Lythande recalled an old fairy-tale, which might be used to save the Secret of
the Star.
The light flickered as Time returned to the chamber. Bercy was still clinging
and weeping, unaware of the lapse; Lythande had resolved what to do. and the
girl felt Lythande’s arms enfolding her, and the magician’s kiss on her
welcoming mouth.
‘You must love me or I shall die!’ Bercy wept.
Lythande said, ‘You shall be mine.’ The soft neutral voice was very gentle. ‘But
even a magician is vulnerable in love, and I must protect myself. A place shall
be made ready for us without light or sound save for what I provide with my
magic; and you must swear that you will not seek to see or to touch me except by
that magical light. Will you swear it by the All-Mother, Bercy? For if you swear
this, I shall love you as no woman has ever been loved before.’
Trembling, she whispered, ‘I swear.’ And Lythande’s heart went out in pity, for
Rabben had used her ruthlessly; so that she burned alive with her unslaked and
bewitched love for the magician, that she was all caught up in her passion for
Lythande. Painfully, Lythande thought; if she had only loved me. without the
spell; then I could have loved … ,.
Would that I could trust her with my secrete But she is only Rabben’s tool; her
love for me is his doing, and none of her own will… and not real… And so
everything which would pass between them now must be only a drama staged for
Rabben.
‘I shall make all ready for you with my magic.’
Lythande went and confided to Myrtis what was needed; the woman began to laugh,