Read A Broken Paradise (The Windows of Heaven Book 3) for Free Online Page A

that the sages at Sa-utar are learning more from the Guild about how the glands of our bodies actually control what we think and do?”
    “No—what’s the Guild?”
    He pinched her neck. “The Guild’s not important. The point is; it’s really not anybody’s fault.”
    Tiva now knew that the Guild was probably the most important thing about what Yargat was saying, but she didn’t dare press him about it now.
    “Though it’s not your fault, Tiva—or mine—there’s danger for you if this were to get out. Our people misunderstand so many things, like the kind of pressure you’re under. I’m here to help guide you through safely—so it stays contained, between you and me—like a sacred trust. If anybody found out about you, I would no longer be able to help. I would want to, but things would be out of my hands. Right now, I do everything I can to make sure Father doesn’t punish you and that he knows how devoted you are at Shrine. I remember how he gets too, you know.”
    “You do?”
    “Yes, I really do. I know it’s been hard for you lately, both at home and with the new school and all. I’m sorry you’ve had to go through all that. I know you only want to do the right thing.”
    She wanted to ask him what the “right thing” was, but was too afraid. What if the right thing is really the wrong thing—the horrible thing?
    Yargat kissed the top of her head. “You can relax now and trust me. I’m your friend. I’ve got things worked out with Father now. It’ll get better as long as our counseling times go well. I’d really be sad if you got thrown out into the street, because you’re my favorite sister in all the world.”
    She wanted to believe him with all her heart—it would make things so much simpler. Yet she felt the same sick emptiness in the pit of her stomach when he slid down next to her onto Atum-Ra’s sarcophagus.

 
    O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon
    That monthly changes in her circled orb,
    Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.
     
    —Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet , Act 2, Scene 3

 
    2
     
    Moon Goddess
     
    T he dinnertime nightmare quickly rose to a frantic pitch. Stomach acid erupted halfway up Tiva’s gullet at her father’s tirade, making it impossible for her to finish her meal.
    “The wench ought to be made a public example of! By all the Holy Watchers, what’s happening to the morals of this community?”
    For a second, Tiva feared that he somehow spoke of her.
    Then Yargat, who had come to visit with his silent turnip wife in tow, answered, “Zebuli brought it on himself with his strange view of Q’Enukki’s Precepts. No wonder his daughter’s in trouble.”
    “I hear she’s been tramping around with lots of boys,” Tiva’s mother said from over by the clay pots.
    “She’s up at Grove Hollow with the war deserters, playing whore for food and a place to sleep,” Tiva’s youngest brother said with a laugh. He made forbidden hand gestures under the table at her other younger brother.
    Tiva felt the blood drain from her face. Even my baby brother knows what to call it! I only learned this year!
    Henumil glared at the boys, as if to remind them they were too young to take part in an adult conversation. “If she was my daughter, I’d have to make a public example of her .”
    Tiva now knew exactly where she stood.
    Yargat eyed her just long enough to reinforce what he had told her about the disparities between boys and girls. She had not wanted to believe it, but—at least in this respect, possibly others—he had spoken the truth.
    The sooty brick walls of the dining alcove shrank in on Tiva. The air grew close, as her head began to swim. Stomach acid raged—a volcanic fissure ready to explode—until she began panting to keep her bile down.
    “Are you feeling well, Flower?” her mother cooed.
    The lady’s cooing was almost as bad as her yelling; sickly sweet —like the meadow flowers that looked like open sores—which brought