Read Online A Lesson for the Cyclops by Jeffrey Getzin - Free Book Online Page A

was where she’d be happiest.
    “Doesn’t matter,” she muttered. “No, I need to get ready for tonight. Marco told me that he’s kicking me out after this run. I won’t be coming with you when you leave Per.”
    D’Arbignal raised an eyebrow.
    “Did he now?” His jaw jutted and his eyes narrowed. “We’ll just have to see about that.”
    “What do you mean?” the Cyclops asked.
    D’Arbignal tapped his nose, a sly grin on his face. “The answer to that is in this bag, and you don’t get to see what’s in the bag until you tell me about ‘being in love.’”
    She considered his ultimatum. Her brain felt ponderous in her depression.
    At length, she decided.
    “All right,” she said. “I’ll tell —”
    Pahula entered the tent. Her eyes first narrowed on D’Arbignal and then widened when she saw the Cyclops.
    “Cyclops, you look … bootiful! And that dress! It is—how you say?—gorgeous!”
    “Sorry, we’re closed for a special reception,” D’Arbignal said, ushering the Tattooed Lady out of the tent. “Only ladies and knaves. General admission resumes in one hour.”
    “Like I said,” Pahula grumbled from outside the tent. “Low.”
    “Sorry about that,” D’Arbignal said. “But you were saying something about being in love…?”

Chapter 23
    “When I was six,” the Cyclops said, “my father promised me to Hernando, who was eight. Hernando’s father was a miller. Mine was a baker. The engagement served to strengthen ties between the two families so that both could profit. It would guarantee my family an inexpensive supply of good flour; it would assure Hernando’s family a steady customer who could be counted on to pay his bills.
    “I first met Hernando when I was nine, and against the odds, he and I fell in love. Hernando was quiet, sensitive, and intense. I was strong-willed and outgoing; our families were wealthy, and I was spoiled.
    “Our love for each other grew as we matured: a slow, comfortable love, born out of the inevitability of our future together.
    “Then I began to turn into a woman. I learned that my new beauty gave me power over men. Wise men, rational men, would turn into idiots when I spoke to them. Husbands would ignore their wives.
    “I learned the way to move and dress to accentuate the effect. I also learned that there was much to be gained by being beautiful: lower prices at the market, preferential treatment by laborers. It made me conscious of the unlimited potential of being attractive.
    “I aspired to more; I resented Hernando merely because there was more to be had from the world than he could give me. For his part, he noticed my growing disdain and did all he could to woo me: flowers, gifts, even poetry. I felt that these were my due, and they did nothing to make me forget how common he was and how special I was.
    “One day, a duke from the Kingdom of Bryanae visited our household to procure some specialty breads. He was much older than I, but he was wealthy, powerful, and more importantly, a recent widower. I seized at the opportunity and flaunted myself at every chance. The Duke had no defense against my ripening sexuality. When I slipped into his bedroom on the second night, his protests were hollow, and he yielded to my clumsy seduction, taking my virginity.
    “When it was done, I pretended to cry, lamenting the loss of my virginity to my father’s trusted friend. I told him I would be victimized as a whore, and that it would be his fault. The only solution, I told him, with artfully punctuated sobs, was for him to marry me.
    “Not once did I spare my fiancé more than a passing thought. After all, it was the opportunity to become a duchess and I would be a fool to pass it up.
    “Fearful for his reputation, the Duke agreed to marry me, and we snuck from my house and I rode with him on his horse back to his lands on the northern outskirts of the city of Bryanae. The kingdom itself occupied a large island off the western coast of Homina,