Red Circus

by Michelle Al Bitar

  Only their bodies would express their pleasure. Only the movement of their muscles as they yearned for the heat of their undeniable attraction to rise would replace their vocal pleas.

  Eyes still shut, Riley swallowed and nodded. What would be taken for silence by any intruder was a melody of fast heartbeats and heavy breaths to them both. She did not know if she could take one more second of the torment he was putting her in. He was enjoying it, getting high on the feeling of craving her before having her. As much as she was used to taking full control when it came to seduction and intimacy, it felt amazing to feel him going all the way in an effort to make her feel good.

  The finger he was shutting her up with was slowly sliding down her body, down her collarbones to the small gap between her breasts. Just then, Jonathan’s other hand unzipped her dress from behind and it fell down just in time for his finger to reach down her bellybutton.

  “There are ten deaths so far from the original inhabitants of North Caligo and two of the royal guards. Efforts are being made to extinguish the fire of the people and re-establishing the peace the kingdom desires.”

  She was biting on her lips to stay in control before screaming for him to take her. When she felt his hand roam down her stomach and tracing her V-line, she unbuttoned his shirt impatiently. Not knowing how she was still standing on her feet when his hand was no longer down her stomach but further down, Riley gasped and tore off his shirt.

  With half-closed eyes, Riley still managed to take in his enticing charm, the scars the war had left on his skin, and how they were part of his supernatural beauty. Just as her underclothes were no barrier for him to make her want more, she pulled down his unbuttoned trousers, and an involuntary moan escaped her lips.

  “A loss of control over the citizens is obvious from the footage we can see here.”

  Jonathan detached his hand from Riley and pushed her against the wall. Her legs immediately wrapped around his firm torso and pressed him harder against her. It took them one last look before Jonathan’s lips finally clashed against hers in the most passionate and inflamed kiss she and he had ever experienced. He was breathing her in, letting his lips move with hers and afraid to remove them and go back to reality. His hands grasped her buttocks as he moved against her.

  They could not tolerate any more clothing. He lifted her up even higher and threw her down on the bed. Jonathan stripped down until he was fully exposed and bare to her hungry eyes. Riley’s eyes widened at the sight and quickly removed the barrier for his vision to see her vulnerable and threw it on the rug.

  Jonathan climbed on top of her and his lips met hers again. He grabbed her hands and fixed them high above her. Her skin soon prickled when he let his lips roam every inch of her body.

  Drifting her legs apart, he was unable to hold it off anymore. Riley could not refrain her pleas and moans. Whenever she spoke, Jonathan would let his fingers drown in the back of her hair and slightly pull. Her nails were grazed deep inside his skin leaving marks of her sweet struggle against him.

  “The violence is rising with the number of deaths. The citizens are getting stronger and viciously attacking the guards. The footage is getting blurry, but the fight can still be observed. There are twenty losses from North Caligo and twenty from the royal guards, who seem to be in need of back up. The people are chanting an odd song that had only been heard once before when it had rebelled against the kingdom and the rebellion is rising again.”

  The stars shone against the small droplets that eased down their pinkish skin under the orders of the night’s guardian. Their soft breathing, cut off by groans of satisfaction, violated the nocturnal silence. Whenever he was about to let his desires drive him even madder, she wrapped her legs around him and pulled him underneath her. At moments, Jonathan enjoyed her domination. He even let her aggressiveness mark him more than once, especially when she left bite marks over his chest and shoulders. But he would not let her remain in control for long.

  “One hundred royal guards joined the original ones and attacked the people. The citizens of North Caligo are retrieving. They are screaming the word bomb—”

  On the brisk of exploding with ecstasy, Jonathan roughly trapped her under his arms, his fingers leaving red blemishes on her wrists as he pushed against her one last time. She wanted it to last longer; she didn’t want it to end. Instead, she let the high cloud her thoughts until there was nothing but them in a tight embrace of a fiery love. His grunts and her moans filled the room.

  “A bomb has landed…” North Caligo was gone.

  Chapter 26

  Eyes wide open, Riley stared at the ceiling. Her legs kept shaking an hour after the king fell asleep at her side. Her body was covered with the satin sheets. The room was cool, but her skin was boiling hot. Her stomach was still churning. Her heart was still beating like a hammer against stone walls. It would not break her chest, but it attempted to.

  The king was still sleeping next to her. Their clothes carpeted the floor. Red blemishes disturbed the smooth pattern of his creamy skin. He was so serene that she couldn’t stop looking at him for the past hour, until she was annoyed with herself.

  Finally, Riley sighed. The moment he looked into her eyes, before he even touched her, her powers turned to ash. She left the plan behind the doors of the chamber and let her body do the work, not her mind. If only she could replay that movie over and over again, she would do it for eternity.

  The rays of sunlight were peering through the curtained window. The night had passed and she did not have a moment of sleep. The king slightly shifted, his hand sneaking to encircle her bare waist. Riley immediately closed her eyes and drowned in her pillow. Sliding her hands under it, she felt something crumble against her palm. Taking what seemed like a small piece of paper, she looked at it, careful not to wake Jonathan.

  She intently looked at the old sepia photo of a woman, a man, and a small boy. The woman was sleeping on the bed with the babe in her arms. She was smiling and looked beautiful. At the back of the almost torn photograph, she read: Nathan, 2217.

  Riley frowned. It couldn’t be. She moved her eyes from the photo to Jonathan to the man standing next to the woman in the photograph. That was the late king when he was younger with darker hair. The woman did not look like Dyane. Riley smoothly slid the photograph back under the pillow.

  Jonathan opened his eyes, the blue in them still sparkling from last night. He watched her face changing into a certain glow brought in by the ghosts of their union. He hated that he had to get up and head to work.

  When she fluttered her eyes open. He sweetly smiled at her.

  “Did you sleep well, princess?” His voice was croaky and that was enough to drive Riley crazy all over again.

  “Mhmm.” She nodded and smiled back at him. His eyes were too blue... “And you, my king?”

  “I slept but you were still in my dreams.” He took a hair out of her eye. “Our night kept repeating in my head again,” he approached and kissed the top of her nose, “and again,” he kissed her lips gently, “and again.”

  Uncontrollably, Riley entangled her fingers in the fine hair down the back of his head and pull him on top of her.

  Jonathan flipped over until he was resting his weight on his elbows and thawing his lips against Riley’s. She wanted to let out the sounds she was so desperately killing under her breaths as she felt him against her, smooth and bare.

  When Jonathan started losing control, he retracted and caught his breaths.

  “Do you want to bathe with me?”

  Without thinking, Riley nodded.

  The steam clouded the bathing room. Riley was looking around bewildered. Last time she was here, it was not like that at all. The king took his time in those two weeks to develop the palace to his own taste. The tub was made of glass with a colourful mist swimming out of it in every direction. It was crawling on the glossy velvet floor. Riley thought it was heading towards her to cover her nakedness, to cover the crime she had so pleasurably committed an
d would do so over and over again.

  The lighting shone down from the high ceiling to several mirrors surrounding the room, with a dark blue light. She inhaled the smell of vanilla and citron candles with awe until her chest felt two times wider.

  “Is it illegal to watch you walk like that all day?” Jonathan was standing at the door, crossing his arms.

  “I would not mind spending the rest of the day in this room, my king.” She smirked and turned to admire the unimaginable technology running the bathroom. It was so advanced that all it required from humans was to stand inside the tub, and the rest would be done by the installed system.

  “You know what it does to me when you call me my king.” His look turned from a gentle lover to a hungry predator.

  As he approached, Riley took a step back, still smiling. Silently she climbed inside the tub, making half her body disappear in the pink and purple steam. Jonathan followed her inside and let his hands roam her skin.

  “Should somebody else get to admire your beauty, they must do it from afar or I’ll have their head on the doorstep of this castle,” he whispered against her neck.

  “Isn’t that in some way cruel? Against the beliefs of this kingdom?” She slid down driving him crazy then lied back in the tub while playing with her damp hair.

  “It is only fair.” He knelt before her then crawled on top of her, making a room for his hips between her legs.

  Riley closed her eyes and gasped. She had to gather her thoughts and pour them in his mind. She had to probe it and find out what it was he was planning for the future of the country, for the future of the East. But every time she went through that maze of her and his own mind, she was blocked by ice walls of forgetfulness until there was nothing to be seen but his heavenly body and ecstatic face. Nothing to be heard except his groans, desperate to dominate her. Nothing to taste but the sweet caress of his lips. Nothing to be felt but the possessive thrusts that sent her muscles and her heart into a euphoric frenzy.

  Mathew Covington had gone through mornings before where he would witness his men getting slaughtered by the Serpents. He would spend it vomiting and taking special pills that controlled his emotions just to be able to fight again. Naomi would inject him with the serum and let him lay in bed for hours, humming sweet lullabies that sent him to a soundless sleep.

  He had spent mornings on the streets when he first moved to the East. The West refused to help him get his papers done for choosing the inferior side of the earth over theirs. He had begged for employment to clean factories, but machines were chosen instead of him. He had to spend the frostiness of the morning air with beggars on the streets who were betrayed by their employers and fell victims of mechanization. He had spent mornings between his friends, his family, in the circus after one hell of a show. But he had never spent such a peaceful night away from the ruckus of the world. Sleeping in his large bed, he had taken the pill that Océane had given him and was immediately surrounded by rainbows that soon turned into complete blackness.

  That morning, he sat in the guests’ kitchen and ate with a great appetite the variety of healthy food on the table. It was a day off in celebration of King Jonathan Freedian.

  Princess Océane entered from the north kitchen door looking happy.

  “Good morning, Mr. Covington,” she cheerfully greeted him and took a seat next to him.

  It was still early in the morning, yet she slid inside one of her most beautiful dresses and painted her face with the most expensive make up. Even so, she still looked young.

  “Good morning.”

  “How are you feeling today?”

  “Great, actually. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this good in my life.”

  She took a raspberry from his plate and popped it inside her mouth.

  “I know.” She then lowered her voice. “This pill was designed for people with PTSD. And I really believe you have it. So, you can take one pill every week. It’ll last you this long.”

  “You know I’ve visited doctors and shrinks. They even tried hypnotising me, but nothing worked. The pills they gave me only lasted a few hours, then I’d go into fits again. Yesterday was the first night I slept without nightmares.”

  “It’s because not everyone could get it. It is only provided for people with straight relations to royals. I used to take it back when I witnessed my mother die before my eyes.”

  Mathew frowned.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “No, it’s alright. I’m over it now,” she said but her eyes spoke otherwise.

  “Hey, try the raspberries with this cream cheese and some jam.” He gave her his toasted bread and she bit it out of his hand.

  After she swallowed, she snatched the rest of the toast and finished it in one bite.

  “That was really good. So, you never told me about this Naomi girl.” She sipped on her morning coffee and looked at him sideways.

  Mathew chuckled. “Do I have to?”

  “Yes! It would help us get to know each other better.” Her accent was somewhere between Eastern and Western. “Unless you don’t want to, of course,” she added with a bit of hesitation. “No, no...” he said softly and finally looked up at her. “Naomi is... was the woman I love... loved. She was a nurse in the war camp where I was fighting. I was just a junior soldier and fought near the camp. We were planning on getting married the night before a bomb blew up the base we were in. She was inside, and I was outside chasing some goddamn Serpent that tried to sneak in. When I went inside the tent again... she was gone.”

  “It’s alright.” Océane touched his arm and stroked it gently. “I’m sorry for your loss, I…I mean it’s horrible to have to go through this—”

  “You don’t have to say anything.” Mathew smiled. “You asked me what happened and I’m just laying out the events. It’s happened in the past and now look where I am. I’m more than happy, especially for having a girl like you to begin my morning with.”

  Océane giggled and looked at her coffee, her cheeks heating up.

  “Wow, I did not know this kitchen was a lovers’ nest,” someone said from the door.

  A man in his early twenties walked inside. He had tousled hair and a clenched jaw.

  “And you are?” Mathew asked the unknown man.

  “Just a house guest.” The man entered the code on the refrigerator, clicked it open, and grabbed a bottle of water.

  “Hello, Keith,” Océane greeted him. Mathew looked at her then the man, apparently named Keith. “Keith, this is Mathew. Mathew, this is Keith.”

  “And you are…” Keith frowned a bit. “One of the performers for that TV show on the telly. Am I right?”

  “Indeed.” Mathew wanted to say more but was refraining for fear Keith might be one of the royals. Otherwise, why would he be that comfortable inside the castle? He remembered his face, but he could not tell exactly where and when.

  “Keith Slater.” He extended his hand to shake Mathew’s, and the latter did not hesitate to respond.

  “Great to meet you.”

  The two did not look very fond of each other and any slander would have them both tried before the King, for creating a quarrel under his roof.

  “Why do you always wear make-up, princess?” Keith turned to Princess Océane with dreamy brown eyes. “You're beautiful the way you are.”

  “Shut up.” She laughed. “I look hideous in the morning, like a yellow beast.”

  “A beautiful daisy.”

  “I don't think so.”

  “I've seen you in the mornings. I should say otherwise.”

  “Keith,” she warned him, blushing.

  “Or have you been all coloured because of something else?”

  “Alright, I think I need to leave and let you love birds have your talk.” Mathew stood up. He was not going to stay another minute for that ridiculous exchange of flirtations.

  “Oh, no. It was a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Convington.” The sarcasm in Keith’s tone was evident.

  “I never told
you my last name,” Mathew snapped back.

  “I know everyone in the castle. Do not fret, I don't read minds.”

  “Anyway,” he frowned at the royal, “I really should go. Whenever you need me, you know where my chamber is,” he told Océane as he smiled politely at her and headed for the door. “Or you could just beep me on my beeper. The number is 700.”

  “I’ll beep you too if needed,” Keith informed him, grabbed an apple, threw it in the air, and caught it to have a large bite.

  Océane looked at Keith and frowned deeply.

  “You are unbelievable.”

  “Why? I didn’t say anything.”

  “You were an arse.”

  “That was being polite and friendly. If I were being an arse, he would’ve punched me.”

  “You were about to be. But not by Matt, by me.”

  “Oh, she calls him Matt now, because Mathew is such a long name.”

  “Will you shut up for once?”

  “Make me,” he dared her.

  Océane did not look up at him but blushed deeply as she shifted the coffee in her cup from side to side.

  “Good morning, everyone.” Lord Walter entered the kitchen with Riley by his side.

  “Good morning, Lord.” Keith Slater greeted the Lord back and gave him a friendly tap on the back.

  Riley didn’t know what to be astonished over first, the fact that Keith Slater, the Phoenix, was standing with her inside the kingdom, or the fact that he greeted Lord Walter so warmly… the Lord who was one of the most trusted men by the king.

  “How was your trip to the West?” Lord Walter asked.

  “I just came back yesterday and it was not so good,” Keith lied. “I couldn't cut the deal with Urbanist Corporation. I would have to leave again in a month.”

  “Oh, that's quite a shame. Trips to the West are costly and tiring.”

  “Well, if it weren't for King Jonathan, I don't think I'd be able to afford it.” There was no hint of sarcasm in Keith’s voice.

  “Of course. It all goes back to him,” Lord Walter agreed.