Read A Time of Dying (Araneae Nation) for Free Online Page B

putting his wife at my disposal, that’s what he’ll do. Perhaps your affection blinds you to Vaughn’s true nature.”
    “Yes, Kaidi, I am blind to all of my husband’s faults.” Mana’s burst of laughter shamed me. “Has any wife in the history of the second world ever uttered those words? I somehow doubt it.”
    “You can’t enjoy being married to him.” I set my shoulders. “He’s Mimetidae .”
    “I can, and I do.” She emptied a second bucket of water over my head. “Marriages are about compromise. Trust me when I say for each slight to his clan’s reputation hinted at by my friends, there are five Salticidae slurs spat at me when I wander the city streets without Vaughn’s escort.”
    Her prickly reception as maven hadn’t occurred to me. “How can you stand living here?”
    “Each dawn I pray the gods give me strength to be the maven our people need, then I turn to face my husband and know all my trials are worth enduring if they mean I can wake in his arms.”
    I wrinkled my nose. “Exactly how long have you been wed?”
    She tugged my hair playfully. “One day you’ll marry, and then I’ll laugh at your expense.”
    “I don’t plan to.” What prospects did I have? I was poor and outcast, not exactly a catch.
    The scrubbing of my hair slowed. “Does Hishima realize that?”
    “He is aware of my reservations.” I smoothed the stump where my ring finger should be.
    Her easy rhythm faltered at the sight of my hand. “Why did you run from him?”
    “Does it matter?” I hid the ugly reminder of his cruelty under a cluster of bubbles.
    She sighed. “If you’re asking if I can change Vaughn’s mind, then no, I can’t.”
    “Then it doesn’t matter.” I slid lower in the tub. “Why talk about what we can’t change?”
    “Fine.” She shoved my head below the suds. “Keep your secrets.”
    I shot upright spitting mad, scooped up bathwater with the bucket and hurled its contents at Mana. Water splashed down the front of her dress and pooled at her feet. Her mouth dropped open, arms lifting to shield her face.
    “Put that down.” She peeked at me through her fingers. “Before someone hears.”
    I slowly lowered my weapon under the bubbles, refilling it to the brim as I went to my knees.
    “Kaidi.” She used her sternest I am maven voice. “Put the bucket down.”
    I took aim. “No. I don’t think I will.”
    “Maven?” Murdoch’s bellow through the door made me pause. “Are you all right?”
    While I was distracted, Mana dove at me, knocking me underwater. Suds plugged my ears. I still heard her winded laughter. When I surfaced, she hurled a cloth at my head, which I caught. I mopped my face and rested my cheek against the tub’s curved rim. The ache in my chest was so stark, I pressed a hand over my heart and rubbed until the skin was tender and Mana was staring.
    My sisters and I had done this, laughed this way. We made our kitchen floor slick with soap and squealed while slipping and sliding over the tiles. I’d give anything to be that carefree again.
    “We’re fine,” Mana called, patting her face dry. “We’ll be out in a minute.”
    The knob rattled. “Are you sure?”
    She scowled. “Twist that knob again and you’ll be dining at my table come suppertime.”
    Sudden silence made my waterlogged ears ring. “What’s wrong with sitting at your table?”
    “No meat.” She rubbed at her gown, then seemed to accept the need for a change. “For days after the plague passed, we ate vegetable soup. There was no safe game to eat. No stores of food that hadn’t been consumed. You’d think I was trying to kill them, when they’re perfectly capable of eating vegetables.” At my doubtful look, she sighed. “They don’t eat people. Well, not as food at least. Cannibalism is a spiritual act to them. They’re consuming the strength of their enemies.”
    I waved my hand. “I don’t want to know.” A thought occurred to me. “The paladin said your clan lost