The Surrogate by Ann Somerville Read Free Book Online Page B

going to be boredom and hunger, but the hunger was merely a twinge after what I’d been putting up with lately. As for the boredom—all I had to content myself with were memories of home. I hadn’t had much homesickness since I’d left—things were too awful there, and my father and brothers had long since moved away. I’d stayed because I thought I could make a living working with my uncle, but the drought had put an end to that plan. Since then, it had been a battle just to survive. Now was the first time I had leisure, ironically enough, to think about what I had left behind, my friends, my uncle—although it hurt to know how desperate their situation must be.
    I covered my eyes and indulged in a little selfish misery, but then thought if I really was going to be ‘busy’ that night, I may as well try and sleep some more even though I wasn’t tired, just depressed. I rolled over—and found Jaime was watching me from the doorway. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
    “ Lunch is ready. We will need to fast this evening, so it will be the last meal today.”
    Surprised at his moderate tone, I followed him out. Lunch was plain—cheese, bread and cold, cooked beans. Simple but tasty, and my empty stomach wasn’t complaining. I left off trying to talk to Jaime, only thanking him as politely as I could when he set the food down and when he took the plate away. I noticed he still didn’t eat much. I got up to return to the bedroom. “Wait.” I turned. “I.... My books...I....”
    “ It’s all right, Jaime. I can see they’re important to you. I won’t ask for them again. When I’m allowed to leave the temple, I can buy one of my own.”
    He nodded, but still seemed to be trying to say something. “I...some of them...I can’t.... If they were lost....” He clenched his fists. “You may read...here.”
    “ Are you sure? I don’t want to upset you.”
    He immediately became cold. “You haven’t. Wash your hands and you may read under supervision.”
    The brief distress seemed utterly gone, but for those few moments, he looked so hurt, so desperate. There had to be more to it than mere greed over a few books.
    Grateful for the concession, I wasn’t going to push him. I returned and sat meekly where he indicated, and he put the book he’d removed in front of me. To be frank, I was no longer interested in the book. I was feeling so heartsick now. Was this what my father had wanted for me when he had spent so long patiently training me to work silver and steel? When my brothers thought of me, living with their families in the north, did they imagine me a whore, trapped with another tormented individual, reduced to begging for the smallest favour?
    “ If the book is not to your taste, I will choose another.”
    I forced myself to smile. “It’s fine, thank you. I...Tell me what happens this evening, and when?”
    He folded his arms and his eyes were cold and unreadable again. “At sunset. You and I will clean our bodies, inside and out, and be taken to the god’s chamber. The fortunate woman who is to receive his seed will be prepared there, and we will...perform...until the god grants his blessing to her.”
    It sound like something he’d been told to say, not that he believed. “Is there...a prescribed pattern?” Gods, I couldn’t believe I was having this conversation.
    “ All that is asked of you is that you be receptive. You must not utter a single word, on pain of severe punishment. I would caution you not to interfere in the least with anything you see done in the chamber, regardless of your feelings. Minas himself presides—Minas has no mercy. You have no value to him or to anyone, do you understand?”
    He said it in such a way that I knew it was only a simple statement of fact. I just nodded. “Will it take long?”
    “ Half an hour, no longer. Unless....” He took a deep breath. “Unless the god withholds his blessing. Then it might...you must not say