THE GOD'S WIFE by Lynn Voedisch Read Free Book Online

middle distance. As if she could contain herself no more, Nadeema asked a single question.
    “What do you do in there, in the Holy of Holies?”
    Both sat open-mouthed, staring at each other. Few more sacrilegious things could be said, but Neferet was not about to punish her friend for simple curiosity. She felt blood rise to her face, and she blinked her kohl-blackened eyes several times before attempting to answer.
    “Oh, Nadeema, they never prepared me for it.” She glanced away in distaste.
    “What could be so vile that you won’t tell me? I’m your best friend. Your secret’s safe with me.”
    Neferet dropped her head and refused to speak.
    “Oh, I know it is not allowed,” Nadeema said, voice quavering. She pulled fitfully at her braids. “I am out of line and must be punished by the god Amun himself.”
    Neferet smiled to herself. She knew well enough that the gods were all images and manifestation of the One. Amun himself would never act out of rage. Anyone who learned the mysteries of the temple would know that. She grabbed Nadeema’s arm and stroked the soft, tan skin.
    “It’s really not forbidden — although no one ever asks. What happens is not vile. It’s simply beyond belief.”
    “Well, what goes on then?”
    “You know that statue, the icon of the god…”
    “Well, I’ve heard of it. Skin of blue and eyes of the purest jasper. I’ve never been able to see it when they bring it out for holidays.”
    “Well, when I’m left alone with it, I dance.’
    “To please him, of course. You always were a fantastic dancer.”
    “The priests have put me in a trance with the didi , so I don’t know if I’m imagining things or not, but after I dance my heart out, when I can draw no more breath, the statue is not a statue anymore. At least it happened once.”
    Nadeem blinked.
    “He became soft and similar to a human. Maybe he is a human … and I had to pleasure him. As, spare me, his lover …”
    “His wife.”
    “It doesn’t matter. I felt like a cheap whore when I was done.”
    “Let me get this right. He can become flesh and blood? No! That’s impossible. When did he turn back to stone and gold?”
    “When I was done. It’s as if he always had been stone,” Neferet said. She fingering her necklace, not meeting Nadeema’s eyes, feeling a fool.
    “That’s not possible. There must have been a man in the chapel. Can anyone else get into the chamber?”
    “It’s supposed to be unassailable. Fool-proof.”
    “But Maya, the last wife.”
    “I know. The same man who killed her could be sneaking in and ... taking advantage of me. I can hardly bear to think of it.” She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to blank out the shame. “How long before I’m next — the next one dead?” She looked up at Nadeema.
    Both friends stared into each other’s eyes. Nadeem shook her head, as if to ward off thoughts of evil. Neferet found herself lost in gruesome memories. The cold hands on her skin. Her dress torn away. A man’s rough hands forcing her legs apart. The pain, the dreadful pain and blood. Shame rushed over her like sudden fever. She bowed her head to hide her emotions.
    “Maybe the statue is the living god, just as the priests tell us,” Nadeema said, tearing Neferet from her anguished thoughts.
    “I never believed that for a minute.”
    “Neither did I.”
    #
    The phone sat like a poisonous toad on the living room table. Two weeks had gone by since Rebecca last used it to reach her family in Iowa. She lifted her shoulders in an exaggerated sigh and leaned over to touch it. It didn’t bite. She lifted the receiver and punched in the familiar numbers, digits she had memorized since her childhood in Cedar Rapids.
    The voice that came on the other line was low, masculine and a touch harried.
    “Ash, it’s ‘Bec.”
    “Haven’t heard a word from you in a while. We’re over here having Sunday dinner with Mom and Dad,” Ash said, losing the grumpiness in his tone. “We could save