Thieves World 3 – Shadows of Sanctuary by Asprin, Robert

belied the steel in her hair. Seylalha felt the man step further away from her.

Cime’s words echoed mockingly in her ears. She had envisioned Vashanka falling

upon his dark sister, this man-god would do no less. And she, Seylalha, would

lie unbroken until the full moon. While brother and sister advanced slowly

towards each other Seylalha’s toes closed over the hilt of the discarded sword

and dragged it into her reach. With serpentine swiftness and silence she

shot between the pair, facing the woman, breaking the spell that drew them

together.

‘He is mine!’ she screamed in a voice so seldom used that it might have belonged

to Azyuna herself. ‘He is mine to bring my child, my freedom!’ She held the

sword to the other woman’s breast.

The sister stepped back; anger, thwarted desire and more burned in her eyes, but

Seylalha saw the fear in her movements and knew she had won. The man’s fingers

wove through her honey hair, closing on the neck brooch that held the cloth at

her shoulder, ripping it from the soft silk.

‘She’s right, Cime. You can’t lure me with His freedom; I’ve felt it for too

long already. We’ll play Torchholder’s little game to the end and let the Face

of Chaos laugh at us. The girl’s won her child. so leave – or I’ll let her use

the tent-peg on you.’

Cime’s face was fury unbounded, but Seylalha no longer cared. The sword dropped

from her fingers as soon as his arms lifted her a second time and carried her,

without interruption, to the pillows. She grasped his tunic and tore it back

from his shoulders with a determination equal to his own. The mute women