Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 55964 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 280(@200wpm)___ 224(@250wpm)___ 187(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55964 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 280(@200wpm)___ 224(@250wpm)___ 187(@300wpm)
What is it they see when they look at me, I wonder? I know I am beautiful, with dark skin and dark eyes, full breasts and a rounded, enticing arse. My cheekbones are high, my chin pointed, and I have had poets exclaim over my graceful neck and shoulders. My hair is long and thick and I take great care to keep it shiny and curling, even though it takes a lot of time to tend to my mane. My eyebrows are perfectly shaped and my skin is supple and blemish-free.
Appearances are important for one in my position, and I’ve always done my best to ensure I am as appealing as possible. But do these gods even like dark skin and thick hair?
Do they notice such things at all?
Or am I just as strangely unappealing to them as their ghastly paleness is to me?
“You can show yourself,” I call out, my curiosity getting the better of me.”I’m not offended if you want to come and look.” In a strange way, I’d be relieved. Being watched in my bath is familiar territory.
The webs part, and one of the Spidae materializes. It’s like he appeared out of thin air, the webs molding to create the man who steps forward. I immediately search his gaze—blue eyes. In a way, I’m relieved. He seems the most rational of the triad, though I think the gray-eyed one takes the lead over the others.
He approaches in a way that is almost hesitant, as if he’s not certain he should be here. I give him an encouraging smile, patting the edge of the tub. “Did you wish to see what I looked like naked?” I guess, trying to determine his thoughts. In a way, his mannerisms remind me of a master I once had, a virgin lordling who was uncertain in the bedroom due to his inexperience. “You but have to ask and I’m happy to let you look your fill.”
“I know what you look like,” he says. “I have seen the entirety of your thread.”
I flinch at that. Of course. I’m still thinking that he’s human in any way. That’s my first mistake. “I did not mean to presume—”
“I am curious, though. Most females who are watched in a bath by an unknown male scream or are terrified. You show no fear, yet you did not know I was watching. Why is that?” He tilts his head, the movement jarring and inhuman in its jerky rapidity.
“Well,” I say, sitting up in the water enough that my breasts rise from beneath the surface. His gaze goes there automatically, and that’s a very human reaction. Hmm. I remember suddenly that they need an anchor because they lack humanity. They look human, they sound human, but in certain areas, they are clearly not human. Perhaps the bulk of my job will be to educate. “Unlike a lot of women, I have lived in servitude all my life. My body has been traded many times and I have no shame of nudity. There is nothing I have that belongs to me, even now.”
The Spidae’s head tilts again, his expression quizzical. He stands perfectly straight, his shoulders tense and his hands clasped behind his back as his long robes flow about his body. “You do not belong to yourself?”
“I am your anchor,” I reply.
“Yes. But it is not slavery.”
“Isn’t it?” I offer him a smile to take the sting out of my words, drawing my knees up and hugging them. “I am yours now, to serve you in all ways. You’ll forgive me if I don’t see how that is all that different from slavery.” I gesture at my surroundings. “I have been taken away from my friends and told my life will start over now. This has happened to me a great many times, each time I was sold to a new master.”
“But you volunteered for this,” the Spidae says, his voice stiff. “Thus it is not slavery.”
“Servitude, then,” I correct, resting my arms on my knees. “But you have seen my thread. Did you think I have a great many choices ahead of me?”
“I cannot see the future,” he says. “My domain is the past.”
“Ah.” I pause, because this doesn’t make sense to me. “Then how did you know about Solat’s future?”
“My brother,” he says, as if that explains everything.
It doesn’t. It only leaves me with more questions, but it’s clear this man—god—doesn’t know how to answer them. It’s another thing we’ll have to work on, I guess. Patience, Yulenna, I remind myself. They have been gods for all eternity. It will take time for us to figure each other out. I open my mouth to ask another question and my stomach lets out a loud growl.
The Spidae blinks, his head cocking like a dog’s. “That embarrasses you.”
I grimace. “A little, yes.”