“Perhaps you will come to the point,” said Juanna, who was trembling with fear and anger.
“It is this, Shepherdess,” Nam answered bowing; “although you are dethroned as a goddess, you may still shine as a queen and rule over us as the wife of our king.”
“Indeed,” replied Juanna, turning suddenly cold; “and how shall I, who am held to be dead, appear again as a woman wedded to your king? Surely the people would find that strange, Nam?”
“No, Shepherdess, for I have prepared a tale which shall explain the wonder, and already its rumour runs from mouth to mouth. It will be said that you were a goddess and therefore immortal, but that for the sake of love you have put off your godhead and put on the flesh, that you might dwell for some years with him whom you desire.”
“Indeed,” said Juanna again. “And what if I refuse to consent to this scheme, which, as I think, can have come only from a woman’s brain?” and she pointed to Soa.
“You are right, Shepherdess,” answered Soa, “the plan is mine; I made it to save you, and also,” she added coolly, “to be revenged upon that white thief who loves you, for he shall live to see you the wife of another man, a wild man.”
“And have you never thought, Soa, that I may have wishes of my own in this matter?”
“Doubtless, yet the fairest women cannot always have what they may chance to wish. Know, Shepherdess, that this must be both for your own sake and for the sake of Nam, my father. Olfan loves you, and in these troubled times it is necessary that Nam and the priests should gain his support, which has been bought but now by the promise that you will be given to him in marriage on this very day. For you, Shepherdess, although you might have wished to wed one of your own race, at the least you will rule a queen, and that is better than to perish miserably.”
“I think otherwise, Soa,” Juanna answered calmly, for she saw that neither passion nor pleading would help her, “and of the two I choose to die,” and she put her hand to her hair, then started, for she found the poison gone.
“You will choose to die, Shepherdess,” said Soa with a cold smile, “but this is not always so easy. I have taken your medicine from you while you slept, and here there are no other means to compass death.”