Page 33 of To Quench Her Thirst

There was a long-handled scrub brush hanging from a hook in the shower stall as well as a sweet-smelling block of soap. Addie applied the latter generously to the former and started scrubbing her back as best she could.

But she didn’t scrub for long. Whatever the markings were, they weresensitive.

“Ouch!” she gasped as the rough bristles of the scrub brush abraded her back. It felt like she was using a cheese grater on her skin!

She hung the brush back up and turned to let the now warm water spray her instead. Eventhatmade her wince—the water felt like needles piercing her skin. She stood it for as long as she could, but then she had to give up and get out of the shower—it was simply too painful. Also, she wasreallythirsty—she needed a glass of water before she did anything else.

There was no glass or cup anywhere in the bathroom so Addie wrapped a towel around herself and drank from the sink. At first she used her cupped hands but that wasn’t fast enough—her throat was dry as sandpaper. Leaning down, she swept her hair out of the way and drank directly from the plain silver tap.

The ice-cold water was refreshing…but somehow notquitewhat she wanted. Addie kept drinking anyway because of the burning in her throat. But finally she felt like her stomach was sloshing with water and had to stop.

Straightening up, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and looked at herself in the mirror again.

“What’s happening to me?” she muttered aloud. “Am I changing?”

If she was, it certainly wasn’t for the better. She had to find out what was going on with her body—now!

At first she thought of asking Sparki, but she had no idea where in the palace her favorite lady-in-waiting was staying. Also, she wasn’t quite as trusting of Sparki as she had been. The other woman had clearly known what to expect from the Choosing Ceremony—why hadn’t she warned Addie about it? Maybe shewasn’tthe one to ask for information. Ditto for Lx Sambla, who had been the one to volunteer her for the ceremony in the first place.

But if she couldn’t trust either of the Vargans she considered friends and Drago was MIA, where could she get information?

Suddenly she remembered the large library they had passed through the night before. Hadn’t Sambla told her it was filled entirely with books about Sheelash? Maybe she could find some information on the Choosing Ceremony and its aftereffects there.

“That’s it—that’s where I’ll go.” Having completed a PhD in Xeno-anthropology, Addie was adept at research. Also, libraries were a safe and comforting space for her. She didn’t need to risk asking anyone—she could get the information she needed for herself.

Quickly, she finished drying—blotting her sensitive back carefully—and slipped back on the black dress she’d worn the night before. She wished she could wear something new, but there was no way she was risking going back into the main bedchamber with the shrieking spider.

As soon as she was dressed, she headed out the small door of the servant’s room and into the long stone corridor.

She was going to get some answers, damn it! There had to besomeexplanation for the weird things that were happening to her. She needed to know what was going on.

She had no idea she was about to find out the hard way.

18

ADDIE

The corridors and the library room were deserted. Addie had an idea that it was still fairly early in the morning since no one else was stirring. She ought to be hungry for some breakfast by now, but all she felt was the same, burning thirst which she was beginning to believe was part of the strange set of symptoms she was experiencing.

The slippers that went with her dress were soft and she made no noise as she moved around the vast room, surveying the shelves of books. She had no idea how the Vargans classified their books and many of them looked ancient and seemed to be written in an arcane text that even the Translation Bacteria in her system had trouble translating.

Addie was just about to get really frustrated when she found a section of what appeared to be children’s books, low down on one of the shelves. They were thinner and newer and had brightly colored covers. She chose one that was called,The Choosing Ceremony and You—a Guide for High Born Girls,and settled into one of the plush, overstuffed armchairs to read it.

She opened it and found that the first page of the book showed a lot of young women standing in a circle with an older woman in the center.

“If you’re a High Born girl with any Sheelash White in your hair, you might have heard about an important rite called ‘The Choosing Ceremony,’”the book read.“The Choosing Ceremony is a special ritual many High Born girls go through when they reach the age of maturity.”

Okay, well so far it wasn’t telling her anything she didn’t already know, Addie thought. She flipped to the next page which showed the same circle of young women. This time one of them was accepting a cup of milky liquid from the older woman who Addie supposed must be one of the Aged Ones.

“When you are chosen, you go into the Room of Sighs,”the book informed her.“There, one of the Aged Ones will give you a cup to drink. In the cup is the Bounty of Sheelash—the venom of the beautiful and terrible Goddess whom we all serve and worship with all our hearts.’”

“Wait, her venom? I drankspider venom?”Addie exclaimed out loud. Her voice echoed in the empty room and she looked around furtively, making sure she was still alone. Luckily no one was there, so she kept reading. But the very thought of what she’d ingested the night before made her feel sick.

The next page showed a picture of three muscular Vargans with a giant spider. Addie couldn’t see the front of the spider because the three men were dealing with the back end of it. Two of them had ropes that were attached to several of the spider’s many legs and the third had a kind of container in his hands that he was clearly trying to fit over the long, sharp stinger that protruded from the end of the spider’s fat abdomen.

“Many brave Vargan men participate in the milking of Sheelash each year,”the caption read.“Often they are killed because Sheelash doesn’t always want to give up her Bounty. But that is their sacrifice and we honor them for it.”

Addie remembered now how she hadn’t wanted to drink the cum-looking liquid and Ls Prissa had snapped at her,saying something about how many men had been killed at “the Milking.” This must be what she’d been talking about!Ugh.

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