Chapter 8
THE MOTHERS’ HOUSE was in one of the most pleasant corners of the citadel, the jumble of palaces and temples in the centre of Kadrish. Perched on the edge of the original hill that housed the citadel, it rose significantly over the roofs of the surrounding part of the city. As a result, many of the cool, high-ceilinged rooms in the three-storey building looked out over the sea, catching cooling sea breezes that came in from the west.
As a man, Kotori could enter the Mother’s House because he lived in the citadel, and also because of his profession: to tell the fortunes of the king and the princes and of the women carrying the royal children, especially those about to give birth. Today, he had been called to attend Selwa, one of the most revered mothers, from the harem of the ki
