The Wildest Woods

by S. K Munt

  ‘That’s strange- I would have thought she’d be more immune.’

  ‘Who are you calling a light drunk?’ I’d demanded, but I’d allowed myself to be carried to my bed. ‘And when will my puppy like me again?’

  ‘Everything will be fine in a day or so, Erika, and being overdosed will only make this day easier on you not worse, so close your eyes and just enjoy the bliss all right? We’ll wake you up when it’s time for you to join the party and hopefully by then, you’ll have your wits about you again.’

  I’d done as she’d said and had allowed the kaleidoscope to consume me and drag me away from my reality, but even as I’d slipped away from the women that were assuring me that the effects were only temporary, I’d been secretly wondering if they had to be. And that desire to stay good and liberated from myself had not diminished hours later when I finally found myself at a pre-party banquet for the king and all of his men.

  And one whore.

  This is must be what it feels like not to have a soul… I mused as I scrawled ‘Happy Birthday’ to Cairo on the rim of his dinner plate, using his balsamic vinegar dressing and the tip of my finger. What I really wanted to do was stand up on the table and sing it, but I knew I had to fight to retain some composure. It was lovely to feel so segregated from my inhibitions and my good conscience, but if I couldn’t reign in my exuberant mood, then Kohén would probably run from the room convinced that I wasn’t in my right mind and then I’d have to have him tied up in order to do what I needed to do and I’d sooner die then become a rapist! Wow! Could I sell my soul to Satan in exchange for getting out of having sex with Kohén tonight, you think? I think I’d much, much rather have sex with Cairo. Although… I slid my eyes Kohén’s way, sizing him up with the rose-coloured appreciation of someone that did not give a fuck. He was sitting diagonally across from me at my father’s left hand side while they discussed our caste system (or lack thereof) which was funny because usually that was my father’s seat and the king’s, was the queen’s. Naturally we’d done some reseating in order to keep up the ruse and as a result, I’d been bumped down in rank after Cairo, only sitting as close to the head of the table as I was because I was supposed to be there as Cairo’s escort and nothing else. I did like it when he did that vibration thing... Cairo’s got talents, but I doubt he can do that…but I was knocked off memory lane when Sam, who was directly across from me, started spluttering on the mouthful of wine he’d just taken and looked up, glaring at me.

  Where the fuck is your amber ring? I do not get paid enough to have to listen to this shit!

  I suckled on my finger and smiled knowingly at him. Too much, hmm? Does that mean you won’t be taking notes outside my fake guest room later? Phew! I’d hate to see you actually drop dead with jealousy- FRIEND!

  But Sam’s features evened out, and he took another sip from his wine again, rubbing a residual drop of it off his bottom lip as he sent back: Jealous that you feel obligated to screw both of these clowns? Honey, if it were me that had to fuck you for the greater good, they’d be the ones in need of taking notes. He wriggled his eyebrows while my mouth fell open. Mind reader, remember? I’ve already mapped out exactly what I’d do to you and believe me when I say you wouldn’t need demonic possession in order to enjoy it...

  I shivered because I couldn’t help it, but I dropped my eyes, telling myself to rise above for poor Martya’s sake. I was NOT attracted to Sam. I was NOT attracted to Sam. I was not… very… attracted to Sam… He was beautiful though, and I’d never been as keenly aware of it as I was then while my blood was already simmering.

  Excuse you? Sam bit into my mind then and I winced when I heard him slam down his glass. What the hell has Martya got to do with… oh you’re kidding me! You’re going to keep me at arm’s length because of her crush on me? How is that fair? What about what I want?

  I looked up at him quickly, knowing that we’d both hurt a lot for this tomorrow but also very aware that it was the least I owed him. The one you want doesn’t want you back, Sam. I love you, I do and that’s more than you can claim to feel for me… but I don’t desire you.

  Sam’s forehead creased. But you just shivered when I-

  I’ve been turned on by lamplight, a sip from Riesling’s coffee and this salad dressing since I took Satan into myself! I informed him, imaging Sam and Martya holding red-headed babies in the name of positive thinking. Of course, in my vision, he had a soul. The fact that a bit of dirty talk gave me goose bumps doesn’t mean what you think it does! In fact, there’s not a man in this room that I’m not attracted to- I saw a midget in calamine lotion amble up to my father and bow before taking his hand and thanking him exuberantly for all of his help, and I pressed my lips together to keep from giggling. Okay, except for those two. They’re doing nothing for me, thank Satan!

  I’m relieved to hear that but Jesus Christ- save the positive thinking for someone else, hmm? I don’t want to have a family with Martya! I want to have fun with you- the only girl in the world that I actually respect! Sam’s eyes were cold and hard, and his expression looked as hurt as it ever had before. I wanted to feel guilty, I did- but I simply did not have the capacity for it.

  How could you not respect Martya? I challenged him, narrowing my eyes. She’s amazing!

  Yeah well she’s selfish enough to be excited about this evening’s coming events, so she can go to hell as far as I’m concerned! Her and her family started this, how DARE she encourage you to finish it? Do you have any idea what doing this will cost you?

  I dropped my eyes to my barely-touched plate because I did know what it would cost me: Cairo.

  Only for a little while. Sam said quickly, reassuring me even then and I looked up, my being flooded with relief. The guy is in such torment that even I feel sorry for him, but the way he sees it, a soul mate stands by their other half through everything. It’s going to be difficult to get him to step aside, but he’ll do it- for you. And then, he’ll come back to be a bigger pain in my ass than ever before and at least try to rise above it- not that I think he’ll manage to but who knows? Miracles do happen.

  I could scarcely contain my relief. How can he stand it though? To sit here on his own birthday and watch the girl he loves being sacrificed up to the man she reviles like this?

  He wants the same thing Satan does, Larkin: you, pregnant. You successfully scared him into believing that your reproductive system is shot, so he figures that if anyone’s going to knock you up and give him hope that he could do it too, it’s the Nephilim that Satan delivered to your door. He shrugged. Besides, what can be done about it? We either let you go through with this or push you to refuse and lose you forever. I am very, very angry with your mother right now and she fucking knows it, but she’s played this very well and I know when to fold. I just refuse to let you to play god too, especially where my own private affairs are concerned. If I wanted Martya I’d go for her- but it’s you I want and believe me when I say that now that some idiot’s clued you in on the effect you have on me- took you long enough you daft bird by the way- you should consider letting me have an effect on you. I may not be a prince and I may not be rich like Cairo, but I’m the only person in this room that accepts you EXACTLY as you are and won’t ask more of you than you can give. If you don’t desire me, it’s because you don’t think you’re enough either, not because I’m lacking in any way.

  I never said you were lacking! But for the longest time, all you’ve wanted from a relationship is sex, and I’ve wanted is, well, nothing! We’re wired differently, Sam. The impulses I’m feeling now are Satan’s, not my own! I’m the least sexual creature on the face of the earth, and you just might be the most!

  Sam looked up at me again and smiled crookedly. Tell yourself that if it helps you sleep at night, but you were in your own mind when you re-read my book three times this week, not hers, and when I finally get the chance to set you on fire with my passion with caresses instead of words, you’ll be out of your mind after. I sucked in a breath and S
am winked. You heard me. And now that I’ve received your silent edits, I know exactly how I’m going to fuck you, Larkin.

  That was NOT your book! That thing was a mess and you write beautifully! I’ve seen it!

  Sam wiped at his mouth with his linen napkin, but met my eyes dead-on. I know, but I like the idea of you having to correct the spelling of such words… and of taking your time while doing it.

  No! I couldn’t feel a lot of emotions, but embarrassment was connected to my pride and because that was one of Satan’s Achilles, it was mine now too and my face flushed hotly. But it was written from a woman’s perspective! No man could know how to… but Sam arched an eyebrow in a challenge and included me in on a fantasy of him going down on me while he slowly slid one finger in and out of me and I groaned and twisted my face away, burying it into Cairo’s shoulder and gasping for breath. This was so wrong! And what was even worse was how excited I felt!

  Stop it! I pleaded with him. Please, if you’re my friend, really, then just stop! I’m in love with this man, how dare you try to force me to be more unfaithful to him than I already have to be?

  But you’re not, Larkin. You’re in love with the way he makes you feel about yourself, and because his optimism counter balances our pessimism. I am grateful to him for that and for how he’s helped build up this kingdom, but I won’t believe that he’s your soul mate until I’ve received my own soul back, and you’ve had the chance to compare the two. And that’s why I want you- because you’ve made me feel like a human again after years of feeling like a demon, not just because your breasts defy gravity. It’s not love now, but I don’t doubt that as soon as I can look upon you with human eyes again, it will be. He shrugged. You don’t have to believe that now, and you can tell yourself that it’s Cairo that’s reinstated your passion for life, but I think we both know that it was the mistral that did it, and that makes me more than the narrator in this story, hon- but your future protagonist too.

  You’re wrong. I love Cairo.

  We’ll see. Nothing’s over until I write ‘The End’ remember? And I’m the kind of guy who wins races because he paces himself.

  Cairo squeezed my hand then, drawing my gaze his way and quietly asked : ‘What are you two talking about?’ and I sighed at how large and warm his hand was. I traced the strong life lines that had been etched into his palm, imaging them cupping my breasts and trying not to moan as Sam also imagined doing that too, and whispered:

  ‘How much I wish this could have been a nicer night for you…and of how desperately I wish we could be alone together,’ and his eyes softened, becoming dove grey again as he leaned in and kissed my forehead.

  ‘For what it’s worth, I appreciate the trouble you went to and I can tell that this would have been the best night of my life,’ he gestured to his plate. ‘My favourite foods, my favourite wine…’ he lifted my chin with the tip of his finger and said: ‘Let’s do it again next year, hmm? For my twenty-third? The future will be a little more certain then and contrary to what you currently believe, I’ll still be a part of yours.’

  I cocked my head to the side, using my giant wig to block Sam and Kohén’s view of us and muffle our whispered conversation. ‘How can you know that? You stormed off before determined to throw in the towel if I was, but then you came back full of concern and-’

  ‘I went and saw Arial,’ Cairo dropped his eyes to my chest, tugging on the pearl choker that I was wearing while we both reflected on the hours that we’d been separated for after he’d taken off on me. I’d been so drunk on Satan’s power that I’d passed out and slept, but no one had been able to tell me where Cairo had gone and I’d been assuming that he’d set sail. ‘To ask her if Satan had been lying to me all along.’

  I swallowed hard, feeling hopeful. ‘And she denied it?’

  Cairo nodded, lifting his eyes to mine. ‘She said that I have two homes; one on the ocean, and one on the land, and that whenever I feel like time is passing too slowly on one, I should turn to the other to make sure that I stay on course, and that I don’t force anybody else off theirs because that will only delay them from finding their way back to me.’ He traced the skin under my choker, tracing the little bust that had been glued there, and smiled sadly. ‘I think she was trying to tell me to be patient, don’t you? To go get my people and bring them here, and that when I return, you’ll be a little more ready for me then you are now.’ I closed my eyes as his fingers stroked underneath my chin, and moaned softly when they glanced off my lower lip.

  ‘But I’m ready for you now…’ I breathed, dizzy with arousal that had nothing to do with Sam. I opened my heavy eyes and kissed his fingertip delicately, forgetting that the rest of the world was there, so lost was I in his beautiful features. ‘Tonight I was going to-’

  Cairo silenced me with a gentle kiss, cupping his hand around the back of my head and making my body explode with light. ‘Don’t make this harder,’ he whispered hoarsely against my mouth. ‘You don’t belong to me yet, my love- but you will.’ He released me and drifted back, and I practically fell into his lap, so heavy was I with gravity. He cleared his throat, and I saw that he was also struggling to breathe and speak though I wasn’t sure if it was lust assailing him or emotion. ‘And while we’re on the subject of travel, it came to my attention that a beautiful ship is being built in the Mediterranean, one with a steam engine twice as large as any that I already have.’ He took a sip from his wine and nodded towards my father, who’d turned his attention Cairo’s way. ‘I’m thinking that I might go and sell off a few of my older ones and purchase her while I’m away.’

  ‘You kids wouldn’t believe me if I told you about the massive ships that were built in the last few centuries of the time before…’ Bastien said, smiling a dreamy smile as he gestured with his hands. ‘They were incredible! They had pools, lots of them! Casinos, restaurants…’

  ‘Sounds like something I’d like to see,’ Cairo agreed.

  ‘I’ve seen pictures of them,’ Kohén said them, and we all turned to look at him in surprise. ‘Postcards, actually- old ones that were found in Yael. They’d been preserved in a scrapbook in the cellar of someone’s home, and they were quite magnificent.’

  ‘Bigger than the cruise ship that’s in the Wastelands?’ I asked, excited. ‘And what was Yael like? I’ve heard that they were starting to grow cotton but….’ my stomach cramped up in realisation as suspicion flickered across Kohén’s face.

  Oh Larkin FUCK! Sam thought, but he covered his shock and horror well by throwing back a mouthful of wine and looking casual as all heck as he did it. Why don’t you sprout wings and flutter about now, hmm? Spell out your real name on his plate in salad dressing?

  ‘You have an interest in cotton reproduction?’ Kohén asked, forehead creased in confusion, and I knew that he’d been told that Larkin of Eden had shared a similar passion and that I’d just put myself and my little mission in grave danger. I’d been trying for years to repress memories of Kohén, but I’d been foolish to forget how sharp his mind was, and how hard it was to lie to him!

  But although I was as horrified with my faux pas as Sam and Bastien obviously were, I was still too numb to the edges of my emotions to let it take me over so I smiled a shy smile and ducked my head as I toyed with the lace edging around my bust.

  ‘I don’t know a thing about that kind of reproduction, but I’ve recently become a fan of the fabric. Cairo brought me home some lovely under things from his last voyage and I think they’re cotton, aren’t they?’ I looked up at Cairo, the picture of innocence. ‘The pale blue ones with the ribbons? I’m wearing them right now and they’re so soft. It barely feels like I’m wearing panties at all!’

  Bastien moaned in barely-concealed dismay and took a long drink from his own chalice while everybody else present gaped at me. And though the look in Cairo’s eyes told me that I was going to get spanked -hard- for making him an accomplice to this ridiculous seduction, he was enjoying watching me save myself from a slip of the tong
ue with a slip of the wiles and that was evident.

  ‘That’s right, darling, they’re cotton- as is this shirt.’

  I reached up and slid my hand down his chest, and my reaction to the feel of him under my palm did not need to be exaggerated. ‘It feels divine…’ I looked back at Kohén, who looked equal measures jealous and riveted. ‘Are you growing it in Arcadia yet? If so, I’ll encourage our king to establish a trade relationship with yours in order for more lingerie like this!’ I wet my lips, aware of the fact that Cairo had stopped breathing when my hand had begun to slide lower and lower down his long, muscular torso. ‘Is there anything in Raphael you’ve seen that you might like in exchange for such a luxury item, your highness?’

  ‘I need to use the men’s room,’ Sam said abruptly then, standing up and striding away from the table, his face as red as his hair, and I couldn’t help but smile as I squeezed Cairo but sent after Sam:

  Good idea. Get a hold of yourself, hmm?

  Look who’s talking!

  It was clear that I’d successfully diverted Kohén’s attention from my words to my charms, because he leaned forward with glowing blue eyes and said softly: ‘There are a lot of beautiful things that I’ve been dazzled by since I set foot in this kingdom, Erika, but unfortunately, Arcadia hasn’t attempted to grow cotton yet and Yael’s first crops were eradicated by boll-weevils, so I have nothing to offer you. However, I can imagine that a woman in your line of work would enjoy the luxury and feel of silk between her thighs so if you’d like-’

  ‘She doesn’t have a line of work, and I provide her with everything she needs, so may I suggest that you gift your own Companions with silk underwear, and leave the girls here alone.’ Cairo snapped, slapping my hand way from his hips before I could test the ‘effect’ I’d had on him, and then taking it firmly in his, resting our intertwined fingers on the table for all to see. ‘Especially this one, though you’ve made it rather plain that she’s caught your eye.’