Bone and Jewel Creatures (15 page)

While his eyes were on the child, she had raised both hands to her divided mask and pressed one to each side. The reflections of her fingers hovered in the surface. He might be a Wizard of Messaline, but the prospect of the revealed face of a Goddess could still bring a shudder.

Under the mask, one side of her face would be terrible, scarred with acid since her initiation—in homage to the terrible side of the goddess’s face. The other—

“You wish me to promise the temple will see to its care when you are gone.”

Brazen found himself holding his breath. He forced some of it up his throat, to say, “Yes.”

The mask hid all expression. All he could see was her hands, his own worried expression behind them. Of course the child could care for itself. Of course, in the new and ever-stranger Messaline that would grow up from what had changed today.

He had to know, for Bijou’s sake, that the child would have safe haven.

She lifted down the left side of her mask, revealing skin blemished only by years and duty, a sparkling black eye framed by an arched brow. Revealed half-lips arched in a half-smile, showing small dry lines around the edges.

“Jackals will always be welcomed here. But Kaalha of the Ruins did not bring you a half-destroyed child for no reason. Now take it home, Brazen the Enchanter, and think of how you will raise it to become a Wizard of Messaline.”

Acknowledgements:

I would like to thank Leah Bobet, Emma Bull, Amanda Downum, Jodi Meadows, Sarah Monette, Jaime Moyer, and Delia Sherman, without whom this would never have been written. I would also like to thank my agent, Jennifer Jackson, who rocks my socks.