Enheduanna: The First Author - Wattys Winner 2021

27. Blood Runs Thicker Than Water

We had barely stepped foot into the Ziggurat or all the other priestesses came running, making sure we were all right. It was a relief to see that everyone was unharmed, although worry reared its head again once I realised that Dingira was still out there, somewhere, looking for Idal. I needed to find her, needed to go out and get her back before anything happened to her.

I could not bear losing her as well. Pulling myself free from the doting hands, I tried to make my way back to the city.

"Enheduanna, you cannot go outside again." Shula cried.

The priestess clasped her hands around mine with an iron grip. "Outside are those dangerous men. Here you are protected."

"But Dingira is still out there. I cannot leave her."

Kituzda blocked my path. "We will start searching at dawn. Right now, you must go to the safety of the Giparu."

Her order wasn't as harsh as usual, her eyes carrying a slither of compassion. But I didn't want to remain useless any longer. I could not save Idal, but maybe there was still hope for Dingira. "I am going to look for her. We have lost one of our own tonight. I'm not losing another."

"This is madness, Enheduanna." Kituzda grabbed me by the shoulders, holding me back with all her weight. "Someone tried to kill you tonight. The arrow missed your head by a hair."

I pushed forward, "that won't stop me."

"Then you leave me no choice. Shula, carry her back to the Giparu."

Under loud protest, while kicking and struggling, I was carried back to my room. I did not have the strength to free myself, nor the agility to lower myself down the window, the way Dingira did the night we first met. But that didn't stop me from trying.

"You are going to break your neck like that."

That warm, sweet voice made my heart stop. I looked up to see amber eyes smiling back at me, a slender hand stretched out to take mine. Within the dim light, it almost seemed as if she was a figment of my imagination, but the warmth of her hand was real. The softness of her bare shoulder was real, the scent of lilies in her hair was real.

She was really here.

There were no words to describe my elation. I kept running my fingers through her hair, over her cheeks, as if to make sure that I wasn't dreaming. My thumb graced her lips and without realising it I leaned it.

In our kiss was the sweetness of passion. A million loving thoughts condensed into this one moment. Cupping her face, I poured all my emotions into the kiss, letting them move with a passion that transcended all the greatest hymns combined.

"Your husband is watching," Dingira whispered when we broke apart for air.

"I do not care. All I care about right now is you. You being safe and being here with me."

Stretching up on her tiptoes, her lips found mine once more. I sighed against the warmth of her mouth, letting all the tension of that night melt out of me. She was here. She was unharmed. Holding her firmly against me, I felt her arms running down my back. There was no distance between us now, and it felt like she made me whole.

"Stay with me," I whispered against her cheek. "I don't want to be alone tonight."

"I wouldn't leave you even if Nanna himself came down to pry me away," she whispered back before she kissed me again, hungrily.

That night was the first time in weeks I slept soundly. At dawn, I found myself entangled with Dingira nuzzled in the crook of my neck. She looked so peaceful as she slept that I couldn't wake her up. But letting Kituzda or Shula find us like this, within the most sacred part of the temple, was a horror I didn't want her to face either. As I took one last look at her slumbering state, Dingira opened her eyes and smiled at me. "Good morning, Anna."