Chapter 8
When the priests arrived, Jerutha had nearly resigned herself to the fact that they would come. She watched for Isika daily, but Isika hadn't appeared, and as Jerutha sat in her garden, surrounded by the green of the plants she had cared for, she thought she had no room for fear. The days had been reduced to a fever of hope that was crushed every evening. No Isika. She was still alone with her baby.
Because she was bad luck, the villagers she had known her whole life barely acknowledged her now. Except for one. Faiza still cared for Jerutha, chin jutted out as she ignored the hisses from the stalls nearby. Faiza bought food for Jerutha from the stall owners who wouldn't sell to Jerutha. She gathered it all and gave it to Jerutha with a soft look on her face. The look said every
