B00CH3ARG0 EBOK Read Online Free

she whispered, fighting back a surge of anxiety.
    The door to the corridor opened. The Sural’s apothecary entered
her quarters, a small cup in one hand.
    “Oh no,” Marianne groaned. From what she could already smell
of it, the liquid in the cup, like every apothecary’s potion she’d ever tasted,
was going to be vile.
    “You must drink this, high one.”
    Marianne closed her eyes, held her breath, and quaffed the potion
in one gulp. “Pah!” she blurted out. “That’s wretched!”
    The anxiety roiling in the pit of her stomach receded a
little. The apothecary flashed a smile. “I will be your apothecary for now.”
    “I haven’t asked for an apothecary.”
    “The Sural ordered it.”
    “He can’t do that.”
    “He can, in the event of a crisis or a medical emergency.
Yesterday, you were both.”
    Marianne blinked several times. “I – I’m going to have a
baby.”
    “Yes, high one.”
    “That’s impossible. I made sure I couldn’t.”
    “You received a great deal of the Jorann’s blessing,” the
apothecary said. “It was apparently sufficient to regenerate lost tissue. The
apothecaries who examined you yesterday found you to be whole. You are
increasing.”
    Marianne blinked some more. Then she frowned and asked, “Why
is the Sural willing to share you with me?”
    “Your situation is unique and complicated. He wants you
under my care.”
    “I see,” she said, uncertain how to take that. The Sural had
mentioned to her that his apothecary was the best in Suralia. She didn’t know
whether to be reassured ... or worried.
    Servants entered the room bearing trenchers. Marianne took a
mug of tea from one of them and sipped it as she listened to the apothecary
outline the types of foods she should be eating. She wasn’t sure she could
remember it all.
    “I will give you a draught, similar to the one I just gave
you, each morning,” the apothecary continued, pausing and smiling when Marianne
groaned. “I want you to come to my quarters today after the midday meal. I can
examine you thoroughly then. Will you come?”
    Marianne nodded. “My gratitude,” she said.
    Another smile, warm this time. “It is my honor to serve
you,” the apothecary replied, and left Marianne to her meal.
    * * *
    Marianne lay on the examination bed that afternoon, watching
the Sural’s apothecary carefully place a small rectangle of gleaming metal on
her lower belly. Surprisingly, the thing wasn’t at all as cold as it looked
like it should be. The apothecary gazed into the bed console. She moved the instrument
slightly a few times, and then, satisfied, studied the readout.
    “Well?” Marianne prompted after a time.
    “Your child is developing normally.”
    “May I see?”
    The apothecary handed her a medical tablet. “There is little
to see, high one. The child has only just implanted. She is simply a hollow
ball of cells.”
    Marianne looked at the image, but the apothecary had been
right. The display showed an enlarged image of a nearly featureless, lopsided ball
buried in an irregular surface. She handed the tablet back. The apothecary
tapped and swiped at it as she read.
    “She?” Marianne asked. “It’s a girl?”
    “The child is female,” the apothecary said with a nod. “You
do not remember?”
    Marianne shook her head and sucked her lower lip between her
teeth. She remembered little of what had happened after she went to the
apothecaries’ quarters the day before. Except for the scream. Why did she
scream at them? She worried at the memory like a dog with a bone. Nothing
surfaced.
    The healer’s tablet chimed. “I requested a genetic analysis
after leaving you in your quarters,” she said, and paused to read. Her eyes
widened, and she turned a broad smile on Marianne. “The analysis rates as extraordinary.
See, here? She inherits the best from both you and the Sural. This seldom
occurs, and it is even more remarkable considering the conception was
unplanned.”
    Marianne nodded, frowned, and