In Her Shadow(5)

Father and son stood mute as they took each other in. After a moment, the Governor turned to his guards and said, "Come along. We've preparations to make and the city streets are dangerous after dark."





Chapter 2


"Abbess?" Britta shut the door behind her. Nothing stirred in the darkness of the Abbess of Night's cell. Britta didn't mind the darkness, having grown up surrounded by it, but there was something different about the Abbess of Night's personal quarters – a stillness that bespoke a chilly dignity and authority that unnerved Britta. "Abbess?" she asked again, her voice lower as if a part of her didn't want a response.

Something rustled in the corner of the room. Black against black, the ruffle of clothing. A shadow of shiny ink grew from the ground upward. "Britta," said the shape. It glided forward until it the Abbess of Night's rocky crag of a face materialized around her cold eyes.

"Yes, Abbess."

The Abbess smiled, lips quivering. Britta had never seen the Abbess smile before. It sent a little shudder up her spine. More, the Abbess's smile seemed weak and her flesh an unusual gray.

"You don't look well," Britta said.

The Abbess opened her mouth to speak, but before any words came out, she collapsed forward into Britta's arms.

"Abbess!"

The old woman pulled away from her, but kept one hand on Britta's shoulder to steady herself. "It's okay, child. I'm just old and tired. I've been communing with the Goddess. It takes a lot out of me."

"Let me help you sit, Abbess."

The Abbess didn't complain as Britta lent her an arm to lean on and led her to a nearby chair. "Thank you," said the Abbess. "You're a good girl. It's a shame we have to do this to you." The Abbess motioned to the chair across from her. "Please sit."

"Yes, ma'am," Britta said. Funny how, after a few moments in the presence of the Abbess, Britta could navigate the room without stubbing her toe against something.

"The Governor's son has arrived."

"When?"

"Tonight. We'll go to the Governor's manse in a little while so the two of you can be introduced."

Britta slumped back in her chair. The realization her marriage was really going to happen settled on her chest like a weight. Something inside her shifted, a little flutter of the heart. Is this what she really wanted? Locked up in a tower of darkness like a princess in one of the fairy tales Weboshi read her as a child, she'd always known her fate. But it was an intellectual knowledge, one that had never penetrated too deep, too strongly. Her marriage had always seemed like a distant dream, a thing everyone told her would happen but on some level she never really believed. She'd never faced it, and therefor hadn't seriously considered what she was being used for. Is this what Weboshi had tried to warn her about?

"Tonight?" Britta asked.

"Of course tonight."

"Abbess, I'm not sure–"

"Not sure what?"

The Abbess of Night's shape grew formless again, fuzzy in the darkness. Only her little wrinkled face remained distinct. Even that had a haziness to it that made it hard for Britta to focus on her.

"I'm – I'm not sure I want do this, Abbess of Night."

The old woman didn't move, or speak. The room grew quiet except for the sound of Britta's own breathing.

"You don't have a choice, New Moon."

"Abbess, I–"

"None of us have a choice. Do you understand that? No sister cloaked in this abbey has a choice. Do you think I had a choice, when my parents, too poor to feed a sixth child, brought me here? Do you think Weboshi, the bastard child of a shipping magnate's teenage daughter and a foreign slave, had a choice when they brought her here? Do you think any of us had a choice when the last Abbess turned us out in the streets to spread our legs or slit purses?"

"Weboshi said–"

"Weboshi's a fool."

The old woman's face rose in the darkness, up from her chair and twice her usual stooped height. It's only an illusion, Britta told herself, a trick of shadows, but that didn't matter to her racing heart.

"You're lucky, New Moon," said the old woman, her voice tinged with barely restrained anger. "How many men have we, your sisters, sacrificed ourselves to for our Goddess? You only have to do it for one. Do you understand? And where we did it to fill the coffers of our abbey, you do it to protect your city, your people, your sisters who nurtured and protected you! How dare you!"

Britta cringed in her seat, wishing she could curl up into a ball and hide from the Abbess of Night's wrath. It wasn't just the anger or the spooky tricks either. The Abbess was as dangerous as the city streets at night – more dangerous because she controlled the thieves and the muggers. No one crossed her; no one dare because they were all in her employ. As far as Britta knew, the Abbess had never hurt a sister. She wasn't allowed to, but the tone of the old woman's voice made Britta question that assumption.

"We've pampered you your entire life," said the Abbess. "We've given you a life free of the squalor of the city. We've selected you to lead this abbey one day, this city. We've raised you to marry into one of the richest and most powerful families in the Regnal Empire. You will live forever in luxury. You will never want. You should get down on your knees and kiss the feet of every priestess in this abbey for taking you in and caring for you."