The Forbidden Fruit

by S. K Munt

  Why wasn’t Kohén happy for me? For Kohl?

  Karol went on as soon as the din died down a little. ‘So, though the people of this kingdom will not know perfect equality for many years to come, at midnight on Saturday when I turn thirty, my hope is that the ones from the year six thirty-two will be honoured with a little bit more of their share of our almost perfect world... and they will have Martya Rice to thank for it after, not me.’ Karol stood taller again and beckoned for me to come over. ‘So, if you agree that this lovely, bright young lady and her equals should be granted the right to make our world a better place by having their contracts torn up today, let me hear your approval now! Grant my wish with your support, and I promise that you will be glad that you did!’

  The applause was immediate and deafening and unquestionable- the power of it strong enough to make me collapse back onto my haunches. I sobbed, then covered my mouth as though my happiness were going to be drained from me if I let even the tiniest bit escape. In dreams, the thought: ‘This is a dream’ could kill the dream in a second- and tear the sleeper from their personal heaven by thrusting them back into reality. And in life, believing that something perfect had happened made that euphoria feel as impossible as a dream, and as vulnerable. So, like when I’d seen Liberty for the first time, and had believed in Kohén’s love because of it, and had been struck senseless by that elation- afraid to blink in case she disappeared- I now clasped my heart and my mouth with separate hands to shield them from believing what they would never recover from if proven a lie: that I was free. That the torture was over.

  But then hands hoisted me to my feet, accepting my happiness for me and forcing me toward it and then suddenly, I was stumbling toward the stage and people were both parting for me and reaching for me at the same time.

  ‘That’s all I really have to say today,’ Karol said, taking my hand in his and hypnotising me with his powerful, joyful emerald eyes, and when he pulled me up onto the stage, I felt as though I had wings and had floated up instead. So many eyes on me should have made me feel unnerved, but for once, I didn’t mind being Arcadia’s cynosure. For once, people were thinking about what was inside my head, not what I was clad in. ‘But I must confess that I had a reason for saying it today, and not Sunday.’ His hand was warm and radiating excitement down from my shoulder and right through me as he faced me to the crowd. ‘Every single dignitary in Arcadia has taken the opportunity to pull me aside and inquire into the availability of this bright mind since they arrived over the weekend.’ He shook me a little. ‘There was nothing I could say before, because she was slated to be Arcadian property for another three and a half years. However now, I can declare open season on this young lady’s future! And father…?’ He winked and hugged me to him. ‘Get the good cheque book out- because no one knows her worth better than those of us in Eden!’

  I glanced at Karol in shock, my eyes filling with surprised and grateful tears and though Elijah shook his head in absolute astonishment, I saw his eyes soften when they shifted to me, and he finally nodded, conceding my worth. A sob escaped me to see that I was a person to him at last.

  ‘So…’ Karol turned me to face him, switching off the microphone and stealing my focus so that everyone else turned to background noise. ‘How did I do, heckler?’

  ‘Perfect,’ I breathed. ‘Karol…’ I tentatively touched his jaw, feeling the slight bristle of his permanent ten o’clock shadow. ‘I’m…’

  ‘Speechless? At last? Did I bring a little joy into your dark juvenescence?’

  I nodded, and he grinned.

  ‘Do you adore me yet?’

  I nodded again quickly, each jerk of my head shaking free a hot tear. ‘You… you…’ I bit my lip and threw my arms around him. ‘You are a good man,’ I whispered. ‘Adeline was right.’

  He sighed a deep contented sound. ‘I’ve been waiting so long to hear you say that. Well… that, among other things…’ the timbre of his voice dropped, as did his fingers and I felt it like a whip cracking against my back- four perfect, warm, heated and magical fingers trailing down my spine slowly, exploring my bare skin while keeping his back to the audience and shielding his true motivation for releasing me prematurely from view. ‘...and I couldn’t wait a day longer.’

  Oh no...

  ‘So, at midnight on Saturday, you’re going to come to my chamber…’ his fingers slipped all the way down to the edge of my dress, fondling my tailbone then over the rise of my backside before sweeping back up and making me shiver. ‘And we’re going to burn that contract, and your indifference to me away- together.’ He moved his lips to my ear and whispered huskily: ‘And you’re going to come to me willingly, and gratefully, aren’t you little swan?’

  I nodded, for I would. I would hate him again after, but I had no choice to go to him with a heart full of gratitude. Even the fact that he was surprising me now by bringing up our little ‘deal’ was proof enough that the longer I stayed in Eden, the stupider I was getting. It wasn’t a shocking revelation at all- I should have seen it coming!

  ‘Yes, your highness,’ I looked up into his eyes and he wiped one of my tears away. The idea of acting supportively toward Ora, while intending to go to bed with the man she wanted behind her back made me feel heartsick, but what else could I do? I didn’t have a say in whether I was released or not- this was a decision made by royal decree! It wasn’t like I could go: ‘Actually, you know what? I’d like to stay on the slight chance that your mother will get me out of here in a few months anyway, but thanks,’ because now not only was my potential freedom on the line, but Kohl’s and thirteen others too. ‘I will.’

  And then you will be free to pursue Ora, and release me from this place!

  Karol’s smile could have melted the north, but it did not me. And when I turned back to the other Companions and saw Kelia backing away tearfully, looking nothing but shattered, I felt the cold in my bones for the first time in my life and turned just in time to see the golden man grin and melt back into the Wildwoods, to wait. Sighing, I plucked the feather from my hair, and let it fall to the ground so that Karol’s boot might crush it.

  *

  As Karol had predicted, I was absolutely besieged by strange, rich-looking men the moment that the applause began to die down, but he did not take his hand from my back and used the other to hold them at arm’s length.

  ‘I’m sure that Miss Whittaker is gratified by your enthusiasm, gentlemen,’ he said coyly, while my back muscles tensed against his touch. ‘But let’s not scare her back into the harem. Besides… I think there are one or two Arcadian officials who reserve the right to speak to her first.’ He nodded over their heads and we all followed his gaze to see Elijah striding down the common toward us with Kohén at his side. Kohén was clearly spitting hard words into his father’s ear- the kind that made Elijah grimace but nod, and behind them, Kohl was jogging toward me with a wet, delighted face with Atticus and his mother ambling along behind him in an attempt to keep up.

  Oh my god! What am I going to say to any of them?

  ‘Bull!’ Elbert Yael exclaimed, barging thorough everyone to grasp my hand. ‘You just released her, so may the best kingdom win!’

  ‘She is still ours until Sunday, Elbert,’ Karol pointed out jovially, wrapping his arm around my waist to hold me out of the other king’s clutch and damn me, but I was grateful for it. ‘But I agree, it’s her choice. Larkin… would you prefer to hear what my father has to say, before you speak with anyone else?’

  ‘I… um… yes,’ I said, nodding gently.

  ‘Miss Whittaker!’ a man I didn’t recognise called out, shouldering his way through and taking off his top hat. ‘Is it true that you are an orphan, and will need to live wherever you decide to work, from here until you are twenty-one? Because I have a boarding room in a plantation house available right now, if it’s a farming apprenticeship that you’re after!’

  I blinked, then my stomach clenched as I realised that yes, that was right. The other liberate
d Given were going to have houses and families to return to, but I was going to be homeless until other arrangements could be made. Yeah, my adopted father was still alive (and as far as everyone knew- he was my biological father), but he was living with my brother who wanted nothing to do with me. Perhaps that would change once news spread that I’d transitioned from dirt to diamond, but my desire to call any of them my family again would not now that they’d proved that I had ever qualified as dirt to them. So yes… I would need to find somewhere to live.

  But before I could confirm that, I saw Kohén come to a screeching halt on the edge of the crowd and look around furtively for a way to push through, and my heart broke for the desolation on his face. I had a family- and one of them was in pain. So I nodded in response to the man’s question, but stepped toward Kohén, trying to catch his eye instead of looking at the man who’d spoken. ‘Um… what is it you grow?’

  ‘Sugar cane,’ the man tried to jostle his way through to me. ‘And corn!’

  ‘Back off, Hamlet,’ Elbert growled and I blinked- Hamlet McPhee was the Marquees of St Miguel, where my sister lived! Where Martya had counted on going! ‘She doesn’t need an apprenticeship or sugar cane- she needs land of her own to raise cotton on!’

  ‘Are you going to continue to work as a courtesan?’ another man asked, and his voice was as oily as his skin and hair. He looked me up and down with beady eyes and turned to Karol. ‘One million for her, if she will.’

  A million dollars?! Is he insane?!

  ‘I am not selling her, Benson so direct your offers to her not me, and please- keep them professional. Miss Whittaker is not a courtesan- see how she is unadorned?’ Karol said loudly, and I was relieved that he was speaking for me on THAT particular subject even though I HATED the way every man present dropped their gaze to search my flesh for signs of gold and lingered on what was there. ‘That is because she has been a Companion to Prince Kohén as a friend alone. If she had been claimed by him for that purpose, I would not be legally able to break her contract- that would be my brother’s prerogative to dismiss her then, and my father’s position to approve it.’

  Note to self: No sex with Kohén before Sunday!

  ‘Is Prince Kohén a homosexual then?’ another man asked, raking me over with his eyes and I shivered on the inside, writing off him and the oily man immediately.

  Karol laughed. ‘No- he simply has an eye for diamonds too.’ He cleared his throat as I blushed madly, wanting to poke my tongue out at the handful of dukes, barons and kings who walked away, losing interest in my ‘intellect’ in the light of such a virginal development. ‘So please, bear that in mind when you make your offers gentlemen. Not just to be gentleman, but because this one has quite a temper and is liable to kick you in the shins if she does not like the way you word your propositions.’

  ‘Oh…’ the oily man scratched his head, then looked back to Karol. ‘Will she accept a dowry then?’

  ‘Because whore… wife… they’re pretty much the same thing?’ I asked coldly, speaking before Karol could, and a few of the men exclaimed amused glances while Benson scowled. I knew who he was now- Benson Etcher, Lord of one of the Asiana provinces. ‘No,’ I made sure that I had everyone’s attention by raising my hand. ‘I am a virgin but I am still an infertile one, so I cannot be joined at all, or married until I am thirty.’ My eyes lifted to Karol’s. ‘Ugh... right?’

  ‘Technically, yes,’ he said. ‘For now.’

  I recoiled from his touch again, and I understood. For now I could be married for love to another commoner, but once he was done with me, I would be considered impure and banned from marrying within Arcadia at all. If I did wish to marry, I would have to move somewhere else where a lifelong commitment was all that was required to qualify me as a potential bride, not virginity.

  ‘Right then,’ I smiled back at the men nervously. ‘So… apprenticeship offers only, please.’

  ‘Larkin…’ Elbert stepped forward, blocking my escape. ‘Let me preface everybody else’s offer: Come to Yael with me this very Sunday, and I guarantee you two thousand acres, a plantation house, a cotton gin and forty employees!’

  My mouth fell open, and there were a few grunts to communicate that he was not only mad, but also well prepared to out-bid him. ‘Two thousand acres?’

  ‘Goodness!’ Karol laughed and patted my shoulder. ‘That’s going to be hard to top!’

  ‘It is,’ Elbert’s round face split with his hairy smile as he used his arm to hug me to him and out of Karol’s grip, ‘so what do you say, that we save time and shake on this now?’

  I lifted my head and locked eyes with Atticus. He was watching me closely, and the moment Elbert slung his arm over my shoulder, he made an exasperated gesture and turned away, taking Kohl by the arm and dragging him to the side. While more offers smashed against me like waves against a rock, Atticus spoke furtively to Kohl, and I watched, fixated, as Kohl’s eyes began to widen and his mouth fell open. Atticus shot a few looks my way as he spoke, but he managed to grin at Kohl while his arms did the rest of the emotional dance for him, and when Kohl began to nod and reached for Atticus’s hand to shake it eagerly, he had tears streaming down his face and over a grin that made my heart burst into a million shooting stars. Then, Atticus waved off the hand and hugged him instead, and a tear rolled down MY cheek. Kohl had a father again, possibly even two, and I had done that.

  I was not wicked, and Karol’s taking me didn’t have to define me, or alter how I felt about myself.

  I stepped out from under Elbert’s arm. ‘Thank you very much, Elbert, for your enthusiasm and support.’ I turned and saw Kohén shake loose a tearful Kelia as she tried to pull him back from the edge of the melee. ‘But I will not be moving to Yael. I…’ I stepped to the side, feeling a twinge in my chest as a frustrated-looking Kohén stepped back from the crowd and rubbed at his temples. ‘I can’t travel that far- I have a statue to watch over, and she belongs on a coast!’ Elbert’s mouth fell open, but I did not give him the chance to protest. Kohén was turning around to leave and I knew from the colour of his eyes that he was about to cry. ‘Kohén!’

  The disillusioned-looking prince whipped back around, and yes, his eyes were bright blue, telling me that someone was about to get frazzled by his anguish and that I was the only person who could prevent that- by fighting back for him for once. ‘Kohén!’ I shouldered past Elbert and out of Karol’s grip. ‘Wait!’

  ‘Larkin?’ he wiped at his nose, and I pushed through the outer ring of the circle just as his father pushed his way in. Elijah reached for me, but I brushed his hand away.

  ‘Do not offer me anything,’ I said back to the king, and his face tightened with worry, so I smiled. ‘Not in this madness- it’s undignified for the king to partake in a bidding war with the masses. But we can sit down together later to discuss my future, if you still desire to?’

  ‘Yes! Yes I would like that, darling girl.’ He smiled, and his eyes were wet too and it was all I could do not to hug him then and there for showing me such affection. His eyes moved to Kohén. ‘Please, before he gets any more upset-’

  ‘I know.’ I turned and ran to Kohén, slowing my steps as I neared him, aware that the crowd had turned to watch me. Kelia had picked herself up off the grass and Maryah was leading her inside, giving her what looked like a severe talking to, but Kelia brushed our tutor off and stomped into Eden. The other Companions were standing in her way, and scattered like a flock of spooked birds as she stormed past, but no one followed her and my heart broke for her. Six weeks had lapsed since she’d given her virginity in Pacifica. Six weeks only had come between her and her own freedom. I could not blame her for being upset, and vowed to myself that I would go to her the second I could to offer her whatever comfort or forgiveness she required.

  Sighing, I turned back to my friend and opened my arms. ‘My hugs are as free now, as they always have been, Kohén. Please… gift me with one of yours on this happy day? For it will not be one, if you do not re
joice with me.’

  Kohén’s face contracted and he ran at me, crushing me to him. ‘How can I rejoice, when I am so terrified?’ he whispered, and I heard the tears in his voice. ‘I can’t believe he dumped that on me without a warning! Please… don’t leave me!’ he smoothed his hand down my hair and then crushed me tighter still, balling my curls in his fists as though he could possess me physically with his grip alone. ‘I love you-’ his voice cracked. ‘You are my world. If you move across the country-’

  ‘I couldn’t stray far, surely you must know that?’ I asked, holding him tightly. ‘You are my world too, Kohén!’

  ‘Thank God…’ Kohén cupped my face with his hands, looked me dead in the eye and whispered: ‘I’ve already ordered father to eclipse every offer that you get, okay? And he’s already said that Eden could remain your home, if that’s what you want.’

  ‘I will consider all of his offers thoroughly,’ I assured him, pulling back. ‘But I don’t think that I can go on living under the same roof with you, even as an apprentice farmer, Kohén.’ His face fell, but I shook my head. ‘I’d accept him putting a roof over my head on one of the off-site farms, yes, but not here. Not with…’ my eyes drifted toward the harem, but he caught my chin and forced me to look at him again.

  ‘I will release them!’ he vowed, and a shiver travelled down my spine. ‘All of them!’

  Because I am worth more to you already now that I am free? You cannot deny the girl you love, what you denied the Companion who you claimed to love? No Kohén… no.

  I shook my head. ‘What would that do, but punish all of us involved? As it stands, you cannot have me that way, and as you’ve said, you need to have someone...’ I swallowed and stepped back, taking both of his hands in mine and squeezing them. ‘Look, we have time to work it all out, all right? To talk it out. And I promise that I will discuss every offer that I have with you before I accept any of them.’ I glanced back over at Kohl, Atticus and the duchess. ‘But I must admit, Atticus made me a damned good one last night… one that’s going to be almost impossible to top.’ Kohén’s eyes lit up, but I hurried on before he could take credit for the offer, or assume that me moving to Pacifica equalled me fusing my life with his. ‘But I cannot hold land until I am eighteen, so I will have to decide what I am going to do for the next year, and if I will do it here, or in Pacifica.’