by A D Seeley
With a little grin, he added, “Of course, that translation is horrendous seeing as how no Mokolio linguist helped with it. The most pure form would be something like this: ‘Forbidding to marry, and likewise commanding to abstain from meats, which God Himself hath created to be received with thanksgiving for those who believeth and knoweth the truth, will be cursed. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving. For both marriage and meat are sanctified by prayer and the word of God, cleansing that which might be unclean.’”
Father Carroll pulled back, his chin disappearing into the folds of skin that made up his neck. It was obvious that he was affronted, just as he should be seeing as Inac had basically just said that celibacy and vegetarianism were wrong and ungodly according to that passage. Still, he could go a little further by explaining his take on that very odd, very confusing scripture.
“Yes, couldn’t that be determined to mean that, with prayer and the word of God, then marriage is…well, you get the idea,” he said, not wanting to spell it out too loudly lest Hara and her confused orbs should get what Inac was doing.
Father Carroll obviously understood though because he said, “The good book also says, ‘And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.’”
Inac felt a large smile spreading across his face as his gaze oscillated between Father Carroll and Sister Kelly. “But do you still inherit that if you have a wife in everything but name? I’m just wondering what you consider marriage to be. Is it the act of having a wedding and getting the paperwork filled out, or is it the intentions of the heart?”
Father Carroll was so angry his face was beginning to splotch. But it made Inac feel better. So far they had treated him like Satan himself, so they deserved to have the tables turned around on them and to be responsible for their own iniquities. They pretended like they were perfect, yet they were human, which meant that they were far from perfection.
Suddenly, the Father smiled, and Inac couldn’t help but wonder what kind of fun game the two of them were about to play.
“You seem well-versed in scripture, Mr. Adamson,” Father Carroll said.
“I am, thank you,” he replied, unsure where this was going.
“When I was a boy, I remember reading the Bible for the very first time. Parts of it had especially called to me. I enjoyed most every story, but there was one that was a favorite of mine.”
Inac wanted to yell at him to get to the point, but he kept his mouth shut, only “patiently” gesturing for the old man to go on.
“My parents would read Genesis to me every night,” he said. “It made me very curious about your parents. What were they like?”
Inac arched a brow in surprise at having been put in his place. At the same time, the whole table seemed to freeze, each pair of eyes that had been carefully avoiding staring at their showdown were no longer being discreet about it. The room was large, filled with long wooden tables like the ones he’d had in his castles and fortresses during the Dark Ages. With the priest’s question, the only noise in the massive room now came from children’s tables. Inac had known that one of the priests or nuns would eventually bring up “Adam” and “Eve.” And could he really blame them when so many of their beliefs began with his parents’ creation?
Inac didn’t want to answer the question, but Hara was looking at him in a way that changed his mind. She was genuinely intrigued. And she didn’t know the truth of their identity, so as long as he didn’t make it too obvious, she would stay in the dark.
“It depends upon whose perspective you’re looking through. I’m sure all of my siblings—especially my favored little brother—saw things quite differently than I did.”
“How did you see them?” the Father asked as he clasped his hands and placed them between himself and his soup bowl.
“I saw them as parents who had no idea what they were doing. They made all of their mistakes on me before learning what didn’t work. That’s why my brother was so different than I was. He had everything handed to him from day one.” After all these years, thoughts of his brother still irked him. His other brothers and sisters hadn’t been quite as bad, but they still had been babied in a way that he never had.
He felt his pulse quickening and his body became tense and warm. Life had been against him from the day he was born. He’d never had it like all these people here had. They thought they’d had it hard because their parents had died or left them. But his parents had kept him and hated him. His parents had forced their presence on him for fifty or sixty years according to today’s calendar. And it’s not like he could have left because they didn’t know how to take care of themselves and their families without him. He was the only thing that kept them alive….
“You must have been a rebellious child?” Father Carroll asked, bringing him back to the moment, as well as making him flash a proud grin.
“Of course I was. I knew my parents knew no more than I, so I never listened to them. They constantly asked God why I was such a naughty child,” he said with a chuckle; a chuckle that lasted only a short moment. “But I also did most of the work. I grew all of the food and hunted all of our meat. And what thanks did I get?” he asked, hitting the table so hard that the sound of it reverberated until even the children were silent. He was starting to get angry. And they were starting to get scared.
He felt a soft hand wrap around the fist he’d slammed into the table.
“It’s okay, Inac.” Hara’s soothing tone was like a salve on his anger. He looked up at her and got a momentary flash of a small smile before she turned to the collective group and said, “So tell me, I noticed that Isabelle isn’t here? When did she get adopted?” The conversation then turned to various children from the orphanage and twittering once again echoed from the children’s tables. Again, he was grateful for this woman who was always by his side.
After dinner they gathered in the common room, an enormous room where the kids could do art, play with toys and games, or just talk. Tonight they were rambunctious as they went through the boxes of games and toys Hara had brought. She had purchased one toy for each child, a large dollhouse for the girls, a miniature racetrack set for the boys, and art supplies for them all.
Once the children had finished with the boxes and were excitedly running around, the nuns began rummaging through boxes of brand new clothes in all different styles and sizes Hara had brought as well. She must have spent a couple thousand dollars on everything. No wonder she liked working at the club; she obviously made good money there.
Inac might just be sitting here in a chair, silently watching the chaos, but he loved children, and their enthusiasm was calming.
“Come play,” Hara said to him, standing above him holding up some game in a shiny white box with red lettering so he could see it.
“What you got there?” he asked with a lazy grin.
Her face contorted as though she was shocked that he didn’t recognize it. “Twister. Haven’t you ever played it before?”
He shook his head. “This may surprise you, but I’ve never played a game in my life; not this kind anyway. I’ve played poker and whatnot, but that’s about it.” He wasn’t exactly the type to call people up to play Pictionary. Sure, he’d played games with his own children, but Hank had been the last one he knew about and this game hadn’t been around back then as far as he knew.
“Are you serious? That’s so sad,” she said, pouting her pillowy lips.
“I guess so. I wouldn’t really know, though, would I? Besides, I have plenty of fun. I just do active things for fun most of the time.”
“Like doing flips off yacht rails into the ocean?” she teased.
He stood up and put his arms around her waist, ignoring the game box jabbing into his leg. “Things exactly like that. That, or physical games,” he said with a wink he knew
she understood because she flushed. “I’ve just never really played a board game.”
“Well, Twister isn’t a board game, so you’ll love it,” she said before giving him a chaste peck on the lips and turning toward a group of children waiting to play with them.
After learning the extremely simple rules, they began their game. It wasn’t long before Inac and Hara and their long limbs were the only two remaining. Somehow, they had gotten into interesting positions, though. Inac was face up, his legs on each of the farthest out circles. His arms were under him, his shoulders shrieking in a pain that he cast aside as unimportant. Hara was above him. One of her legs was between his two and the other, next to one of his hips. One of her hands was by his head, the other by his other hip. It made it so that her cheek was squashed against his abdomen. Any lower and he was sure the priests and nuns would put a stop to the fun….
“You should give up now, love. The only thing holding you up is me,” he said with a large grin—he was having a lot of fun. He’d hoped to get a glimpse of her underwear below her dress, but had instead found that she had slipped on a pair of women’s boxers before they’d begun.
“Then you’ll fall first. Besides, it’s not fair. You’re too tall.”
“So?”
“So you have an unfair advantage.”
“That may be so, but you still need to move your foot.” She would never be able to get her left foot, which was the one by his right hip, up and over him to the other side of his body without falling.
“I know,” she said. “I’m trying to figure this out.”
“Your best bet is by my head.”
“Are you sure? I can’t even see it,” she said and he felt her head attempting to move to see around him.
“I can. Trust me.”
“Okay….” She started her move. Soon she was crashing to the ground, taking him with her.
“I won!” she called through her giggles.
“What? And how do you figure that?” he asked.
“You hit the floor first,” she announced.
His jaw dropped. According to her, that was the rule. Not willing to give in, though, he got himself on top of her, straddling her waist, and started tickling her.
“Oh. Is that how it is? You’re an evil, evil woman.”
“Stop! Mercy! Mercy!” she screamed through her contagious laughter.
“I’ve been accused of having many attributes; merciful is not amongst them.”
She turned to the children giggling on the sidelines and yelled, “Save me!”
Soon, Inac had little arms all over him, trying to pry him off Hara. That’s when he turned his wrath on them, tickling each child he got his hands on. His fingers found a little armpit here, and a fat little belly there, all the while a huge smile on his face. Somehow, in all the craziness that ensued as he chased the kids around the room, Hara at his heels to save the little ones, he ended up with his fiancée under him again, both breathless from all the running around they’d done.
“It appears that you’re once again my prisoner,” he said as she squirmed under his rakish fingers.
“That it does.”
“So what am I going to do with you?”
She raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know. What would you like to do?”
He leaned down, whispering in her ear, “Something these children certainly shouldn’t witness.” When he moved away a little, he noticed her face flushing red yet again.
When she glanced over at Father Carroll, Inac couldn’t help but follow her gaze to find the priest looking back at them, his eyes radiating both disapproval and disgust.
Inac wasn’t sure if Hara noticed the way the Father’s eyes shone with such hate, but she turned back to him and said, “Come on. We should probably get these kids to settle down some.”
Inac easily stood, grabbed her hands, and pulled her to a standing position as well. Once the kids were settled down and in bed, Inac sat on the couch nearest to the blazing fire, Hara cuddling up next to him.
“So when do you two plan on getting married?” Father Carroll asked, coming to sit in an armchair across from them.
“We haven’t set a date yet,” Hara answered.
“I see.”
Hara sat up in his arms, warning Inac that what she was about to say she felt was serious. “We did want to talk to you about that, though….”
“What about it?”
Hara’s hands were in her lap and she was looking down. Inac didn’t know what was up other than that she seemed to be readying herself to be rejected.
“We want to get married in the chapel here,” she said quietly.
“Oh. Well…we, um…can talk about that once you set a date. Right now, let’s talk about what marriage means.”
Inac tuned him out. He knew a lot more about marriage than a priest who hadn’t ever been married would know. Besides, they weren’t really going to get married. Hara, on the other hand, was listening raptly, letting the old man brainwash her yet again.
It was several minutes later when Inac realized that it was quiet and both Hara and Father Carroll were looking at him expectantly.
“I’m sorry. What?” he asked them.
“I can’t believe you haven’t been listening. He’s given us really good advice,” Hara chastised.
“Hara, I’ve been married a million times. I know more about marriage than he does.”
“Obviously you need the advice seeing as how none of your marriages have worked out,” the old man said without skipping a beat.
“So obviously I know what not to do.” He knew his attitude was upsetting Hara, but he didn’t really care right now.
“Inac…” she warned.
“What? Do you really expect me to take advice from a man who despises me? He doesn’t want our marriage to work. He wants you to go into the nunnery so that you can live and die here without ever knowing a man. Could you really live that life now?” he asked, taking her hands as he looked intently into her eyes.
When she took a shallow breath in through her mouth, he moved in. He bent to kiss her at the same time as he moved one of his hands to cup her cheek. This would butter her up….
When he pulled away, he asked in a whisper barely loud enough for the priest to hear, “Do you still want that life?”
“No,” she whispered.
“What do you want?” His mouth was so close to hers that their lips touched on a couple of the consonants, as well as they were sharing their breaths.
She was breathing quickly, her eyes switching between his eyes and mouth. Apparently, she wanted another kiss.
“I want to be with you,” she answered.
From the corner of his eye, Inac glanced at the priest, unable to keep his gloating out of his sideways leer. The priest was witnessing full force the effect Inac had on Hara.
“Forever?” he asked Hara, looking back at her and brushing the backs of his fingers along her cheek.
“Forever,” she managed before Inac kissed her again. He kissed her the way that always made her lose control, rubbing his tongue stud along her bottom lip. Just when she was on the brink of losing it, Inac pulled away.
“I think I’ll go to bed. Let you two have a nice chat without me,” he said as he untangled himself and stood up. He looked at Hara and said with a wink, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She nodded, telling him with her eyes that she’d sneak into his room later.
He didn’t have to wait long. He was only on the fiftieth page of the ancient Vedic text he was reading when his door cracked open and Hara slipped inside wearing a navy ribbed tank top and blue striped girl’s boxers that didn’t even go to her mid-thigh. He loved when he could see her long, perfectly formed legs like this.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey yourself,” he replied with a lazy smile as he set his book aside.
She tip-toed to him before getting on the bed with him. Because it was a twin, she was practically lying on top of him.
> “So you got away,” he said once he was cradling her.
She chuckled. “Yeah. And after only two more lectures.”
“Oh yeah? What about?”
“You and you.”
She leaned up to kiss him. It was a kiss that would have knocked his socks off had he been wearing any. Before he knew it, things were moving beyond anywhere they’d gone before. He was just following where Hara was leading them. When they were both naked and he realized that they weren’t going to stop, he pulled away.
“Are you sure?” he asked, his ragged breaths making it difficult to ask.
She nodded. Looking into her eyes, he knew that she really was. His heart pounding even harder now, he moved his mouth back to hers.
Chapter Thirty-One
***
When Inac awoke the next morning, it was to find himself completely entangled with Hara. It was comfortable, though, something he didn’t understand since he was way too tall for the bed in the first place. He was surprised at how different last night had been. Throughout all his years, he had never felt the way he had last night while making love to Hara. He wasn’t sure what made the difference, but he wouldn’t mind finding out. Maybe he didn’t have to kill her. Maybe just being with him would keep her from fulfilling the prophecy. Maybe they could start a family and be happy together. At least, until he was forced to leave because of the curse….
When Hara started wiggling, he began lightly tickling her bare back and arms.
“Mmm…. Did last night really happen?” she asked with a small smile.
He kissed the top of her head. “Yes, it did. Are you asking because you wish it hadn’t?”
“Hell no! It was perfect,” she said, moving so they could look in each other’s eyes.
He smiled as much at her as he did over her actually cussing for real…kind of. “Yeah. It was.”