His plan was so tenuous, so weak, but at least all of the pieces were in their proper places. Hadrian knew he was the Guardian of the Heir, and Esrahaddon was convinced he was a worthy protector of Jerish's legacy. Then there was the heir-an unlikely choice to be sure-but one that somehow made perfect sense. Arista just needed o master her hatred and then she would come around.
Yes, he concluded, it will be all right.
He remembered how his master Yolric always insisted things worked out for the best in the end. Yolric, the wisest of them all, was passionate about the world's ability to correct itself. Esrahaddon's greatest fear when the Old Empire fell was that Yolric might side with Venlin. The fact that the emperor's seed still lived nearly a thousand years later proved his master had not helped the Patriarch find the emperor's son when Jerish took Nevrik into hiding. Esrahaddon allowed himself a grin. He missed old Yolric. His teacher would be dead now. He was ancient even when Esrahaddon was a boy.
Esrahaddon stretched out his legs and tried to clear his mind. He needed to rest, but rest had eluded him for centuries. Rest was only enjoyed by men of clear conscience and he had too much innocent blood on his hands. Too many people gave their lives for him to fail.
Remembering Yolric opened the door to his past, and through it, ghosts entered. Faces of people long dead, his family, his friends, and the woman he had hoped to marry. It seemed his life before the fall was merely a dream, but perhaps this was the dream-a nightmare he was trapped in. Maybe one day he would wake and find himself back in the palace with Nevrik, Jerish, and his beloved Elinya.
Had she somehow survived the destruction of the city?
He wanted to think so, no matter how unlikely. It pleased him to believe she escaped the end but even that thought gave little comfort.
What if she believed what they said about me afterward? Did she marry someone else feeling betrayed? Did Elinya die at an old age, hating me? Or was she killed in the civil war?