The Forbidden Fruit

by S. K Munt

  ‘We, uh… are a peaceful nation and, erm…. sacrifices are made…’ he mumbled on, and I shook off my fear and acted, cupping my hands around my mouth and bellowing:

  ‘BORING!’

  Over five thousand heads turned to gape at me so fast that I felt a breeze. Karol’s snapped up and went white, and even though Maryah was digging her nails into my wrist in some odd attempt to wrestle me back into a lying position (probably so she could smother me with her skirt), I couldn’t help but grin back at the prince as I shook her free easily. ‘Come on Prince Charming- give it to us the way only a Barachiel can!’

  Behind me, Emmerly practically screamed in laughter and a cacophony of sound burst out from around us. I didn’t have to look back to know that the king had probably had a heart attack and that guards were coming after me to arrest me for Nephilim-murder, but then Karol threw back his head and laughed and all eyes switched back to him, silence falling again. Well, aside from the quiet, nervous laughter scattered about anyway.

  ‘All right! All right!’ Karol held up the speech and the microphone like weapons that he was surrendering and then lowered the mike to look right into the heart of the audience and say: ‘I apologise guys, but that outspoken young lady has threatened to crash tackle me if I give an uninspiring speech and so…’ he put the speech on the podium and stepped out from behind it, ‘I’d better wing this, huh? In fact… this is all wrong, hold on...’ He put the microphone down, tugged at the bow at his collar and shrugged the cape off while grinning out at the crowd, and the women in the audience lost their minds; cheering and hooting and whistling and I am mortified to admit that I was one of the loudest. Smirking, Karol tossed the cape over the podium with flair, and then looked over at me and bowed formally. ‘Better?’

  ‘Much!’ I said, blushing but feeling pleased when a bunch of people nearby turned to clap me, as the Given girls behind me patted my shoulder.

  ‘Way to go Lark!’

  ‘Damn you’ve got balls.’

  ‘She’s a man, that’s why,’ Kelia sniffed, and someone laughed. ‘Why do you think Kohén leaves her alone?’

  I rolled my eyes but then Karol started talking again, and we owed it to him to hear him out if nothing else, so we fell silent too. Casually, he began to walk to the front of the stage and said into the microphone:

  ‘A diamond is a rare thing to find. They were valued for their rarity in the time before, and as you all know, they are practically priceless now.’ He stuffed one hand into his pocket and smiled gently out at his avid audience. ‘We don’t have many diamonds in this world, but Calliel is a wonderful place to live despite that, because we have peace, harmony, and a place for everyone, and those things were rarer than diamonds in the time before.’ He swallowed. ‘Sometimes, we forget that… we forget the point of what it means to be a human now. We get caught up in rivalry, frustration and all of those other unpleasant emotions that stem from living our day to day lives within our harmonious little society, and because we do not know what it is like to actually suffer, we’ve lost some of our perspective.’ He motioned to the cloak. ‘That, for instance, was bloody hot and I’ve been complaining about it all day. But what a thing to complain about! What a trivial matter, to turn into a trial when I have so much to be grateful for…’ he indicated to all of us and I saw more than a few heads dip in guilt. Mine would have been one of them, but I had a feeling that was exactly the reaction that he wanted from me so I refused to give it. He didn’t know anything about trials! I’d take going without food for a month over having Kohén ‘inspect’ me in front of him again!

  ‘Is being anally penetrated by a prince cause for complaint?’ Caprice whispered from behind us, echoing all of our thoughts. ‘I thought so and have complained often, but if it isn’t, then I’ve been an ungrateful little Companion.’

  We all giggled again.

  ‘But we are a fortunate race...’ Karol went on. ‘And I am the luckiest man alive, to get to stand here today and tell you how proud I am to see so many smiling faces- even though I’ve been shaking like a leaf about having to do so for a week- I thank you for listening to me. Not only for listening to me when I know you’re all dying to get into those pigs-’ he jerked his thumb over his shoulder and everybody laughed again. ‘But for supporting my family for so long. For allowing me to inherit this moment from my father, by putting blind faith in my bloodline and one day, your lives in my hands. It is a huge responsibility, and a daunting one, and though I dream of being a leader to equal my father I must confess that I have had moments of self-doubt.’ He paused and swallowed, and I saw a hint of genuine despair in his eyes. ‘Not just because my little brother’s favourite Companion is obviously a heckler who has taken it upon herself to follow me around, forcing me to question everything that I do-’ he paused again and I giggled self-consciously as everyone turned to smile at me.

  ‘She’s not his favourite…’ Kelia muttered, killing my smile.

  ‘Going off gold count, ’ Emmerly hissed, rattling her own gold chains which haunted Kelia so, ‘neither are you.’

  ‘… but because my bloodline, though divine, is not perfect and we have made mistakes that Arcadia has paid for. You have forgiven us for those mistakes and that is a beautiful thing but recently, I’ve realised that I’m never going to have the confidence in myself to lead you, until I forgive myself. So…I have a story… or rather, a confession to make, about a diamond who fell through the cracks of our system last year and sadly, will never be recovered.’

  Martya! Oh my God, he has to be talking about Martya, right? What’s he going to wish for- an inquiry into her death? A tribute for her? Oh my god, please- yes!

  I turned around to glance up at the panel of royals and was not surprised to see that Elijah had shifted in his seat and was already frowning at Karol. Kohén had his royal poker face on, Kohl (the only person who had read Martya’s letter, aside from me) had one perfect eyebrow arched, while beside him, the duchess cocked her head, making her curiosity clear. Seeing those faces made me feel nervous for Karol, but I turned back to the gazebo and smiled, silently encouraging him with my eyes and keeping my mouth shut. Yes I was a heckler, but as Kohén had said- I was a little bit of an anarchist too, and if Karol had something to wish for regarding Martya that was going to piss Elijah off, then I wanted to hear it!

  Keep going! You’re doing great!

  As though he’d heard my silent encouragement, Karol glanced at me and smiled and then looked back out toward his parents. ‘You have all probably heard that a young girl by the name of Martya Rice, was the individual responsible for concocting the Rice formula, and you may know that she was one of the Given girls handed over to Eden in six-thirty-two. And some of you may even know that she was being trained to be a Companion.’ He sighed. ‘But Martya was never Companion material- she was a scholar, only because of all of our royal red tape, she was forced to be treated as an equal when realistically... girls like Martya will never be equal to anybody, but to other girls like Martya. They are exceptional and rare- they are diamonds, and should be treated accordingly as the exception to our much-needed rules, if nothing else.’ He smiled sadly at the few nodding heads. ‘Martya should have been studying around the clock from the day she came to Eden, only she was taught to focus on other things, and though those things have their purposes too, some people simply are not born to do certain things and should not be forced to do them when we KNOW that they would do better somewhere else. This is the flaw in our jewel of a kingdom: We get so hell-bent on treating everybody fairly, that we forbid ourselves from making exceptions when they obviously need to be made.’ A murmur of agreement rose from the seated bodies before him. ‘… And because Martya knew how hesitant we were to lift the red tape for her, and feared that we would change our minds about releasing her from her Companion contract, she left for her new destination with a sense of unfounded urgency and recklessness before the roads were thawed, and never made it to St Miguel.’ I exchanged a glance wi
th Adeline, who bit her lip and frowned back at the king. ‘She earned the right to have her fondest wish granted and yet never lived to experience it- and that is truly tragic.’

  There was a responsive rumble of remorse from the crowd, and I swallowed back tears, reliving that night; Martya’s angry attitude toward the king, my kiss with Kohén, the letter I wrote to my sister… it had only been a year and a half ago and yet I’d changed so much since… so who would she have become by now?

  Karol was still talking softly. ‘… Though the circumstances of her death were no one person’s fault, it has been weighing on my mind for many months, and has made me question the caste system when really, I have almost complete faith in it. Not only because it keeps things in Calliel fair and equal and running smoothly, but because our strict laws make it hard for more than the occasional person to fall through the cracks.’ He met my eyes then and I dropped my head, hearing him. How many pirates had snuck through Rabia’s lax borders? How many families, like Lindy’s, were hungrier than they were afraid to let on because they’d procreated beyond their budget?

  How many lucky girls like me, had been spared from being raised by mothers like mine?

  ‘Here it comes…’ Caprice whispered. ‘He’s bringing up the castes... he’s getting around to making exceptions… prepare to be summoned by a ringing phone, ladies!’

  ‘You think he’s using Martya’s death to push his agenda for the White Collars?’ I asked her, incredulous.

  ‘Undoubtedly,’ she said. ‘Especially if he suggests making half of the Given enter into it, instead of the Corps.’

  ‘That would be a cool idea,’ Emmerly agreed.

  ‘I guess…’ I hedged, though I had wished for something bigger since he’d said her name- like the abolishment of the Companion caste altogether! Still, it was something.

  ‘Ssh,’ Maryah hissed again, so we shushed.

  ‘I have not forgiven myself for being so swept up in trying to complete her formula with the ingredient she’d forgotten to write down, that time wasn’t taken to mourn her. And since the formula has been completed and mass-produced, we’ve been so busy seeing that it gets to every corner of the globe that we haven’t taken the time to give credit where it is long overdue. I failed her in that respect, and for some time, I’ve been convinced that it was a mistake that I’d never have the chance to make right.’ He smiled and lifted his chin, and I could see his confidence radiating in waves all of a sudden, as though speaking Martya’s name aloud in front of his father had been the most stressful aspect of all and now, he was golden again. ‘But a few months ago, I reflected on the last conversation that I had with Martya and realised that breaking her contract with us had not actually been her fondest wish. Because even after that had been granted, she asked for something else that she was denied- and though we had good reasons for doing so then, like many things in history- years later, hindsight is twenty-twenty and I see that Martya Rice was smart enough to understand what we could not then, and even though she’d worn glasses, she’d spotted a diamond in the rough that we had all overlooked with our ‘perfect’ vision, and in order to balance the scales between what she has gifted us, and the power you are all gifting me- I am determined to unearth that very same diamond today.’ He looked at me then and I cocked my head, trying to think of something else that she’d asked for, but coming up blank. All she’d wanted was her freedom!

  Hers. And… and mine!

  My heart did not only trip over a beat- it made an odd clunking sound as it threatened to come to a complete stop for eternity.

  Oh. My. God. Me! He’s talking about ME!

  ‘Martya is gone, and will never hear this declaration,’ Karol went on, his eyes burning into my wide ones. ‘But I will declare it in her name anyway as a retrospective thank you to credit this brave, clever young woman... and use my birthday wish to grant her dying one-’ he looked straight at me and said: ‘by releasing her equally bright, equally exceptional best friend, Larkin Whittaker, from her Companion contract.’

  I sucked in a breath and whirled around to see how Kohén had heard that- to see if anyone had heard that and that I had not just imagined it, but I was suddenly crushed by several white-sheathed women who were squealing and tackling me to the blanket in joy.

  I was free.

  30.

  Blood roared in my ears and the world spun as the girls around me squeezed me and shook me and patted me and blew out my eardrums with their shrieks of euphoria, and I wanted to do the same things but I could not move.

  ‘Larkin!’ Emmerly was going to pop my head off if she hugged me any harder. ‘Oh my god!’

  ‘Did you hear that?!’

  ‘More gold for the rest of us!’ (Elfin)

  ‘Free! She’s FREE!’

  Free! Free? Whhhhaaaatttt????!!!

  Suddenly panicking, I pulled myself free of my excited counterparts and faced back to the stage to find Karol grinning at me and nodding.

  ‘Yeah, I said it,’ he taunted me, and his eyes were gloriously green. ‘You’ve scored the highest of anyone in Calliel history on your preliminary Larkin. Maybe we didn’t get it before... but we get it now.’ He gestured to me with a sweep of his arm. ‘A ninety-two point four, ladies and gentleman, from a girl whose course schedule demanded that she balance a book on her head twice as often as she read one! Let’s have a round of applause for the melioristic girl who not only outshone my original score, but helped complete the Rice formula that we all depend on today!’

  The audience went absolutely nuts and the sound of it took twenty years off my life. Was he truly saying that I was free?! Was the audience’s applause ensuring that? I pressed my hands to my temples and stared at Karol with disbelief as he casually sat down on the topmost step of the gazebo, where I had once stood with Kohl and spoken of firefly wishes, and looked straight at me as he made one of them come true:

  ‘Larkin has won mine and my family’s esteem by proving to be a girl just like Martya- a dark horse who could bust out of the boundary at any given moment, and the fact that these two bright and melioristic young ladies made their way into Eden’s walls in the one year gave me pause to think… who else have we overlooked? How many Given citizens of Calliel- not just Arcadia- are living half lives for the kingdom’s benefit, when they could be doing so much more for the world if they were granted the right to live whole ones?’ he cleared his throat and held up the piece of paper he’d been holding onto before. ‘So I looked through the test scores from this past Spring and I must admit that I was shocked to see that fifteen of the Given draftees scored higher than those from the Academic castes, despite the fact that they were offered only the barest education.’ An awed murmur went through the crowd, and he nodded. ‘Fifteen indentured children found a way to shake off the rough they were living in, to study harder than those privately educated, to reach deep inside themselves and qualify not only outside of the Blue Collar parameters, but in the top five percent overall by scoring over ninety.’ He shook his head again. ‘There are scientific minds laying bricks, musical prodigies sifting through rubble, and mathematical geniuses washing clothes. And no, there is nothing common or lowbrow about any of those jobs. In fact, the Blue Collars form not only the foundation of our society, but the walls and ceilings too…’ he smiled wryly. ‘But who knows what kind of houses the Blue Collars could build and live in, or what luxuries they might come to know, if minds like Martya Rice’s were mined, just like diamonds once were?’ He stood up as people cheered their agreement. ‘So that’s my birthday wish: Not only to mine the brightest minds that were given to Eden in the year six thirty-two by taking them out of their current positions and putting them into more fitting apprenticeships- and I do mean all fifteen of them-’ he paused, holding up the paper which I supposed was a list of names now and NOT his speech as more enthusiastic applause broke out, and I clapped a hand to my mouth in understanding. Kohl had scored over ninety! Kohl was free as well! ‘-But to reward that entire year of G
iven draftees, by granting the ones who will remain indentured wages until the completion of their service!’

  My jaw dropped, remembering the conversation that Karol and I had had in the courtyard only a few weeks before.

  ‘Is it not enough that I’ve done all you’ve asked of me thus far? Must I save the entire fucking world in order to prove God’s existence?

  No, I hadn’t expected him to save the world, but I hadn’t wanted to be treated as special if it meant that others like me continued to be unfairly overlooked. Now, Karol had found a way to save me, but he hadn’t saved me alone, and grateful tears spilled over my lashes. He WAS a good man! The duchess was right! And oh, how she was about to be rewarded for her faith in her eldest son!

  Before I could stop myself I was rising to my feet and turning and that was when I saw a sight I’d never forget- the duchess hugging Kohl tightly and sobbing into his shoulder while he stared up at his eldest brother in obvious shock. He had a family again! He had a chance to prove himself Kohén’s equal, and I wasn’t going to have to mediate their success anymore! He hadn’t been born with the privilege of being treated as an exception either, but hard work and perseverance had made him one and that was what was so wonderful about it all- and so shocking! Karol really had used his head!

  No one looked more shocked than Kohén though. My dear friend was on his feet, pushing his hair back from his face to gape at his oldest brother, while beside and beneath him, his father tugged on his shirt, probably urging him to sit down. But Kohén did not, and when his eyes locked on mine, the terror inside them was intense enough for his neon blue to radiate across the space between us like a laser. My heart sank- he wasn’t happy for me, not at all! Rather, he looked like he was about to faint from fright, as Adeline had predicted Karol might do earlier. Afraid that he’d leap over the crowd, yank me up and run me right back to the harem if he saw the delight in my eyes, I turned back to face Karol and sat quickly, feeling Emmerly’s arms around me, but no warmth.