The thickened touch of oiled bathwater cascaded down Soria’s feminine physique. It’s warmth raked at her most sensitive areas. She winced and did her best to comfort the irritated skin on her breasts. Plexous was a rough and passionate lover, making her sum the pain up to nothing more than his mark left on her.
Her belly stirred a warning of either hunger or nauseation. Which it was she could not tell. Standing from the bath she wrapped herself in a robe and had a seat at the table near her.
“Maybe I will just have a few of these berries,” she thought.
A handful of fruit later and Soria was heaving them right back up and onto the floor. The stench twisted her stomach further as the vision of what had come back forced her into a bought of painful retching. The membranes of her throat burned and prickled as she wiped her mouth. The following cup of water did not help her condition either, though it did provide some comfort to the fire dancing at the back of her tongue.
“This is it, Ephealia has managed to poison me,” she spoke weakly. Her head swam and the room seemed to be tilted in the most unnatural of ways. Soria leaned back onto a nearby wall. Darkness filled her vision as she closed her eyes and focused on centering her body. Something about it was off, she had never felt this way before.
“Is this what dying feels like?”
A tightness slithered around her chest and constricted like a serpent, stealing the breath from her lungs. Her body trembled and she broke out in a sweat.
“Just breathe, it’s all in your head Soria. Plexous would never let her do this to you. Its just your own guilt stroking your insecurity.”
A long and heavy breath filled her chest and she forced herself to stand. The swimming in her head waned as did the torture in her stomach. She moved about, cleaning up the mess she had made. As her task reached completion she felt a small pinch in her stomach. The blow was enough to freeze her in place and truly bring what was happening into perspective.
“Oh I’m…” she couldn’t say it. Joy and fear had tied her up in silence. “when was the last time I bled?” She wondered. A trail of past memories began to gallop through her mind. “It’s been so long…at least a few months. Oh how will I tell my master?”
Soria pushed the worried thoughts from her mind and got dressed. So much was about to change in so little time. She knew nearly nothing of long she could hide her condition. One thing was certain, she could not keep this secret from Plexous. The very thought of his rage the night he found out about his daughter turned her smooth skin to gooseflesh.
“I have to tell him.”
Without a second thought she rushed to his temple but stopped half way there. She looked to the east where her mistress often spent her time in the library. Where would she go? Who deserved to know first?
“I have to tell Cien..”
On a whim she shifted her course and ran straight to the young goddess. Cien was walking toward her, face buried in a large and old journal of her father’s. The woman so so engulfed in what she was reading she walked straight into Soria.
“Watch where you’re…oh Soria it’s you. I thought you were Mori. She always seems to bump into me purposely when she catches me reading. I swear if she would just pick up a book once in a while she,” Cientiam witnessed the fear in Soria’s eyes. She set the book down and grabbed her hand, rushing them both to a corner unseen. “What’s wrong? Did mother try to harm you?”
Soria shook her head. “No..I think I may be with child. My blood has not come and there are parts of me that remain sore no matter what I do. I have to tell your father, but I didn’t want to until I informed you. You are my trusted friend and I thought you may have some insight on how I should approach him.”
“You can’t tell him. If you do my mother will lose what little of her head she has left. There has to be another way around this. I know you love my father for whatever your reasons are but this news could mean the end of your life.”
“Don’t you remember what happened when your father found out about your sister? He went mad. I thought he would destroy Hailotia and everyone in it. Whatever this enchantment is over me will not allow me to lie or hide things from your father. He will find out one way or another. I might as well tell him myself, I don’t even know how long I could conceal it.”
Soria cried into Cien’s shoulder. The goddess consoled her rubbing her back softly. She hugged her tight looking around to be sure that no one was watching them or eavesdropping on their conversation.
“We will figure it out. From what I’ve seen in my time living here most women only carry their children for a maximum of five moons. You must not be that far along because your stomach is still relatively flat. When my sister gave birth her stomach was so large with life she no longer looked to be who she was.l As long as your appearance doesn’t change too much in the next few days we should be able to figure out a way to handle this without anyone but us knowing.”
“I am not like the rest of you, I am just a faint similarity. What if my pregnancy differs from the other goddesses here? What if the progression of the life inside me moves faster than what we’ve known? If that happens and your father finds out the next time he comes to fill my bed I may end up dead anyway.”
“My father would never hurt you especially knowing that you carry his child. He has lost one daughter, do you really think that he would kill his unborn? Especially when you could be carrying his son. You could lie to my father a thousand times and his wrath could still never match my mother’s when she finds out. If you reveal your secret she will, and she may make an attempt on your life.”
Soria paced frantically calming her nerves. “Then I suppose I have no other choice than to see what fate has in store for me. I will lean on my faith in your father to protect me and his child. If our love condemns me to death I willingly welcome it.”352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQykkWUT7YZ
