Page 17

ANNANI

A nnani's stomach fluttered with a sensation she had not felt for a long time.

She was nervous.

She had dragged her feet telling Wonder about the possibility of finding Esag, but now that the expedition to Egypt had left, she could no longer delay. The problem was that what she had to share was a mix of hope and uncertainty.

Perhaps she should have told Wonder sooner.

Right after Fenella had touched the figurine and seen those visions, Annani should have called Wonder and told her the good news.

But something had held her back, the same instinct that made her cup her hands around a candle flame a moment before the advent of a gust of wind that would have extinguished it.

It was a gut feeling that had warned her it was too early, but then guilt interfered, whispering that her friend would not forgive her for keeping this a secret from her.

When the doorbell chimed, she rose to her feet and waited for Ogidu to escort Wonder inside.

Her butler entered her receiving room and bowed. "Mistress Wonder is here, Clan Mother."

"Thank you, Ogidu. Please show her in."

Her butler bowed and stepped aside, and then Wonder was there, filling the room with her impressive height and the positive energy she carried these days.

It was good to see her so confident and contented. She had not been that way as Gulan.

"Annani!" Wonder smiled.

Annani opened her arms, and Wonder crossed the room in three long strides, enveloping her in an embrace that lifted her slightly off her feet. They both laughed at the awkwardness of it—Wonder having to bend nearly double and Annani having to stretch up on her toes.

"Some things never change," Wonder said, setting her down gently. "We are still a mismatched pair."

"And yet we were perfect together." Annani took Wonder's hand and led her to the sofa.

"How was your day at the café?" she asked to start the conversation.

"Less busy than usual. The Pearl is the new attraction now, stealing some of my customers. Not that I mind. The village needed another casual dining place."

Annani tilted her head. "Do the sisters serve food in their grocery store? I was not aware that they have dine-in arrangements."

"They don't, but people buy their ready-made items and take them home. Once the new place is built, though, there will be outdoor seating on the roof of their store, which will serve as a back terrace for the office building. I expect many more of the café customers will opt for that."

Kian had mentioned that over dinner at his house and had even shown her the plans.

"It is going to be a very nice addition to the village center," Annani said. "I am looking forward to the day it opens."

Wonder nodded. "So, what's the occasion? You didn't invite me to talk about the new grocery store."

Annani laughed. "I remember that expression on your face. It is the same one you always had when you suspected me of coming up with another scheme that would get us in trouble."

"That's because you have the same guilty look on your face you always had when you were about to drag me into one of your shenanigans. I often wondered where the fountainhead of all those crazy ideas was."

"They were not crazy. They were fun."

Wonder's laugh was rich and full. "You always made it sound like such wonderful adventures. 'Come on, Gulan, it will be fun,' you'd say. And then we'd end up hiding in the storage chambers and secret passages while half the palace guards searched for us."

"Poor Gulan." Annani squeezed her hand. "But maybe forcing you to go against your careful and calculated nature helped shape you into the strong female you are today."

"Strong?" Wonder shook her head. "I was terrified half the time.

But I could never say no to you, and not just because you were the princess and I had to obey your wishes.

You'd look at me with such excitement, such certainty that whatever mad plan you'd concocted would work out perfectly, that I just got swept away. "

"My plans usually worked."

"After significant modifications to account for reality," Wonder corrected. "You always forgot about little details like guards, or walls, or the laws of physics."

They smiled at each other, the weight of shared history like a familiar cloak wrapping around them both. But Annani could see the question in Wonder's eyes, the awareness that she had not been invited here to reminisce.

"There is something I need to tell you." Annani tightened her fingers around Wonder's hand. "I should have told you about it sooner, but I did not want to get your hopes up for nothing."

Wonder frowned. "Don't keep me in suspense. Just tell me what it is."

Annani contemplated the best approach to tell Wonder about Esag and decided to start at the beginning.

"Kalugal and Jacki found another figurine in Egypt that resembles in style the one Kalugal found of you. Only this time, the figurine was of me."

Wonder gasped. "Do you think the same person carved them both?"

Her friend had always been sharp. "Yes and no.

Mine was a copy of an original that was carved by the same person who carved yours.

When Fenella held it, she saw visions of the carver copying an older original, which was signed at the bottom.

" She took a deep breath. "The name of the artist was Esag son of Agnon. "

Wonder went very still, her hand trembling in Annani's grasp. "Esag?" The name came out as barely more than a whisper. "But that would mean that he?—"

"Survived." Annani squeezed her friend's hand. "The inscription read, 'Blessed be the memory of the most radiant princess who was taken from us too soon.' He thought we had all died, Gulan. He carved figurines of us to keep our memory alive."

Tears gathered in Wonder's eyes but did not fall. She had not always been good at controlling her emotions, but she had gotten better at it after her resurrection.

"Fenella's talent works best when Kyra and Jasmine join forces with her. That is why they all boarded Kalugal's jet this morning and left for Egypt. They are going to follow the trail of figurines that will hopefully lead them to Esag, and if we find Esag..."

"We might find Khiann," Wonder finished. She pulled her hand free and stood abruptly, pacing to the window. "Anandur had to know about this and didn't tell me." She turned back to Annani. "Did you or Kian order him to keep this from me?"

Shaking her head, Annani rose to her feet and walked over to her friend's side.

"We did not, but he might not have known the details.

And even if he did, he probably wanted to spare you disappointment the same way I did.

Finding Esag is not assured. In fact, the chances of finding him are very slim. "

"He should have told me anyway. We're fated mates and we don't keep secrets from one another." Wonder closed her eyes briefly. "Did he think that I was still pining after Esag?"

"Oh, my dear Wonder." Annani patted her friend's arm. "Men are foolish creatures, but your Anandur knows how much you love him. In his mind, he was protecting you from disappointment if the search proved fruitless."

Wonder's broad shoulders sagged. "That sounds like him."

"Hope can be cruel when it is snatched away. I also wanted to spare you that if possible, but I knew you would be angry at me if I kept it from you."

Wonder moved back to the sofa, sinking into the cushions. "Can I at least see the figurine?"

"I gave it to Fenella to take with her, hoping she might glean more memories from it. But I took photographs." She sat next to Wonder. "Do you want to see them?"

"Yes, please."

Annani reached into the hidden pocket of her gown and withdrew her phone. She had taken multiple photos of the figurine from every angle, just in case it got lost and this was all that remained of it.

She handed the phone to Wonder, watching her friend's face as she studied the images.

"It's so beautiful," Wonder breathed. "The detail is extraordinary. I never knew Esag had such artistic talent."

"And this is not even his work. According to Fenella, the artist who made this copy was never satisfied with his attempts to match the original. He felt he could never capture the perfection that Esag had achieved."

Wonder enlarged the image, studying the face carved in miniature. "It does look like you. Not just the features, but something about the expression. That little tilt to your chin when you're planning something devious."

"I do not tilt my chin when planning," Annani protested.

"You absolutely do. It's your tell." Wonder handed the phone back, but her expression had grown distant. "If Esag made these, mine and yours, he must have cared for me more than I thought he did."

Wonder had been in love with Esag, and he had let her down. Annani could see how knowing that he had carved her likeness, thereby preserving her memory, must have stirred up old feelings and old questions.

"Of course, he did. His marriage was arranged, and he was doing what was expected of him."

Wonder nodded. "What I don't get is how he knew about the fate that befell me. He wasn't there when I fell into the chasm, and yet Jacki saw the whole story when she touched my figurine."

"I have a theory about that," Annani said. "What if Esag developed foresight abilities over the centuries? What if he had visions, and he imbued his work with them?"

Wonder shook her head. "If he saw me falling into the chasm, he knew that I wasn't dead and that I was in stasis, buried somewhere in the desert. Why didn't he look for me?"

"Maybe he did," Annani said softly. "Maybe he also saw what happened to Khiann and looked for him too. That is what I am hoping for. Perhaps he doesn't have the resources to find Khiann, but he could point us in the right direction."

They sat in silence for a moment, the weight of desperate hope pressing down on Annani instead of uplifting her.

Wonder straightened, shaking off the melancholy. "The threads of fate are weaving the tapestry of our lives, and the pattern is starting to emerge. It's all coming together."