Between the Wild Branches by Connilyn Cossette

Author:Connilyn Cossette
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biblical Fiction;FIC042090;FIC042110;FIC042030
ISBN: 9781493431533
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2021-05-25T00:00:00+00:00

Twenty-One

Shoshana

Mariada had been quiet all day, not only during that terrible and sinister funeral but even earlier this afternoon, as I’d been helping her into the fitted bodice and multilayered green-and-blue skirt that seemed more suitable for a celebration than a mourning ritual. Assuming she was mourning Orada, I’d kept quiet, but by the time we’d returned from the burial grounds, where I’d discovered that poor Kina’s life had come to such a horrific end, my mistress appeared nearly as distressed as I felt.

She sat on the stool in front of me, pale-faced and vacant-eyed, while I unwound the braided bun that I’d fashioned atop her head only a few hours before. It was far past the time she normally retired, so she might only have been weary, but I sensed something else was amiss. Mariada was never this reticent, always chattering to me about anything and everything as I prepared her for bed each night.

“Are you feeling ill, my lady?” I asked as I began to remove the many shells and beads that I’d woven into the braids.

“I don’t feel the same way,” she said, shifting to look me in the eyes. “I hope you know that.”

“I’m not certain what you mean.”

“I don’t hate your people like my father does. Especially you.” She pressed her lips together, brow furrowed deeply. “I know he is still angry about what happened to my grandfather when that temple collapsed, but that was so long ago and the man who pulled it down died anyhow. And I certainly don’t understand why he would blame that maid for Orada’s death when everyone knows she and her maids were sick long before the Hebrew girl was called in to help.”

There was no way to easily explain to this sheltered and naïve girl about all the history that had passed between our people, and how the struggle for the Land had been going on for hundreds of years. Nor did I dare tell her that her father seemed to be afflicted with the same sort of baseless hatred that Pharaoh had—hatred that was rooted in something deep, ancient, and inexplicable to someone who knew nothing of Yahweh.

“Did you know her?” she asked, her tone compassionate.

“No,” I lied, for my daughter’s sake.

“All the same, I wish you’d not been there tonight. I had no idea what he had planned with the . . . altar.” She swallowed hard, and I knew she was remembering the sight of the blood spilling from that pot into the flames. I’d heard rumors of such terrible things in their blasphemous temples, but to see it with my own eyes, especially when the victim of such an atrocity was someone I knew . . . It was astounding that I’d even managed to stay upright. It was a miracle that I’d refrained from throwing myself at Lukio from behind and sobbing into his back. All I’d wanted in that moment had been the comfort of his presence. I’d spent the rest of

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.