Things returned to normal for almost a week, and no more of Kisha's possessions were damaged.

Then things took a more serious turn.

Mari came rushing into the bedroom, where Eliana was sat embellishing a baby gown with lapis beads as Kisha rested on the bed. With a finger to her lips, Mari gestured for Eliana to come.

Setting aside the gown, she followed. There, on the dazzling white stone of the terrace, was a sight that made Eliana's stomach turn.

A grizzled black mongrel, a bitch, lay split almost in two. She was disembowelled, her entrails spilling out of the monstrous gash in her belly. A fly crawled lazily across her dead, staring eye.

In itself, the dead dog was revolting. Worse was the statuette tied about her neck with a distinctive beaded necklace belonging to Kisha. Eliana had to squint against the glare of the sun to make it out – made of jet, it blended against the dog's black fur.

When her eyes focused, the unmistakeable likeness of Lasmashtu glared back at her.

She took an involuntary step backward. 'A curse?'

'Undeniably,' murmured Mari. 'We must clean it up before Kisha sees.'

They bent and took hold of a leg each; Eliana struggled not to retch at the smell. The day was a hot one, and the corpse had already begun to rot.

As she straightened to ask Mari where they would take it, Ani appeared in the doorway. Both girls looked at her, silently urging her to quiet. She stared calmly back, malice clear in her gaze.

Taking a deep breath, she opened her mouth and screamed. Eliana could happily have hurled the dead dog straight into her smug face as Kisha came running.

Mari and Eliana instinctively moved to try to block Kisha's view, but it was no use.

'Ani, what on earth is...' she stopped in her tracks, gazing horror-struck at the bloodied mass behind the girls. 'What is that?' she whispered.

'Nothing, my lady!' Mari answered, her words running together in her rush to get them out. 'It must have been injured somewhere and crawled here to die.'

'Then... why is it wearing my necklace?'

Eliana kicked herself for not having removed the necklace and offensive statue before trying to move the creature.

'It's nothing,' she tried to reassure her sister. 'Just somebody playing a tasteless joke.'

'It's no joke.' Ani cut in. 'Is that not a statue of the childbed demon tied around the throat? It's as clear a curse as they come.'

Kisha staggered backwards, her mouth working in a soundless scream, her arms cradling her belly protectively. Her face crumpled in pain and she bent almost double.

A rush of fluid spattered the floor between her legs.

She dropped to her hands and knees, one hand still on her bump, and cried out in pain.

'Kisha!' Eliana ran to her sister. 'What's happening?'

'It's coming.' Ani answered, not moving.

Mari went to Kisha's other side and the two girls helped her up. 'We need to get her to bed,' said Mari. 'When the contractions grow stronger, we'll move her to the birthing chair.'

Once Kisha was settled in the bed and as comfortable as they could make her, Mari went running for water, linen sheets and all manner of medicines to try to ease the pain.

Eliana sat helplessly beside her sister, holding her hand and trying to distract her with chatter. Kisha was ashen and could not concentrate on the conversation. 'The baby is cursed,' she muttered. 'I'm going to die.'

'Don't be silly! Of course you're not going to die.' Eliana was anxious to reassure her.

Mari returned with a tray of medicines, and some bread and honey. 'We won't let you die, my lady. Hundreds of women give birth every day – if every one of them died, none of us would ever have siblings! You have nothing to worry about.'

'Our mother died in childbirth,' Kisha spoke quietly to Eliana.

'I know,' she squeezed her hand. 'But you won't.'

Kisha did not argue, but turned her face to the ceiling.

Mari brought the bread and honey over. 'Eat,' she urged. 'You will need your strength when your body is ready to push.'

Ani sat on a nearby stool, watching intently, but made no move to interfere for good or for ill. The girls ignored her, and Kisha was too miserable to take note of who was in the room.

Then the waiting began.

The room was stifling in the heat of the day, and Eliana wanted nothing more than to go out into the garden and lounge beside the stream in the shade of a tree. But Kisha needed her. The baby would not be born for many hours yet, but her sister could not bear to be left for even a moment.

Day dragged into night, and Kisha's contractions grew stronger and more prolonged. Around midnight, she sat up, leaning in towards her belly and crushing Eliana's hand as her body strained to be rid of its burden.

'It's time,' Mari nodded to Eliana. Between them, they moved Kisha from the bed and settled her into the birthing chair – made of elaborately carved cedar, it had strong arms to be gripped at the height of the pain, a reclining posture, and a hole set into the seat.

Still, Ani did nothing.

Eliana sent her a couple of accusing looks, but she stared back impassively.

Red-faced, Kisha gripped the arms of the chair and screamed.

'It's coming, my lady!' cried Mari. 'Push!'

'It's tearing me in half!' shrieked Kisha.

'No it isn't,' said Eliana firmly. 'Come on, sweeting – push! It'll all be done soon.'

The torches flickered in their brackets on the walls, making the shadows seem to come alive – dancing and writhing on the walls. Kisha's hair clung to her sweating body in lank strands as she heaved and struggled against the tiny body pushing its way out of her.

With a final, heart-rending scream, a shudder and a push, the baby slithered out of her and into Mari's hands.

Kisha collapsed back into the chair, panting.

'You did it, Kisha! It's done!' Eliana was jubilant for her sister, even as she gripped her hand, waiting for Mari to answer the unspoken question filling the air.

A moment later, the baby began to bawl.

'A healthy baby, my lady!' cried Mari as she swaddled the child and cut the cord. 'A perfect, healthy, beautiful girl.'

'A girl!' Kisha moaned. Tears ran down her exhausted face. 'No! No, no!'

Eliana's disappointment lasted only for a moment, until Mari placed the squalling infant in her arms to give to her sister. 'Look at her!' she smiled. 'She's gorgeous, Kisha. The very image of you!' She laid the baby at her mother's breast.

Only then did she think to glance over at Ani to see how she had reacted to the baby's gender.

The stool was empty. Ani had gone.

'Scuttled off to Susa the moment it was over,' thought Eliana bitterly. 'We'll not see her in these rooms again, if the gods are good.'

Kisha cuddled her baby with a miserable expression that Eliana could not bear.

'This is a good thing, you know!' she said, ignoring the bafflement on the faces of Mari and Kisha. 'Think about it – Susa isn't interested in a girl, nor will Samsu be. She's all yours, Kisha! A little piece of you for us all to love. We won't have to worry about evil influences or people trying to take her away – she'll be just as inconsequential as we are.'

A half-smile tugged at the corners of Kisha's lips as she gazed down at her daughter. 'Yes, you're right. She's a little blessing.'

'What will you call her?' asked Mari.

'I suppose we'll have to wait for her father to name her,' said Kisha, sounding dejected again.

As if summoned by her mention of him, Samsu marched into the bedchamber. He walked straight to Kisha as if the other two were not even in the room.

'A girl?' he sneered.

Kisha nodded fearfully.

Samsu slapped her hard across the face. 'Next time, you will do better.' He turned to leave without so much as a glance at his daughter. 'Name her what you will,' he tossed the words carelessly over his shoulder. 'Raise her well and perhaps she'll be a useful pawn in an alliance someday.'

Eliana could not keep silent, watching him slap an exhausted woman on her birthing chair – who held his own child, no less! 'She is strong and healthy, and so will her brother be, when the gods are good enough to send him to us.'

Samsu looked at her as though a rat had spoken. She stared back at him, both of them forgetting for a moment that she was not permitted to make eye contact with him.

Her bravery spent, her stomach twisted into knots of anxiety as he stared at her.

'You seem well-recovered, whore,' he said softly. 'My pledge to Marduk of abstinence is at an end – I shall see you very soon.'

He walked from the room. Eliana's hands were trembling – she had expected some violent reaction from him. His calm was more unnerving than his savagery.

'Thank you, Elly,' whispered Kisha.

She squeezed her sister's hand again in response, not trusting her own voice.

'So do you have a name?' Mari asked again, eager to know.

'Sarri,' breathed Kisha. 'Our little princess.'