The Forbidden Fruit

by S. K Munt

  Kohl’s face was wet with his tears. ‘Do you mean what you are saying, Larkin?’ he asked huskily. ‘Or are you only saying it, in the hope that I’ll be so hurt, that I let you throw yourself onto the sword for me?’

  My throat was tight with emotion, but I forced out an honest response: ‘I told Kohén that I couldn’t live without his love- without his companionship, just an hour ago on the common,’ I whispered, releasing his hands and hugging myself. ‘And I meant it, Kohl. You were standing right there, the cage door was open at long last, and though I had the chance to soar away- I flew straight into the palm of his hand, where I belonged.’ I sniffled, wiping at my tears. ‘Or, where I thought I belonged, until you told me how he plans to exact vengeance.’ I shook my head. ‘But now that I know how dark he can be, and how his supposed ‘love’ for me only encourages that darkness, I know that the only place I belong is at the bottom of the tidal fall- ruined along with all of our hopes and dreams.’ I sniffled and began to walk away. ‘And once I’m gone, you should throw that ring down after me, okay? Because it’s brought you nothing but bad luck since you carved it with me, and forged a connection between us.’ I shook my head again. ‘I am a wicked witch, and that ring is my talisman- destroy it, and the Barachiel family might once again know peace and perspective!’

  But let’s just pray that my father doesn’t sight me! Gosh, how many of the Banished are at the fence now that night is falling? Surely the guards won’t still be there, will they? Oh well, if they are- into the electric fence I go- just like mother! Oh, how Jaiya will rejoice!

  I heard Kohl curse and quickened my steps, but suddenly he was in front of me, his hands extended out to bar my exit. ‘Stop!’ he commanded me as the pillowcase fell from his hand. ‘I won’t let you go through with this, Larkin!’

  ‘Yes, you will!’ I moved to duck under his arm, but he stepped into the gap and crouched, blocking me again. ‘No!’ I shoved him back slightly, feeling my temperature spike.

  ‘Stop pushing me away!’ he snapped. ‘I love you, and I know that you can love me!’

  ‘No, no I don’t! I can’t! I’m too wicked to…’ I shook my head and tried to dodge past him again, but he stepped to the side, barring my passage once more. I made a frustrated noise as the urge to strike him overcame me. I wasn’t sure how long we’d been in the corridor for, but I knew that the shoot wouldn’t last that much longer, and I needed to get through Eden’s labyrinth-like halls and out to the cliff before we were found together. Maybe Kohl would be punished anyway, but my death was sure to throw a spanner in the works, forcing the royal family to band together in the name of covering it all up, if nothing else.

  But I could only help him if he got out of the way! Thinking quickly, I upended the pillowcase, and the contents rained down on the slate floor, making a tick-a-tete parade out of the evidence of our affair.

  ‘I’m not kidding, Kohl!’ I snapped. ‘You clean up this half of our mess, while I handle mine!’ Fortunately he crouched, eyes wide with alarm as he attempted to sweep all of the letters together with his arm, and I stepped over him and hurried on. ‘Do what you want with the those, and say what you want in your or my defence after I’m gone, but do not try and silence me the way your crooked father would!’ I pivoted, turning back to give him a farewelling look. ‘I know you think you can save me, or that you deserve to take this fall because like me, you were raised to believe that you don’t deserve to be happy.’ More tears spilled down my cheeks as he looked up at me with despair etched into his handsome features. ‘But you do Kohl, and so do I. Regard this as me throwing myself on a sword like a martyr if you must, but for me- this is my last chance to exercise my free will, and if you try and prevent me from doing that, you’re just as bad as Kohén is, and I will flatten you!’

  I heard him curse and then a skidding sound and suddenly, his boots were pounding along the corridor behind me. I sucked in a breath and hitched my skirts, preparing to sprint, but I was pushed sideways into the wall hard enough to make my intoxicated mind fuzz.

  ‘Then flatten me!’ Kohl shoved me back up against the wall when I tried to regain my footing, and once again, his eyes were black. ‘Come on, little bird! You’ve just repeatedly stabbed me in the heart- so why not pummel me as well, hmm? Because that’s what it’s going to take to stop me, from stopping YOU!’

  ‘Don’t think I won’t!’ I warned him, tears still streaming down my cheeks. ‘And don’t think that I can’t!’ I shoved him back hard- so hard that he went flying back into the opposite wall. His eyes widened with shock, but he pushed off it and began to advance on me again. ‘I got your education, remember?’ I jeered. ‘I’ll wipe the floor with your third-born ass!’ He darted forward to grab me again, but I deflected his hand, hitting him hard in the wrist. ‘Stop it!’ I hissed, glancing to my left and toward the throne room but blessedly, no one was within view. ‘Do you want to be seen and accused of forcing yourself on me too?’ I was panting and my mind was spinning, but my muscles were ready for flight or fight. ‘Cos it won’t look good if there’s an inquest into my death after, if there are signs of a struggle on us both!’

  But Kohl smiled a smile that didn’t meet his eyes. ‘You think I’ll care about any of that, if you die today?’ he shook his head. ‘You underestimate me, sweet girl.’ He stepped forward, trying to cup my face and pull me to him. ‘You underestimate us.’

  I sobbed, and did all that I could do- I lifted my hand and slapped him hard enough to make a sound like a cracking whip resonate off the walls. ‘There’s no us!’ I croaked as Kohl was knocked into the wall, which he grasped at while he panted. ‘I’m a nefarious little whore- and you’re an angel!’ I wrenched my gaze from his, unable to bear the sight of his reddened profile, and stormed past. ‘The world will be a better place without me Kohl, so do your Nephilim duty, and stop trying to save one who was lost at conception- OH!’

  There was nothing tender about the way he caught me and twisted me in his arms, grabbing the nape of my neck with one hand, and clutching at the belt of my dress to pull me more closely with the other. And yet his eyes were blue again and burning with tenderness as he looked into mine and whispered: ‘My Nephilim duty is to win hearts for God,’ he leaned in and brushed his lips against mine, gasping in some easily-won euphoria before he whispered: ‘and I don’t care what you say, or how you claim to feel about either of us right now… so help me Larkin- I will get you to heaven, and in my arms!’

  And then he was kissing me so ardently that we were falling back against the wall and- I was sure- straight to hell.

  34.

  I gasped in shock the first chance that I had to catch a breath, but Kohl used the opportunity to sweep his tongue across mine and claim it, while his hand released my belt and moved to cup my face, holding me in place for his sensual attack. I moaned and tried to push him away but he pressed every inch of his muscular frame against mine, pinning me, and his body heat transgressed both of our clothes and brought me to a swift boil.

  Oh, sweet Jesus… is there nothing that will smother the flames of a Barachiel man’s arousal? No poisonous words that will turn their heads and hearts away?

  No there wasn’t, and once again I was a fool for not having realised it sooner. This wasn’t about their bloodline- this was about mine. I didn’t have a ‘power’ in the normal sense, but as the duchess had said, there was something about me that provoked sin, and drove ‘good’ men like Karol and Kohl and Kohén to do extreme things in the hope of attaining it. They thought I was sweet and clever and witty and sensual, but I was the alcohol in a cocktail; the nicotine in a cigarette- and the sugar in a cookie. I was addictive and dangerous, and though I’d thought that throwing blows and hateful words at Kohl would have been enough to force him into going cold turkey, all I’d done by demonstrating my evil, was convince him that it was his duty to save me! And with his mouth, of all things!

  ‘Stop…’ I moaned feebly, and feeble was all I could manage. It had been well over a
year since our first and only kiss, and yet the charge was still there. If anything, it had intensified! The skin along my jaw hummed against his hot palm, and his tongue tasted like rum, pineapple and ecstasy as it worked against mine. I hadn’t wanted the kiss- not one little bit, only now that I was in it, I couldn’t conceive of stopping.

  “Yeah, that would be the evil whore in you surfacing once more, little swan!” my conscience pointed out. “Need you more proof that you are the result of a joining between a witch and a hellion, than in this very moment?”

  I really didn’t, and whatever goodness was left inside me bucked more wildly at the recognition of my returning, completely unfounded lust. ‘Kohl, stop!’ I twisted my face to the side and panted, moaning when his hot lips began to caress the sensitive flesh of my throat. ‘I just told you that I love your brother!’ My palms strained against his chest, but he was immovable. ‘I just told you that what we had was a hallucination on my part!’

  ‘And I just told you, that I’m going to prove that what we had is real!’ he whispered, nipping at my neck before suckling it sensually, and I wondered if he could feel my heart pounding in my throat as clearly as I could. ‘And if you want to kiss some of that guilt goodbye, then kissing me back would be a good start, don’t you think? I mean, you have a lot of apologising to do...’ he stood and bit my lower lip gently, looking into my eyes. ‘Or have all of your feelings for me completely dissolved overnight?’

  I sobbed, and he released my lip. ‘How can you ask me that?’ I asked brokenly. ‘I told you that I love you Kohl, and you know that I’m attracted to you- but it’s just not enough, okay? You deserve better than this!’

  Kohl cocked his head to the side, and the shadows delighted in his incredible bone structure, as did I. ‘Better… than a diamond?’ he whispered, smiling wryly and shaking his head. ‘Sorry Larkin, but there’s no such thing,’ he stroked my hair, and his heated gaze became adoring again- a pale, sweet blue. ‘How many angels have to worship you, before you realise that you’re not the devil, but a goddess?’

  ‘I’m not- ohhh!’ my knees went limp when his hand slipped from my neck and down my back, grasping my backside and forcing my hips against his, where he was hard- just as his lips melded against mine again. The connection between his stiffness and my softness made the bundle of nerve endings at the hilt of my sex tingle ecstatically, and it must have been a two-way hit, because he groaned and did it again, curling his hips against mine, grinding into me and damn near bringing me to a climax that swiftly.

  ‘You’re so fucking beautiful,’ he whispered, a ravenous note in his voice to match his ravenous mouth as it trailed over my lips and jaw. ‘I’ve been hard since our first kiss, little bird- do you have any idea how torturous this past year has been, when you haven’t been in my arms? How difficult it is for me to sleep when I remember you wet and sandy and smiling at me? Or the way you bit that sexy fucking lip when you showed me this?’ he reached down and caressed my belly ring through the silk of my dress. ‘Fuck…I can’t believe you’d think that I’d let you leave! That I could stand this planet without you!’

  ‘Ohhh…’ My knee hitched at his hip, widening my stance so that he could roll his hips against me without anything getting in the way, as though I could make the year up to him by offering up a little compliance, as my brain compartmentalised into right, wrong, fear and excitement. ‘Kohl…wait…’ But his passion was too intense for my thoughts to override, and I fell into some sort of hot fog- the one created by his hot little gasps for air as he ground himself against me while looking down to watch, and when I next emerged from it, Kohl’s tongue was inside my mouth again and mine was responding.

  This is so, so wrong but oh God… it feels so good! He’s right! How could I give up on life, without experiencing this sort of passion first? How could Kohén be the only one for me, when every time Kohl touches me, it ends in fireworks?

  Our kisses hot, sweet and deep, and every few seconds, he pulled away to mumble something that made everything hot, sweet and deep inside me rise to the surface of my consciousness until all I was, was desire without a skerrick of sense to be seen.

  ‘Killing yourself won’t save me from my brother’s wrath…’ he breathed as his hands began to grasp at my flesh needfully. ‘And telling me that I’m not the one doesn’t make me love you one little bit less...’

  ‘It should…’ I mewled, but my hands were moving too- pulling at his collar and sliding down his shirt so that I could caress the firm, hot chest beneath. ‘You should knock me to the ground!’ my lips worked against the slight stubble along his jaw, bringing my attention to the fact that he’d started shaving. I moaned when I caught a scent of his cologne- something new that made me feel even drunker than I already was. ‘You should-’

  ‘I plan to!’ Kohl caught my thighs, hoisted me up so that I was straddling his hips and pressed me into the wall, working my tongue with his in a frenzied manner that was both too deep and not deep enough. I clutched at him like a woman falling who only wanted to prolong the descent, not stop it. ‘Right now, and right under their noses!’

  I was pretty gone on him by that point, yet his words were shocking enough to batt some of the lusty haze away from my brain. I pushed off his shoulders and gaped at him. ‘What?!’

  ‘We’re going to make love again,’ he whispered, squeezing my backside with both hands and groaning under his breath in appreciation before whispering: ‘And afterwards, we’re going to live happily ever after.’

  My hand shot up and intercepted his lips before they could capture mine again. ‘Make love…?’ I squeaked, fairly certain that he wasn’t suggesting an innocent frangipani rubdown this time. ‘What will that accomplish... aside from satisfying you, anyway?’

  ‘I plan on the satisfaction going both ways, if you don’t mind…’ Kohl grinned and suckled on my finger. ‘But aside from that, it will get us sent into the Wildwoods, little bird- together.’ My lips parted on a sharp inhalation, and though I couldn’t articulate the question: ‘Really?’ he understood it and nodded. ‘Kohén won’t have a chance to brand you or cover up our affair- in fact, both he and Karol will be forbidden from touching you or being alone with you, once it’s common knowledge that you’ve been had, rather than mere hearsay. And with even one witness to say that they saw us kissing, let alone naked together- there will be no need for any inspection, either, so you’ll be spared that horrific ordeal as well.’

  ‘I’ll still be branded as promiscuous though!’ I squeaked, but Kohl rolled his eyes.

  ‘I think we both know that one partner does not, a promiscuous person make, and everyone else will see that too, so who cares?’ he smirked. ‘And if you’re worried about the pain, then let me assure you that not only will I be getting one too, but that it’ll hurt a lot less than landing on the rocks at the bottom of the tidal fall will!’ he shook his head gently. ‘It’s the only way to get us both out of here together, that my selfish brothers won’t be able to manipulate to suit their own needs, Lark, don’t you see? This is the only path that you can take and survive!’ he kissed me, and his eyes were as warm and needy as his lips. ‘Consent to me now- and you’ll never be had against your will! Not within Eden’s walls, and not out in the Wildwoods because I’ll be with you, protecting you. Kissing you…’ he groaned and nibbled on my earlobe, whispering sexily: ‘Fucking you senseless under a starry sky…night after night… forever...’

  A flash of red obscured my vision as a flash of want took me over, but I still had sense enough to think past it. I knew that Kohl was telling the truth- if people were found guilty of crimes while a Shepherd was in the vicinity, the matter was always handled promptly and right where the guilty parties stood, and right now, there were at least three shepherds within Eden’s boundaries who were capable of doling out a sentence. There would be no need to detain us separately, and no chance for Karol or Kohén to sneak us away so that they could deliver their own form of justice upon us- which meant no rape for m
e, and no whipping for Kohl, which definitely improved my outlook on life.

  And he’s right… going out into the Wildwoods with a competent, strong young man who has been raised roughly is a better alternative to tackling a waterfall by myself, isn’t it?

  I really didn’t want Kohén- or anyone- to believe that I’d cheated on him, but either my reputation or my freedom was going to go up in smoke that day, and there was no avoiding that, so why not do the selfish thing for once, if it was what Kohl wanted?

  But was it what he wanted? Could I make Kohl happy? Was I thinking with my brain, or my hormones? Was I thinking at all? Surely, there were other ways to save him! I could go out into the throne room, and tell everyone the truth about who was the rightful heir! Or, I could run in the opposite direction, and tell Constance the truth, so that she could intervene before Kohén could act!