Sister of the Dead - By Barb Hendee & J. C. Hendee Page 0,129
the bed, staring at her with an expression she had never expected.
Fear. His features wrinkled in pain as the icy cold in the room deepened around Magelia.
Bryen's features turned blank with shock as he whispered, "No. "
His face grew lined, and the color in his skin faded.
Through the burning pain between Magelia's legs and the chill all over her skin, she watched Bryen begin to age.
"Ubad!" he cried out, his voice cracking like an old man. "Why did you not tell me the price?"
"Because you would not sacrifice your son, " came the hollow answer as Ubad looked away.
"And you would sacrifice me?" Bryen asked, his voice now just a rasping whisper.
"We cannot fail, " Ubad answered.
Bryen grew withered beyond old age, his hair falling from his head. His skin dried and shrank upon his bones, and then split like old bleached parchment.
Magelia closed her eyes, not wanting to see any more.
She did not know how much time had passed when she stirred again into consciousness. It was dark, the room lit only by a strange globe of flittering lights. Welstiel stood over her at the side of the four-poster bed.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
She sucked in one shuddering breath by way of an answer. She would not let these things holding her captive see her cry. Every part of her body felt bruised, and she could not sit up.
"Help her, " Welstiel said, looking across the room.
Magelia rolled her head with great effort. One of her bedroom guards stood at the other side of the bed. He reached down to lift her.
"Carefully, " Welstiel added.
Magelia was limp with pain and exhaustion as she was carried to another room with a large bed and a painted white wardrobe. The serving girl who'd dressed her earlier was hurrying about, filling basins of water and bringing towels. Magelia was laid on the bed, and Welstiel stood nearby looking quietly distressed, but he did not touch her.
"My father is gone, and I am lord here, " he said. "You carry his child, and no one will hurt you. This girl is here to care for you, to help you. If you need anything, she will bring it. "
In the days and nights that followed, she was not allowed to leave the keep. But she herself had changed. She could not explain the open sorrow mixed with gratitude she felt for Welstiel's belated concern. Her dependence upon Welstiel grew more pronounced until she almost feared the very shadows of her room outside of his presence. She slept during the day, so that she could spend her waking hours in his company rather than alone.
At times he required privacy, but for the most part, Magelia found he didn't mind her presence, so long as she never touched him or spoke too often when he was occupied. As her body began to swell with child, he took greater efforts for her comfort, even ordering cotton dresses with loose bodices, so the child would not be constricted.
Welstiel moved himself to another room and ordered the furnishings of his old one to be taken out and burned, including the four-poster bed. He kept the globe of flittering lights but never returned to that room again. Master Ubad was allowed to remain as long as he kept out of Welstiel's way.
"Why don't you get rid of that abomination?" she asked Welstiel one night.
They sat in his new room as she embroidered a blanket for the child. Welstiel spent many hours there making strange objects, etching symbols in them as he whispered in a soft voice she could never quite understand.
"Because you might need him when the child comes, " he replied.
His answer was so unexpected that she faltered. The old Magelia would have threatened to run him through with a sword if he allowed Ubad anywhere near her baby. But she feared he might leave if she were disagreeable, and then she would be alone in this place.
"Why would you think this?" she asked. "There is a good midwife in the village. "
Most recently, Welstiel had been working on a thin brass ring. It required a great deal of his time. One evening, it took almost the whole night for him to carve one tiny symbol with his steel stylus in the string of marks running along the inside surface of the metal. The only other object of his that she found curious was a glowing topaz resting near his leather-bound books.