The Ascent to Godhood by J Y Yang

Author:J Y Yang [Yang, J Y]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781250165886
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates

Chapter Seven

Hekate fell pregnant four months later. A piece of news that set the whole Protectorate abuzz with joy: an heir to the throne so soon! How unexpected! How fertile the Sanao girl was, unlike her brother’s wife, who had four years of marriage with nothing to show for it. The Great High Palace was electric with delight. Geomancers were consulted. A doctor was brought to the Palace to live just a summons away from the mother-to-be.

Personally? I was blindsided by this. Hekate-as-wife led a life almost identical to that of Hekate-as-single-maiden. Wang Shaoyun, now ascendant and very important in the Tensorate, spent all his time away from the Great High Palace. He never took permanent residence in Hekate’s chambers, only coming in once or twice a week for conjugal visits and the exchange of useful information. Hekate, meanwhile, had her days packed with meetings and consultations in her new role as the Protector’s key adviser. I played the role of messenger and secretary, composing and copying scrolls for her, relaying edicts to lesser administrators. She let me sleep in her bed most nights. An arrangement which pleased me just fine.

Like everyone else, I had assumed that a child would be a long time in coming. After all, Hemana had been married for years and hadn’t produced an heir; why should Hekate have been any different? My petty jealousy reared its head again. Surely, a child would unite Hekate and Wang Shaoyun in a way that excluded me.

But I couldn’t tell her this. How could I? Hekate glowed at the prospect of motherhood. The tonics she took gave her fine complexion a new radiance, and the fat she put on deepened the beauty she already had. She seemed so thrilled by the idea of having a child to raise.

When this baby is born, Hekate told me, you’ll be its main caretaker while I attend to affairs of state. In this I trust no one more than you.

What about your husband? I asked.

She laughed for a full minute before she could answer. Him? Him? That man? As if I would let him take charge of raising my child. He’s interested in nothing outside his little career.

It was exactly what I wanted to hear. I drank in this role eagerly, taking charge of preparing for the arrival of a new life. I set up a nursery. I sewed baby clothes. I sent couriers to all the provinces to collect tribute for the royal child to come. If Wang Shaoyun thought he could usurp my place by her side, he was sorely mistaken.

One night, two months before the child was due, I found Hekate sitting quietly in her bedchamber, staring pensively at a calligraphy scroll. Immediately, I knew something was wrong. I went and sat with her, knee to knee, in a way that no one else was allowed to.

She said, I’m frightened of what’s to come.

How come? I asked. I was surprised. That morning, when I’d seen her in the sunlit gardens, she’d seemed so confident, so sure and happy of the path that had been laid out for her.

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