by S. K Munt
‘I’m no actress…’ I mumbled, and my face flamed, proving me right. In fact, I felt flushed all over, so I shrugged out of my light jacket. ‘My Artisan score will surely reflect that.’
‘You could have been,’ he challenged me. ‘You have a flare for theatrics, and when you talk… I can’t tear my eyes off your face. No one can- I even heard mother say that you’re so animated that even she finds it hard to not laugh at your antics.’
‘Kohén…’ I complained.
‘Larkin…’ he whispered, and when I glanced up and saw him watching me remove my wrists from my cuff, my fever spiked. ‘You’re poetry in motion, little bird. You struggle to remember dance steps, but every move you make is liquid and beautiful and...’ he offered me his hand. ‘How?’
‘You are more beautiful than I am,’ I said honestly, taking his hand and smiling, then running my finger over the marble-smooth skin on the back of his hand which was without a pore, freckle or stray hair. ‘Every inch of you is perfect, and you dance beautifully now.’
‘I have the blood of an archangel in my veins,’ he said me, as he pulled me off the concrete edging of the great stone steps and then down into his arms. ‘But what explanation have you for inheriting both moonlight and sunlight?’
‘Kohén…’ I blushed, looking down at our hands and away from the shadows caught in his thick lashes. I knew I should ask him to refrain from saying such things but...but...
He pulled me closer. ‘Dance with me?’
‘There’s no music,’ I protested, but I followed him out across the dewy lawn, which shimmered like the stars had fallen upon it.
‘Then I will make some.’ Kohén took me into a waltz hold and began to sing a song in a voice so rich and beautiful that I was almost too overcome to move my feet. I wanted to ask where he’d been hiding this talent, but he spun me around and we ended up stumbling and giggling, then swaying on the spot beneath Lady Liberty’s shadow.
It was a beautiful, light and intimate moment, and the more I picked up on his charge, the more it felt like I was betraying Kohl. Then again, not indulging in such a moment would have felt like betraying myself. And what could I do? I was sixteen, my life was open-ended, my feelings were in turmoil and Kohl was so far away… whereas Kohén was my everything! And to demonstrate that, he ran his hands up my arms and then cupped my face.
‘Can I kiss you tonight Larkin?’ he whispered, his breath like honey wine and his eyes neon in his excitement. ‘Just once to tide me over for the next four years?’
‘I cannot refuse, your majesty,’ I reminded him, and he lowered his lashes in shame and moved to release me. But I stopped him, holding onto his elbows and, drunk as I was, moved my body up against his while a blue light began to glow across his skin. ‘But I am also permitted to ask for a kiss from my master so please....’ I brushed my mouth against his. ‘Kiss me?’
He did, moaning softly when our lips parted and tongues brushed together, and my mind whirled as though we were still spinning in circles. Thankfully for my suddenly heavy, aching breasts and shaking knees, it only lasted a moment or two and when he pulled back, his eyes were shining and I was overheating.
‘Can you tell me a lie?’ he whispered. ‘Tell me that you’ve at least once contemplated inviting me to your room, regardless of how it would affect your future?’ He ran one hand down my neck and the other, down over my collarbone. ‘Tell me, just once, that I’ve done to your body and mind what you do to me every time our eyes meet?’
‘I would not be lying if I said that,’ I whispered back, and his eyes flared bright enough to blind me. I giggled, intoxicated on the effect that I had on him. ‘Or if I said that I considered flunking that exam so I’d never know that I had any potential, but to make you happy.’
Kohén groaned and rested his forehead against mine. ‘Thank you, I feel better about contemplating locking you in your room all week now.’
I laughed. ‘And I love you so, because you didn’t.’ I leaned up and kissed him again, just quickly, and then removed his hands from me and kissed his fingers. ‘Don’t go to them tonight, all right? Not after this.’
Kohén turned away and whispered. ‘As if I could…’ and my heart ached all night, robbing me of sleep and leaving sensual fantasies in their wake. I was changing, and so were my needs, and four years sounded like an eternity to hold onto what I had only ever grasped before in a Barachiel man’s arms.
The next day I woke up to an envelope on my bed with ‘PCE’ stamped in the golden seal at the back. I kept it sealed and rang the chime to signal Kohén, but a second later he burst into my room holding up his own unsealed envelope.
‘Ready?!’ he demanded. ‘I just saw Lette- she got a ninety in dance, and she’s ecstatic!’
And so she should be- ninety was high enough to guarantee a place in the Artisan caste and as a Companion, there was little else she would need to call herself a success. Maryah would pop champagne!
‘Wonderful!’ I squealed. ‘But who cares about them? Open your letter already!’
Kohén opened up the parchment, read the letter and then held it up, beaming. ‘Dance, seventy percent, Music...’ he blushed, ‘ninety-nine percent-’
‘Whoa!’
‘Shut up.’ He went on, still red at the ears. ‘Combat, ninety-two, Athleticism, ninety-three, Math, ninety-six, Science, eighty-nine…hmm, have to work on that!’ And I rolled my eyes- that could have gotten him into the Academic cast alone. ‘Written, eighty-seven, General knowledge, one hundred-’
I squealed. ‘You made it into the Blue Collars! You could be a shopkeeper with a score like that!’
‘Again… shut up,’ he joked and then finished: ‘Theology, eighty-nine….’ He frowned and I waved my hand.
‘What’s the average?’
Kohén folded the paper and grinned at me. ‘Ninety-one point one!’
I threw myself into his arms. ‘You’re gonna beat Karol in five years time, baby! No sweat!’
‘I hope so, because Karol got a ninety on his first test- but a ninety-six on his second which is still the men’s record. But I did better than I hoped so… wow. I mean…’ Kohén pulled back and scratched his temple. ‘I’m a little shocked by how poorly I did in some categories that I’m supposed to ace but still…’ he pointed to mine. ‘Okay, Miss future academic slash farmer! You go!’
‘Okay!’ I turned and opened my envelope and began to read the totals, but by the time I got to the number at the bottom of the page, I was so sure that there had been a mix up that I couldn’t stand to let any of the figures sink in.
What the HELL?
‘Cheater!’ Kohén complained. You’re supposed to read them out loud!’
I folded up my piece of paper quickly and whispered. ‘I don’t want to. I think there’s been a mistake so…’
‘Let me be the judge of that! If you flunk dance and ace history, we’ll know it’s true!’
‘No!’ I protested, taking it back. ‘Sorry but…‘
Kohén looked at me sadly. ‘It can’t be that bad, Larkin- you’re a bit brilliant and if these scores don’t reflect that, well… there’s always next time, okay?’ He sat down on the bed. ‘Just read them.’
‘Fine. But… I warned you.’ I swallowed and opened the paper and began to read in a monotone: ‘Dance, sixty-nine, Music, eighty…’ I cleared my throat, a little surprised that I had done even that well in music, and vowed to practice even more on the harp for the next exam. ‘Combat, ninety-four, Athleticism, ninety-six, Math, ninety-seven, Science, ninety-five-’
‘Wait… what?’ Kohén sounded bewildered.
‘I know,’ I said, going on: ‘Written, ninety-nine, General, ninety-five, Theology… one hundred, History… ninety-nine.’ I lowered the piece of paper to stare at him. ‘Average… ninety-two point four.’
Kohén pressed his hands to the side of his head and looked at me as though I’d just told him that God had been a miniature pig. ‘Ninety-two point FOUR?’ he cried, and I
winced, knowing that as much as he loved me, he was going to take this hard. He had been MY history and theology teacher before anyone else, and I had bested him!
‘I… I had nothing to do but read and…’ I swallowed. ‘You travelled and-’
‘Ninety-two point four?’ he demanded again. ‘And you beat me in COMBAT?!’
‘Yes...’ I said in a small voice, and he stared at me, astonished.
‘That’s beaten Ora Camden AND Amelia-Rose Choir!’ He exploded, naming noble girls who were renowned for having aced the PCE the year before. ‘Do you know who the only person in this family was to ever get over a ninety two their first time before?’ he demanded. ‘My mother!’
This was news. ‘Seriously?’
‘The woman was brilliant, still is- she just uses it to think up clever insults and colour match her nails to her gowns but…’ Kohén threw himself at me and hugged me tight. ‘Larkin…! This is incredible!’
‘You’re not mad?’ I asked weakly.
‘No, I’m depressed...’ he chuckled, but sounded uncomfortable. ‘The evil part of me was sort of hoping you’d get a forty and leap into bed with me!’
‘You’ll have me on the second one… asshole,’ I said, squeezing him before pulling back to tweak his nose. ‘There are only so many places where I can improve and music and dance are not my fortes.’
‘And picking the right girl to lose my mind over is not mine.’ Kohén leaned down and picked up both of our envelopes. ‘Do you mind if I take this to show Karol and mother? They really are going lose their minds when they see these results.’
‘Sure,’ I said, for my fingers already itching to write Kohl and Lindy to tell them that my fondest wish had come true and now I knew that so long as Kohén kept his word, I could be anything.
Anyone.
Anyone’s.
But whose?
And then I smiled and sat down on my bed when it hit me: I would be my own person, and nothing mattered more than that.
9.
June, AA644
The first half of my seventeenth year flew by in a blur of classes, letters, books and glad tidings. The locust panacea was working and fields were being hurriedly sown and cultivated in time for the fall harvests, the train line to Yael was completed, Rabia held another election and voted back in their existing president Connor Camden for a second term, there wasn’t a locust or golden man to be seen, and Karol kept his promise to Kohén after he returned from his tour, and gave me a wide, albeit often cheeky berth. Sometimes, he’d even slide face first along whatever corridor we’d meet in, (usually if Kohén was at my side) to make it clear that he was not eyeing me, but if I was with others, he’d keep his face set like stone, then nod and say: ‘Duckling. Looking as unappealing, as always… carry on.’ And yes, that made me laugh. He was still a vile human by my standards, and sometimes, thinking about the promise I’d made him prevented me from sleeping, but I’d gotten old enough to see the appeal that he held for other women by more common (visual) standards, and I felt sorry for any woman who was stupid enough to fall prey to his multiple charms- the way he looked in leather pants and a sash not withstanding- because I enjoyed watching him swagger away for more than one reason. Thank goodness he never caught me sneaking a backwards peek!
It was no surprise that he’d become easily distracted and less observant though, because he was turning thirty that fall, and that made him old enough to consider taking a wife, or to at least start courting eligible girls. Because of this, our common went from being a place to picnic and sing and relax- to a fashion parade, as the eligible Arcadian noble girls took to dressing themselves up and lingering near to the castle daily in the hopes of catching his eye.
Traditionally, the crowned prince was expected to choose a noble girl from another kingdom to marry or join with, which was why Ekita Tariel had had her heart set on landing him (Constance had also hailed from Tariel). But Karol had always taken a firm stance on the issue of marriage, and had repeated often (and loudly) that he was entitled to marry whoever he wanted to so long as she met the legal criteria, and that although he would allow his parents to comment on the subject, he would not rule out marrying someone if they didn’t approve whole-heartedly. In the same vein, he would very happily consider marrying or joining with a local girl based on compatibility, even if such a match offered few trade benefits.
He did say though, that he knew every girl in the Arcadian noble caste, and so far, he was fairly certain that he lacked the chemistry that he wished to have with a spouse with all of them. But even though those of us in the know were well aware that these noble girls were most likely wasting their time, Kohén refused to state this publicly, or to take any steps to dissuade his would-be female suitors and their attentions. And, being the bugger that he was, the prince would often go to the window at the end of the south wing, which overlooked the common, and make a big deal of staring down at the girls as though considering them one by one, which made everyone in the palace snigger, and the girls on the common strike poses and batt eyelashes and return the next day with bigger hats and bustles.
‘You’re so cruel,’ I said one day while he and I were playing Kelia and Kohén in a game of Basket-Racket doubles. It was a freshly-invented game and an addictive one, and since the king had installed his own court, I’d practically had to be dragged from it every day.
I wasn’t happy to be there that day though, because Karol had challenged me to a game, and where he went, his avid audience went, which meant that they were now ‘our’ avid audience and they were throwing me off.
‘Why don’t you just go out there and converse with them, or shut the blinds and stay inside so that they find another way to pass their time?’
‘If I go out there, they will start stomping on one another and if I shut the blinds and lock myself away, not only will I lose my tan, but they will just go to the other side of the common,’ he ambled past me and returned a serve from Kelia. ‘And none of us want to live in darkness because I have to shutter the whole damn house.’
‘You could lock yourself away and none of us would mind, and you can’t exactly lose your tan,’ I pointed out, lobbing a ball back to Kohén. ‘Your South American slash Native American genetics make that sort of impossible.’
‘I like to be darker, and if I’m to impress President Camden’s daughter Ora in a few months, I need to be darker- they tan well down under!’ he joked, pounding the ball back at Kelia who returned it so well that it flew past me and just made it into the line before going dead against the fence. ‘Besides, anyone stupid enough to assume that I’m going to pick a bride through an open window deserves to be made an example of. I may be a prince but this isn’t the sixteenth century- I will marry someone who makes the most sense as my wife, not someone who is devoid of all sense but has many ribbons.’ Kohén tried to ace us with a serve right to the hoop between and behind us, but Karol intercepted it and sent it thumping past Kelia, winning us a fast point. ‘Anyway, they’re attracting single men to the common like bees to honey. They may go home without me, but they ain’t all going home alone!’
‘Did you say wife?’ I asked, incredulous. ‘As in: you would give us a queen at last?’
Yes! Yes yes! Get married NOW! If you marry before I’m released, you can’t touch me! Oh, God- PLEASE!
Karol winked at me. ‘If a girl can steal my heart the way you have Kohén’s, or has a chance of scoring as high in every exam as you have, then yes!’ he declared, and then turned to return another serve from Kohén, lobbing it directly down the centre line, and then into the basket between him and Kelia- winning the game for us. ‘But if I do… it probably won’t be for years yet, you know?’ He wiped sweat off his brow then turned to me to pat my shoulder. ‘Probably like, five years…? I need sow all of my oats first!’
The women watching cheered crazily, and I rolled my eyes, slumping a little in my dejection to understand that I was the oat he had the needle stalled for. I wanted to cuss him out b
ut even if I’d had a snappy comeback, not only would it be unwise to hurt his feelings while Lindy’s life was still in his hands, but his fans were cheering so loudly that he wouldn’t have been able to hear me anyway!
It was sheer pageantry, and if I hadn’t been cured of the desire to have a family or raise a son before then, I certainly was after! Who wanted to be a bee or a honeypot when you could be the keeper of something worthwhile? And regardless of Karol’s sudden and unexpected good intentions, they were still just intentions- if I knew him at all (and I thought that I did by then) he’d end up marrying the hottest piece of ass in Calliel regardless of where she came from or what she could bring to the forty-seat dining table in Eden’s grand dining hall. We’d be stuck with a queen who ruled that every Thursday would be sparkling sandal day, when what we needed was a queen like Martya! Someone strong, proud, razor-sharp and observant. Someone who didn’t care how she looked, only about what she did. Amelia-Rose Choir had potential according to everyone- everyone outside of the two eldest brothers that was, who’d met and had already taken a dislike to the intellectual noble girl. But she couldn’t be the only one amongst them who had both looks and a mind, could she? The only one who could win the nation’s heart?
A girl in my position shouldn’t dream, but I did- I was rebellious that way, so I dreamed of princesses…. the kind who I might be lucky enough to love as a sister one day.
*
Kohén continued to make my life in the harem easier on me by keeping his dalliances with the other girls low-key, and his feelings for me either concealed or maybe even by getting over me entirely. I couldn’t be certain which it was, because I didn’t dare broach the buried subject now that I’d finally gotten some good-sized sods of normalcy on top of it, but something had changed between us since I’d gotten my results and after that day, Kohén finally found a way to keep his promise to spend time with me- without reaching for me or letting flowery, sentimental words cross his lips. It annoyed me to realise that he clearly hadn’t thought I’d do well enough to actually qualify for the Academic caste before, but he was taking my ambition much more seriously now, so that was all that mattered. And for my seventeenth birthday he gifted me with two things: his brilliant, cheeky smile- and a ruffled green bonnet folded up in delicate tissue paper.