Steel Maiden by Kim Richardson Read Free Book Online

bleak sadness I
saw in the faces of the concubines we had passed. I couldn’t
imagine what it would be like to be paraded around town naked and
with a collar around my neck, to be a sexual pet.
    Mad Jack’s betrayal still hurt more than I
expected. I didn’t want to admit it, but I had thought that he’d
been sweet on me. His dark eyes stared at me for a little too long
and a little too often when I saw him in the Pit or traded with him
for food or for another book for Rose. I’d picked up on it years
ago. And I had welcomed it. But now I realized how wrong I’d been.
I had fooled myself into thinking he cared.
    It wasn’t the first time I’d been wrong
about men. I’d had my adolescent heart broken a few times. I’d had
a few casual lovers, but I’d always been careful not to let my
guard down, not to let myself care, or give my heart away. Once you
did, you couldn’t get it back. Affairs usually ended up hurting
anyway, but for some reason, Mad Jack’s betrayal ached more than I
cared to admit.
    The puzzled look on Mad Jack’s face still
haunted me. I couldn’t figure out why he had looked so sorry, when
he had basically handed me over to the guards.
    I was so caught up in my own anger that I
hadn’t noticed the temple until it was right in front of me.
    It was a pyramidal structure, approximately
forty-five meters in height and was surrounded by smaller
pyramids that looked like pointy hats. It was made of gold, to
represent the sun, but it also represented wealth and power. I was
amazed at its size and beauty. The wealth of the temple was
obvious, but this went beyond anything I could have imagined. It
was wrong.
    “Move!”
    I hadn’t realized I had stopped to admire
the temple. But I wasn’t really admiring it. I feared it, and the
fear choked me. My legs stiffened, and I couldn’t move. I took a
long shuddering breath.
    “I said move!”
    Something rock hard hit me in the back
again, and I stumbled forward, surprised that I actually caught
myself before I fell on the stone path.
    “We don’t have all day. We’ve got more
important things to do than to parade a witch around the
grounds.”
    Baul shoved me through an archway, and I
could see the grand entrance to the golden temple. Garth ran
forward and threw open two massive walnut doors. I tensed as I
walked through the doorway and into a foyer that was two stories
tall and emptied into a large hallway. My heart thudded
painfully.
    It was a plush space. Walls of gold
surrounded plate glass windows that looked out over the city. The
white and gold banners of the Temple of the Sun hung from the
walls. Our feet echoed on the black marble floors. And somewhere
within the temple I could hear the distant sound of voices
chanting. Gold columns lined the grand hall on each side and
supported the second floor above.
    Priests scurried around the temple in a blur
of ebony robes that billowed behind them as they moved about with
important expressions on their faces. I had never seen so many
priests at once. I saw the unmistakable look of lust in the eyes of
those who stared at me, but most of them ignored me completely.
    Adolescent boys followed some of the priests
like eager puppies. Their dreary, linen robes stood out against the
silky black robes of the priests. Apprentices, I realized. I also
spotted temple servants in brown tunics. Everyone was male. All
boys. All men.
    I broke into a cold sweat. Was I the only
female in the entire temple?
    As I made my way forward, I caught glimpses
of rooms on each side of the hall. The hall eventually opened up
into a large chamber with an altar in the middle. I frowned at the
altar. This was where they performed their temple ceremonies, where
they intimidated and converted unbelievers.
    I committed the interior of the temple to
memory, just in case I survived. I would need to know the layout if
I were to escape.
    We walked around the altar and came to a
chamber on the left where a man sat behind a large mahogany