The Whore of Babylon

Chapter 24 | part 3

'So, the whore has returned to her nest.' Susa sneered. 'Did you enjoy making a spectacle of yourself and my husband today?'

'Give me back my daughter,' said Eliana, shortly.

'Oh, this one? Please, I have no interest in her. I will gladly exchange her for the one in your arms though.'

Eliana's arms tightened around her son, 'you will not have either of my children. Nor Sarri or Kisuri either.'

Susa laughed; a thin, brittle sound. 'What would I want with them? You will hand your son into my custody – I told you many moons ago that if your sister had a boy child, I would have the raising of him. Why would you think that yours would be any different?'

'You have no right to him. You are the first wife, but you are not queen yet.' Eliana tried to be reasonable.

'Not yet,' agreed Susa. 'But it is only a matter of time. I am a princess born; you are a common catfish that my husband caught in a palace pond.'

'Better a catfish than a trout!' Eliana snapped back. 'You are a bitter old woman, intent on stealing my child because you cannot give Samsu one of your own! Well you shall not have him! Give Nisala over to Mari.'

From the doorway to the nursery where Sarri and Kisuri were napping, Mari edged tentatively forward, certain that it would not be so easy.

'And better a trout than a whore!' hissed Susa. 'My pride and my dignity are unsullied – I never gave my body to a man who was not my husband.'

'I did not give it, it was taken.' Eliana shook with rage at the implication, trying to keep her temper under control for the sake of her daughter, though her blood boiled.

'Enough!' Susa shrilled. 'I will not tolerate this insolence. Your sister knew her place, know yours, whore. Give over the boy, or you will find that some accident befalls this pretty girl of yours. Perhaps you don't realise how easy it would be? A slip of the finger, stroking her face, and she is blinded... a twitch of the arms, and she is dashed on the floor.'

She made to open her arms, giving Nisala a jolt and waking her. The little girl began to wail. Susa laughed again to see how Eliana had flinched when she thought the child would fall. 'You will comply, or there will be dire retribution. I will remove the boy by force and kill the girl, if that's what it takes.'

Eliana clenched her fist and gritted her teeth, wondering what her chances would be if she simply charged the woman and snatched her daughter from those bony arms. She kept her feet rooted to the floor – it was too much to risk injuring Nisala.

'You'd never get away with it,' she snarled. 'Samsu would have your head. He may not care for her as a daughter, but he cares for her as his property. You should know as well as I that he cannot abide other people damaging his belongings.'

Susa's eyes lit up with cold malice. 'Yes... Samsu. Perhaps he will have an opinion on who should raise his son.'

Her heart stopping momentarily as she realised Susa's intent, Eliana was stunned into silence. Samsu surely would have ideas about who should care for his son. Given that he still called her karkittu in private, and accorded her little more respect in public, she thought it unlikely that his decision would go in her favour.

Reading Eliana's face, Susa knew that she had struck a nerve. She stood and placed Nisala on the seat behind her; Mari hurried to pick her up and soothe her pitiful cries.

Susa made for the door, followed closely by Ani. 'I think I'll go and ask him now,' she laughed over her shoulder. 'Don't go far, whore. I'll be sending Ani back for the boy within the quarter-hour.'