The Bondswoman [antikvár]

Chapter 1THE candle has burned to the nub and the first light of day is chasing the shadows from the room, and still I sit here with Robert's journal in my lap, no closer to a decision than I was hours ago. Charity, fortunately, sleeps the sleep of the innocent, and does not open her eyes to the new day until I wake her, but that fateful hour is fast approaching, and I must gather my thoughts so that when she gazes on my face it does not reflect my indecision. I love her with the love of a mother for her child, even though she was not the fruit of my womb, and her feeling for me runs as deep. A love like ours carries with it implicit trust, each in the other, and the thought of meeting those clear blue eyes on this inevitable morning with the story of how I have lied to her all these years makes my blood run cold. There was a time, before life taught me that there were forces stronger than even I had dreamed, when I would have felt no such qualms, but the girl who was dragged from the slave ship in chains and auctioned off on the block as though she were livestock has faded into Mistress Hillaby, the Quaker lady I am today . . . and today, I am afraid."The blood of princes runs in your veins."Suddenly, as though she has returned from the grave to answer my need, the voice of my mother Ells my ears. I close my eyes, willing her to stay and counsel me, and all at once I am back in the Barbados, watching with horrified eyes as the traders try to pry her from me so they may carry me away as part of their miserable human cargo.