The Tangled Tree

by S. K Munt

  ‘You’ve become cynical, Arial,’ Elena looked genuinely crestfallen.

  ‘No, I’m a make-up artist,’ Arial responded matter-of-factly. ‘Every time I see her, I see how much effort she’s put into looking effortless. In fact, I’ll bet she takes twice as long getting dressed as Adeline does, and that the shoes and underwear she’s wearing beneath those prim blouses and floor-length skirts are about as raunchy as Larkin’s ensemble is tonight!’

  ‘Are you suggesting that she’s not a virgin?’ Elena asked, looking astonished. ‘That it’s all a front?’

  ‘No….’ Arial said, while I mentally nodded my head. ‘I’m just saying that for the right crown- I mean, man,’ she giggled, as did Dulcie, ‘those floor length skirts would come off real quick!’

  ‘I don’t believe you!’

  ‘Suit yourself,’ Arial shrugged. ‘I guess we’ll see tonight, hmm? I’ll bet she’s out on the balcony necking with Prince Kohl by ten. Only necking of course- she’s not the give away the milk sort, and he is definitely the naïve buy the whole cow sort.’

  ‘You’re on!’ the other girl cried, while I felt bile rise into my throat at the hideous mental picture. Kohl wasn’t mine anymore and never had been so I had no right to get jealous over what he got up to with Amelia-Rose that night… but I was still jealous anyway. Jealous and concerned for him. Oh, I hoped he met someone better! Someone that would have made him their first choice as date, not the consolation one.

  But then I imagined Kohl hitting it off with someone prettier than Amelia-Rose, smarter than I and more lovely than Ora and that bile came up again. Okay no, I just had to keep my nose- and my thoughts- out of his love life until I’d had the chance to get over him completely.

  ‘So are you happy that Kohl is taking her to the ball tonight then?’ Dulcie asked Elena. ‘You said she’d be a good queen, but you also said that she and Kohl made a nice pair too so…’

  ‘I don’t know. I’m glad she snagged one of them as an escort for tonight, but I still think she would have been a better influence on Karol than Ora will. Ora Camden is almost as flirtatious and frank as he is- Amelia-Rose would have humbled him, don’t you think? And Kohl needs a woman that will bring him out of his shell, and Amelia-Rose might be too gentle for that.’

  I was beginning to wonder if the beautician had ever actually spoken to Amelia-Rose, but then I remembered that even if she had, Amelia-Rose would have treated her differently to how she’d treated me. I knew all the nasty things she got up to but according to Kohén, Amelia-Rose was an expert at covering it all up. It was a shame, really. I’d adored Shepherd Choir two minutes after he’d started talking! How could he have raised such a strange daughter?

  ‘I don’t trust Amelia-Rose either,’ Dulcie said quietly. ‘There’s something almost… fanatical about her zest for God.’

  ‘The Lord,’ Arial agrees. ‘She calls him ‘The Lord’ and I agree, it’s creepy and smacks of religion.’

  ‘And her obsession with the Given Caste…’ Dulcie darted a look at me. ‘Not that I don’t agree that it should be abolished, or anything, but she doesn’t just want it to end- she wants the women branded as criminals for it and forced into another kind of servitude. Sorry but I don’t think the lord would like that very much, Elena.’

  ‘But she would see it ended though- even if the current crop of Given is branded for practicing unholy behaviour… they’d only have two brands, not three- they’d get to stay in Arcadia and they would be the last of their kind.’ Elena glanced up at me, looking uncomfortable. ‘I’d hate to see you sent off to the Corps Larkin… but I’m a little more contemptuous of those that fight for the right to utilise sex workers, than I am of those that would see it ended!’ she shuddered, going back to my nails. ‘I’ll only ever marry, that I swear! It must be so hurtful to be left at home alone with the children, while the man you want to spend your life with goes off looking for a woman that he prefers.’

  ‘As much as it would hurt to have him up and leave you and your children halfway through their lives, as they used to?’ Arial asked. ‘At least with joinings you can count on the father staying around until the hardest part of being a partnership is over, while knowing in advance that he may not stick around after.’

  ‘I think it’s ludicrous that we’d go from respecting a caste to outlawing it in one fell swoop!’ Dulcie said crisply. ‘How unfair is that? To be first celebrated then hated?’

  ‘Well, it can be hard to make big changes,’ Elena argued back. ‘Sometimes outlawing things is the fastest way to drive a change home.’

  I saw all sides of the arguments, except Amelia-Rose’s, and I was starting to dislike Elena a lot for being a sheep, so I decided to change the subject all together. ‘We’ll agree to disagree- about all of it, but especially about Amelia-Rose being superior to Ora!’ I squeezed Dulcie’s hand after she’d taken the towel off my shoulders. ‘Make sure she looks absolutely lovely, okay? No one else can compare to her tonight!’

  Dulcie looked at Arial again and they both smirked. ‘If we want Ora to be the most beautiful girl at the ball, we’re going to need a bigger mask aren’t we? To cover certain features up?’

  ‘Good point,’ Arial agreed. ‘But I wasn’t going for real masks- just painted on ones! Now what?’

  I frowned at the rude women. ‘Ora’s stunning,’ I said loyally. ‘You’ll not have to strain yourself to make that plain!’

  ‘Ora is lovely, I agree,’ a smile was playing at the corner of Arial’s lips. ‘But you’re the one whose face is going to need to be covered in order to allow hers to shine the most, Larkin Of Eden…’ she then turned me to face the mirror. ‘See?’

  My heart constricted with fright at first, because I’d immediately expected to see Satan facing me, but then a moment passed and the woman in the reflection remained pale and golden and… no, not just golden- gold and silver and shimmering, and my heart skipped another beat again as I realised that Satan wouldn’t have been able to do nearly as much damage in her form, than I could in my new one.

  That’s my girl… she whispered into my head, barging in the moment I’d opened the door between my thoughts and hers. Challenge accepted!

  19.

  I was startled to hear Satan’s voice but because I hadn’t been drinking, I found it easier to contain my knee-jerk reaction to her. ‘Oh… my…’ I moved to touch the elaborate eye make-up as I silently told her to piss off, but Arial caught my fingers.

  ‘No messing up my masterpiece,’ she scolded me. ‘It won’t look like a real mask if it’s got fingerprints in it, would it?’

  I swallowed hard, realising that she was right. I was wearing a beautiful eye mask, but instead of fitting me with one, Arial had crafted one out of pearlescent paint and tiny little jewels that sparkled, all trimmed with gold to give it the right shape and depth. It looked like a three-dimensional masquerade mask at first, and yet parts of it had been smudged and faded out to make it clear that it was an illusion, and the way she’d done that served to enhance my cheekbones and eyes even more.

  The rest of my make up was rather plain so the gaze would be drawn to the eyes, and yet my skin looked like velvet and my lips full and glossy without a hint of my old black eye or an exhausted shadow to be seen. I did look beautiful- so beautiful that even I felt a rush of pride, and I knew how foolish that was! Especially now that I was back in a room with mirrors!

  I love God, I love God, I love God...

  ‘Oh you’re much lovelier than Amelia-Rose and Ora combined,’ Elena said, somewhat sadly. ‘Gosh… what were they thinking when they took away your ability to breed? Kohén may be content, but the kingdom’s gonna be uglier for it.’

  For once I actually agreed with her though.

  ‘Hush,’ Dulcie said quietly, rubbing my shoulder while my eyes watered. ‘She doesn’t need to be reminded of that right now.’

  ‘Sorry,’ Elena said, and she looked genuinely abashed.

  ‘It’s my best work,’ Arial p
ronounced. ‘Then again, I could probably dump a bucket of rotten tomatoes on your head and you’d still look breathtaking, so if you want Ora to stand out, you’d better stay in.’

  That was precisely what I wanted to do, but Dulcie shook her head firmly. ‘Don’t even suggest it!’ she fanned herself with one hand as she re-arranged my curls with the other. ‘If she doesn’t step out there tonight, I’m convinced the people in the kingdom will pull this harem apart looking for her, brick by brick.’

  I glanced at her and shivered when I felt the curls dance across my bare back. ‘It hasn’t gotten any calmer out there since Kohén announced that I’d be going?’

  ‘Kohén had his mother announce that you probably would be going, but that we had to give you time to recover from the illness that stuck you last night so you’ll be getting dressed and ready but then having a rest after to make sure that you’re up for a late night,’ Dulcie said crisply. ‘I know that he intends to take you tonight- I’d wring his neck if all of this work proved to be for nothing, and trust me when I say my neck-wringing burns- but the others aren’t as convinced, I’m afraid, and will remain suspicious until you’ve shown yourself. That being said, they have stopped banging on the door.’

  Elena frowned. ‘Well tell them that she’s rested and ready to go then. We could have her out in-’

  ‘No,’ I said quickly, sitting down, and was relieved when Dulcie caught my eyes and nodded- quietly communicating that she understood that it was imperative that I not leave the harem until Kohén summoned me. She wouldn’t know why of course, but Kohén had obviously found a way to stress the importance that I not leave until he arrived and so long as she upheld that, that was all that mattered. ‘No my gown isn’t here yet, and I think I should definitely have some more of that soup and give it a chance to settle before I start trying to walk around in these shoes.’

  ‘Of course,’ Elena said quickly. ‘I saw that bowl of soup before, I’ll go heat it for you now so you can relax once we leave.’

  ‘Is Kohén coming to get you himself?’ Arial asked, and I nodded again. ‘I’d hate to accidentally leave you sitting in here waiting for him if he’s expecting us to deliver you out there when you’re up to it.’

  ‘No he’s coming. But as his escort, there’s no point in me going until much later when he’s performed all of his master of ceremony tasks, so he won’t be along for a while yet.’

  Arial frowned. ‘But he’ll be wrapped up with those tasks until after-’

  A knock on the door sounded and Dulcie went over to answer it. I reached over and took a sip from my glass of water, met my reflection again and tried not to wince when I was reminded of how attention-seeking I looked. My make up was extraordinary, no doubt, but my hair was a work of art too. Dulcie had taken a section and had looped it around my crown in a pretty braid so that it resembled a tiara or a halo, and had the left of it out, long and coiled prettily. I should have looked washed-out seeing as how my hair, my skin and even my underwear were all shades of gold, but the sparkles and the occasional touch of contoured shadow defined enough to leave me looking, well, golden.

  ‘What?! But I… can’t Karol…? What? Oh, no!’ Dulcie exclaimed, and when I looked over at her, saw that she was nodding and waving whoever was on the other side of that door off. ‘No, fine, I’ll do it! No, I can’t exactly let the poor girl suffer, can I? Tell them I’m on my way.’ She closed the door and then turned, beckoning to the girls. ‘We have to leave right now ladies. Bring the palette and the curlers and take them straight up to Ora’s room, I’ll meet you there shortly. No dallying, not even for a moment- it’s important that you get behind a locked door and quickly. Larkin… are you all right to dress and feed yourself?’

  ‘Of course,’ I said, confused. ‘But what’s going on?’

  ‘Nothing, I’m just needed to heal someone- again.’ She clapped her hands together, looking anxious. ‘Come on girls, hurry! I have explicit orders not to leave Larkin in the harem with anyone but myself so because I have to rush, so do you!’

  ‘But you’re not a healer,’ I said, standing up and trying not to get knocked over as the girls rushed around me, collecting armfuls of things.

  ‘I am when it’s a burn requiring healing…’ Dulcie remarked, stepping into a pair of flat, white shoes with an open heel. ‘Lark, your necklace and the earrings we have for it to match are right on the counter where you were sitting. Please put them on immediately- it’ll be my head if something so valuable goes missing while in my care.’

  ‘Of course,’ I said, ‘but-’

  ‘A burn?’ Arial looked scared. ‘Oh my gosh! Please tell me those bastards at the gate haven’t started trouble again, not tonight!’

  ‘Well actually they have and that’s why you have to get behind a locked door now… but I’m being summoned to deal with a burn that wasn’t so much an attack as it was a right of passage, all right?’

  That made me gasp because suddenly, I remembered exactly what would be keeping Kohén away from me despite the fact that the ball hadn’t started yet. ‘The brandings?’ I demanded. ‘Oh no! Please tell me that none of my friends are hurt!’

  Dulcie held open the door so Elena could race past. ‘It’s complicated. Kohén had performed two of the brandings without incident, but before they could finish Miss Emmerly, a crisis broke out at the fence. Apparently the protestors started up again and accidentally crushed a small child beneath their feet. Karol was called out to come to her aid directly while Kohén and Elijah were asked to go out there and scare the people back with lightning-’ the ground and walls suddenly shook around us and Arial gasped- which I suppose they’re doing right now, but although she was in the process of being scalded, Miss Emmerly bravely commanded him to forget about lingering to heal her pain and to go to the girl instead. Karol did so and I pray that he got there in time, but Miss Emmerly obviously didn’t understand that the second part of the ritual hurts more than the first, because she collapsed from the agony of the quicksilver being applied to the brand and-’

  ‘Oh my god, go!’ I shrieked, pushing her out the door. ‘No more explanation required, help her, please?’

  To my relief, Dulcie nodded and sprinted off and Elena rushed out behind her. I caught the door when I heard Dulcie exclaim out: ‘Lock a door between you and the rest of the harem, Larkin. That one, your room, whichever! I doubt the protestors are still going on now that a defenceless child has been hurt and the royals are pulling electricity from the sky, but practice caution all the same!’

  ‘I will!’ I cried, and then pressed my hand to my heart, tears welling up in my eyes at the idea of poor Emmerly suffering. I hated that branding ritual- I hated it! The Barachiels could do so much good, like Karol racing to that little girl’s rescue now, but then they could turn around and brand that same little girl as a whore one day and it just wasn’t rational. I’d allowed myself to be talked into a lot of things that I didn’t agree with in the past few days, but I’d never be able to un-see how unbalanced things were here in Eden.

  That makes two of us, sweetheart… Satan whispered. Want your very last chance to try and change it? Go back to that mirror and-

  GO TO HELL! I screamed at her, and then started praying to God again as I broke out in a cold sweat. Her voice vanished immediately again but I kept my thoughts focused on god for another fifteen seconds anyway, just to be safe, knowing that this was the eleventh hour of her threatened forty-eight, clearly, and that if I was ever going to give into temptation to her, it would probably be soon. But I couldn’t let that happen- couldn’t make saving my life a priority over saving my soul.

  I was panicked to know that so much was already going wrong on an evening where we needed everything to go right, but I was sober this time, and so I had the clarity of mind to hold the door open with one extended hand while I used the sparkling toe of my shoe to drag the foot of my bed across the doorway until it was what was keeping it ajar instead- afraid that it might lock behind me as so many oth
ers had. Praying silently both for Emmerly and the little girl and keeping my eyes lowered and away from the mirrors, I walked over to where I had been sitting, picked up my robe and threw it over my arm before walking over to the microwave where I’d seen Arial put my soup before, following Dulcie’s orders to eat to the letter, as I intended to follow Kohén’s about hiding in my room. It was unlike me to do exactly as I was told, but I’d been rebelling for years now and it had only gotten me into more trouble so I was determined to step into line now if that meant keeping things under someone’s control- anyone’s control- even if it wasn’t mine.

  Bearing that in mind, I balanced the plate in one hand and leaned over and scooped up my jewels with the other, knowing that Dulcie hadn’t been kidding when she’d said that she’d be held accountable if the diamond choker went missing, and as much as she’d rubbed me the wrong way that day, she’d been decent towards me since she’d gotten her anger with Kohén out of her system and I wouldn’t want her to get in trouble. After all, she was one of the few people in Eden that seemed to know how to maintain a healthy amount of suspicion against our monarchs with an equal amount of respect for the good they had done and I appreciated balanced people like her, Ora and Adeline, who understood that even if something seemed broken and corrupt, sometimes fixing it covertly was a better idea than screaming out the flaws to the rest of the world. Things were not perfect in Eden no… but that didn’t mean that they couldn’t be one day. Humanity was a work in progress with some sinister origins… so why couldn’t we also give the Nephilim race the chance to evolve and grow with some gentle nudging as they had with us? Surely having Kohén’s love put me in a position to nudge like no one ever had before?

  Once I had all of my things together, I began to hustle awkwardly out into the foggy hot spring area, choosing to leave the door open behind me because I couldn’t actually close it without a free hand and because I knew it couldn’t hurt to have a bolt-hole, just in case. But I’d only made it two steps to the left before the steam from the heated soup started burning my fingers and so I hurried straight ahead to the pool instead of turning into my corridor, so that I could put the bowl down on the marble edging before the pain could force me to drop it.