Temple of the Winds

"Yes," Nathan said. "Yes, that would be best. I'm a man of wide experience and refined taste. I'm used to better. Bring something to dazzle me." "Of course, my lord." He bowed twice and rushed off. Clarissa grinned in wonder after the man had gone. "Nathan! This is the finest dress I've ever seen, and you wish him to show us something better?"

Nathan lifted an eyebrow. "Nothing is too good for a concubine to the emperor, the woman carrying the emperor's child."

Her heart fluttered to hear the prophet say that again. Sometimes, when she looked into his azure eyes, she almost saw something there, almost had the vaguest impression, if only for an instant, that Nathan was quite beyond mad. But when that serene smile of his came to his face, she melted in his confidence.

He was more daring than any man she had ever met. His daring had saved her from the brutes back in Renwold. Since then, his daring had saved them in circumstances that to her seemed worse than hopeless. There had to be a grain of madness in daring that far beyond bold. "Nathan, I trust in you, and will do whatever you ask of me. but please, would you tell me if this is just a story to pass us here, or do you really see such a horrid thing for my future?"

Nathan brought his leg down and rose to his full, towering height. He lifted one of her hands, bringing it to his heart as if it were the most fragile of blossoms. His long silver hair slipped over the front of his shoulder as he stood ever so close to her and looked into her eyes. "Clarissa, it is just a tale to accomplish my goals. It in no way reflects anything

I see about the future. I won't lie to you and tell you that there are not dangers ahead, but be at ease for now, and enjoy this much of it. We must wait for a while, and I wanted you to have an enjoyable time of it.

"You are pledged to do what you must. I trust in your word. In the meantime, I wanted nothing more than to do you a simple kindness."

"But shouldn't we hide where people won't know of us? Somewhere alone and out of sight?"

"That is the way criminals or unskilled runaways would hide. That's why they get caught. It makes people suspicious. If anyone is hunting them, they look in all the dark holes, never thinking to look in the light. As long as we must hide, the best place to hide is in the open.

"The story is too preposterous for people not to believe in its truth. No one would ever consider that anybody would have the audacity to invent such a tale, and so no one will question it.

"Besides, we aren't really hiding; no one is hunting us. We simply don't want to make people suspicious. Hiding would make them so." She shook her head. "Nathan, you are a marvel."

Clarissa eyed the bodice of the beautiful dress, what she could see of it, anyway, beyond the exposed flesh of her breasts, which were pushed up so high that they nearly tumbled out. She tugged at the bone stays lying against her ribs under her bosom. She had never worn such strange and uncomfortable undergarments. She couldn't imagine why they were all required. She smoothed the silken skirt of the dress.

"Does it look good on me? I mean, honestly. Tell me the truth, Nathan. I'm just a plain woman. Doesn't it look silly on a plain woman?" Nathan's eyebrow arched. "Plain? Is that what you think?" "Of course. I'm no fool. I know I'm not-"

Nathan waved her to silence. "Maybe you should have a look for yourself." He pulled the sheet off the standing mirror. This was a showing room for gentlemen. When he had instructed her on matters of decorum and propriety, he had told her that the mirrors in such a place were rarely used, and she wasn't to look in one unless asked. It was the look in the gentleman's eyes that mattered in such an exclusive shop, not the look in the mirror.

Nathan gently took her elbow and walked her before the mirror. "Forget what you see in your mind, and look at what others see when they look at you."

Clarissa's fingers fidgeted over the bunched frills at her waist. She nodded at Nathan, but feared to look in the mirror and be disappointed by what she always saw when she looked at herself. He gestured again. Wincing just a little out of embarrassment, she turned to gaze at her reflection. Her jaw dropped at what she saw.

Clarissa didn't recognize herself. She was not this young-looking. A woman- not a young, fickle woman, but a woman in the full glory of her maturity, a woman of elegance and bearing-stared back.

"Nathan," she whispered, "my hair. . my hair wasn't this long. How did the woman who worked on it this afternoon make it longer?"