Page 22 of Bull Moon Rising
Despite the early hour, the city is bustling. We head down the busy, crowded street, narrowly avoiding the contents of a chamber pot that someone empties above, and I trot after him. I keep close, because I don’t want him to use any excuse to call this off.
I’m a little surprised when he takes me to the nearest temple of Asteria. I thought that Taurians worshiped Old Garesh, the god of war and destruction. Perhaps he’s not the right god for a wedding, no matter if it’s Taurian or not. Hawk marches into the temple, his hooves echoing obscenely loudly on the floor. There’s a nun taking donations near the front altar, and he heads directly for her, pulling a small bag of coin from his waist. “I need a marriage, quickly. Get me a priestess.”
“Please,” I add politely, moving to his side and taking his arm.
“Hush now,” he tells me.
“If you’re going to demand things, at least have the decency to add a ‘please’ on the end. You’ll find people much more willing to deal with you.”
He lowers his hood, turning to give me an incredulous look. “Are youchidingme?”
I shrug. Perhaps he thinks he didn’t need chiding. On this, we’ll have to agree to disagree.
Hawk snorts, as if unable to believe his ears. I keep waiting for him to shrug my arm off, but he doesn’t. I guess it would ruin the fantasy of our hasty marriage if he did. The priestess arrives a few moments later, a puzzled expression on her lined face. “It’s the middle of the week, my dears. A marriage on the weekend, when the goddess is at rest, is a blessed marriage. Wouldn’t you rather wait?”
“No waiting.” Hawk sounds as gruff and cranky as ever.
“It needs to happen today,” I try to explain, a gracious smile on my face.
The priestess blinks at us and then leans in, confiding to me. “My dear, if you’re in a carrying sort of way, a few days won’t make adifference, and your child might need the goddess’s blessing more than anyone.”
I stare at her in horror. She thinks I’m pregnant? I glance up at Hawk in surprise, then back at the priestess. She’s ignoring Hawk as if he doesn’t exist, her gaze focused entirely on me, and I don’t know whether to laugh or be offended. I decide upon being offended, and pretend to lean in to confide back to her, my voice deliberately loud. “If I have to go another night without this virile buck in my bed, I shall scream. The weddingmusthappen today.”
She makes a distressed sound and somewhere behind her, I can hear the muffled giggle of a novice. “I see.” She composes herself and holds her hand out, and the novice puts the bag of money in her grip. “I suppose the goddess does love…ahem, love. Take your man’s hands and I will join you.”
“Wait,” I blurt out, looking up at Hawk. “Don’t we need witnesses?”
“The church registers all marriages,” he says.
“For another coin, you can have a lovely certificate to post over your home altar,” the priestess adds, putting her hand out for an additional coin.
Hawk hands it over without question, and I guess we’re about to be married.
EIGHT
HAWK
25 Days Before the Conquest Moon
My new bride’shands twitch in my sweaty grasp, her cuticles covered in tiny scabs from zealous overchewing. Her expression is bland and composed, but the twitching gives away her nerves. She’s as anxious about this marriage as I am, and when the priestess says the last of thematrimonial prayer, Aspeth breathes a sigh of relief and flashes me a quick smile that takes me aback and makes my tail flick.
I’m still thinking about earlier, replaying the moment in my head time and again when Aspeth realized the priestess was ignoring me.If I have to go another night without this virile buck in my bed, I shall scream.She made a fool of herself—and the priestess—simply to shut down any argument, and I know it was for my benefit.
It was…kind.
“There now. You are married in the eyes of the goddess,” the priestess is saying. Her gaze flicks over me dismissively and then focuses on Aspeth’s composed form once more. “No kiss of union is necessary.”
“Oh, we’ll kiss,” my new wife says cheerfully. “I wouldn’t want anyone to think we weren’t united.” And she puts a hand in the front of my clean, pressed guild shirt and pulls me down toward her. Before I can even think about how I’m going to fit my mouth to her flat-faced human one, she presses a smacking kiss on the leathery end of my nose. “There.”
She gazes up at me, and then impulsively reaches forward and gives me a quick hug.
“So it is done,” the priestess says, and there’s a hint of distaste in her voice. “Go with the goddess.”
“Our certificate, if you please.” Aspeth clings to my arm and beams at the woman as if she truly is the happiest of brides.
The priestess’s smile is tight. “Very well. However, I must say I’m not familiar with the ring ceremony of the Taurian people.” The look she gives me is pointed. “I’m afraid you will have to go elsewhere for that.”
“Ring ceremony?” Aspeth asks.