by A. B. Keuser
Squirming out of her grasp, Gretel shot a sly smile her way and searched around them. Whatever she’d been looking for, she didn’t find it, and she seemed extremely happy about that.
“What are you doing?”
“We don’t have any blankets, I just wanted to make sure we weren’t going to wind up on something gross.”
Before Hazel had a chance to say anything else, Gretel’s arms were back around her, and she pressed kisses down the side of her neck over the buckle of her breast binding and down her shoulder. Six years had been far too long to wait for this.
Pulling back, Gretel looked from her, to her pants, to the ground they sat on. “Do you care?” she asked, tugging at the open lacing of her pants.
In response, Hazel hopped to her feet, toed off her boots, and kicked them aside before pulling off her shirt and laying it beneath her. She’d keep her binding on, but if Gretel wanted to put her sweet lips to use elsewhere, Hazel was not going to stop her.
Tugging down her pants, she sat and Gretel wasted no time. She pulled them the last few inches off and licked her lips, glancing up at Gretel before she lowered herself down on her elbows.
“Does the open air make this better?” Gretel asked as she trailed a finger up Hazel’s slit.
She’d already known she was wet, but when Gretel’s touch slid up her, she shivered and felt her nipples pebble against the leather of her binding.
The look on Gretel’s face told her that shiver had not been as subtle as she hoped.
Gretel slipped a finger inside her and Hazel remembered the first time. There had been a festival, everyone in the village had gone. She’d snuck away and Gretel had followed. Against the rough stones of the church wall, Gretel’s hand had slipped into her pants as her tongue slipped into her mouth, and her fingers…
Hazel whimpered as Gretel pressed in with a second and curled them upward, coaxing the spot that could have made her sing all on its own.
Gretel’s teeth raked across Hazel’s clit and she couldn’t stop herself from bucking at the feeling of it.
Giggling, Gretel came back up on her hands and licked her lips. It was too much.
Hazel reached forward and caught her by the back of the neck, dragging her up her body and crushing her mouth with a kiss.
When Gretel struggled and tried to worm her way back down, Hazel shook her head, “No, you’re not going to get away with that.”
“You did.”
“In another kingdom, my word is law.” She grabbed Gretel by the knee and slowly pulled her forward. “My turn.”
She shoved her head under Gretel’s skirt and gently bit the inside of her thigh. She wasn’t wearing any underwear. Biting back the urge to ask when she’d taken them off, Hazel dipped forward and tasted her.
The groan that escaped her mouth then couldn’t be hidden.
Gretel was wet and though Hazel wanted to stay here and drink her in completely, there was something she’d wanted to do for years, and if things got worse before they got better, she wanted to be sure they’d taken the chance.
Fighting her way back out of Gretel’s skirt, she looked up at Gretel. “Do you know what I want?”
With a nod, Gretel climbed over her, straddling her thigh and bunched her skirt up around her waist.
They’d talked about it before, but with their lives the way they had been, there was never an opportunity, never a chance.
Bracing herself upright with both hands, she leaned back and looked at the space between them.
Hazel watched as Gretel’s wet pussy rubbed against her thigh. She licked her lips, imagining Gretel one day riding her face with as much enthusiasm.
That would happen, but now…
Distracted by the wet sheen she left on Gretel’s leg, she let out a breath. Gretel took hold of her chin and turned her, forcing her to meet her eyes. It was like staring straight back into her own soul.
Gretel’s clit rubbed against her thigh as she kept a firm grip on Hazel’s jaw. Forcing Hazel to look nowhere but in her eyes. Grinding her own clit against the leg that Gretel used to support herself, Hazel fought against the pressure building inside her.
Gretel kissed her, and for a moment, Hazel was certain she was gone. Gretel’s hand snaked away from her chin, sliding down her throat and cupping her breast before sliding down to grip her hip.
Holding tightly, Gretel rocked against her more fiercely than before and Hazel could barely catch her breath.
What little she could, Gretel stole with a kiss that rocked her to her core. She whispered Gretel’s name as she dropped her head to her lover’s chest and grated her teeth as the friction of their bodies pushed her higher. Pure bliss was within her reach.
Forcing herself onto one hand, she wrapped her arm around Hazel, grabbing her ass and crushing her to her chest.
All of her muscles tensed, and she cursed into the leather of Gretel’s corset as Gretel’s cry sang out through the veil around them. Shuddering from the spasmodic ecstasy that still wracked through her, Hazel fell backward, taking Gretel with her.
The next breath that left her lips was one of contentment, and it was echoed by the woman in her arms.
A breeze passed over them and Hazel shivered in spite of herself. Gretel flinched and smacked her on the arm. “What are you doing? You’re going to freeze to death.”
“Not if you keep me warm.” She pulled Gretel back, but didn’t keep hold when she pulled away again.
“Get dressed, then we can cuddle.”
Obeying, Hazel took a moment to clean herself up before wiggling back into her pants.
She pulled her boots back on while Gretel cleaned up and when she stood to shake out her shirt, Gretel waited for her with her hands clasped behind her back.
“What?” Hazel asked with a smile before she kissed her.
“I love you.”
Smirking, Hazel dropped back to a seat and pulled her down too, using her coat as a meager pillow for the both of them. “I know. But don’t worry, I love you too.”
Laughing, Gretel snuggled against her and Hazel watched the stars with the love of her life pressed against her side.
It didn’t matter where they were, this was what Hazel wanted. To hold Gretel in her arms and know that Gretel understood that she loved her.
*
Gretel stared up into the night. Stars filled the sky overhead, almost too bright. Hazel didn’t seem to mind. Her eyes were closed, hand drawing lazy circles on Gretel’s back.
With the trees swaying around them, and the scent of a hundred flowers on the air, Gretel might have called this place paradise. She might have considered staying here forever.
Gretel snuggled into Hazel’s side and looked up at that dark sky with all of its glimmering stars. “We have to go back for her, you know.”
Hazel nodded and let out a sleepy sigh of agreement.
“Carcenia has kept her alive all this time, but who knows what she’ll do to her now that we’ve escaped.”
“Edina made her own choice, but if you need us to go back, we will.”
“Why would she want to stay?”
Hazel shrugged beneath her. “She has her reasons, I’m sure.”
In the darkness, Hazel’s breathing evened out, and Gretel soon followed.
Edina plagued her dreams and forced her awake several times in darkness. She was always trapped, be it just beyond the veil, inside the witch’s house, or in a pit of sinking mud… the girl was always trapped, and Gretel was always too late to save her.
Restless, she sat up, moving her skirt around her and tucked her feet under her knees. The vicar had always counseled reflection and insight when dreams plagued her.
As always, her mind wandered. Each thought fighting for space in her focus.
Her mother would be mad she was never going to receive her payment—especially now that the “goods” and her buyer were gone.
Hazel was too apathetic to Edina’s plight.
What if she threw those p
inecones in the wrong spot? Maybe she should have set the house ablaze right then and there.
She pushed them all away, and put all of her energy into her breathing: in and out through her nose. She forced herself to unclench her jaw and pushed into as straight a posture as she could manage.
Focusing on her breathing—only sparing a moment’s thought for the restricting corset tucked beside her basket—she worked on counting backwards from ten. She got to seven before her errant mind reminded her that basket contained a decent handful of delicious berries.
She counted down, reaching four before a snapping twig made her check on Hazel.
Starting again, she blew out a long, low breath when she reached one and inhaled with a blank mind.
The nothing was dizzying, it left her lightheaded and she relished it as it took hold. She had to remember to keep breathing. Even the soft sounds of the meadow around her were bare ripples in the nothing.
This was her own sort of magic.
Flashes of darkness marred her white oblivion. Deep gray wild hair, antimony eyes and glowing black skin. Blood red lips were the only thing that was not starved for color. Beauty and danger in the misshapen form of a woman.
She slashed out, and Gretel sucked in too deep a breath, shoved out of her meditative trance.
Something was trapped here… or very close by. And she had the faintest feeling that Edina knew what and why.
They needed to retrieve her… but if she didn’t want to come, Gretel didn’t know if she could risk Hazel for the answers.
All she needed was a sign.
As if hearing her, warmth trailed down her arm like a tumbling leaf.
The meadow filled with fairy lights, they floated a half inch above Hazel’s sleeping form and swirled around her as she sat staring at them. This close to the ground they looked like dandelion fluff, shivering in the breeze.
As they settled around her, she scooted back beside Hazel and snuggled close to her side, feeling more at ease than she had before. She played with the tie on Hazel’s shirt front and let sleep slowly drag her under.
The fairy lights were not an answer, but it would let her rest.
TEN
Gretel woke, stretched in Hazel’s arms, and then a screeching roar echoed around them.
She sat bolt upright and glanced around. They were still safe in the veil.
Beside her, Hazel pushed to her feet, gathered her quiver and bow and held out her hand. “Come on.”
“Where are we going?” Gretel asked as she stood and handed her coat back to her.
Hazel led her out of the veil and back down the path they had originally ventured down. “We are going to see what’s going on with that beast.”
The screeching roars sounded more like mewls by the time they followed them back to their source. Hanging from the snare they’d seen on their first day in the forest, the irzahara struggled to free itself.
When Gretel stepped on a twig, its attention shifted and it stilled, eyes twisting from them to the cable holding it and back.
Hazel skirted the clearing, looking at the creature in the trap as though it was a puzzle to be solved. When she reached the other side of the clearing, she hopped up on the branches of the tree that held the snare.
Gretel rushed forward, “What are you doing?”
She got too close.
It lunged, but didn’t get anywhere.
She crawled backward as quickly as her arms and legs would carry her.
Hazel on the other hand, stared up at the irzahara as though it was the most harmless thing in the world. “What are you?” she asked. The creature looked at her and immediately calmed.
Gretel tried to tell her to get away from it, but her vocal cords refused to work. She sat in a heap in the middle of the clearing and stared at the clockwork creature.
The beast didn’t move, though she saw the tiny, telescopic eyes following them—one focused on each of them. The way they moved independently was unnerving.
Hazel didn’t seem to mind. She hopped to her feet and moved toward it, laying her hand on the thing’s neck.
“What are you doing?” Gretel asked.
Hazel smiled back at her and cut the snare. “I’m making friends.”
“It could eat us.”
Hazel watched as the beast righted itself and Gretel swallowed the fear that sliced through her. The beast did not attack.
“If it wanted to do that, it would have done it already.”
Gretel couldn’t argue with that logic. But she wasn’t about to head over and start petting the thing.
“So you’re the dreaded irzahara I’ve heard so much about.” Hazel clucked her tongue and smiled as she came back to its head. “I think we can help each other.”
At that statement, Gretel was certain she’d gone mad. Hazel was bargaining with a beast.
“Hazel….”
“We all want that witch dead, don’t we?”
It cocked its head to the side, as if considering. Steam flowed from its nostrils as it dipped its head.
“I thought so.” She turned back to Gretel, “Grab your stuff.”
“What are we going to do?”
“You are going to get Edina, me and this guy are going to distract and hopefully kill Carcenia before she can do any more harm.”
Gretel wasn’t certain, but she followed Hazel anyway. She’d follow Hazel to hell and back if it came to it.
The beast followed behind at a slow pace, footsteps shaking the ground. How had they slept through that as it came upon them in the night? She hurried up to Hazel’s side and bumped her shoulder.
“I hope we didn’t just make a deal with the devil.”
Shrugging, Hazel said, “Lesser of two evils at this point.”
They stopped at the edge of the witch’s field and looked out on the crooked and crumbling house.
Hazel turned to her. “If you want to back out, this is your last chance.”
“No. This needs to end now. With us.”
Nodding, Hazel put her finger and thumb to her mouth and whistled. The ground shook and the irzahara pushed out through the metal foliage. It scraped across his gears and plating, and the beast stopped, seemingly afraid to take another step.
Hazel looked up at it and shook her head. “The weirstones are broken, you’re good.”
It shook itself in a motion that reminded Gretel of a dog and began to stalk the perimeter of the meadow.
Looking back at her, Hazel shrugged. “He’ll figure it out sooner or later.”
Taking hold of her hand, Gretel closed the distance and kissed her, leaning in closer when Hazel’s hand wrapped around her neck and wove her fingers into her hair.
“Promise you won’t get stuck in there, okay?”
“Only if you promise not to fall.”
Smiling, Hazel looked back to the tower. “I guess it’s a good thing I’ve never been afraid of heights.”
The irzahara roared, and they saw movement in the tower windows. Hazel pulled an arrow, nocked it, drew back and let it fly.
Holding her breath, Gretel watched as it flew straight. The metal tip embedded in the glass, and a screech sounded from the dark windows. Hazel and the irzahara would distract Carcenia, but Gretel didn’t know for how long.
Squeezing Hazel’s hand one last time, she took off for the front door at a sprint.
It opened under her hand as easily as it had every other time she’d returned.
Edina sat at the kitchen table, peeling potatoes, a scowl on her face. Her eyes never left the blade of her knife.
“I told you to leave me.”
“And I’m not going to do that,” Gretel said as she went to the oven.
Taking the poker Carcenia used to stoke her fire, Gretel dragged out a heap of coals and set about building a fire on the floor. When it caught, she turned back to Edina who watched her with wariness that had nothing to do with the flames.
She took a step forward and the girl sprung from the bench,
holding the short blade out in front of her. Her hand shook. Gretel looked away from it in time to see her look down and grimace. “She made me weak this time.”
Gretel didn’t know what that meant, but she knew the blade was sharp enough that one wrong slash or stab had the chance to be disastrous.
“I don’t want to hurt you.” Edina shifted nervously on her feet, and glanced toward the stairs. “I should want to hurt you.”
If she was waiting for the witch to come to her rescue, she would be waiting a long while. Gretel took a step forward. Edina took a step back. That wouldn’t do.
Eyes narrowed, Gretel let out a quick breath and rushed the girl.
Edina squeaked and tried to back away, when she hit the cage bars, she threw her arm out, slashing.
Twisting in a move Hazel had taught her years ago, she dodged the blade and brought her hand down on Edina’s wrist in a chop.
The knife went flying.
She grabbed Edina, hefted her over her shoulder and pushed her way through the heavy doors. Edina kicked her in her stomach, screaming the whole way.
“Stop it,” Gretel said, getting a tighter hold on the little girl’s legs. “I am not going to let you burn to death.”
Before she could reach the front door, the entire house shook. They tumbled backward, and Edina bolted back for the kitchen. She wasn’t fast enough. Gretel grabbed her by the ankle and dropped the little girl to the floor. She hit with a sickening thump, but Gretel wouldn’t feel bad about bumps and bruises, so long as she got Edina out before the fire spread.
As if it had read her mind, fire burst out of the kitchen, licking out of the crevices surrounding the door and spreading over the ceiling as though it had been soaked in oil.
Edina cried out, kicking. She caught Gretel in the shoulder.
“If you don’t quit that, I’m going to have to take drastic measures.”
Edina screamed something in a language she had never heard before, and the walls ignited. The flames burned hot and Gretel saw them crawling toward the door with unnatural speed.
She grabbed a broken chair leg, said a quick apology and used it like a cudgel, knocking the girl out. Scooping her up again, Gretel threw herself bodily through the front door.