Ilario, the Stone Golem Read Free Page B

circumstances. Slaves don’t have homes in that way.’
    ‘No.’ Honorius’s hand gave my shoulder a final pressure. He looked at
    me with a smile. ‘Have you thought? Onorata is freeborn.’
    For my final examination before he departed, the Janissary doctor was
    visibly not certain whether to request a man or a woman as chaperone.
    Baris¸ seized on Rekhmire’’s muttered volunteering with gladness –
    likely because ‘Alexandrine eunuch bureaucrat’ trumped both in terms
    of respectability.
    ‘You should tell the physician if you intend to have sex again,’
    Rekhmire’ mumbled towards the end of an extensive examination,
    translating some of the medical Greek technicalities.
    I raised both eyebrows at him.
    A dark flush turned his Egyptian colouring something closer to brick-
    red than I had imagined possible.
    ‘Whether you intend to fornicate . . . It’s not as if you’re breast-
    feeding, to avoid conception. I know he’s said, ah . . . that it’s all but impossible . . . but . . . You ought not to get pregnant again. That would
    be very dangerous.’
    I grinned at him. ‘You’re not my master, Rekhmire’.’
    Or a mother hen, I reflected, as he looked even more flustered.
    Evidently pulling himself together, and ignoring my minor harass-
    ment, Rekhmire’ faced the Jannissary doctor. ‘ Is Ilario capable of
    conceiving another child?’
    I murmured, ‘Now there’s a question I never wanted to hear . . . ’
    Baris¸ looked amused. Rekhmire’ failed to.
    ‘Because, you see, if Ilario is capable, then having sex as a woman
    could be dangerous, if not fatal.’ Rekhmire’ stuttered. ‘Ilario, will you be
    content to have sex as a man does?’
    ‘Uh.’ I felt my cheeks heating; knew I must be red from neck to
    hairline.
    ‘With – another man , that is? I suppose – of course – if you were to have sex as a man does with a woman—’ Rekhmire’ tucked his arms
    tightly across his chest and glared down at me. ‘Doctor, can Ilario get a
    woman pregnant?’
    ‘No.’ Baris¸ shook his head. ‘Never.’
    He glanced from Rekhmire’ to me, and back to the Egyptian.
    ‘Because I have never, in my entire professional career, seen such a
    scarlet shade of embarrassment – I doubt this patient will ever have sex
    again!’
    12

    What concerns I might have had were, by that, and the expression on
    Rekhmire’’s face, exploded completely.
    I howled and clutched at my ribs.
    Rekhmire’ squirmed. ‘I hardly meant . . . I had no intention of . . . !
    I—’
    ‘Go away , Rekhmire’.’ I couldn’t stop grinning. ‘You’re not my
    master, you don’t have to force yourself to ask the doctor gynaecological
    questions! And Physician Baris¸ is right. At the moment, I’m debating
    between a monastery and a nunnery! Just so long as it’s a celibate order!’
    It wouldn’t have surprised me had the Egyptian cited some of the
    more scurrilous rumours about Frankish monasteries and nunneries.
    Instead, Rekhmire’ clattered his crutch against the floor and made a
    production of lumbering off. I wheezed with the first uninhibited laugh
    I’d had in months.
    Baris¸ eventually ended his investigations under my skirts.
    ‘You’re healing healthily and quickly. Put no stress on that part of your
    body; avoid heavy exertion for the moment.’ He signalled to the giant
    Balaban to pack up his medical chest. ‘Might I have a look at the child? If
    you don’t mind?’
    I lifted Onorata out of the oak-chest cot, unwinding the nominal
    swaddling bands that loosely swathed her. Instead of crying, she beat
    thin perfect arms against me, and snuggled onto my chest in wide-eyed
    relaxation, apparently gazing up at the Turk.
    ‘Can you tell? If she’s normal,’ I clarified.
    He ran his finger down the sole of her foot, watching her small toes
    curl. ‘I examined her at the birth.’
    ‘Yes, but – I don’t know what there might be on the inside.’
    Baris¸’s ship’s-prow nose cast a shadow