The Whore of Babylon

Chapter 10 | part 2

Within days, the collar had rubbed her neck raw. The skin beneath the edges cracked and bled, no matter how much salve Mari applied.

'If you keep poking it, it's never going to heal,' she said in frustration.

Eliana didn't reply. She sighed and twisted her fingers to keep them busy while she waited for Mari. As soon as she was finished, Eliana sulked off to sit with her sister and niece.

The collar's weight was dragging her down mentally as well as physically. Her slim shoulders weren't made to bear the wide circlet of gold and gems. She was grateful that she wasn't a queen – to wear a gold and feathered headdress would be agony on the neck. Perhaps it was less painful when you were born to it, she considered, and she certainly hadn't been born to slavery.

'If I'd known it would be locked on, I would never have let him put it around my neck,' she complained to Kisha for the hundredth time. 'I thought I would only have to wear it in Samsu's presence.'

Her sister ignored her, concentrating on the babe in her arms.

'It's heavy, it hurts and I can barely sleep,' she fumed. 'I don't know what purpose he thinks it will serve to have me wear it all the time, except to make me miserable.'

'Oh, will you stop whingeing and whining and just accept it, Eliana!' Kisha snapped. 'Stop fighting and being such a pain all the time, and maybe he'll take it off some day. You can't talk it off, and I wish you'd stop trying!'

'Gods, what's wrong with you?' Eliana bit back.

'I've already got one baby to worry about, I don't want you being another! Sarri needs me, and I put all my energy into worrying about her – our futures, mine and yours, they're mapped out, but hers is a maze shrouded in mist. I'm so afraid she'll be killed, afraid all the time, and you want me to be concerned about your necklace because it's a bit uncomfortable?'

'I – '

'Yes, I know you object to it, you don't like what it stands for, it hurts... but you should thank the gods for it. It's a barrier between you and the Brute – he'll never have you again while you wear that collar. And Samsu isn't interested in you at the moment either. He calls for me every night, and he will continue to do so until I have another baby in my belly. You may not see it, but I'm still protecting you, Eliana. He's so preoccupied with me that he's got no time for you. Thank Enlil for your good fortune in not being called to his bed and stop complaining about something so trivial!'

Eliana was silent, a rare tear slipping down her face. She would cry in pain when Samsu and the Brute hurt her body, but it was uncommon for her to cry from this sort of hurt, and even less so for the hurt to come from Kisha. Her gentle sister had become another person since the birth.

She sloped off to her garden to cry out the confusion in private. It had been her comfort that here she could be with her sister – the one thing she had longed for after Kisha was married. It was the thing that had sustained her through those early weeks. But now...

She was no longer sure that Kisha wanted her around. After Eliana sent Sarri away, Kisha would want her around even less.

The constant weight of the collar around her neck was nothing compared to the burden of guilt on her heart.

Lying beside the stream, her skin drank the coolness of the shade in the heat of the day. She no longer dared to spend too much time in Utu's direct gaze, lest the sun heat the metal around her neck and burn her.

She had no idea when she had fallen asleep, and no notion of the time when she woke up. The sky was fading fast and the first stars were out; the goddess Inanna, in her guise of the evening star, outshone them all.

Eliana hastened back to the rooms, chilled to the bone now, hoping that Kisha would be in a better mood.

To her great astonishment, Ashan sat beside Sarri's cradle. Kisha was nowhere to be seen.

He looked up as she entered, 'ah, there you are! Kisha is with the prince, and Mari is busy. We couldn't find you, so she asked me to stay with Sarri.'

'She couldn't have looked for me very hard – I was where I always am.'

Ashan shrugged and gave a heart-melting smile, a dimple dancing in one cheek beneath his stubble. Eliana went to sit beside him.

'You can hold her, if you like.'

He didn't not need to be invited twice. Reaching into the cradle, he picked Sarri up as though she were a delicate fragment of porcelain and hugged her to his chest.

Eliana looked at him and wondered how she would ever keep her love for him a secret. Kindness and decency ran to the very depths of his soul. She wondered whether he would approve of her plan to send Sarri away to safety.

On second thoughts, she doubted it. He was Samsu's man, and she must never let affection tint her perception of him. Decent and kind, he may be; loyal, he certainly was. If she acted against Samsu, she was sure Ashan would tell him.

Still cuddling the baby, he leant against the back of the couch. Tentatively, afraid of being pushed off, Eliana leaned into him, negotiating the collar that he had studiously ignored thus far, and nestled her cheek against his arm; it was soft and solid all at once, like a brick wrapped in silks.

He did not push her off, but leaned in a little.

She gave a sigh of deep contentment. If only life could be like this all the time. To be in contact with Ashan was to be in paradise, however temporarily. They sat in comfortable silence.

Mari entered, looking for thread to mend another hole in one of Eliana's gowns. She gave them an odd, pained look – Eliana couldn't make it out – before retreating back to the bedroom.

Eliana paid her no mind; it was proof, she supposed, that the older girl had more than a passing affection for Ashan. She couldn't blame her.

After several minutes, Ashan stirred again. He leaned forward to replace Sarri in her cradle, then settled back into the couch and draped one arm around Eliana. She snuggled in.

'I suppose there are upsides to every situation,' smiled Eliana.

'What's that?' he murmured into her hair.

'If I hadn't been brought her for Samsu, I wouldn't have known you. I would relive all my moments with Samsu to have another such as this.'

'What would your life be if you hadn't come here?'

The question took her by surprise. 'I don't know. I suppose I would still be helping my father. I had no interest in marriage, I've always just wanted to improve the city really, like Father. Leave a legacy in stonework, something for people to remember me by.'

He kissed her curls and said nothing.

'What about you? How did you come to be here?'

She felt his arm tighten almost imperceptibly. 'It's a long story,' he said. 'The short version is that my father died when the prince's father conquered our city, and I ended up in Samsu's personal guard.'

Eliana laughed, 'that's not much to go on! Did you choose it, or is that just the way things worked out?'

'It doesn't matter, it is what it is.'

His tone told her that it was not a topic for easy discussion. Perhaps it was too painful.

He eased her off him and stood, 'it's time for me to bring your sister back. Try to be nice to each other – the palace doesn't need any more strife.'

She gave a rueful smile, 'I'll try, if she does.'

'That's all I ask,' he gave a little wink and bowed to her, as was his habit, and headed off to Samsu's apartments.

It was full dark now. Mari came out to light the torches, making the wall paintings come to life in the alternating of dancing light and flickering shadow. Their magic was lost on Eliana. As she did several times a day, she stood over the cradle and gazed lovingly at Sarri, wondering if Kisha would ever forgive her for what she was planning.