‘ You can , and you will ,’ her mother pronounced , but seeing the stubborn set of
Salome ’ s jaw , her steely resolve melted into rose-petal sweetness . ‘ Salome , my darling , I
know I banned you from dancing again , but this is different . It will be a – a present , if
you like , for your stepfather . He so loves to watch the dancing . Besides , everyone knows
you will be a married woman soon , so this will be no sin .’
Salome had her doubts , but the thought of dancing in the orange light of blazing
torches , to music specially written for the occasion played by the dextrous fingers of the
court musicians , was too much to resist .
That night , arrayed in her finest garments , glittering with borrowed jewels ,
Salome stood before her stepfather and the greatest men of the kingdom . She gazed
around the room , and the room gazed back . A thousand eyes , brown and blue and green
and hazel . Kind , cold , hard , intrigued , scornful , covetous . For a moment it was as
though she were being flayed , her clothes , her skin , her flesh being stripped from her to
leave her naked and abject before the entire realm .
Then she closed her eyes and the world fell away . She imagined herself in the
garden , in the still hours where the only light came from the sky and the shadows
transmuted all , so trees became veiled women and water became the most flawless or