Ysmaine knelt at the tomb of John the Baptist in Samaria to pray, her thoughts straying to her aches and pains with a persistence that could not bode well for her prayers. She was nigh asleep on her feet. Radegunde was beside and slightly behind her, the sound of her murmured prayers doubly reassuring.
Though all seemed to improve, she still fretted. Indeed, Ysmaine had many blessings on this day thanks to her new spouse. A pang touched her heart, and she feared again for Gaston’s survival, then prayed for him. She forced herself to remain on her knees until she murmured the entire Paternoster and the Ave without a single thought about her buttocks.
PaternosterAveThen she winced as she began to rise to her feet.
She found a masculine hand beneath her elbow and recognized Gaston’s scent
