“If she cut her hand in one existence
,” Jordan said, “it would bleed in the other.”
“He could prevent it.” Obviously troubled, Rowena rose to pour more wine. “If, for instance, I wished to give you a gift, a harmless fantasy, I might send you into dreams, and watch over you to keep you from harm. But what Kane does is not harmless. He does it to tempt, and to terrorize.”
“Why didnt he just shove my head under the bathwater while I was out of it?”
“There are still limits. To maintain the illusion, he cant touch your corporeal body. And as it is your mind that forms the texture of the illusion, neither can he force you to harm yourself. Lie, yes. Deceive and frighten, even persuade, but he cant make you do anything against your will.”
“Thats how she broke back through.” It was the answer that Jordan had needed confirmed. “First, by choosing to see it as a trick, she changed the texture, as you said, of the world. Instead of paradise, nightmare.”
“Her knowledge and fear, and Kanes anger, yes,”Pitte agreed. “The fruit you dropped,” he said to Dana. “Your mind saw it then as rotten in the center. This was not your paradise but your prison.”
“And when she dived into the sea rather than let him take what she was, rather than accept the fantasy or the nightmare, she broke through both,” Jordan concluded. “So her weapon against him is staying true to herself, whatever he throws at her.”
“Simply put,”Pitte agreed.
“Too simply.” Rowena shook her head. “Hes wily and seductive. You must never underestimate him.”
“Hes already underestimated her. Hasnt he, Stretch?”
“I can handle myself.” His easy confidence went a long way toward quieting her nerves. “Whats to stop him from hitting onZoe , screwing with her while were focused on him screwing with me?”
“She is not yet an issue for him. But precautions can be taken,” Rowena mused, tapping a finger on the rim of her glass. “She can be protected, to an extent, until her time begins.”
“If it begins,”Pitte corrected.
“Hes pessimistic by nature,” Rowena smiled. “I have more faith.” She walked back to the sofa, sat on the arm with the fluid grace some women are born with. Reaching down, she took Danas face in her hands.
“You know the truth when you hear it. You may turn your ear from it, close your mind to it. As my man is pessimistic, you are stubborn by nature.”
“Got that in one,” Jordan muttered.
“But when you choose to hear it, the truth rings clear for you. This is your gift. He cant deceive you unless you allow it. When you accept what you already know youll have the rest.”
“You wouldnt like to be a little more specific?”
A smile touched the corners of Rowenas mouth. “You have enough to think of for now.”
* * *
LATER, when they were alone, Rowena curled on the sofa besidePitte , rested her head on his shoulder and watched the fire. In the flames she studied Dana, her hands competent on the steering wheel as she drove through the night toward the quiet valley below the Peak.
She admired competence, in gods and mortals.
“She worries him,” she said quietly.
Pittewatched the fire, and the images in it as well. “Whom does she worry? The soul-stealer or the story-spinner?”
Absently, for comfort, Rowena rubbed her cheek againstPittes shoulder. “Both, certainly. And both have hurt her, though only one with intent. But a lovers blade slices deeper than any enemys. She worries Kane,” she said, “but the man is worried for her.”
“They have heat.”Pitte turned his head to brush his lips over Rowenas hair. “He should take her to bed and let the heat seal old wounds.”
“So like a male, to think bedding is always the answer.”
“Its a good one.”Pitte gave her a little shove, and when she fell, it was onto the big bed they shared.
She cocked an eyebrow at him. Her silver dress had melted away so that she wore only her own skin. Such things, she knew, were one of his more playful, and interesting, habits.