Page 83 (1/1)

She allows Cook to feed her moist pieces of raw afterbirth The baby loses hold of her breast and smacks her tiny lips Tenderly Mother helps her find the nipple again I pray that this frail newborn spark will fasten Mother’s self and shadow and heart to the earth

I crouch beside Amaya "Amiable, I have salty broth to settle your sto I trickle a little down her throat At first she coughs; then she ss the liquid greedily just as she probably gulped down the candied alh for now," I say sternly I offer the jug to Maraya Amaya doesn’t protest, just sinks back onto the floor

"Are we really getting out of the tomb?" Maraya asks after she has drunk

"Yes!" I don’t tell her that I can save her and Amaya and Coriander but I have to leave Mother and Cook behind I don’t say that Mother ht die anyway from blood loss and despair, that she desperately needs a healer, food, rest, and comfort Maraya knows it too

Pitchers in the entry chamber contain ater, for the priests do not wish the oracle and her servants to live in filth Coriander refuses to wash A shroud off, wipe her clean, and then dress her in the huht

She complains the whole time in her whiniest voice "Why do I have to wear this coarse linen sheath, Jes? It’s too long Why is it so dark? I want another lamp"

I am pretty sure she is still too delirious to realize where she is Her breath shastly scent of the sweet lotus potion I pant in shallow bursts to avoid the stench When I’m done, Coriander and I carry her to the oracle’s bed The stench per around the bed to keep it free of bugs leaven the air somewhat Amaya curls up, hands pressed to her belly

Washing and getting dressed in ordinary clothing cheers up everyone more than I expected Maraya and I settle Mother on the bed beside Ao back to examine Lord Ottonor’s bier The wooden lid of his coffin is sealed ax sigils molded andits way out before the spark fades By la tray with its poisoned ly in decorative bowls and tiny cera that I almost pick up one of the artful little seed-cakes

"Merry, aren’t oracles buried young to keep a lord’s naer?"

"Do you knohat else is odd, Jes?" I almost weep to hear the crisp tone so characteristic of Maraya before all of this happened, the one that e "After Arabbed the candied al! Cook offered the food to the oracle because she is supposed to eat first But she refused to touch anything She just watched Aot sick and vomited"

"As if the oracle feared poison"

"It’s why the rest of us didn’t eat right away Cook h she didn’t lances toward the oracle’s chamber, where Mother and A through the treasures she has picked out of the oracle’s chest: a tidy pile of expensive silk clothing, pewter utensils and cups, and a trove of wristlets, anklets, and necklaces strung of beads, pearls, and polished stones "I wonder what Father’s neife is like"

"Very rich Young Palace-born Her grandmother is Princess Berenise"

"Truly? Princess Berenise is the younger sister of Kliatemnos the Fourth and his queen, Serenissima the Fourth"

"What do you know about her?" I try to keeprandmother will teach me more about him

"In her youth Princess Berenise wasSokorios of Saro-Urok I can tell you his exact degree of relationship to our own royal family if you want"

"No, no, that’s not necessary"

Her voice lightens because now she is trawling through the dusty old Archives that often see around her "King Sokorios either died in battle or was murdered by his chief rival It depends on which account you read and what faction the chronicle supports They all tell a different story to ood and the others look bad After his death she married Menos Garon of Clan Garon That is how Clan Garon becaave birth to one son He served in the army, married a noblewoman from old Saro, sired Lady Meno&euaron is her husband’s brother’s son"