(eng) Morgan Howell - Shadowed Path 02 by Candle in the Storm

Author:Candle in the Storm [Storm, Candle in the]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

“Were you pleased, my lord?” asked Yim, for it seemed prudent to inquire.

Bahl grunted and rolled over on his side, facing away. Yim lay perfectly still, wondering if it had been for nothing. She felt raw inside and ventured to touch between her legs. Her fingers came up bloody.

Yim shivered as she waited for Lord Bahl’s breathing to assume the evenness of sleep. His unnatural chill had made her feel that she had been tupped by a corpse. Worse, Bahl’s chill lingered in her despite the blazing fire. In fact, Yim grew colder as time passed. As her discomfort increased, it was accompanied by the disturbing impression that something alien had invaded her body. It felt like a taint of the vilest sort. The mere thought of her pollution made Yim nauseous.

Yim had no guarantee that she would conceive, but since Karm had directed her to Bahl toward that end, it seemed likely. Regardless of the night’s outcome, Yim was certain that the malign entity within Lord Bahl had entered her. Apparently, it had left him to do so, for the man lying beside her was growing warm. Yim envisioned him waking sweaty for the first time ever in his overheated room and realizing that their encounter had been no ordinary tryst. Yim’s only option was to flee. She waited until Lord Bahl slept, then slipped from his bed.

Having been preoccupied by her immediate goal, Yim had ignored the consequences of success. Suddenly forced to consider them, she saw that they could be as dire as failure. There was no question that Lord Bahl and the Most Holy Gorm would recognize her duplicity. Even if she became pregnant, she would be doomed if captured. Yim felt confident that Bahl wouldn’t harm her as long as she carried his child, but her fate after delivery would be a different matter. Yim doubted she would long survive the birth: There were many tales about the men who became Lord Bahl, but none mentioned a Lady Bahl. And if my son’s raised like his father, the destruction will begin anew . To prevent that and to live, she must escape and do so before morning.

THIRTY-SIX

HAVING LEFT Lord Bahl’s bed, Yim walked over to the cloak she had discarded and put it on. Then, after glancing at Bahl to assure that he still slept, she crept from his room. As she descended the winding stairs, the soreness and bleeding between her legs and her deepening chill evoked the violent consummation of her lifelong quest. Yim couldn’t help but feel bitter upon recalling her first vision and how Karm had smiled at her. I was only a child when she named me the Chosen . Yim felt blood trickle down her thigh. And this is what she meant by that! Yim was painfully aware that the goddess had known where her path would lead. Did the Wise Woman know also? Did the Seer? Did the Old Ones?

Yim realized that she must shut such questions from her mind if she was to survive the night.

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