Extraits

« Goddess of Fire, I pray you forgive me.” Suddenly, Nelay’s bodice wasn’t the only thing that was too tight. She closed her eyes and forced herself to take a breath of air that seemed thick and heavy, nearly impossible to draw into her lungs.

“I have given you my best. I have studied and trained harder than any acolyte. I have kept the rules—I’ve even left the guards alone, though I’ve been sorely tempted by more than a few.” Her mouth twitched in an almost smile that quickly faded.

“And still, I would not go, but I must save my family.” Nelay imagined the Clansmen attacking her family’s home, killing her parents and brother. She shook her head to dispel the images. “I have no right to ask anything of you, but I will, for them.”

She took a pen and a fibrous square of paper that had been soaked in myrrh oil. After dipping her pen in the ink, she wrote, “Grant me all my cunning and all my arts that I might succeed.” Choosing the shape of a duck, as they were considered lucky, she meticulously folded the prayer. »

« She stood, and the silk slid like water across her hips. Her fingers traced the cinnamon-colored tattoos that fanned across her temples before winding along the shaved scalp just above her ears and ending at the nape of her neck. They displayed her rank as the most powerful acolyte in the temple. “How do I look, Jez?”

Jezzel’s gaze traveled critically over Nelay’s bodice, her bare midriff, the voluminous trousers, tight only around her waist and ankles, so they flared like bells. “Good enough to distract a king,” Jezzel finally said.

Nelay wiggled her eyebrows. “That’s the goal.”

She left their room and stepped into the priestesses’ private courtyard, squinting against the bright sun. To her right were the sand-filled training grounds. To her left, the stables. Directly before her was the temple. And beyond that, the Summer Palace. »

« Holding her breath, Nelay sucked in her ribs as tight as she could. Still the hooks on the back of her bodice refused to meet.

“Arms up,” Jezzel commanded. “Maybe that will help.”

Nelay stretched her arms above her head as Jezzel strained behind her. “Got it!” she said. With the first hook down, the others fell into place.

Nelay wanted to sag in relief, but the blasted bodice was too tight. She would have been far more at ease in her simpler, modest acolyte robes, but meeting with the high priestess required full ceremonial attire. And afterward, Nelay had a king to seduce. She sighed. “It wasn’t this snug at the fire dance.”

Jezzel collapsed on her bed in their tiny acolytes’ room, fanning her face with her hands. “Yes, well, tell your bosoms that,” she teased.

Nelay sat down to pull on her adorable little boots with tips that curled up like a new vine.

“I wouldn’t do that. One of those things is likely to pop out.” Jezzel snorted at her own joke. »