2
Callia
The silk clung to me like a second skin. It was too thin to protect me from anything, and too smooth it would easily tear. It slid over the curve of my breasts, wrapped tight at my waist, then fell in soft, sheer layers down my thighs. For every step that I took, the fabric brushed against the inside of my legs like it was trying to seduce me into surrender.
Shells lined the edge of the veil draped over my shoulders, making a little kind of rhythm as I walked. Pearls nestled between my breasts too. My hair had been combed until it shone like water, braided with ribbons and threaded with coral.
I had no voice. It wasn’t like they had for ufden me to speak, but instead the sound had fled me, had been swallowed by the temple walls and the anxiety of what was to come.
The drums s
