Ilario: The Stone Golem
A Story of the First History, Book Two
Chapter One
Ramiro Carrasco has not seen me as a man!
It was the only thought in my head.
I couldn't breathe. His hands pressed cloth and a bulk of goose-down feathers into my mouth and nose. My vision blacked into sparkles.
My chest hurt as I tried and failed to pull in air.
It can happen just this easily!—because people are busy for a few
minutes looking at the baby, because these curtains are drawn—
'Ilario's heart stopped.' Even Physician Baris¸ will say so. The labour of
having the baby. Too much for a hermaphrodite body. Even Rekhmire'
will believe it. The midwife will confirm it. Ramiro Carrasco has nothing
to do now but wait until my face is blue and then scream out an alarm
that I'm not breathing—
And Ramiro Carrasco has never seen me dressed as a man.
The pillow blinded me towards the left field of my vision, but left a
sliver of my right eye clear. Carrasco stared down at me, his expression
curiously d ... read full excerpt from Ilario: The Stone Golem ebook
