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Chapter 71
The Priestess’s POV
As a dutiful daughter and the youngest of five sisters, I have six times witnessed the wretched state of a woman in marriage. It is a life wasted in the pretence that children will make him kind, patience will make him sober and forgiveness will make him faithful. So, with this knowledge, I spent my youth in our farming village pleading that my parents might permit me to join the convent. They had no time for my begging and declined my request without consideration. My match, it seemed, had been made in my early childhood. I was to be a wife.
Aside from the nuns, I knew only of one woman who was free of the shackles of marriage. She went by many names, none of them flattering, and lived in the dense forest, just beyond the river that turned the wheel of our mill. They said she had made a deal with a demon, and lived as a sorceress or a fortune-teller or an oracle. They said that men that lay with her never begot sons even when they returned to
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Bite me, Twice Chapter 72
The room was cold, bare, windowless, uncompromising: perfect for interrogation. An unshaded bulb hung from the ceiling, struggling and failing to cast away the bleak shadows in the corners, and the furnishings consisted of a simple metal table and a simple metal chair, both bolted to the floor. The heavy iron door behind the chair had locked with a unnerving sound of finality as it closed shut, leaving the air in the room stale and fetid, and the single inhabitant of the room alone with her thoughts.She was a woman in her early thirties, with long, shoulder-length chestnut hair and matching eyes that stared forward, as if genuinely interested in the random cracks in the brick wall opposite her. She sat in the chair, her wrists bound by leather straps to the arms of it, her ankles bound in identical fashion to the front legs of it. She swallowed, long past panic, more accepting that her current predicament wasn't some terrible nightmare, that it was painfully real.A s
Bite me, Twice Chapter 73
Hannah was dead. Jack could tell because he'd heard the wicked witch chanting right before his older sister had sank first to her knees, then to all fours and finally slumped over. Blood oozed from her eyes, nose, mouth and ears pooling beneath her face. She wasn't moving, not even a little. She had to be dead.Jack hoped. He didn't want to think about her suffering.Jack hadn't been able to move either once the witch started her chant only he'd been sitting when it started so he hadn't fallen like Hannah. He was pretty sure he wasn't bleeding but he couldn't tell, not for sure.What he knew was that he was going to kill the witch. He'd rip out her evil heart and watch the eerie light fade from her eyes. She'd claimed earlier to be over two hundred years old. Jack vowed she wasn't getting any older than tonight.As soon as he could move."Don't strain yourself." The witch crooned over her shoulder. "There is nothing you can do." She was prancing th
Bite me, Twice Chapter 74
"Camilla, bring the rope, and the satchel of chalks and oils!""Yes, Father," said Camilla. The maiden, raven-dark hair haloing creamy skin, leapt from the wagon's seat. She ran to the back, threw back its protective oilskin, and rummaged through bags and baskets. A gust blew a wisp that had escaped her braid into her face. She shook it from her gray eyes even while she shivered.Meanwhile, her father Theophobus stiffly climbed down and tethered their horse to a stunted tree. He looked backward, ignoring his long whiskers blowing under the wind's grasp, over the overgrown track they had followed across the moor. Nothing moved but the wind thrashing the scrub and the first clouds darkening the sky.Then he turned forward and looked at the knoll, at whose foot their wagon stayed, and above a storm newly brewing. From around the wagon came Camilla, who when she reached Theophobus, stopped. Wide-eyes she stared at the knoll and the lum
Bite me, Twice Chapter 75
Camilla's Memories"Good lords, ladies, and worthy friends, I crave your heed!"The hall was small, though with enough room to hold escore-odd guests who strolled while sipping wine goblets. Burghers robed and turbaned strode beside nobles and knights clad in silk jupons. On their arms hung perfumed noblewomen of faces both dark and fair, though hair dark despite the jewels sparkling therein. Painted silks of blue and rose clung to their curves but did not hide where they plunged between breasts and clung low on hips, revealing taut, pouting bellies.On a stand at the hall's head, shared with musicians who had paused play, Theophobus spread arms welcomingly: "It is my great honor to return to Yaralet after many years abroad, and again in your excellent company I look forward to providing you such enchantments for your pleasure as I once did, and advising in matters sorcerous."For your diversion tonight," he added: "I provide a small challenge." He waved,
Bite me, Twice Chapter 76
Camilla stepped unseen among the courtiers. Under fluted columns and arching, sky-painted ceilings, full threescore revelers and more danced and laughed within the Palace of Yaralet. Zithers, flutes, and drum played a rolling, hypnotic tune while dancing girls, nude but for scarves clung to round hips and bangles on wrist and breast, who writhed and whirled bone lessly. Slaves oiled and shaven bore silver platters full of sweetmeats, or ewers of thick ruby wine among the guests: silken-draped ministers and barons, chiseled knights with hard arms in sleeveless tunics, and noble ladies in gossamer gowns that hinted wickedness half-concealed.Camilla studied the panorama, of bodies strutting amid the candles and blazes, figures flitting among the shadows, pairs twisting on each other, and those seeking solace among the hall's nooks or benighted spaces, where the portico opened unto the palace gardens. She watched their stirrings away from the light, from the broad banquet tables
Bite me, Twice Chapter 77
Story of a Salem witchJessalyn Radisson gets just what she wants when the townsfolk burn her at the stake."Jessalyn Radisson, under the laws of the Commonwealth of Salem Massachusetts, on this day of our Lord in 1692, I find you guilty of witchery, witchcraft, wizardly, sorcery, and conjuring," said the Honorable Judge Robert Hall. "Do you have anything to say for yourself before I pass sentence."Even though he mindlessly asked her if she had anything to say before he sentenced her to die, he wasn't paying her any attention. Too busy looking through the papers he had before him, he seemed ready to ignore whatever she had to say."I'm not guilty of witchery, witchcraft, wizardly, sorcery, and conjuring. If I'm guilty of anything, I'm guilty of being a redheaded woman. If I'm guilty of anything, I'm guilty of being beautiful and sexy and all those bitches are the real witches," she said looking at and pointing to the wives and the girlfriends of the men
Bite me, Twice Chapter 78
Camilla’s memoriesMorning broke with a thin red gash of light along the crests of the mountaintops. Owls finally dared to close their eyes, and bats cautiously folded their wings. The night horrors and prowling beasts of the forest abandoned their hunts to drag bloodied carcasses back to their lairs. In the west, a handful of lingering stars still shone.Krimeya and I sat atop her cottage roof, tense and watchful. The hood of her crimson cloak obscured her sleek black tresses while framing her ashen features. She held a whittled staff of red-stained wood in both hands, in the manner that a gladiator might wield a spear."I expect they will begin their march shortly," she said softly, "Have you given thought to how you wish to proceed?""I won't flee," I whispered, quiet, but firm, "They'll allow me to return to them as their daughter or..."Krimeya gave me a pitying look."They won't. You know that deep down. They will find us here, a
Bite me, Twice Chapter 79
Camilla’s Memories"I was weak before," I said sadly, "I didn't really understand how weak I was,""Nonsense, Little Wife," Kas still never used my name, joking endlessly that I was her 'Little Bride' or 'Little Wife' - and every time she did, it became a little truer. "A girl who takes her destiny into her own hands is always strong. Whether she succeeds or not." It was impossible not to swoon in the wake of Krimeya's wisdom.After a busy day buried in spell books and practising calligraphy while Krimeya was out in the forest, I was excited to show her my next intended endeavour."I want to make one of these," I said, holding the heavy book open at the right pages to show her, "I think it's a little advanced for me to manage on my own though,""A scryglass? Whatever for?""To watch over my mother and sisters," Though I tried not to dwell upon my old life, I missed them deeply. Krimeya scoffed."The women who wanted you to spend
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