A Bed of Earth
Page 27
And Chesare it seems, thinks him all his own.
“He said to me, Bartolo, ‘My sister had hair just that color when she was a child. My younger brother, Guffri, has it still.’”
Pia has come to the door now, telling me I have labored too long over the affairs of the guild, and I must shift for bed.
She and I get on very well at last. We have rubbed each other smooth enough we can lie side by side and not grow sore. She is caring and tender in her own way. I can never tell her about the boy, or that sometimes I shall go to see him. It is worse than a mistress, perhaps, to have this hidden, secret child that she may never suckle or rear or exclaim of, “My son.”
Outside, the sea wind is lifting, a great gull on the water, clapping its black wings. We shelter here within this small, warm, vulnerable place, and it seems all there is to us, and only night and harsh weather are beyond. But over the ocean of night lies the morning, beyond that morning, night again, and again the dawn. I do not see what else there is to say.
“Tanith Lee is an elegant, ironic stylist … one of our very best authors.”—Locus
A BED OF EARTH
THE SECRET BOOKS OF VENUS
BOOK III
TANITH Lee
A Bed of Earth is a haunting journey to a parallel version of sixteenth-century Venice, where a fierce territorial rivalry between two noble families unearths a supernatural force from beneath the placid surface of the canals and rotting understructure of the city.
The struggle between the two families for space on the Isle of the Dead, the overcrowded burial ground for generations of Venetian nobility, culminates in the abduction and horrific murder of a fourteen-year-old girl. As the years pass on, parties complicit in her fate begin to suffer the consequences in a series of shocking deaths that could emanate from none other than a supernatural force. A humble apprentice gravedigger is left to sort out the mysteries and subdue the ancient terror that threatens to destroy the entire republic.
“A beautiful story of love and death … Tanith Lee’s finest fantasy to date and it is sure to keep her at the top of her field.”
—Baryon Magazine
“Elegantly written … a powerfully told tale of youthful passion and ghostly revenge.”
—Library Journal
Tanith Lee has won both the August Derleth Award and the World Fantasy Award. She has written over fifty novels, among them the fantasy series The Secret Books of Paradys, as well The Gods Must Be Thirsty, and Mortal Suns (all available from Overlook).