Free The Destroyer Goddess by Laura Resnick

noticed with mingled relief and surprise—she found some minor faults with Najdan and Haydar's chamber and instructed a servant to make improvements. Baran had disappeared by now, so it was Mirabar who insisted that one of the assassins make Najdan familiar with the grounds of Belitar, and also make plans to show him around the surrounding countryside and nearby villages in the days to come. She wanted Najdan to be no less informed and able than Baran's most favored assassin, Vinn. 
    Haydar was scandalized by the condition of Baran's kitchen, tended by an ex-Sister who had been ejected from the Sisterhood for lewd public behavior. Mirabar agreed to let Haydar take over the cooking duties at Belitar, and she assigned the ex-Sister some menial cleaning tasks which she suspected the woman wouldn't bother to do.
    Mirabar was satisfied and tired by the end of her first day at Belitar. Now, she decided, it was time to seek out her husband. 
    She found him, as she expected, in his bedchamber, attended by Vinn and Sister Velikar. Mirabar entered without invitation, met Baran's gaze, and said, "I want to speak with you. Alone."
    Baran nodded at Vinn, who crossed his fists, bowed his head, and departed. Sister Velikar hesitated, saying to Baran, "Don't you want—"
    "Come back later," he instructed her.
    " Much later," Mirabar said to Velikar.
    Baran lifted one brow, but he didn't contradict her. Velikar scowled at Mirabar, but she left without further protest.
    Mirabar turned and thoughtfully examined her husband, who was reclining on his bed. 
    It was hard to get used to sharing a bed with someone, particularly someone she didn't trust, so during their nights together on the road, she was well aware of every movement he made as he lay beside her, every shift, every sigh. So she knew he didn't sleep well, in addition to not eating and to needing treatment from Velikar.
    "What's wrong with you?" she asked bluntly.
    "Wrong with me?" Baran repeated.
    She nodded.
    "Hmmm, let's see... I was raised badly?" he tried. "I have no shame? My morals were corrupted by a wasted youth?"
    Mirabar came forward and sat beside him on the bed. "I'm sure all of those things are true, but that's not what I'm talking about."
    He took her hand and raised it to his lips. "Ah, have I been neglecting you, my dear?" he purred.
    "Well, you're certainly behaving strangely for a man who wants an heir," she said. "But I haven't taken offense."
    "I'm glad."
    "Because you're very ill, aren't you?"
    Baran looked away. After a long, tense moment, he said, "Yes."
    "How ill?"
    "As you just noted," he replied. " Very ill."
    "What's the matter with you?"
    He still didn't look at her. "Velikar says it's a wasting disease in my stomach."
    Mirabar tried to find a tactful way to ask. "You mean... you won't get better?"
    "No."
    She stared in silence, considering this. She hadn't expected it, not even after realizing he was ill. "You're dying?"
    "Yes." Baran's voice was pleasant and calm.
    She lowered her head as it all became clear to her now. " That's why you want a child. An heir. Immortality of a kind."
    "When I knew, when I realized..." He nodded. "Yes, that's when I started thinking about an heir."
    "Someone to carry on your bloodfeud against Kiloran after you're dead." After another pause, she asked, "Soon?"
    "Yes." He smiled a moment later. "Tansen will be pleased, won't he?" He touched her chin as he added, "And you're probably not terribly sorry."
    Mirabar couldn't pretend that she felt sorrow, but she did feel enough pity for him—even for him—that she didn't admit that relief was her primary emotion after sheer confusion.
    She tried to sort out her chaotic thoughts. "Fire and water, water and fire..." Perhaps she was beginning to understand. "I will be the one left in charge of Belitar and your legacy."
    "Yes. In trust for our child."
    "But if you barely have energy to sire a child, and very little time left in which to do it, what makes you so sure—"
    "I've