Sara Douglass – The Serpent Bride – DarkGlass Mountain Book 1

At those words, a great tide of sadness and loss had flooded Ishbel”s being, and she was

washed momentarily back into the nightmare that had visited her the previous night.

Now she was to dine with Isaiah, and Ishbel was very, very tense and wished, yet once

again, but with more desperation than ever, that she was home, and safe, in Serpent”s Nest.

The chamber the servant led her to was not quite what she”d expected.

Anything but intimidating, the long room stretched from east to west with open

floor-to-ceiling windows in each of its end walls. Soft lamps glowed on the walls, and gauzy

drapes wafted gently in the open windows. Low, cushioned seats, each with low tables to either

side of them, sat in a circle in the center of the chamber. A small round table stood in the center

of the circle of chairs. Food and wine had been set out on yet another table, just behind the circle

of chairs. The chamber was both intimate and airy, and furnished for comfort and relaxation

rather than to awe.

There appeared to be no one about. Ishbel walked slowly into the room, stopping just

before the circle of chairs.

She looked down at the table in the center of the chairs, and it seemed as if her heart

stilled in her breast.

A goblet stood there, stunning in its beauty. Frogs capered about its cup and over the rim,

and a single reed taper, lit and set just behind it, sent light glowing through its amber glass so

that the frogs appeared almost as if they were alive, and moving.

It was the goblet she had seen in her dream, the goblet she had presented to the Lord of

Elcho Falling.

Ishbel took a step backward, one hand on her chest as if to still her now wildly beating

heart.

“It is known as the Goblet of the Frogs,” said Isaiah, stepping out of the shadows, “and

you have no reason whatsoever to be afraid of it.”

She looked at him, still tense, still ready to run. He still wore the hipwrap and the

diamonds in his braided hair, but the golden collar and other jewelry had disappeared.

Then she looked at his eyes, and her entire world changed.

His eyes were vast pools of compassion, and Ishbel suddenly, devastatingly, realized who

he was.

The Great Serpent”s companion, the god of the frogs and of the river.

She trembled, and made as if to bow, but Isaiah waved a hand. “No need,” he said. “Not

now.”

“My lord—”

“Isaiah will suffice,” he said, smiling, “although you might like to apologize for that little

slap on the wharf.”

“I—” Ishbel simply could not get her mouth to work.

Isaiah walked very close. She did not, could not, move.

Ishbel was mesmerized by those eyes, by their compassion and understanding, and by an

almost instant renewal of the bond she”d felt when he appeared to her on the balcony of

Serpent”s Nest. She felt as if she had known him all her life, as if he were part of her life.

He leaned down, and kissed her briefly, and Ishbel closed her eyes and shuddered.

When she opened them Isaiah was offering the goblet to her. “There is no reason to be

afraid of this,” he repeated, “just as you have no reason to be afraid of who you are and of where

you are going. Here, hold it.”

Ishbel stared at the goblet, and did not move.

“I swear to you, Ishbel,” Isaiah said softly, but with such intensity that she raised her eyes

to his, “that if what you feel from this goblet frightens you then I will personally escort you back

to Serpent”s Nest, setting out in the morning. My oath, Ishbel, believe it.”

She did.

She looked back at the outstretched goblet. “I might drop it,” she said.

He gave a slight shrug. “Fate, then. Take it, Ishbel.”

Very slowly she reached out a hand, clenching her fingers briefly as she realized how

badly they shook, then slid them about the stem of the goblet, over Isaiah”s own fingers.

“Do you feel?” he murmured.

She almost shook her head, because for a moment all she could feel, all she was aware of,

was the warmth and strength of Isaiah”s fingers, but then something else drifted through.

A soft whispering, but oh, so gentle, and oh, so soothing.

Hold me, soothe me, love me.

Ishbel drew in a deep, shaky breath.

Hold him, soothe him, love him.

Her eyes flew to Isaiah”s, and he smiled at her, with such warmth that her own eyes

flooded with tears. Gently, he slid his fingers from under hers, and Ishbel had to lift up her other

hand to take the full weight of the goblet in both.

The tears spilled down her cheeks and she sank into one of the chairs, absorbed for the

moment in the goblet and what it was saying to her.

Hold me, soothe me, love me.

Hold him, soothe him, love him.

Eventually, Isaiah came to her side, took the goblet from her, and placed it on a shelf on a

side wall. Then Isaiah looked to the door, smiled, and said, “Welcome, Axis. I had wondered

when you would arrive. We are both quite faint with hunger.”

Axis was surprised to see Ishbel here before him. She was sitting with her back to him as

he entered, and he thought he saw her wipe at her eyes.

What had they been saying? More of Isaiah”s sarcasm?

Axis put the small satchel he”d been carrying to one side and stepped forward to greet

Isaiah, then moved so he could see Ishbel, now looking up at him.

“Ishbel?” Axis said. “Are you well?”

“Yes,” she said. “Better, now.”

And she looked, then smiled, at Isaiah.

Axis felt a flame of interest, and not a little bit of jealousy. Isaiah waved him to a chair

and both men sat down.

Axis wanted to ask what the other two had been talking about before he arrived, but

before he could find the right words to phrase the question, servants came in a side door and

began placing food and wine on the tables to the side of each diner”s chair.

It was a pleasant way to eat, Axis thought, relaxing back in his chair, a white napkin

spread over his lap, chewing a delightful concoction of rare meat minced with spiced nuts and

dates. The conversation centered on easy generalities, servants hovered always to hand to proffer

bowls of scented water to wash sticky fingers, or more food, or drink, or a clean napkin.

Eventually, when all had eaten to sufficiency, the servants cleared the tables, then set out

small bowls of confectionery and ewers of iced wine. When they had done, Isaiah waved them

away, saying that he and his guests would serve themselves.

“Tell me about your journey north, Axis,” Isaiah said. “Where did you find Ishbel? In

what manner?”

Axis briefly told Isaiah what had happened, leaving out nothing save his acquisition of

Ba”al”uz” glass pyramid. Isaiah listened dispassionately, lifting his eyebrows only when Axis

mentioned the Icarii, and BroadWing.

“Ishbel was cruelly treated by Ba”al”uz,” Axis finished. “If it were not for the attention of

Zeboath, the physician we found in Torinox—you might have seen him, he was standing just

behind us on the riverboat—I fear we may have lost her. As it is, Zeboath continues to hold fears

for the health of Ishbel”s child.”

Isaiah”s gaze slid briefly to Ishbel”s belly, then he shrugged. “She appears well enough

now. This Zeboath, you like him? He is a good physician?”

“Yes. He is desperate for your patronage.”

“Then he shall have due honor and regard in my court, and my goodwill besides. What

other news, Axis?”

“Well…Ishbel does have some interesting news regarding Lister.”

Isaiah raised his eyebrows at Ishbel.

In a low but steady voice Ishbel related what she”d told Axis and Zeboath. Lister had

once been the archpriest of the Coil, but had vanished some twenty years since. No one among

the Coil had seen or heard from him again.

“There had been uncertainty and loss in the year or two after he vanished,” said Ishbel,

“but with the rise of Aziel into the archpriesthood, life settled down, and so far as I remember,

members of the Coil only rarely thought of Lister, or wondered where he was.”

“And you became the archpriestess,” Isaiah said, appearing completely uninterested in

this news of Lister”s origins. “Tell me the secrets of Serpent”s Nest, Ishbel, if you will.”

“Serpent”s Nest has no secrets,” Ishbel said, “but even if there were secrets, then I am not

sure I should tell them to a man who plans to invade my homeland and destroy it.”

She raised an eyebrow to Isaiah at this, as if asking a question.

“Ah,” said Isaiah, giving the faintest shake of his head, as if he did not wish to answer