Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth

Author:Kate Forsyth [Kate Forsyth]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Allison and Busby
Published: 2013-08-19T04:00:00+00:00

NOCTURNE

The twelfth prince climbed the tower

on golden tresses he knew were here.

When he penetrated her window,

she turned away to light the fire.

His eyes blinded by hair that mirrored

the leap of flames she stoked,

the prince failed to see the woodpile

of chewed bones at the corner of the hearth.

‘Rapunzel’

Arlene Ang

COUNTERFEITING DEATH

The Abbey of Gercy-en-Brie, France – April 1697

Love can take many strange shapes, I knew all too well.

As I filed into church with the other novices, my thoughts were full of the story that Sœur Seraphina had told me. For once, I did not dwell on my own unhappiness but wondered instead about that poor child locked away in the tower, and the witch who was afraid of time. That was a fear I understood. At the abbey, every hour of every day was accounted for by the ringing of the great bell. We knelt and rose and ate and slept by its toll, each stroke taking us closer to our deaths.

I looked down the line of novices, their heads bowed. Framed by their white wimples, their faces were so young and smooth and innocent. Sœur Olivia was not yet eighteen, her face as perfect as a cameo. Her beauty made my heart ache. She would never feel a man’s mouth on hers, or feel her skin naked against another’s, or watch the clock hands creep forward to the time when she could be in his arms again. Did she feel regret for her lack? Was her young body prey to longings and desires, like mine had been at her age?

I slowly became aware that Sœur Emmanuelle was also gazing at the young woman. There was such naked yearning on the novice mistress’s face that I had to drop my eyes, in fear she would feel my gaze and know that I had observed her. In that moment, I felt a stir of sympathy for Sœur Emmanuelle that I never would have expected. I, at least, had loved and been loved, even if in the end I had lost it all.

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