The Whore of Babylon

Chapter 12 | part 3

The two sisters reclined in the garden, Sarri rolling on the grass between them. Kisha's jaw dropped as Eliana finished telling Samsu's story.

'I had no idea!' she gasped.

'Did nobody tell you anything about him before you got married?'

'I never thought to ask. It was all quite irrelevant – we'd be married whether I liked his history or not. I try not to think of him beyond the times I have to see him. I'm just his brood mare. He barely speaks to me beyond orders and pleasantries anyway. He doesn't see me as a person, just a womb. But now that you've told me, I do pity him – perhaps he'd have been a better man if there had been a kind hand guiding him when he was young.'

'Well, I don't pity him!' Eliana responded hotly. 'In a moment of weakness, I pitied him as he told his story, but he washed it away as quickly as it came! He is not a pitiable man. Maybe his childhood was sad, but it's not what happens to us that defines us, it's how we react to it. If you hadn't been there to love me and keep me in line as I grew up, I would have been wilder for certain, but I would still be good at the core. Bad things happening to you is no excuse to make misery for others.'

Kisha rubbed her belly, 'maybe you're right. I don't see that it matters much – nothing that's happened in the past can change what's happening right now.'

Leaning her elbows on her knees and dropping her head into her hands, Eliana sighed, 'I'm just so angry with myself. If I had only submitted with a whole heart in the beginning, I might have been freed by now.'

'Elly, if you submitted with a whole heart, you would be a changeling.' Kisha smiled affectionately at her sister. 'No part of you is capable of true submission. It wouldn't matter how well you acted the role, you would be screaming against it on the inside, and Samsu would always hear that scream. He just knows when people are pandering to him to get their own way, and when they're genuinely submitting.'

'That's why he wanted you then. You've always done as you're told.'

'If it means a quiet life and less conflict, then yes, I'll take a few instructions and let him use me for breeding. It's a small price to pay for security and comfort. I want children just as much as he does, only for a different reason.'

'But how does he treat you when he... you know?'

'Almost courteously, for him. He demands and orders, never asks or says please or thank you, but he does speak to me pleasantly, observes the niceties, does his duty and sends me back safety. He only uses me roughly when he's in a rage about something. Most commonly about you.'

Eliana opened her mouth to respond, but in that moment Mari appeared.

'Sorry to interrupt. The princess consort wants to see Eliana – you are summoned to Susa's rooms.'

'Both of us?' asked Kisha.

'No, my lady. Just Eliana.'

'I wonder what she wants.' Kisha picked up Sarri and stood up.

'Who knows?' Eliana shrugged, getting reluctantly to her feet. 'I suppose I'll go and find out.'

'Try not to be rude to her – remember that she does hold some power over us.'

Eliana gave her sister what she hoped was a reassuring smile, and followed Mari to Susa's apartments.

She would not scuttle in like a cowed child – this woman would have to earn her respect if she wanted it, princess or not. Walking in with her head held high, she almost gasped.

The apartments were huge, nearly a match for Samsu's in scale and grandeur. They made Kisha's rooms look like a mud-brick hut by comparison. The walls were decorated with bright and cheerful paintings and hangings that must have taken weavers years to complete, depicting the stories of the gods and finished with gilding. The floor was a colourful medley of glazed tiles, blue silk floor cushions scattered at intervals around the place.

Vases of stone and pottery occupied each corner, all with pointed feet and set on cross-legged stands for stability.

For all the luxury, the only item in the room that Eliana looked at covetously was the magnificent lyre – highly polished and inset with semi-precious gems, it rested on a copper pedestal. It looked as though it had never been played.

Susa herself sat on a chair so large that it could be called a throne, with feet carved to look like the legs of an ox. Padded and draped in blue silk to match the floor cushions, it was truly fit for royalty. The woman who occupied it eyed Eliana with distaste.

She was suddenly uncomfortably aware of her appearance. Her gown was crumpled from lying outside with Kisha, and blades of grass still clung to her dishevelled hair.

Ever-conscious of her status, Susa was dressed immaculately – gown neatly pressed, greying hair oiled and swept back under an oversized feathered headdress, gold and gems dripping from every conceivable part of her. Spoiling the picture, her eyebrows knitted together in a frown, etching a deep line in her forehead. Her mouth was puckered, a thousand tiny lines surrounding it, drawn by years of displeasure.

She looked sour as an overripe lemon.

Ani sat on a stool at her feet, occupied with embroidery. She looked up at Eliana with her habitual expression of smug spite.

Through narrowed eyes, Susa looked Eliana up and down. 'So, whore, are you impressed?'

Eliana gazed back in sullen silence.

'I suppose you thought that all palace women live in the storage cupboard you and your sister occupy?'

'It suits us well enough.'

'Yes, I suppose you are used to living in squalor. How fares the concubine in her pregnancy?'

'Just fine.'

She resisted the urge to add, 'as long as you leave her alone.'

'No aches, pains, sickness? It is so soon after she bore the little harlot in waiting.'

Through gritted teeth, Eliana replied, 'my niece is as much a princess as you.'

Susa's face purpled with fury, 'my bloodline is pure, whore. My mother was queen, the first wife of the King of Elam. To compare that whelp's blood with mine is to compare a mule to a thoroughbred.'

Eliana bit the inside of her cheek to prevent herself from retorting.

'And you? Perhaps you and your sister will deliver together. Has my husband had you yet?'

'I don't believe that is any of your business.'

'On the contrary girl, it is entirely my business. Duty will be something you understand little of; you a peasant's daughter, whatever petty provincial office your father holds. And as the prince's wife, it is my duty to ensure that he has an heir to follow him, be it by my body or another's.'

'You have your own son – Kisha's is nothing to do with you.'

Susa laughed aloud at that. 'When the boy is born, he will be everything to do with me. He will grow up calling me mother – I may even exile your sister to a palace outside of this city to prevent her from interfering, not that she would dare.'

Eliana could not immediately think of a response. In all truth, Susa was probably right: Kisha was too placid. Any interfering would be done by Eliana herself, and they both knew it.

Their eyes locked and held – Susa knew that Eliana had understood her meaning.

'Very well then, whore. If my husband has not yet had you and you have nothing to report of your sister's health, you are dismissed.' She waved her hand and turned her attention to Ani.

Grinding her teeth in a rage, Eliana turned on her heel and stalked out.