Read Online The Breeder by Eden Bradley - Free Book Online Page A

fate is decided. And Akaash’s, as well.
    Her pulse was racing. It was all she could do to draw a breath, and even then it was shallow, uneven.
    She had never gone so deep before, until the smoothly polished hallways ended and turned into close tunnels of rough-hewn rock. It was cold, the air smelling of molding stone and water.
    They followed the tunnel until it let them out into a large cavern lit by torches. In the center was a small, still pool. The damp scent was stronger, and when Meidra lit a bundle of dried sage, the smoke mixed with it, making Nitara dizzy. Or maybe it was the feelings of dread and hope, battling within her heart.
    Akaash.
    Today could mean freedom for them both. Or their deaths. And she could not even pray.
    Meidra came to stand before her, a bowl of dark mud in her hands.
    “Today you become a woman,” the Crone said, her voice rough with age. She dipped her fingers into the bowl and smeared the mud on Nitara’s forehead. “Today you begin your true service to the Goddess.” She dipped her fingers again, and pressed the cool mud to Nitara’s breasts. “Today you open your body to mankind, so that you may give back to the earth what was lost.”
    Once more, Meidra smeared Nitara’s skin with mud, just below her navel, over her red tattoo. Meidra nodded to the Breeders, and the four surrounded Nitara. They were naked now, as she was. With their hands on her arms, they drew her into the pool, breaking the serene surface.
    The water was so cold it made Nitara gasp. She forgot for a moment the prayers she’d been taught. Leilin gave her hand a small pinch, and Nitara spoke softly.
    “Great Goddess, I purify myself for You. I offer You this vessel, my body, to do Your work on the earth. I pray that You find me worthy of Your love, that I am fertile and willing and pure.”
    Four sets of hands came to rest on her head, pushing her beneath the surface. The cold was numbing, and she came up sputtering. Her sisters held her up while Meidra prayed over her. Her legs were cold, growing number by the moment, and in her head she prayed only that this day would be over. That she might know what her future held. If she would have one.
    Finally she was led, naked and freezing in the early air, up and up, until they reached the highest point of the Temple. They went through a high, arched doorway and onto the flat terrace that was open to the dawning sun, so that the Angry God may look down upon their offering and be soothed. Her sisters laid her out on the smooth ground. It was cool on her bare back, but the sun was beginning to heat already, drying her skin.
    The Breeders placed spiraled lengths of copper wire on her naked belly and breasts, at the vee between her thighs, along with bits of sun-glass and dried flowers, all things precious, while Meidra continued her murmured prayers. She watched the sun rise overhead, the sky turning from black to orange, and finally, a hazy golden yellow.
    Her sisters stroked her skin with their soft hands, but she wasn’t gentled by their touch as she should be. She was shivering, her muscles tense and aching, her mind whirling, unable to concentrate on the prayers being spoken above her. Unable to think of the Goddess she would betray today. She focused instead on Akaash, taken from his home, his people. She knew in her heart what she was doing was right. Her only option in light of her love for him, and in the stark clarity of the evil truth about what the Temple demanded.
    Her sisters helped her to her feet, and took her down once more, into the chamber behind the Temple’s altar. Her hair, still damp, swung behind her, making her shiver in the cooler air of the subterranean Temple.
    She was led to the small holding chamber at the foot of the nave, the long center aisle that ran the length of the Temple. Meidra followed, praying constantly, her whispered words like some foreign language to Nitara. She knew she must concentrate on playing her part. She must make