storyteller. You pause in all the right places, creating suspense, you change your tone to emphasize the mood you want to convey, and your voice is just so beautiful to listen to."

That would serve double duty. It would encourage people to learn their ancestors' language and save Alena the trouble of transcribing everything. Annani had so many stories to tell that they would have filled shelves upon shelves of journals.

Besides, if any of the five males in the clinic woke up with no memory of their past, the way Ell-rom had woken, then the stories would help them reconstruct at least some of it. Hopefully, they would wake up long before she exhausted everything she had to tell them.

"You have my blessing, Alena. But before you edit all of them, I want to listen to one."

"We have a deal."

The ride to the clinic was short, and Annani spent it the way she had spent every one of those morning rides for the past five days, composing herself for what she would and would not find upon arrival and planning what stories she would tell them today.

Yesterday, she had told them about Khiann and his shenanigans with Esag. The truth was that she had not known half of those stories and had only learned them recently from Esag.

Khiann had not always been the serious young god she had courted and married. During the short time they had together,Khiann had told her about his boyhood and about his father's house, but he had not told her about all the trouble that he and Esag had gotten into when they were younger.

Today she would talk about their courtship. If he could hear her, wherever his soul was drifting while his body was rebuilding itself, he would be warmed by those stories, and perhaps they would help him find his way back to her.

Some parts she would have to keep to herself, of course. Those were her favorite memories, but they were private, and the audience for her storytelling included her daughter, the medical staff, and Khiann's guards, if they could hear her.

When they arrived at the clinic, Bridget was not in her office, so they continued down the stairs to the converted operating room.

Julian looked up from a monitor and smiled, and Gertrude waved from the far bed where she was changing an IV bag. Bridget finished checking one of her patients and walked up to them.

"Good morning, Clan Mother. Alena."

"Good morning, Bridget. Any news since yesterday?"

The doctor smiled. "Every hour brings more healing. You can see for yourself."

She could, and that was the miracle and the torment of it.

The five bodies were filling in.

A week ago, they had been skeletons wearing skin, so reduced that she had not been able to look at them without her stomach turning over. Now there was flesh climbing back onto the bones, visibly, measurably, muscle knitting itself over ribs andforearms, and faces rising up out of skulls. No human body could have done that in a week, and still it was excruciatingly slow. She had waited five thousand years, and somehow this last stretch was the hardest, because he was so near.

"I believe it is safe to hold his hand now," Bridget said. "Gently, of course."

Annani turned to her. "Which one?"

Bridget smiled. "All five of them. You can do so in turns. Perhaps the tactile sensation will bring some flicker of recognition. You are fated mates. Your bodies should sing to each other."

Annani's eyes drifted to the one in the middle. "I will start with him."

"Of course." Bridget's tone and smile indicated that she had expected that answer.

"But first, I shall take a look at each face." Annani began her circuit.

She did it every day, giving each one equal attention in honor of the principle Alena had established. The others had no one to pray over them, so they would all be Khiann until proven otherwise. These four males had gone into the dark with her mate — guards, companions, maybe even friends — and whatever they had been to him, they had been beside him for five thousand years, which was more than she could say for herself.

The faces were no longer interchangeable. Features were beginning to emerge, still undefined, still unfinished, but starting to take shape, and she searched for the one whose features were the most like Khiann's.

The first had a jaw that was a little too square. It was a good strong face, but it was not his.