Page 29 (1/2)

A rustle of movement whispers from the kitchen courtyard where the hearths and oven stand I tiptoe inside Mother kneels all ungainly beside ainto a deliriu unmoored from her body Saffron isn’t her real naned her when she calances at me, then slips a tiny leather bottle from the crook of her left elbow and slides the bottle’s tip between the old one’s withered lips Saffron suckles as ainst the wall As far as I know everyone else is asleep

But suddenly laht winks, then sprays the kitchen courtyard’s walls with shadows Father appears "Is this how I am repaid?" he says with clenched jaw

Instead of begging his pardon Mother steadies the bottle at the old woman’s lips He backhands her so hard that drops of oil splash onto her perfect skin, pale flecks against brown

I jolt back a step, heart thudding, a hand clapped over ht I have never seen hihtens as she looks up at hiods demand an old woman suffer for the sake of a man who never knew she existed?"

"I have allowed you to keep your useless strays at some cost to my career But now is the crux If I cannot attract a new lord sponsor in the wake of Ottonor’s death, then what do you suppose will become of her? Or of you?"

"You fear for your own honor, my lord Your own a mood It is not like the h at me forhe ain Bettany leaps forward, yanks the larasp, and throws it onto the hearth The ceramic bowl shatters, and oil blazes up Mother kneels with a hand pressed to her cheek

"You’re the one who got her pregnant all those tio but you never did!"

"Bettany, calm yourself," says Mother "The death of Lord Ottonor has upset us all We eather this unpleasantness and find peace again"

Ashamed at my hesitation, I hasten forward to help her rise with rabs an unlit lalow of the spilled oil fades When he looks at us with that dark frown, I treot you pregnant?"

Never before in er pinch Mother’s mouth

"Dare you speak so to me, Esladas? Out of your own fear? Had I desired another hters not been born of your seed I would have honored the them the name of their father I would not have lied and worn awords For it is not just irls"