by Simon Archer
“It is so good to see you,” Maria said as she sloshed closer to me. Her boots made a squelching noise as she approached, and it took everything in me not to laugh as she waddled over. “When you told me you had never seen the greenhouses, I knew I just had to give you a tour.”
“I don’t want to interrupt you, though,” I said.
“Oh goodness, no,” Maria said with the wave of a gloved hand. “I invited you, remember? It will be nice to show someone around. Plus, I could use a break from potting these risalises. They are delicate and temperamental. You have to be so careful with them, or their buds will just fall apart in your hands and boom!” Maria clapped her hands together, though the sound was muffled from her thick gloves. “They just collapse. But they are so beautiful and make the sweetest tea.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle just a little. When I first met Maria, she appeared so composed and delicate. Yet, here she was, talking a thousand miles a minute about plants I couldn’t even recognize. She was dirty as a pig in a mud pit but couldn’t be happier.
“Did I say something funny?” Maria asked with innocent eyes.
“No,” I replied. “You amuse me.”
“Oh,” Maria said, her voice soft and ashamed. She clasped her hands in front of her and shrugged her shoulders forward. Her gaze drifted to the dirt floor. “I apologize. Sometimes I get too overly excited about the plants, and I recognize that not everyone is as enthusiastic about it as I am. Or as interested.”
“You misunderstand me,” I said. I bent down a little, so I could catch her eye. “You amuse me because you remind me of me.”
“I do?” Maria wondered as she looked up.
“Yeah,” I confirmed. “I mean, not about plants but about art. When I paint and talk about artists I like or the latest piece I’m working on, I sound just like you.”
“Really?” Maria’s eyes brightened beautifully, that glow returning so full of eagerness.
“Are you kidding me?” I said with a laugh. “I could go on for hours about art, especially my own art, as selfish as that sounds. It’s really cool to see that you’re so passionate about this.”
“It is my favorite thing in the whole world,” Maria said with a content sigh. Her eyes traveled all about the greenhouse in a wide, sweeping arc. “It is home for me. I lose myself in here.”
“I know that feeling,” I said with a grin of my own.
The way Maria’s eyes lit up made her whole face seem to glow, and for the first time, I really got a good look at the woman behind the face.
Her enthusiasm and love for her work, it spoke to me on a deeper level than looks. Though I wouldn’t deny that her blonde curls and doe-eyed look weren’t also drawing me into her. My eyes flickered down to her rosy lips, plump and glistening.
“Martin?” Her voice was soft and quiet as if she also sensed the tension that was building between us and didn’t want to break it.
I took a deep breath and stepped towards Maria, seeing how she raked her eyes up and down my body. And I knew I did not imagine the flash of lust and desire in her baby blue eyes.
“Martin.” She spoke my name again, breathless.
“Yes?” I asked, keeping my voice low to match hers, the huskiness filling the space between us like the humid air of the greenhouse.
She breathed in deep and closed her eyes for a second before flashing them open and stepping up until her body was nearly pressed up against mine.
“Kiss me.” And she didn’t need to say anything else.
I captured her lips in mine in a bruising kiss, the desire flowing between us as her hands wrapped around my waist, slowly climbing up until her fingers carded through my hair.
As I trailed the kisses down her neck, her short, breathless gasps were like music to my ears, “Martin. Oh!”
I had never made love in a greenhouse before, but I couldn’t find myself to care about how it would work as I shoved Maria up against one of the walls. With one hand, I pulled the goggles the rest of the way off her head, and with the other, I fumbled with the ties for her apron. Even as my feverish work began, so too did Maria go straight for my belt and pants with the same abandon.
By the time we had stripped each other bare, the dirt and grime and sweat that clung to Maria and her workclothes stained my skin as well, and I loved it. In my eyes, that was the real woman, not the golden-locked baby-doll put on display for the nobility. The hard-working gardener who tended to her plants, got her hands dirty as she nutured life, that was what drove me wild. When she managed to yank my pants down, I was fully erect, throbbing to get inside of her.
But I had to pause to look over her beauty. Unlike Rebekah or Diana, Maria was petite, slender, and if I hadn’t seen this harder working side of her, I’d have been surprised if you told me that she’d ever worked a day in her life. Still, that almost porcelain flawlessness served as a perfect contrast to the heat on her cheeks and the dirt under her fingernails. Though her figure was slender, the swell of her small breasts still caught my eye, perfect handfuls if I were any judge, and she seemed unbashed by her nakedness, no shame at all, as if this were simply nature’s course. From how moist her clean-shaven mound was, she was more than just unashamed. Maria wanted this, and she wanted it bad.
Our eyes met as I traveled up her gorgeous body, and her half-lidded gaze communicated all I needed to know. There would be no words when we made love, there was no need. She only crooked a beckoning finger toward me, and I took her then and there. I swept in and caught her up, one hand supporting the small of her back while the other lifted her up by the curve of her ass. With two swift steps, I carried us both back to the greenhouse wall hard enough to elicit a soft yelp from her, but any worry that I had hurt Maria was gone when she nipped at my ear in the throes of lust.
With out waiting a second, I plunged deep inside the girl, her moist lips practically inviting my dick in. A moan rippled through Maria’s body as she pulled at my ear with her teeth and let go, the ache a loving reminder of her closeness. Gone was the prim and proper noblewoman, as she responded to the fierce rhythm of my pumping with fierce kisses, nails dragging across my back, and a furious bucking that rattled the walls. Our hard ride was so hot and heavy that we knocked a few empty planting pots off the nearest shelf, not that either of us cared to investigate the sound of shattering pottery.
No, we were entirely focused on each other, the heat and sweat and friction building. When Maria began to tighten around my dick, when her moans and screams hit a primal pitch, I just redoubled my efforts, my heavy rhythm turning into a furious pounding as I slipped my hand from the small of her back to clutch those perfectly small breasts.
There were no sweet nothings, no eloquent protestations of love when Maria orgasmed. She simply let out a scream of pleasure, of triumph, a wild thing uncaged, and I matched it with a roar of my own as I unloaded inside of her.
Panting, sweating, and spent, I slowly let Maria down as we kissed one more time, a sweet bit of aftercare after the furious fucking we had just completed. The air was filled with the scent of our lovemaking and the numerous plants surrounding us as we slowly redressed. Luckily, or perhaps quite purposefully, Maria grew the same sanitizing plants that Rebekah had shown me on my first day in Insomier, so we ended our session clean and pine fresh.
“They talk to me, you know,” Maria offered this information cautiously like she was sharing a secret as she smoothed out her dress. “The plants speak to me somehow. I know exactly what they need when, and it is so nice to be able to help them bloom properly or heal damaged parts of them.”
“Is that your gift?” I asked.
Maria nodded vigorously. “I have been talking to plants since I was a child.”
The noblewoman whistled. It was something light and airy, the beginning of a melody. In response, a bird flitted through an open panel at the top of the greenhouse. Other winged creatures flew in and out of there, like a couple of bees and another bird. But this one flew directly to Maria and landed
on her outstretched finger. It was a petite creature with small wings and a large belly. It had an abnormally hooked beak, like a hummingbird but with more curve. The bottom half was a tannish color, whereas the top half blazed with a brilliant red. There was a smidge of blue on the top of his head, like a crown, but it was an elegant creature.
He responded to Maria’s whistle with a high-pitched chirp. “Klarisul at your service, sir.”
“It is a pleasure, Klarisul,” I replied with a small, respective bob of my head. “I am Martin.”
“Oh yes,” Klarisul said as he ruffled his feathers excitedly. “Maria told me you were coming to visit. Welcome to Greenhouse One.”
“Thank you for having me,” I said, still keeping with decorum. “Klarisul, if it is not too rude of me, what type of bird are you? I don’t recognize your species offhand.”
“I am a sunbird.” Klarisul puffed his chest out, taking pride and ownership of his kind. “I help pollinate most of the flowers in this greenhouse as well as some of the others.”
“Oh, like bees or hummingbirds?” I related.
“Yes,” Klarisul said with a tiny eye roll. “However, I am the best pollinator among them.”
“Of that, I have no doubt,” I complimented, stroking his ego just enough.
The bird seemed to appreciate it. He shuffled a bit so he could stand just a little straighter, though the gesture couldn’t have made him more than seven inches tall. I tried not to laugh, for fear that he would mistake my reaction as an insult and not in admiration of his cuteness.
“I like him, Maria,” Klarisul announced. “You should bring him around more often.”
“Well, if he is not too put-off by the work and the smell, he is welcome back anytime,” Maria said to Klarisul, but with a side glance in my direction.
I couldn’t help but grin at Maria’s innocent and apparent enthusiasm at having someone to share her pride and joy with.
“I believe Maria offered me a tour,” I reminded the pair. “Would you like to lead the way, Klarisul?”
“Absolutely,” the bird said, delighted at the prospect. He opened his wings and flitted up above our heads. “I suggest we start down by the wedus at the back of the greenhouse. This is the perfect season for them.”
The sunbird led the way, and Maria and I had no choice but to follow. It was a rather informative tour that I am embarrassed to say that I retained little to none of the incoming information. Klarisul and Maria were clearly very knowledgeable about the plants within the three greenhouses. However, a majority of the greenery had foreign names and barely looked like any other plants I had ever seen before.
In Greenhouse Two, there were some typical flowers I could name like roses, daisies, and even some lavender. Tulips, peonies, and carnations were also there. But alongside that recognizable flora, there were at least another dozen species I didn’t know. Not that I had ever been an experienced botanist, but when Maria pronounced some of their names, I thought she was speaking a foreign language.
“And these are the yulkius,” she said, pointing to a stand of cranberry-colored reeds.
“This is the jimbur, which will only bloom at the full moon,” she said of a spirally white bud whose petals looked like puzzle pieces.
“Quiera is one of my favorites,” Maria said as we approached a small patch of ground with a smattering of pink flowers no larger than a pinky nail.
It was a simple setup in the greenhouses. Greenhouse One housed all the tropical plants that needed extra heat and water. Greenhouse Two contained the flowers, mostly used for decoration throughout the kingdom. Greenhouse Three was filled with more vegetables than I knew what to do with.
“The kitchen staff has access to this greenhouse,” Maria explained. “However, the agricultural staff are the only ones allowed into the other two. And guests, of course.”
“It worked out nicely that your mom is the Minister of Forestry and Agriculture,” I commented as I stuck my nose into a pale yellow flower that smelled faintly of lemon meringue pie.
“Yeah,” Maria breathed the word. The subtext practically flashed across her forehead.
“Did it not work out nicely?” I wondered, standing straight and looking at my new friend.
“It is fine,” Maria said with a flat voice. “I really do enjoy what I do, but I hate that there is this dual expectation.”
“What do you mean?” I asked as I crossed my arms and leaned against one of the lower tables. There wasn’t much space to lean, what with how crowded they were, but I squeezed what I could out of the available surface.
“Most gardeners do not have to make appearances at court,” Maria said with a halfhearted shrug. “There is a certain level of professionalism we have to maintain. If I had it my way, I would walk around everywhere looking like this.”
She stretched out her arms and gestured down to her patchy and dirty ensemble. Maria pulled at her apron and stomped her feet, so the galoshes were extra squeaky.
“It is so much more comfortable for me,” Maria admitted. “I would much rather be serving the dinners and designing the decor with assorted flowers than sitting at it. Let me work! I am really good at it, probably the best there is if I do say so myself.”
“Again, I don’t doubt that for a second,” I said truthfully. “You are certainly one of the most passionate.”
“Because I actually care about the plants,” Maria informed me, “but that is part of the problem. At least that is what my mom says. She says I care more about plants than I do people.”
“So?” I asked, not quite understanding the problem. “I mean, yes, I fundamentally get what she is saying. You should interact with people because complete solitude is not healthy, but there is nothing wrong with taking time to yourself, cultivating something you enjoy. Some of us need that time alone in order to associate with other people.”
“Exactly!” Maria agreed. “That is precisely how I feel. Sometimes I simply do not have the energy to be with other people all day. It is exhausting for me.”
“Where I come from, we call that being an introvert,” I explained. “It is completely natural.”
“Tell that to my mother,” Maria said with a defeated tone.
“I don’t think so,” I scoffed. “I don’t need the Council disliking me more than they already do.”
Maria pursed her lips to keep from smiling. I sensed she wanted to say something but didn’t have the courage to voice it aloud.
“What is that face?” I prodded, my curiosity piqued.
“I am not making a face,” Maria said as she tried and failed to flatten her expression.
“Yeah, no,” I said, shaking a finger at her. I pushed myself off the table and stood next to Maria. “That’s not nothing. What were you thinking just now?”
“My mother is a councilwoman, and sometimes she brings her work home with her,” Maria teased. “Let’s just say that I have heard a rumor or two about the young man stirring up trouble.”
“I’m not stirring up anything,” I protested.
Maria held up her hands in surrender. “I didn’t say that. I just happened to hear about it. More than once.”
“Yeah, well,” I said, not really having a response to that. “I’m trying to fix that, okay? That’s the whole reason I’m doing this introduction to court thing. To get in their good graces.”
“Oh, I would have thought it was because Diana and Rebekah put you up to it,” Maria said.
“Diana and Rebekah?” I blinked at Maria, completely dumbstruck. “I would have thought they would be against the whole process. It doesn’t seem like them at all.”
“That is not how it was when we were younger.” Maria chuckled. “Diana especially wanted so badly to be introduced to court. Alona and Rebekah, on the other hand, could not care less.”
“That seems backward to me now,” I commented.
“Right?” Maria agreed. “They have changed so much, but I think Diana would still like to be introduced to society if she
could.”
“Wait.” I paused, processing her words. “Diana wasn’t introduced to society?”
“She was not allowed,” Maria said. “She was common-born.”
“Hang on.” I waved my hands out in front of me like I was trying to swat a fly. “I thought Diana and Alona came to live at court when their town was destroyed.”
“They did,” Maria said slowly, trying to get me to follow along. She pulled up a simple wooden stool from beneath a table and offered it to me, so I took it. She proceeded to pull out another for herself, but she took a long time to sit down.
Maria didn’t look at me right away. She stared at her hands, which wrung together uncomfortably like she was twisting a wet rag, trying to rid it of all the moisture.
“Neither Alona nor Diana were allowed to be introduced to court,” Maria started. “Yes, they lived within the court, but they essentially were adopted and thus did not meet the standards to be properly introduced. Neither was noble-born, no matter where they were housed. Only nobles were ever introduced into society. Except for now. You are the first one.”
I gaped at that unexpected information. It was hard to believe that Alona and Diana had been rejected in their youth from the court that supposedly had given them a home. After accepting the girls into their society, they still didn’t have the decency to treat them with the same respect and give them the same privilege as the other children.
“Then how did they get jobs in the court?” I asked. “As I understand it, certain jobs are reserved for nobility. If Alona and Diana didn’t meet that requirement, then how can they work where they do?”
“Rebekah and Nadine made exceptions,” Maria told me. “They fought tooth and nail for it too because most of the Council wanted to send them outside the city once they had come of age, but those women saw the potential of the girls.”
“Thank goodness for that,” I said.
“And for King Pollet,” Maria added. “Ultimately, he was the one who agreed to the exceptions. However, the girls had to agree never to speak of their heritage to anyone. While everyone knew of their heritage, it became a buried secret within the court.”