Page 40 of Born for Silk
She continues her tour. “You’ll find a library with appropriate reading material in your wing, as well as a room to dance, paint, and do puzzles. And, of course, the birthing suite with the finest luxuries and equipment for your safe delivery.”
We stop outside double wooden doors fitted with square glass peepholes. Perhaps so the house personnel can peer in and see who is eating before entering.
I test it out, squinting through the square window and see a cute dining room painted in dark purple with trimmings and patterns etched into the walls and a large window that shows a long courtyard. Inside, four girls dressed in Paisley’s pleated trousers stand in a corner conversing while four Silk Girls sit around a circular wooden table.
Straight away, I spot Iris, and remember… Like a flickering flame, the hours we spent captured by the Endigos. The blood, the live meat, and her head injury.
I blink, refreshing the sight of her.
She looks different. Softer. Or am I endlessly hopeful she will come around… I gaze between the other girls. Quite the most beautiful girls I have ever seen, and so round in all the right places. Unlike me.
“Enchanting, aren’t they?” Paisley says humbly. “A full set including yourself. Trade be kind, each will have at least three babies. A girl, a boy, and a spare.”
I cover my mouth when I see a lovely, dark girl is already pregnant, her beautiful round stomach stretches her silken dress, and crumbs dust the area in a playful way.
I’ve never seen a pregnant Silk Girl in real life. She does look as though she is glowing but then it is very luminous in that room with the large window offering crown-light, the hazy yellows bathing them and the table.
“She has Meaningful Purpose.” My voice is breathy with awe. “Is that baby the king’s?” I don’t know why I ask, but my stomach tugs as I do.
“I’m sorry, what did you say?” Paisley whispers.
I look up at her. “I don’t know. Is that wrong to ask?”
“I thought that was in your studies?”
“What was in my studies?” My eyes widen. There is something I don’t know. “I didn’t finish. Is it important?” She looks shocked, so I continue, “Please don’t tell anyone that I asked. Just pretend I didn’t.”
“It’s okay.” She touches my shoulder. “I’ll tell you, so don’t ask that question again and give yourself away.” She looks through a different square hole at the girls eating around the wooden table. “The four Silk Girls in there are for his Collective, four plus Sire.”
“I don’t understand.” I swallow. “They share?”
“Share your womb? No, that would be messy.” She laughs a little. “How would they know which one is the heir if they all put their seed inside every girl? They share the sight of you, but they do not share your womb.”
I blink at her. “I still don’t understand.”
“All the Silk Girls are treated the same. All the babes are raised the same. To protect the heir, he is only revealed when he turns eighteen. A child is a frightfully fragile creature. No one can be trusted. No need to put a target on one.”
“So, who knows?”
She keeps her voice low. “Only The Trade Master knows all, and the lord knows which child is his, as he picks his Silk Girl, but they do not know of each other’s babe.”
I nod my understanding. “And the Silk Girl.”
“She will never know. That is utterly important.”
“I’m sorry.” I stare at her, confused. That can’t be right. “I must be hearing you wrong. How is that possible?”
She pulls me to the side, away from the wooden door, lowering her voice further. “How do you not know what happens when he comes to you at night?”
“We learn of the night in the last six months of training. It is private until then. And I didn’t finish. I was in the crash and now I am here, and my head is fuzzy.”
She touches my cheek, drawing me back to her. “I like you, Aster. It’s going to be okay. Don’t ask questions as a rule. It’s best that way. You’ll wear a beautiful solid, silk veil, Aster. When a lord visits you at night and gives you Meaningful Purpose, you won’t know who he is. This way, there is no jealousy or favouritism, and the heir’s safety is kept to the highest degree. When you give birth, the child will be taken to a Sired Mother to raise and nurse, and you will return to your Meaningful Purpose until you have given your lord at least two boys and one girl. If he likes you, maybe more.”
I nod slowly. I knew that last bit. That I wouldn’t raise the child, but I thought I would know the lineage. But then, it is not mine. It’s The Cradle’s. It’s all of ours.
I look at my hands, remembering why I have to get well. Why I have to be sane and clear. Because once I have fulfilled my Purpose, and if I am very good and lucky, I will be a Sired Mother and look after the babies of The Cradle until I am old.
“Are you ready to enter and meet the girls?” Paisley asks, walking back to the door.