The Forbidden Fruit
Author: S.K. Munt
Date: 2015-08-18 04:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Fantasy; Dystopia; Science Fiction; Romantic
Description: Tick tock The time for my release is approaching But my hopes of making it out of here as a free woman are diminishing with every passing second. Men can do beautiful things in the name of God or love- I've seen it. But they can do evil things for the same reasons too. And those who suffer not from love, but obsession? They're capable of the most heinous acts. And all a girl, who is the source for both conditions- love and obsession alike- is pray that someone- anyone- is watching over her. That someone is guiding them. That one person in this world will put her needs before their own. I'm not
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services

The

Forbidden

Fruit

The Eden Chronicles #2

S.K MUNT

Cover by S.K Munt

© 2015 S.K Munt all rights reserved

Font licensed

Follow me on Twitter https://twitter.com/skmunt25

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/skmunt?fref=ts

Tumblr:https://www.tumblr.com/blog/thearticu...

Wordpress: https://samanthamunt.wordpress.com

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/killerslim/

Instagram: thearticulatesk

Edited by Howard Parsons, Emm Cole and Donella Brown

To Howard Parsons, long-time book reviewer – soon to be published author. Congratulations on the imminent release of Urban Mermaid, and may the kindness you have bestowed upon other writers be returned three-fold with gracious words from your soon-to-be reviewers!

THE CREATION STORY

BOOK IV OF VI

THIS TEXT IS NOT TO BE EDITED, ALTERED, SUMMARISED OR TRANSLATED INTO ANY LANGUAGE. OFFENDERS WHO ATTEMPT TO WILL BE CHARGED WITH TREASON AGAINST CALLIEL AND PUT TO DEATH.

Religions had always insisted that God would obliterate mankind if they did not follow his rules, but God had never believed that he’d be moved to do anything so drastic until Los Angeles exploded. It was followed by Seattle, then Israel, then San Francisco, then and Tokyo, then and Paris and finally, several third-world capitals disintegrated as well. The nuclear war played out with no rhyme and millions of tiny reasons that confounded him, but made sense to the people pushing the buttons. The goal wasn’t to eradicate the largest populations, but to break hearts and yes, the people who watched the carnage unfold while unharmed on televisions in New York City and Beijing were absolutely devastated to see Miami, Melbourne, Auckland, Baku, Bristol and Dubai vaporised. Bombs were fired at New York City but divine intervention made it through in time to see it spared… for a while.

World War four would come to be known as the shortest war ever waged, but time meant little from the moment it started. The powerful radicals attacked at random and without reprieve for three days until the man in charge in Washington D.C sent back a bomb of his own which the world hoped would serve as the final word. The antagonistic nation who had released hell on earth ceased to be after America acted, but the final word was still coming and from a much higher power than the President of The United States.

God was not merely furious at the world- he was done with it. He was done watching people fight to have more than the other of what they’d been freely given. He was done with them taking his love and twisting it into something that was practically unattainable, and for all of his pious goodness- he was through sharing anything with Satan. Ignited to the point of detonation, he ordered his angels to go down and start looking for Satan’s minions, while he unleashed an Armageddon so vicious that she would either come out of hiding to challenge him, or have nowhere left to hide. Millions of souls were going to die but those that loved him would make it to Heaven, and those that didn’t would cease to be a burden upon the others. After, there would only be Heaven and Hell and no middle ground for them to fight over and if he played his cards right, Hell would disintegrate soon after when he smashed Satan’s spirit flat.

The angels didn’t want to see the world ended- Miguel especially who had been there from the beginning and wept to know that his Barachiel had become a hole in the ground full of toxic waste. He had settled there first, and his people had evolved from being the kind who worshipped the dirt beneath their feet, to some of the most thoughtless and shallow of all, and he knew that wouldn’t have happened if he’d stayed, or had set a better example in the very beginning.

Yes, the angels were heartsick, but they loved God and Heaven, and so they swooped upon the earth and used their now glorious reserves of power and energy to turn over every stone, looking for their fallen counterparts and destroying them, while God ripped chaos forth from the earth. First, he gave himself form again and then, he started eliminating all that he had created. He made the ground shake so that Satan’s buildings toppled, and he made the oceans heave and reclaim savaged shorelines for miles inland. He drew energy from the earth’s core, causing mountains and underground chambers of molten heat to explode and scald the earth, and he breathed fire and smoke, burning forests to the ground and then whipped up winds and rains to wash them clear after. The angels- both kinds- watched in astonishment as God made his power truly seen for the first time in three thousand years, and for many of the black-winged hellions, his light was so bright that they could not even turn to face him, and his ire so clear that many of them- the dark Nephilim without the power of their angelic parents especially- dropped to their knees and allowed the golden souls to best them, screaming their love for God with their lasts breaths and seeing their feathers turn white just before they were taken.

And it was not just the supernatural beings that saw this take place- humans everywhere were shocked, appalled and awed by God’s power and as they cried out their love, he cast them up into Heaven- growing stronger with each life that he took. Some lands were unpopulated, so God let them be, but people tried to hide in others, living off the land and cowering in their homes, but God sent forth plagues of locusts to swarm and destroy the crops to chase these people out of hiding and give them the chance to appeal to him. Satan he knew, could be anywhere but she’d certainly be with people, not hiding in some cavern alone and so he was going to find her if he had to end the life of every last person on earth with his bare hands, and take his time doing it.

Creating the world had taken a heartbeat, perfecting the world for the good of the human race had taken millions of years but in the end- destroying it took just over nine hundred days. People tried to survive, but word of God’s return spread, as well as being photographed, recorded and circulated until the humans saw that resistance was futile. Some lay down and waited for him to find them, others took their own lives and screamed their love for God first, others allowed the carnage to swallow them whole with open arms, but many fought back and God knew these were the unbelievers. He demanded their love but when they did not grant it, he left them to die or fend for themselves without wasting his time in convincing them, and he didn’t have the heart to destroy them to end their suffering. He had enough souls to fortify Heaven for an eternity, but if he wanted to wipe out Satan’s cancerous influence, he had to take out the source, not the people who were symptomatic of her hatred- those he would be able to handle all at once in the end.

Miguel had known where Satan was at the time of her ultimate betrayal, but by the time he returned to the earth, she was gone and he found himself drawn to the edge of the wasteland that had been Barachiel amidst the carnage. He was supposed to be looking for Satan and her black-feathered minions, but someone was calling out to him, and though he could not tell who it was for the chaos and millions fleeing the epicentre of the nuclear strike, he knew that he could not leave until he had answered that prayer. And so he salvaged soul after dying soul, making the bodies of the dead vanish while taking the souls of those dying, or those who asked for his help up to Heaven. He worked and worked and though he did not find the soul screaming to him by the name Saint Michael, the way that he heard it in his heart, he found many others in equal need and this distracted him from his mounting frustration.

But strangely, it was the survivors who he would have made a priority over the other mortals, who refused to give him the word that they loved God. Instead, they shooed him away and went back to what they were doing, determined to save and not be saved by the God they’d been told did not love them. Their actions were self-sacrificing and pious, but their hearts had hardened toward the lord long before and because Miguel did not want to see them taken up by Satan, he let them be and worked around them, praying that they would change their minds before the very end came.

One of the survivors was a young male trainee doctor, Korbin, who had set up a makeshift hospital in an abandoned building and was attempting to minister to over three hundred sick and dying people alone- and resented God because he’d lost his father to cancer at the age of nine and now his angel was trying to stop him from saving other children’s fathers too. There was also an elderly, ex-marine who was digging graves for the people who’d been left to rot in the earth, and he was furious to be stopped and laughed off Miguel’s pleas to love God, whom he had lost faith in, decades before during the Vietnam War. Another was an unattractive female scientist, Maryah, who wanted to stay and urge people away from ground zero to places that she believed might be safe, and when Miguel told her that there was no place safe left in the world, she spat at him and told him that she hadn’t stretched her brain to the limits of scientific exploration for her entire life, just to be told by a shirtless man wearing wings that he understood radiation better.

‘I know how fallout works, and where we will be safe from it too!’ she screamed. ‘Men- and religious men- you’re all the same! I suppose you’re going to try and tell me that dinosaurs never existed either, huh? Yes well, off you go!’ Miguel tried to correct her and point out the fact that his wings actually worked and that in itself was proof of God, but she started throwing rocks at him- big ones- and he left not only because he was laughing too hard, but because she was tiring herself further in her need to scare him off, and if he didn’t give her a chance to calm down, she would probably drop dead from exhaustion anyway.

Ironically, it was the first woman he’d ever met who didn’t fall at his feet, but she would not be the last and it was during the apocalypse that Miguel finally found a cure to his only flaw- his ego- because suddenly, people were lining up to tell him how useless and unappealing he was.

One of the girls who fought him off the most violently had run a great distance with a deceased infant in her arms, and did not think that she deserved to end up in Heaven, for having failed the child. When Miguel tried to grab her, she ran so fast away from him that in his fatigue, he could not keep up on human feet and so he sighed and vowed to find her later when he’d revived, if she survived. There was also a middle-aged man who had been building a structure to shelter survivors who couldn’t move from the acid rains and fallout that was surely coming, and resented being interrupted because he had cancer and was dying anyway, and there was an older, gay gentleman who refused to leave his deceased lover’s side. Instead, he had lain down beside him to hold onto love until the end came, believing that his way of life had barred him access to a heavenly afterlife anyway.

But the most exceptional case to Miguel was a frazzled and scrawny South American girl aged only sixteen, who screamed at him in a foreign language when he tried to pull her and her child away from a busload of trapped senior citizens. She was intent on opening the buckled door to let them all out, but Miguel pulled her back anyway, knowing that it was seconds away from exploding, and that everyone on board not only loved God and would get to Heaven, but had lived their human lives and were ready for their end.

‘Come with me, before Satan feels your loathing towards God and steals your soul!’ he cried, terrified beyond measure that her hysteria would certainly trigger Satan’s notice. He wanted the dark temptress to come to him of course, but not while this girl was within reach of her, and her child too! And because he still hadn’t found the person calling out to him with a weakening spirit, he started to worry that it was a Nephilim illusion of sorts that was leading him into a trap.

But the girl cried that Satan had already come to her but she had scared her away from her child, Rosa. Then she said that her life had forced her into becoming a prostitute at the age of thirteen, and a mother too, so God would not want her anyway.

‘Let me stay and be a mother, as both God and Satan decided that I must be!’ she screamed. ‘I will enter purgatory after, and deal with that as well as I have this mortal life without YOUR help!’ Miguel yanked her back at the last moment as the bus exploded, and earned himself a slap for his trouble that made him smile for the first time in years. She had Satan’s temper, but God’s bravery, which sort of made her more powerful and intimidating than any angel or Nephilim that he had ever met and now that he’d met her and saved her, he was ready to leave Los Angeles. He hadn’t found the person calling his name but the voice had silenced and that told Miguel that it was already too late to save the person and prayed that they had loved God enough to get to Heaven on their own.

Gabriella screamed when Miguel lifted her and Rosa up in his arms and took flight, but he did not let her go to damn herself or her child. He flew north with her until he found a place where she would be safe- a place where the radiation from Seattle’s obliteration would not be carried on the raging westerly winds, and a place so elevated that the rising ocean would not drown it. A place that was close to a forest that had not been burned, and where a river with burst banks sped by so rapidly that it was pouring over the edge of the cliff and into the tide below, coming from one of the few places left on earth where the water was still unpolluted. He deposited Gabriella and her child there, and then started going back for the other brave survivors. In the end, he had eleven, and a whole lot of ruckus! The souls he had saved were furious with him, but it wasn’t until Miguel touched Raoul’s dead lover’s forehead, that they all hushed enough to listen.

‘He is gay, like me,’ Raoul sobbed. ‘Emilio always tried to go to church but they wouldn’t let him in because of me, so if what you say is true, then Satan has already claimed him!’

But Miguel smiled and fingered the medallion around Emilo’s neck. Engraved into it was an image of an angel wrestling a dragon. ‘That is me, or a version of me as Saint Michael,’ he said, showing it to Raoul. ‘Your lover is the one who called me here, and if he has been dead for days as you said, then his faith and love for God was strong enough to get me to you even after his body had given up. So rest assured- he is in Heaven now, waiting for you to join him.’

Raoul wiped at his eyes. ‘Are you saying it’s all true?’

‘I am saying that there is a God, and he loves you all equally, regardless of how you lived,’ Miguel ran his hands over Emilio’s body, and the corpse vanished from sight, eliciting a gasp from the others. ‘But almost none of anything else you have ever heard is true, and it is Satan who he is angry with, not the people that she tried to turn against him. Anyone who has room for God in their hearts will end up safe in Heaven, after this form of purgatory is over.’

‘I love this planet,’ the scientist, Maryah whispered unhappily. ‘If he loved us, he would never take it from us.’

‘He isn’t taking anything that he won’t return to you tenfold,’ Miguel assured her, but barely any of them look comforted.

Raoul was the exception. He was so grateful to learn that God’s love could be extended to him despite his sexual preference, that he dropped to Miguel’s feet and gave his own love right then and there, but even though Miguel could have given him the touch and sent him to Heaven immediately, he hesitated and looked around to assess his beautiful surroundings, and the group of survivors who were now sharing it. They were sinners by their own definition, but heroes by their actions, and though the world was falling apart around them, Gabriella picked up a flower from the grass and leaned down so that her daughter could inhale the fragrance.

‘It’s beautiful, mummy,’ Rosa whispered, touching the petals. ‘Why would God want to ruin them by ripping apart the earth?’

‘To stop us from ruining it first,’ Gabriella whispered.

‘But I never pick flowers,’ the little girl said. ‘I wait for them to fall.’

‘That does not matter,’ her mother said, giving Miguel a murderous look. ‘Others have and so, we must now atone for that. All we can do now, is enjoy it while we are still here and ask ourselves if we can love God more than we love ourselves, or each other.’

‘Are there flowers in Heaven?’ the girl asked him, and all of the faces turned to Miguel who looked away.

‘There is no need for such things…’ he answered softly. ‘What you feel when you scent and touch one is just… there.’

‘Oh,’ the girl said, but she didn’t look any more convinced than he felt, and Miguel was thunderstruck by this exchange. Stopping to smell the roses was a common phrase, but Miguel realised that for all of Heaven’s glory, he had not done so for thousands of years, and he began to cry, knowing that God probably had not either. Only the angels who left paradise to spend time on the earth seemed to value it when they returned. Miguel- who had been lost in a loving, oblivious embrace of his daughter’s spirit for thousands of years- felt nothing there now. No sorrow no, but… nothing.

It’s not nothing, and you must curb these betraying thoughts! Heaven is everything! If that is now beyond compare to you, then it is you who is nothing!

Every one of these humans was exceptional to Miguel, but they were weary and angry and hungry and the north was rapidly freezing over, ensuring that an ice age would start before God ended it all. They’d all be better off in Heaven and now it seemed like they believed enough to be willing to go, and yet Miguel was compelled to keep them alive long enough for them to meet God as they were, and show him how despite all of their flaws, they were still capable of love and prepared to fight for their lives on a dying planet.

Perhaps, God could make them Soul Mates like me! Satan has many, and look how they fortified her! Maybe when this world is over, God can start a new one, the right way!

Then and there, Miguel decided to abandon his plans to find Satan until he had recuperated and healed his frayed wings, and settled with his survivors for a while, ensuring that they all had food, shelter and knowledge of what God was really like. He told them stories of Eden and Barachiel and Heaven by night, and they told him their own stories after, and eventually, he began to think of them as friends and they began to love God through him. During the days, he rested, waking only to intercept whatever crisis emerged, or to melt away the frost slowly creeping across the land from the north, and once a few months had passed and snow had started to fall in the middle of what should have been a warm fall afternoon, Miguel knew that the world was dying, and that he had fallen in love with the prostitute Gabriella, and her daughter.

They were nothing like Satan, Neveah, Heaven or Hell, but they were extraordinary to him for the strength of their will in the absence of power or privilege. They’d come from nothing but shared everything, and though they were relatively plain and weak to look at, they were funny and kind and bright and glowed with everything that was good in the world. When Miguel touched Gabriella’s scarred cheek for the first time without her striking him for it, he felt a soul almost as bright as Heaven’s, and a desire that shook him to the very core, and when she grew round with his child, he closed his eyes and farewelled Satan and God in the one prayer- he would not cry out for either of them again now that he had all any man could ever need, and he would not return to Heaven while his life was so blessed on Earth. He began erecting her a stone cottage while she planted a garden around it and together, they named it Eden.

‘We will die here,’ Miguel whispered to his love as she plucked strawberries from a vine. ‘And soon. You know that, yes?’

It was so cold that her breath decorated her words with misty clouds. She smiled at him and popped a strawberry into his mouth, looking prettier than she ever had in the glow of his love. ‘So long as we live here first.’

Everyone’s needs were catered to in Eden, so though no two individuals were alike in appearance or power or worth, they never fought over anything but what was best for them all. Everyone had a strength, and that strength gave them purpose and served them as a community. Amalie would run to look for survivors, Gabriella would sing with an old guitar to entertain them at night, others would build and as the group expanded, so did their tasks. It was like back in the beginning only this time, the people alive were too grateful for their existence to despair over what they did not have, for they’d known what having nothing was.

Miguel loved them all equally, but gave only his heart to Gabriella, and when his son was born, he named him Elijah. The name had two meanings- a harbinger who would come before the lord, and after the Pagan sky God, for when Elijah laughed for the first time, the clouds broke and for just one moment, sun shone through on the beautiful Nephilim boy and melted more of the snow.

Satan saw this while she was admiring the smoky, heavy skies and unfurled her wings, taking flight and following the light, thinking that only God could pierce such blackness with his golden aura- and that putting that light out was the only chance that the human race had left.

God had made the world, then he had changed it and now that he was disappointed with it and didn’t want it anymore, he had started to destroy it. But Satan wanted the world still- very much- if she could trick God into abandoning it before he vanquished it, it would be hers for the taking.

PART ONE

1.

Sneaking into the upper level of the north wing wasn’t the most inspired or well thought out plan that I’d ever had before in my life, so  when the handle on the entry turned easily for me, I didn’t know whether I’d struck it lucky, or if I was about to be struck by King Elijah The Second’s lightning. Still, I needed to get in there and the unlocked door made that easier, so I inhaled quickly and let myself in, pausing to scan the silent room before I dared ease the door shut behind me.

Oh boy oh boy… what’s the punishment for breaking in here again? A week locked in my room? Huh… that’s not so bad, unless I get whipped first!

The foyer was as cloaked in silence as it was luxury- the king of silence that suggested abandonment without so much the settling of furniture or echo of clattering cutlery, so after lingering by the door and eyeing off the salt and pepper bearskin rug on the floor as though it were a guard dog apt to bite me for a full moment, I exhaled lightly and crossed though the foyer and into the next room, clutching my book and the precious photocopies within it to my chest as I scanned the room for signs of danger.

Wow okay, so this was not what I expected...

I had tiptoed directly into what had to be the main living quarters for the royal family, and was not only thrilled to see it had been completely abandoned, but shocked to see that it was nothing like the rest of the castle. There were no dark corridors, no heavy stone furniture; everything was light and open and almost rustic in design, from the white timber table with its spray of spring-bright blooms on the centre of it, to the fireplace, which was as wide as three of the one in my own room (which I had not yet lit) and topped with a mantel carved in the shape of a white mermaid streaming across a wave on one side, and an angel taking flight on the other so that both figures curled up on the ends as though stretching for heaven. It was gorgeous, and the array of framed photographs arranged across the top of it were touching, and begged me to stop and examine them. They were all family shots: Constance between Elijah and his younger brother Ewan on their Joining day, Karol as a youth looking so much like Kohén now that I had to look twice, the duchess with both new-borns in her arms and most moving of all- a picture of the ten-year old twins on the sands of Caldera, grinning at me as if to say: ‘Play ball?’

It was easy to tell which was Kohén- not only because Kohl had his eye patch on, but also because he was MY Kohén and that had been my childhood best friend. I stepped up to the frame and touched his cheek dimple tenderly through the glass, and my eyes and nose began to sting.

‘Come again soon?’ Emmerly had asked.

‘Tomorrow,’ Kohén replied.

A sob escaped me, and I turned away.

Not now, Duckling! Keep it together!

The dining room was still set for breakfast but the plates look mostly untouched (no fruit there either) and when I walked across the formal lounge and looked out the rear window, I smiled to see that I had guessed right and Kohén, Kohl and their parents were all out on the lawn, surrounded by at least one hundred people who’d been let in to gawk at my statue, as well as a handful of the ‘special’ royal servants who should have been up there shooing flies off everybody’s breakfast in their golden aprons.

I moved closer and squinted down at the people below, trying to see if Karol was down there too but I couldn’t find him, and I smiled. I’d come upstairs seeking him on the instinct that he was the kind of guy who slept in and had breakfast delivered in bed on naked breasts, and it seemed like I was on the right track. Well, my breasts weren’t bare but they were obvious and I was serving myself to him on a platter so it was sort of the same thing. Either way, I felt cheap but prepared to face him down.

I momentarily stared down through the window, watching everyone admiring the statue, and was bewildered by how motionless and awed some of them looked, and how quickly the lawn had filled with people. Happy people. From above, it was pretty easy to see why we had handed the Barachiel family power. Everyone was clean and smiling and healthy. No one jostled roughly for the best spot, and kids stood watching patiently. The world really was a better place, and because of my influence on Kohén, this day had become miraculous to them.

This is… this is all because of me, right? This is the reach of my influence on this family or at least, the boys in this family? If I can get her here- what else can I do once I am free? Oh God Martya- give me strength like yours if you are watching over me!

Clearly everybody in Arcadia, and possible Calliel, had been aware of Lady Liberty’s relocation for the past five days and while I’d been locked in the east wing, and most of the castle had been working hard to make my birthday present comfortable. It must have been quite the spectacle, however they’d gotten her there, and the novelty probably wouldn’t wear off for months, if ever. I had a feeling that she would be on the front page of the next edition of the newspaper, which now came every two weeks, and that made me chuckle as I imagined a headline that would suffice: ‘Loss of liberty, gain of Liberty.’ ‘Prince spoils whore rotten!’ ‘Don’t lose hope yet, ugly women of the world!’

Okay so they probably weren’t going to word the story like that, but my statue would be the biggest news in the nation for weeks and I had a feeling that that had been Elijah’s motivation for agreeing to his son’s ostentatious request, and not because he treasured me so. Kohén would have barged into his office and made some passionate declaration to make a dream come true for me, and Elijah would have seen an opportunity to get the food shortage out of the headlines because as that creep Elbert Yael had said: money Arcadia had- finding food to purchase was the issue, so why not buy something awe-inspiring?

Would the world ever know that her move had been at a whore’s request? Possibly. It seemed like the sort of thing Elijah Barachiel would emphasise in order to hide the flaws in the caste system. ‘How dare you accuse me of hiding a cure for Locusts? I’ve been toiling away with my hands and knees all week to please a common hooker! See how equal we are? I am hungry too, but pride for my family I have in spades!’

But then again, he’d come off better if he’d said he’d done it for national pride, than for me. Although strangely, for all of the ill feelings I had towards Elijah now because of the Companion system, he’d never even frowned at me, not like his wife, or given any indication that I irritated him or was beneath him. Even when I’d been in trouble for discussing politics with the King of Yael, he’d still managed to look grudgingly proud of me for holding the other king’s attention for so long. So was that all an act, or I was a bug like Martya to him- one that needed to be squashed but was too clever to be allowed to see it coming? Could the descendant of angel be capable of such evil doings?

I glanced over at the abandoned plates of toast, and though I was fairly impressed to see that the royals weren’t eating anything as lavish as my Danishes, anger spiked inside me at the sight of the gold-edged china. I picked up a slice of buttered toast from a plate beside a juice glass with lipstick on it, and dropped it on the rug beneath the table, before picking it up and putting it back on the plate- fuzzy side down. Then, I moved to the plate next to it, which had a pipe beside it, and took a bite out of Elijah’s half-eaten toast. Chewing and moaning for how good the creamed cheese tasted (we hadn’t seen strawberry jam or marmalade for awhile either), I glanced over at the other two settings, deciphered which was Kohén’s by the pair of cufflinks sitting on the napkin beside it and then drank half of his juice before moving the toast around so that the better-looking ones were on Kohl’s plate.

Satisfied that I had treated the royal family by ranking them as they would us in the Given suite, I turned in a semi-circle, trying to work out which beautiful door was the one to the heir-apparent’s boudoir. Following my instincts again, I walked straight past the dining and lounge rooms and passed two locked doors, and then paused in yet another living space, which housed a grand piano, and to my absolute befuddlement- a television!

‘Okay… what?!’ I hissed and stomped over to it, needing to touch it to make sure it was real because its presence in the Barachiel living room made even less sense than the statue of Liberty standing on the west coast six hundred and fifty years after she’d fallen. I bent and looked for buttons to touch but there was nothing: the screen was black but when I peered around the back, saw that a power lead snaked it’s way to the wall, and was on, and another cord was going into the roof! I stood up, looking around suspiciously as though I expected to find a TV guide and a stack of what they’d called ‘discs’ but there was no sign that the television had ever been used. Was it just a conversation piece, like the grand piano in the corner? Or was I going to walk on and discover a garage full of working cars and a fast-food restaurant too?

I was in an indignant mood, but not so silly as to actually plonk myself down in front of the television to see if it worked, so I vowed to work the subject into what would be one of many stilted conversations between Kohén and I to come, and tried the first door on the right. It opened into a very simple space: a bedroom with a two-person, neatly-made sleigh bed carved from mahogany, a roll-top desk in the same timber, and absolutely no sign of personalisation anywhere, except for the packing trunk on the floor. Whoever lived in here was neat and transient and I knew that it had to be Kohl. I went over to the trunk and lifted the lid before slipping a token of my affection inside the inner pocket, along with the last of the writing paper that Kelia had stencilled for me on my fourteenth birthday, and ran my hand down a worn-looking pair of denim jeans, trying to imagine how Kohl would look in something like that and then, with a skipping heart, my Kohén. Tears threatened so I closed the lid and left the room, closing the door quietly behind me and looking around once more. This was the youngest, temporary brother’s suite, so, which was the eldest’s?

I heard it then- the door turning to the entrance of the formal living room and I squeaked and dove for the closest door, praying that it wasn’t Kohén’s because if he walked in and found me waiting for him on his bed, I’d be in serious trouble! And not the GOOD bad kind but the sleazy kind. As I was running for it, I realised that I’d never seen Kohén’s room before, and the thought gave me a pang and also a twinge of excitement. In the books I’d read, best friends lived in each other’s bedrooms, but a grey area for had separated him and me so long that we’d convinced ourselves that it was a normal shade of our otherwise colourful life.

I closed the door quietly behind me, trying to think of a decent explanation for being in Kohén’s room that wouldn’t get me slobbered on again, and the bored voice spoke as soon as I did, making me freeze:

‘Are they delighted beyond measure?’ Karol asked, as though he already knew the answer.

‘They are,’ I said as calmly as I could, sort of impressed with myself for having been spot on with the locational instincts, if not dead wrong about the conditions.

I was in Karol’s room and so was he, but he wasn’t in bed licking sugar-dusted strawberries off a Companion- he was bent over a stately desk, reading. Around him, his bedroom (once again nice, but no fancier than mine) was in shambles. Everywhere I looked there was a half-packed trunk or storage crate- but the Prince had clearly gotten distracted mid-packing and had settled in to read instead and was apparently so engrossed that he hadn’t yet looked up and hadn’t managed to get any inflection in his tone either. I knew that pose- he was either lost in words, or feigning it to make the intruder buzz off. And because curiosity hadn’t quite managed to kill this cat yet I couldn’t help but ask: ‘Why do you guys have a television? I can see that you live as nicely as most people in Arcadia and so I believe that you are not spoiled unfairly… but a TV?’

He looked up then and when he saw me standing there, hugging a book to my chest and shifting from foot to foot, his eye colour shifted from the palest green to an emerald. For a moment he just stared at me, and I was so interested in the answer to the question that I forgot the whole reason why I was there and waited patiently why he tried to arrange his dazzling features into a suitable expression to convey how out of place I was there.

‘Am I having that dream again?’ he asked, turning to look beside him as though the sandman was there, waiting to consult with. Then, he looked back at me and shook his head a little. ‘Wait… what?’

‘Why do you have a television?’ I asked, jerking my thumb to the closed door behind me. ‘Do you have cable too? Wi-Fi? Is the expense of owning one the reason why you don’t have any Danishes, or is the bangle on Emmerly’s arm that’s got you living so modestly?’

Karol blinked, rising. ‘How do you even know words like Wi-Fi?’

‘I read.’ I tapped the book in my hands with one polished fingernail. ‘See?’ Then I nodded to his open book. ‘You too? Huh. I’ve got to admit, that surprises me.’

Karol’s eyes darkened again and he stepped away from his desk chair. ‘Is the girl who just snuck into a forbidden wing actually insinuating that I’m stupid?’

‘No,’ I said, though I had been. ‘I just heard that people got hooked on television and it rotted their brains in the time before, so reading went out of style.’

Karol’s lip twitched. ‘It’s not a television so much as it is a monitor, Larkin. A security monitor…’

I felt the air on my eyeballs. ‘You have surveillance cameras?! In which rooms?! Oh I KNEW that Kohén was cheating at hide and seek!’

But Karol chuckled. ‘Not in the rooms, no- Santa didn’t get that Christmas Wish-’

‘Santa Claus was a fallen Nephilim who turned hearts away from another overblown Nephilim,’ I reminded him, ‘and Kohén told you that you’re not allowed to flirt with me anymore.’

Karol raised his palms. ‘Who said I wished for it to be in your room?’ I rolled my eyes but he grinned and went on: ‘And to answer your question, we have thirty-four cameras in Arcadia- all of which are directed to face the surveillance fences so that we can monitor the activity outside of the city’s perimeters…’ his lip twitched. ‘And yes, Kohén most likely used them to cheat in hide and seek because I taught him to do that long before you came along to catch Coaxley and father.’

‘Are they there to watch people trying to get in?’ I asked. ‘Or out?’

‘Both,’ Karol said matter-of-factly. ‘And don’t even give me that invasion of privacy look- do you know how many heinous people have tried to breech those fences in the past to get in and cause trouble?’

I swallowed, remembering the man who’d had designs on stealing me. ‘I do, actually.’

‘Good then, so I don’t have to explain myself. We take security seriously Larkin- and that makes it easier for us to be more lax with punishments. If a murderer doesn’t get to sneak in to Arcadia a second or third time, we don’t have to take drastic measures.’ He began to walk toward me and stopped a meter or so away. ‘And now that we’ve straightened everything out, can I ask what the hell you’re doing in my room without permission… and in piggy tails?’

My heart skipped a beat- I’d been so caught up in the conversation that I’d forgotten my purpose for coming again and now that I was remembering it, I was feeling a bit intimidated by my own ambition. But it wasn’t for the first time. In fact, being more ambitious than I ought to have been was a condition I’d been suffering since birth and seeing as how I wasn’t being cured of it, I’d resigned to the fact that I may as well just see it through.

‘I came to see you,’ I said frankly, and frank interest was the look I got in return. I relaxed my book and let it slide down my hip until my arm was hanging at my side, and then bit my thumbnail of the other hand, making my eyes look as big and vulnerable as I could manage. ‘Is that okay? I didn’t know how to find you without alerting Kohén to the fact that I wanted to see you alone so…’ I dropped my eyes and tried to look sorry, and though I felt like a complete idiot, when I looked up again through my lashes, I was pleased to see that his pupils had dilated. ‘I mean…’ I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and aimed for self-conscious bunny-wabbit. ‘I… I can go and summon you officially if I have to-’ I turned to move and when his fingers wrapped around my arm, holding in the grin was almost impossible.

‘It’s fine Larkin,’ Karol’s voice had dropped an octave, and he rubbed my arm, fixing me with a concerned look that was every bit as fake as my self-consciousness was. His eyes drifted from mine, to my hair, then down to my chest and then back up again. ‘I had cause to speak with you this morning anyway, and my door’s always open for you- you know that.’

Cause to do what… apologize perhaps? Or gloat?

‘I do?’

He smiled his flagitious smile. ‘You do now.’ He glanced at my hair again and I saw him swallow. ‘What did you need?’

‘I need to trust you,’ I responded quickly, keeping my voice soft and feminine as Maryah had taught us to do. I widened my eyes a little and added: ‘And I need you to keep what I say between us… it’s a confession of sorts, and one with possible ramifications for me that I couldn’t bear to...’ I lowered my head and sighed, shaking my head. ‘I’m so scared…’

‘Don’t be,’ his voice was as silken and sticky as cobwebs, ‘I’m sure that I can help. But tell me first… does Kohén know that you’re here?’

‘No,’ I whispered, and let my lip tremble. ‘This is the first thing I’ve ever felt the need to keep from him, and I feel sick about it but I know that you’re the only man in Arcadia with the power to…’ I bit my lip. ‘I mean, you’re the only one who can…after I woke up this morning I realised…’

Karol’s eyes flared and he leaned against the door, blocking my exit while caging me in. And he was so tall and broad that I did feel caged. ‘Just say it, Larkin,’ he whispered. ‘My power has limits, but my mind has always managed to find a way around those limits…’

‘Really?’ I breathed, trying to look hopeful.

He dragged his teeth across his lower lip. ‘Actually yes- just last night I gave the girl of my wet dreams her first orgasm, even though I’m forbidden from making advancements on her for another five years.’

Okay yeah, he wanted to gloat...

‘Well then…’ I said, for nothing else to say that wouldn’t get me whipped.

‘I’m damned well, for it.’ He rubbed my arm again and this time, he did so slowly and smoothly, and left his hand lingering near my breast. ‘So tell me what you need from me now, and I’ll do whatever I can in my power to help- and then some.’

I smiled and moved into him. ‘Is it true that you’re leaving tonight for Janiel?’

Karol’s brows pulled together in confusion. ‘Yes… why?’

I inched in closer. ‘Are you going alone? Or are you permitted to take… servants?’

Karol blinked. ‘Why do you ask?’

I bit my lip and said. ‘There’s a servant who needs to go with you. She’s in trouble, and if she’s left behind…’ I reached up and touched his hair, brushing it behind his ear and almost jumped when his entire body folded in toward mine like a magnet had been activated. What was with this guy? Did he know what a lousy, reluctant lay I’d be? ‘Well, I don’t even want to think of how she’ll suffer. But if you take her with you- you’ll be rewarded for it, that I can promise you.’

‘Larkin!’ Karol had the grace to look shocked. ‘That’s a VERY big request! What’s brought this about?’

‘Sex, and the need to express love with someone you love…’ I let my finger trail down his jaw. ‘And the need to keep it hidden. You understand THAT kind of need, don’t you? Please… tell me you can help me!’

Karol stared at me. ‘Are you CERTAIN that I’m not dreaming?’

I leaned in and kissed his cheek, aware of the energy misting around us, and though I’d intended to create such a charge, I was a little startled to know that I could be this close to him without throwing up. I’d counted on my skin crawling to be close to his, and yet there was nothing repugnant about his aura. In fact, he was warm, and his scent was pleasant enough to make my nostrils twitch. ‘No, your highness,’ I whispered. ‘You are very much awake…’ I trailed my finger along his sharp jaw. ‘And if you tell me that you can find a way to take a servant along, I will show you just how grateful I am, by making another dream of yours come true...’ my voice was soft, and my touch softer yet and a slight green glow blazed along the underside of his jaw, making me feel powerful. Actually, it made me feel like Scarlet O’Hara.

‘Fuck…’ Karol looked down at me and groaned. ‘So help me but I’ll find a way, if that’s what you want.’ He rotated and pressed me to the door, resting one hand on either side of my shoulder to pin me under him. ‘Actually, there’s not much I wouldn’t do, to make you look at me the way you’re looking at me right now, little swan...’

I wet my lips as his leaned closer. ‘Really?’ He was about to kiss me, and damn it, but my heart was pounding.

‘Really…’ he whispered, and there was coffee on his breath intermingled with the scent of peppermint toothpaste, sharp and warm. In another life, as rankled as I was with Kohén and hell-bent on vengeance, I could have lifted my mouth to his beautiful older brother’s, just to feel something. And as it was, the way he touched his lips to the corner of my mouth in a prelude to a kiss was smooth enough to momentarily distract me from the fact that I hated him.

But not smooth enough.

‘Thank God…’ I wrapped my arms around his neck and then leaned back and said brightly: ‘In that case- I need you to take a servant, a guard and their two children! And if anyone tries to change your mind, you need to stand your ground like the powerful man you claim to be, okay?’ I paused, smiling winsomely. ‘And then some!’

Karol pushed off me, looking like I’d just dumped a bucket of ice water on his too-big erection, and I tensed, prepared for the fight of my life.

2.

I’d never had someone look at me the way Karol was looking at me before- like I was so asinine that he was going to rip the meat off my bones with his teeth.

‘Excuse me?!’ he barked. ‘Are we having the same conversation here?’

‘Of course,’ I said loftily. ‘I told you that I needed you to take a servant across the country and YOU said that you could take a few!’

‘I thought that you meant you!’ he snapped, and his eyes were forest-black now. ‘Why would I take another? And how DARE you bait me with the offer of sexual rewards only to… for fuck’s sake Larkin!’ He zoomed in and smashed me back against the door. ‘Do you think I’m the kind of man you can just toy with?!’

‘I don’t know why you’d assume that I’d have sex with you when that would be against the law,’ I said, holding his gaze steadily even though I was trembling with fright. ‘I came to you for help, but it’s not for me... it’s for my maid, Lindy.’

‘What?!’

‘She’s pregnant,’ I whispered, and his eyes bulged again so I began speaking rapidly. ‘Yes, with her third and yes that’s against the law and yes you could have me banished for trying to get you to break that law for me but… but I meant it when I said that I needed you! And if you help me get her out of Arcadia so that her poor child won’t be taken from her and Coaxley I will return the favour with one of my own! And I have something you want!’

‘Something I’m tempted to take for free right now to set you straight over who needs whose favour here!’ he ranted, and I shushed him, but he gave me a rotten look and turned away. ‘No, okay? I’m sorry that you’re upset about your friend and I must admit that I’m rather fond of the Trevasse family, and it will hurt me to have to hold them accountable for this… but the law is the law, and a prince has a responsibility to his nation!’

‘But it’s not just Lindy and Coaxley who are in trouble here!’ I protested, my eyes filling with tears as I followed him. ‘It’s a baby, Karol! A poor little baby! What they’ve done was an accident and it’s illegal but it’s not immoral, or every kingdom in Arcadia would have a two-child law- but they don’t! If you get her transferred to Janiel or Yael before the child is born then they won’t be law-breakers, the kid will be raised with parents who love her the way I wasn’t, and you WILL be my hero.’

‘Your heroes get cold beds, big debts and dashed hopes,’ Karol muttered, motioning out the window and towards my statue.

‘They also get devoted friends,’ I whispered tearfully. ‘And Lindy is the only mother I’ve ever known. Karol… please…’

He looked back at me and frowned. ‘You think I’m going to drown in your tears after being blinded by your feigned attraction?’

I sniffled. ‘We’re taught to seduce you, your highness, but to keep the tears in at any cost. I assure you, these are genuine, and if her baby is taken from her, or if she dies…’

‘Dies?’

I leaned against the edge of the desk and hugged my book tightly. ‘She’s only six months along and she’s been having complications for days. If she doesn’t get help soon-’

‘The problem will be solved!’

I shot him a look and he actually lowered his eyes. ‘There’s that skeleton of yours again,’ I said, and pushed off the desk. ‘Serves me right for believing that maybe you had at least one redeeming quality. How you manage to heal with an ice-cold heart is beyond me!’

‘Don’t…’ he said, and he sounded tired. ‘Honestly, Larkin, you just don’t get it. Yes I can get her out of here but I couldn’t do so with a good conscience- not only would I have to lie to my parents, but I’d be making an exception that I couldn’t repeat for someone equally as kind and equally as devoted to someone else, as Lindy is to you.’ He stepped towards me and held out his hands. ‘And if I could wriggle anyone out of the binds of our kingdom’s laws, little swan, it would be you I released anyway- not Lindy.’ He crossed his arms. ‘But the end result is the same- I can’t break a law that’s been put in place to benefit Arcadia.’

‘You’ll just bend the ones to fit them into your harem?’ I accused. ‘Not two minutes ago you were willing to screw me from here to Janiel-’

‘I wouldn’t have slept with you, or come onto you out of loyalty to Kohén and to adhere to your contract,’ he retorted, and managed to look me straight in the eye when he did. ‘I was just excited by the opportunity to make you fall for me so as soon as you turned twenty-one, you’d come to me as I’ve asked and with a bounce in your step.’ He sat on the desk next to me, looking weary. ‘But I have to be a leader, Larkin, and a fair one, to honour Miguel Barachiel. For every third born child handed over to us, there is one less hungry mouth to feed and one more job being done by someone who has been fed and cared for. I know it doesn’t seem fair but I’ve read about countries that existed before us where the people bred like rabbits and produced millions of starving children. And whether my father likes to acknowledge or not- Calliel is already struggling to feed those we have allowed to be born so far, and nowhere more than Yael, where they have no farming industry to speak of to support their relaxed laws.’ He looked me in the eye and said: ‘Lindy will lose her child to the Given, but that child would be cared for. And hey…’ he slapped my shoulder. ‘There are no Barachiel’s being born this year, so at least you don’t have to worry about it ending up in a Harem, five years from now.’

‘Do you think Kohl would agree that being fed was compensation for being loved?’ I demanded, taking his hand off my shoulder. ‘Because I don’t!’

‘You’ve never been starving, and neither has my indentured little brother. And to answer your question from earlier, yes we’ve been eating plainer food up in this wing lately, so that you ladies don’t cease to be spoiled. It’s not love, but it is consideration.’

‘You’ll still be the last ones to starve and you know it, and if you are a true leader, you’ll seek no comfort from that,’ I said standing and turning on him, ‘unless you help me.’

Karol gave me a condescending look. ‘You think Lindy’s unborn child is going to solve the locust issue?’

‘The locust issue is solved!’ I said. ‘But I’m only going to give you that solution if you get that entire family out of Arcadia. Tonight- before you leave. And I won’t hear you begging slippery roads or blizzards either- your royal ass will be safe, and so if they go with you, they’ll be safe too with no ‘accidental,’ carriage accidents.’

Karol ran his hands through his hair, looking exasperated. ‘What’s this new nonsense?’

‘It’s not nonsense, and if you don’t believe me- listen and decide for yourself, for I received a very interesting letter this morning.’

Karol sighed again. ‘We don’t get mail on Sundays.’

‘I know. This wasn’t posted- it was left for me by a dead girl six months ago.’ Karol’s brow rose again and I smiled tightly, opening the book. ‘Would you like to hear Martya’s final words to me Karol? Or shall I post it to Elbert Yael instead? Because I won’t be going to your father if you can’t help me, and the letter explains precisely why.’

Karol sat back down on the desk. ‘Read it,’ he said tersely. ‘Now.’

I smiled and looked down at the page, wondering if I was about to become a hero, or be cast into the Wildwoods forever.

You’ve got a royal flush honey- so sit then show!

‘Dear Larkin…’ I began, my voice trembling. ‘I hope this letter finds us both in a position where we can laugh off my paranoia, but as I write it, I am frantically packing to leave Eden forever, and I am feeling equal measures of triumph, paranoia and hysteria, so forgive me if I sound a little crazy but… but just in case I don’t make it to St Miguel, here is a copy of the real formula for the locust panacea, because the one I have handed to the king is missing one crucial ingredient and-’ I glanced up at Karol and saw that he was staring at me with wide eyes, ‘-it’s yours. Look, this is going to come off as confusing but… You should know that King Elijah threatened me before I left.’ I heard Karol breathe in sharply, but I went on. ‘It may very well be an empty threat and should be, because my formula will work, and I know it will work because it’s not just this field I practiced it on, but my grandmother’s as well.

My mother, as you knew, grew up on their farm near Rachiel, and the fact that they’ve been so devastated by locusts is my driving reason for curing the problem. So after I worked out this formula, I sent the ingredients to them in concentrate to try, and learned this very afternoon that it worked- their farm was the only one spared in that entire region after these past two weeks. Theirs, and our dear little garden.’ I looked up at Karol again and was greeted with wide green eyes. I cleared my throat and went on. ‘So I have created a cure to end the last of God’s apocalyptic wrath, and something tells me that it’s a cure that the king needs more than he’s let on. When I saw our garden this afternoon I realised what a valuable secret I had, and that handing it over to one man could be an error… and the way that he just treated me for misspeaking, well, I fear that I am too smart for my own good.’

‘I’ve never been one to mince words but I will do so now- Elijah took me aside and whispered that if I was lying, I would pay for it dearly, and that there is a room in the harem where such punishments can be carried out- a room in which no one will think my screams amiss or of terror, rather than pleasure and it wouldn’t matter if I had a contract or not so long as he had charges to lay against me.’ My voice trembled and when I glanced at Karol again- my suspicions were confirmed because he looked positively sick. ‘But then he added that I wasn’t the kind of girl whose screams he craved, so I should be very careful about who I embarrass in the future- because exceedingly-rational girls tend to make the most ill-advised choices when they finally give in to their emotions; choices which turn out to be their last.’ Karol groaned but I went on, my voice shaking now that I’d put myself in the position to end up in such a room with three out of four of the Barachiel men. ‘Needless to say this rattled me but I’d been prepared for such a thing- clever little duck that I am, I’ve written down the formula for this cure only twice. One is missing two key ingredients and is in Elijah’s hands now that he’s torn up my contract, and the other is written over the next page. If I make it to St Miguel alive, I’ll send a correct formula to King Elijah immediately and hopefully, become a renowned scientist in the next few years- one who knows that she has earned her King’s respect rather than his ire. But if I do not, and my forthright way of talking has already sealed my fate, then you need to take this formula and guard it with your life because it is your ticket out of here.’

‘Oh my God…’ Karol whispered.

I swallowed, and there were tears in my eyes now. ‘I know that you and Kohén are in love, and I know that one day, you will believe it will work out and sometimes, I think it could too. Sometimes, I watch you and Kohén play and think that the world would have been a perfect place if it had been you and he alone in the Garden of Eden, for your souls shine so brightly when you are together that it can blind even the shrewdest mind into believing that it has seen a miracle,’ my voice broke but I went on. ‘I do not question why he loves you dearly, for I love you dearly, and your ability to maintain your self-possession all of these years while being Kohén’s clear favourite has inspired me. Truth be told, were it not for you, I would have given up the books and taken up the lipstick long ago, but if the ugly duckling can become a swan, maybe the smart girl can learn to have faith in more than mathematical formulas.’ My voice wobbled but I breathed past it. ‘But listen to me carefully Larkin; if our kind king could talk to me the way he did, then there are no limits to what these so-called angelic Barachiels are capable of doing in order to maintain control, so if I do vanish off the face of the earth and find this please, don’t take it to any of them- they cannot be trusted, not even Kohén for he has more to gain from your imprisonment than anyone, even if he does not feel that way right now. Make a copy of it, hide it somewhere, and then go to King Elbert, or Elliot Bronx, for they will be the most desperate for it. And then get the hell out of there before my influence rubs off on you, and you become too smart to survive within a man’s paradise as well!’ I looked up again and Karol had his face in his hands. ‘I must go now for Coaxley is coming for my things but please Larkin, try to laugh this off if you find it after I write you to tell you I am fine, and do not judge the king too harshly for making such awful threats. These men carry the world on their backs, and God’s faith in mankind and they must do it while closing their hearts off to love and being besieged by energies that we cannot fathom as pure mortals. I am probably only being foolish, but if I’m not… think the absolute worst, and save yourself.’ I wiped at my nose. ‘Love always, your best friend, Martya L.Rice.’

There was an awful silence after I’d finished, but Karol’s laboured breathing could not be mistaken.

‘Is there a room in a harem where a girl could be expected to scream in pain masquerading as pleasure?’ I asked.

‘Yes.’ Karol looked up at me, and his eyes were brighter than any emeralds. ‘Did you make a second copy of that formula and hide it before you came up here?’

‘Yes,’ I said.

‘Are you going to give THAT one to me?’

‘Are you going to get Lindy out of here? Coaxley and their children too?’

‘Yes.’ He paused, as I wilted in relief, studying me gravely. ‘Do you believe that I will? You must know that I can’t agree until you give me that book: letter, formula and all to protect my family.’

‘I know,’ I said.

‘But your best friend, who did die en route to St Miguel just told you not to trust me. Opting to save your friends instead of yourself would make her most unhappy- and for all you know, I could have you killed the moment that book is in my hand, or them.’

‘I trust you,’ I said, lifting my head.

‘But not Kohén?’

‘No.’

‘Why?’

‘Because you’re not in love with me,’ I answered simply. ‘And for all the sins man can commit in hatred- the ones they will do for love are the worst.’

Karol stared hard at me. ‘But… but you could save yourself with this!’

‘That would be selfish.’ I moved towards him. ‘And not the smartest choice for me. If I stay here there’s a chance- a real chance- that I could do something great with my life. But Lindy… family is her only happiness, and I can’t bear to see her go through what my mother did.’

‘So that’s it?’ he demanded. ‘You throw away your only chance at freedom to save a middle-aged woman who treated you kindly?’

‘No, not just that. I do have one more stipulation.’

Karol narrowed his eyes at me. ‘And that would be?’

I handed him the book. ‘That you share the formula. If you open a factory to produce it in large quantities then yes, I expect you to sell it. But you will do so at production price with one coin extra- money that will go the Given Corps to make their lives a little more comfortable until the caste is eradicated. But only they will profit from this- not the crown- not at the expense of all of those hungry people that third-borns are being sacrificed to save.’

Karol’s mouth opened slightly wider before he said: ‘My father will throttle me! This is the most valuable secret in the world and King Elbert would no sooner share it than my father would, not for nothing!’

‘So be better than all of them, and prove that your family name is as worthy now as it was six hundred years ago. Besides, it’s one copy of the most valuable secret in the world- and the other is in the last place you’ll ever think to look for it- and with someone who will benefit even more than you will, by revealing it.’ I said quickly. ‘If you don’t share it, I will have it mailed to the newspaper, but if you do, you’ll not only prove what that skeleton of yours is made of, compared to your father’s, but you’ll earn my trust and the nation’s respect.’

‘I… I don’t think I can go behind his back like that!’

‘You will be acting regent, so it won’t be behind his back but as your duty! And you will be so worshipped for curing this problem- with Martya’s name credited for it, of course: you have to say that she left this for you to find- that he won’t be able to touch you.’ I stepped closer into him, feeling nervous for the first time for I knew that as strong as a man could be, his parents opinion of them and his people’s would always count more than his own. ‘Karol please- I know this is scary but take it from a girl who lost her God-given right to be a mother yesterday for your pleasure… things can be scarier.’ I swallowed hard as I prepared myself to twist the key into the lock and seal my fate. ‘Do this- save the world from hunger and if you do… and if in five years from now, Lindy’s family is alive and well and this cure in effect… I will show you my gratitude.’

Karol’s thick eyelashes lifted. ‘What?’

‘When I’m released at twenty-one, whether it as Kohén’s used whore or a free woman who he no longer has need for… prove me right in trusting you and I will come to you before I leave, willingly.’

‘You’ll…’ he pushed his dark hair off his forehead. ‘You’ll lie with me? Willingly?’

‘It will be my pleasure,’ I whispered, ‘and my promise.’

He frowned at me, but his eyes were practically misting over from the sudden humidity wafting off his countenance. ‘You think if you get out of here unmolested, Kohén won’t want you for himself?’

‘He can’t have me for himself,’ I said coldly, remembering Emmerly wearing only a sheet, and he wearing her lip-gloss. ‘Law states that the future queen or duchess must be fertile, and I will not be. Kohén has big dreams for us, but you and I both know that that is one thing that will not change.’

And as he gave his virginity to someone else, I will do the same if I can!

‘Is that the reason why he can’t have you?’ Karol asked slowly. ‘Or is the fact that he had someone else last night the reason?’

I returned his gaze steadily. ‘You Barachiel men have the right to dictate who I can give myself to and when… but with Kohén’s graciousness, I get to say why. It will be for true love, or because I know that it is the only option. True love doesn’t turn to a whore, and I’m fairly certain that the only thing that will motivate a man like you to do the right thing by me for the next five years to follow through on your promises, is the promise that I will come to your chamber.’

‘But if you give your virginity to me, you won’t be eligible to be married until you’re thirty!’

‘I won’t want to be married if I leave here without Kohén’s love, and he’s already lost mine so…’ I swallowed back tears, knowing that was true- how could I ever love anyone now that I’d known a boy like Kohén? Not even Kohl would compare. ‘So I will lie with you.’

Karol took my arm and pulled me to him, widening his knees to let me in. ‘Do it now!’

Something cold kissed the base of my spine. ‘What?!’

‘We already know that you’re going to break his heart for breaking yours already, and I suffer from impatience as he does… so do it now!’ He stroked my piggy tail. ‘Take off that dress, celebrate this with me and I will give you my word that Lindy and her family will be safe and that this cure will be shared for the benefit of the world.’

‘No,’ I said, shaking my arm loose.

‘Why? If Kohén gets to you first-’

‘He promised me that he would not!’ I hissed, trying to sound angry so he wouldn’t hear my fear. ‘And he’s proven himself honest so far, even if it’s broken my heart to watch him seek out other options! I gave him my word to stay and to be faithful to him, not just when I moved in here and signed that contract, but several times since- to my best friend! I won’t betray him for you, the nation or myself so do not ask it of me Karol.’ I poked his chest. ‘Besides, what sort of idiot hands over her chips before the hand has been dealt? If I slept with you now the only threat I’d have left is to tell everyone who will listen that your father murdered Martya five years from now-’

‘You don’t know if that is true!’ Karol looked white again, and his knees released me reflexively. ‘She said it could have been an empty threat, and the people who attended the scene said it had been an accident, and father hasn’t used that room for years!’

‘Very interesting points!’ I hissed. ‘Shall I go downstairs and discuss it with the other girls in the harem to see what they think? Or shall I just wait and bring it up at the next town meeting in front of Shep?’

He blanched, but the light in his eyes remained on. ‘You haven’t told anyone this?’

‘Outside of you, no! Why would I? If I was wrong, discussing it could be seen as slander against the crown, and that could get whoever I told banished as well as me!’

‘That’s… right.’ He blinked, looking dazed.

‘It was in the guidelines, along with the picture of the woman being held by her ankles.’ I said sassily. ‘Besides, I wanted to know if that room was true before I breathed a word of warning. By the way- that’s to be mentioned in harem training from now on, and a full tour of the vicinity needs to become standard from here out- because it’s just icky and immoral to surprise us with whips and chains!’

Karol gave me a speculative look. ‘Would you like to write down your increasing list of demands?’

‘No!’ I said brightly. ‘I trust you to remember all three of them, by the rewards offered for each if nothing else.’ I ticked off my fingers ‘One: Take Lindy to safety in exchange for the formula. Two: Share the formula or know it will be forwarded to the King of Rabia in exchange for safe passage out and three, keep Lindy safe and include the dungeon training in our syllabus, and if you do- I’ll come to you in gratitude when I am released.’

Karol’s eyes narrowed to slits. ‘And we thought Martya was the clever one!’

‘No one thought a damned thing about me aside from my ugliness until I showed up in that swan dress,’ I growled. ‘Now I’m TELLING you what to think and you’d better listen Karol. I don’t know if your father killed Martya and I really don’t want to believe it’s true. But the threat is enough to blacken his name, the formula is enough to save the country to your credit, and the offer to come to your chamber hopefully appeals to the darker side of your nature enough for you to give the good in you focus enough to function for the next five years and leave me alone. So think very carefully before you try and haggle me down, because after what I went through last night I am already at rock bottom, got it? I’ll start slinging mud from hereon out!’

Karol stared at me for a long moment but then finally shrugged and said: ‘Fine.’

I blinked, breathing heavily from having given him what-for. ‘What?’

‘I was testing your loyalty to Kohén, and the worth of your word,’ he explained calmly, turning away. ‘Now I’m satisfied, so go seek out your friend and tell her to- very quietly- have her and her children’s family’s things packed for departure tomorrow morning. And while you’re doing that, I’ll let mother know who I’m taking with me.’ He closed the book on his desk and when I saw the title Gone With The Wind, my eyes almost popped out of their sockets. ‘And by the way, I need you to attend the judgement with me this afternoon after services.’

‘With you?’ I asked. ‘Why?’

‘So you understand why those cameras are there- and so you’re close enough for me to grab you by one of those fetching piggy-tails if you try to scamper off.’

‘Okay…’ I stared at his back, still feeling off-balance. ‘That’s it…?’

‘Unless you’d like to kiss me farewell,’ he said, glancing back at me and smiling cheekily when I screwed up my face. ‘By the way, if you pass any of my family on the way out, let them know that I summoned you to alert Lindy please, or Kohén will have me by the throat too tightly for me to be allowed to leave.’

‘Yes, your highness,’ I said, turning to open the door. ‘And, um… thank you.’

‘Thank me? You may have just saved the world.’ My face heated up and then he said: ‘Larkin?’

I glanced back at him. ‘Yes?’

‘You were meant to be here. I know that at times, our traditions may seem… cruel, but there are worst alternatives to being the object of two princes’ affection, you know.’

‘Objects of erection is more like it,’ I muttered, and Karol smiled a beautiful, bright smile that made him look Kohén’s age. Not that there was much telling the difference between their ages now that the twins had shot up so.

‘You amuse me a great deal,’ he said. ‘What are you going to do if I fall in love with you and try to prevent you from leaving?’

I smiled sweetly. ‘Probably kill you like I would Kohén.’

He laughed. ‘I thought so. Good thing that I’m cold-hearted, huh?’

‘You’d be cold either way,’ I teased and closed the door between us, wondering if he knew how deadly serious- and well-trained in the art of self-defence- I had been thanks to his thoughtful request that I be encouraged to be the most fascinating little whore that I could be! As I passed the dining room table again I removed the serrated bread-knife that I had taken from it on my way in from the gold clasp at the back of my gown, put it back beside Elijah’s place-setting and then walked off with hips swaying.

I didn’t like Karol, but I was glad that I hadn’t needed to use it all the same!

3.

The Shepherd services were as entertaining for me as they’d always been. I adored Shep, who was a tiny little old man with a long white beard braided with silver, and I loved watching him tell stories because he got so excited about God that he’d jump up and wave his arms, caught up in the thrill of his own tale. It was better than attending a play, especially that day when he was so excited over the statue.

On that Sunday, we learned about the horrific times that followed after Miguel left Eden, and how the Native American people that he left behind began to fight one another for land- only to lose it to white settlers who came through and all but wiped the ancient races off the face of the earth. Karma was the moral to the story, and though we weren’t supposed to recycle old theological terms like that, it did seem as though God had charged the universe with that sort of power. What you sent out, you got back, threefold, only in this case, the punishment did not fit the crime. For all the anguish some of Miguel’s tribeswomen had given Satan- they’d loved the land and had deserved to keep it, so it was sort of poetic that the Barachiel family in charge of the land now had Native American blood in their blue veins.

The other people in Eden had always gotten as caught up in the Sunday service as I had, but I would have had to be made of stone not to notice that things were off that day. At first, I was just aware that I was the recipient of odd looks and that didn’t surprise me too much. Karol saved me a seat beside him on the marble steps beneath his father’s throne, and with a hostile look in his eye; Kohén had sat on the other side of me, but closer. The Given girls were obviously looking at me with interest because of that- and at Emmerly who’d sat next to Kohén and made a show of admiring her bangle right through service, but it wasn’t just the girls I’d grown up with who kept shooting me little looks, but the queen and the king too.

It must be the outfit- the make up, the curls… you’re not yourself today and they’re wondering who you will be from hereon out. Or maybe they’re just waiting for you to either start bragging about the statue, or to claim Kohén’s knee back from Emmerly’s grasp. Just ignore them and be attentive to Shep- no one in this room has the right to know what’s on your mind OR in your heart!

Service ended and though a few people stood to shake Shep’s hand, a sort of strange, thick tension swirled about the room in the absence of his irenic voice and it made the back of my neck feel sweaty. I made no move to rise, but leaned down and tapped Kohl on the shoulder, who turned to smile blandly at me.

‘Are you staying for the judgement?’ I asked.

‘Yes,’ he said, frowning a little. ‘I’m not looking forward to it, but I have not seen one in many years and I suppose I must.’

‘Come sit by me then,’ I said moving aside and nudging Karol along with my hip so he’d get the hint. ‘Karol wants me to stay for it too.’

‘I know,’ Kohl said quickly, moving to sit beside me- but he did not look at me and I frowned slightly, wondering what was going on. I wasn’t going to be judged, was I? ‘Hey Karol… what was that thing about the…’ Kohl turned away to make conversation with his older brother and I sat there, staring behind his back to the hem of the king’s faux-bejewelled golden robe and biting my lip, feeling stung. Was this the same boy who’d handed me a jar of fireflies the night before, or had they twin-switched again? I wanted to turn to Kohén and ask him if I’d done something to anger Kohl, but then I thought on it and my stomach filled with anxious acid. The letter I’d left him! Had he found it already? No! I would die if he had, and if this was his reaction to it. I’d counted on him being back in Pacifica before he read it! Oh no! Maybe this judgement WAS for me! My legs filled with nervous energy and tensed, prepared to flee, but a soothing feeling swept down my back.

‘Stay, Larkin,’ Karol whispered softly, leaning behind Kohl to address me and causing my nostrils to flare for his heady, absolutely masculine scent of musk, incense and sunlight. ‘You’ll be fine.’

I began to tremble. Anyone who’d ever said those words to me had been proven wrong after! I turned to look at him to get a reading on his face, but saw that the duchess was staring at me with an indecipherable but steady focus, and goose bumps ran down my arms. I did NOT feel fine.

‘Did you enjoy your statue, Larkin?’ she asked, and anyone in the immediate vicinity quieted.

I smiled tightly and clasped my hands together, leaning them against my chest. ‘There is no girl in Arcadia, luckier than I, so thank you, your highness.’ I included King Elijah in on my smile. ‘And to you, your majesty.’

‘I tend to agree,’ the duchess said, but the king reached over and playfully tugged on one of my piggy tails.

‘Look at you,’ he said, his hands curled around the golden vines of his armrests. ‘So grown up since the last time she saw you…’ his face tightened on his smile, and my stomach lurched. She? She WHO?

There was a stirring at the other end of the room then and I turned to look with everyone else, feeling my pulse thumping in my temples. A woman was being led into the room with her wrists bound together by green vines, and I was so relieved that it wasn’t my mother or sister or Martya that I almost slid down the marble step as my fever broke into a proper sweat. I didn’t know the woman at all, but she was middle-aged and wearing the white A-line dress with the blue denim Peter Pan collar that most of the women in her caste wore to official services, but her hair was out and in brown shambles, and her eyes looked so red that for a moment, I feared that she was a dark Nephilim.

‘Your majesty…’ the words fell to pieces as she voiced them and fell to her knees in tandem, but Coaxley whispered something to her and pulled her back to her feet as Shep turned to take her in as well. ‘Shepherd-’

‘Abbey-Linn Culkin?’ Shep asked, his voice soft, but his eyes harder than I’d ever seen them before.

‘Yes…’ she gasped, bowing her head to cry harder. ‘Please… you have to hear me out!’

‘That is precisely our intention,’ Shep said, and he turned to look at us all. I read the question in his eyes and settled, trying to keep my emotions off my face and around me, I saw other people do the same. There was no gavel and no cry of ‘order,’ and there had never been need of one before. People in Arcadia did not speak out of turn unless they were important or incredibly arrogant- like Martya and I. And now that I was the only one out of the two of us still standing, I intended to curtail my tongue.

‘Is her accuser here?’ King Elijah asked, and another woman stepped forward from behind Coaxley, fisting a chef’s hat in her hands and looking nervous.

‘Yes, your highness,’ she said. ‘I am Tera, and I witnessed the crime.’

All of the attention moved to her and I heard Abbey-Linn cry harder as soon as the word ‘crime’ had been uttered. ‘Good. Then please, tell us all what you believe you saw Mrs Culkin do.’

Tera looked down at her hat, and I wondered if anyone else in the room was impressed to see how pretty and young the chef was, with her delicate features and haircut trendily short like a blade above her shoulders. She had to be married to be a citizen of Arcadia, or merely an apprentice. Either way, seeing a female chef in such a stylish uniform was an exciting thing to behold! Those positions almost always went to men!

‘It was Saturday night, sire, and I was here as a caterer for your ball,’ Tera said in a low voice, keeping her eyes on her hat. ‘After the explosion, we were evacuated and so, I took a moment to retreat to the garden and to have a, um…’

‘You were smoking?’ Elijah asked, his voice kind, and a few people exchanged incredulous looks. A woman who smoked tobacco?! She must have earned a LOT of money to afford that! ‘Do not be afraid to state it, Miss Marron.

‘Yes your highness. I only do it in times of stress, and I was quite shaken up by the fire so I moved away from the main house-’

‘To light a smaller fire of your own?’ the duchess joked and to my horror, a snort escaped my nose. The duchess looked at me and for the briefest moment, I felt some sort of connection to her as well as an appreciation for her comic timing, but then Tera kept talking, the duchess looked away and the moment was gone. I lowered my head and fiddled with the edge of the king’s robe, and he caught me tapping one of the fake rubies and smiled a strange smile. Embarrassed, I turned back ahead and cupped my hands in my knees.

‘I suppose, your highness. Anyway, I moved to the fence down near the service gates at the front of the property, and that was when I saw her-’

‘Mrs Culkin?’

‘Yes.’ Tera tucked a strand of her blue-black hair behind her ear but it was too silken and short and immediately dropped forward. ‘She was on the public access path to the Tidal Fall, but she was straining as though to reach over the fence, and though I was at an odd angle, I was able to see her through one of the side gates. I thought that she was some drunken party guest up to something silly, so I raced up to warn her that the fence she was almost touching was electrified, and that was when I saw the-’ Tera swallowed. ‘The baby. She was trying to throw it over the fence.’

There was a moment of shocked but hushed exclamations, and I brought a hand up to cover my mouth.

‘Over Eden’s fence?’ Shep asked quietly. ‘Or the perimeter one?’

‘The perimeter one and into the Wildwoods...’

The room began to hum like a hive of angry bees but I couldn’t even squeak for my disgust. The accused woman started to weep openly then, and stole our focus once more.

‘I wasn’t going to hurt her!’ she cried. ‘I just needed to get her back to her father! I couldn’t raise her here! No one could know!’

‘That is an eight foot, electrified fence!’ King Elijah snapped as the admission of guilt damned the woman, and I felt Kohén take my hand in both of his and squeeze it as I closed my eyes and tried to hold in a wail. I could picture it all so easily! There were several sections in Eden’s perimeter fence where gaps were allowed in the stone, but fortified with wrought iron poles. They were electrified for security purposes, and allowed the people inside a glimpse out at the walkway and Wildwoods behind it, and the people outside a chance to see a member of the royal family in the rolling rear lawn while they made their way down to the Tidal fall viewing platform. That track was always busy and it wasn’t rare to see someone peering in as they ambled by at all- but only during the day. It would take a brave soul indeed to venture up that perilous corridor at night, especially given how the banished like to huddle there and spit on people who passed. The fact that the woman, Abbey-Linn had been there at all was damning enough, but with a baby?

‘It was a dark night on that side of the castle, Miss Marron,’ Shep said quietly. ‘And you were in quite a state. Can you be certain that you saw what you are claiming to have seen?’

‘Do you think that’s a point that is not already clear?’ a young man across from us scoffed. ‘The woman accused has already admitted as much!’

‘She will be heard in a moment, young Artisan,’ Shep said, not taking his eyes off Tera. ‘It is important, and only fair, that I double check every fact.’

‘Yes, Shepherd,’ Tera said in an even voice. ‘I wish I had been mistaken, but the infant was wailing and as I approached, I heard the woman fighting with another, who was trying to talk her out of it. ‘He can’t be trusted to look after your child!’ the other woman said, and I do not doubt it. ‘The Wildwoods are no place for an innocent child, Abbey-Linn, think!’ Tera smoothed the blue collar of her high-necked blouse and said softly. ‘The woman with her got the baby out of her hands, and I screamed to alert a guard, but they ran away, fighting, before one could come.’

‘So you gave Prince Karol the woman’s name, as you had heard it cried?’ King Elijah asked.

‘Yes, sire. And the best description I could.’

‘And did you see a man on the other side of the fence waiting to catch the baby and claim fatherhood?’ King Elijah went on. ‘Or do you believe that she was allowing it to free fall in the hopes that it would be collected?’

‘I saw no one on the Wildwoods side of the fence,’ Tera said. ‘If the baby had made it over, only the ground would have broken the poor thing’s fall.’

I groaned and Kohén wrapped his arm around me. Grateful, I sunk my head onto his shoulder and then sighed in relief when beside me, Kohl took the hand that his brother had let go of.

That could have been me...

‘Is there a chance you could be mistaken about that fact?’ Shep asked. ‘And please think carefully, for your answer may make this accusation one of attempted murder, rather than child smuggling.’

‘I could be mistaken,’ Tera said quietly. ‘But I am ninety-eight percent sure that there was no one there. It only took me ten seconds to get down to where they had been standing and though I could hear the women’s feet on the pavement, I did not hear so much as a branch breaking in the Wildwoods.’

Abbey-Linn began to cry harder, and when she fell forward, the freckled redheaded Nephilim boy behind her frowned and suddenly, the binds were gone so that she could catch herself instead of landing flat on her face. Her hands slapped the marble floor, and before the sound had even finished echoing, the vine bonds reappeared on her ankles, impressing me. This guy would be able to grow a pumpkin like NO ONE’s business! I exchanged a look of shock with Kelia across the room from me, who was looking right at me and appeared as astounded as I was while wiping tears out of her eyes.

We could have been dropped in dirt, and now we fight over satin and gold...

‘Thank you,’ Shep said to Tera, and then turned to the woman on the floor. ‘Mrs Culkin, do you have a different excuse for your behaviour? Or are you ready to admit that you were trying to get rid of a child last Saturday night? We already know that you have two, and that your Joined spouse has decided not to speak for you today, or to attend this judgement.’

‘Well… there’s the proof…’ Kohén muttered, and I was inclined to agree. An unsupportive spouse was a bad omen indeed.

‘This isn’t fair!’ the woman slapped the ground. ‘I let him see his whores! I make one mistake- ONCE- with someone who swore that they would marry me when my time was up, and I pay dearly for what my spouse can do WITHOUT seeking my permission!’

‘You had the right to access a male Companion as well,’ Shep said wearily. ‘Someone who you could legally go to- someone who would be sterile, and yet you chose to go behind your spouse’s back and Arcadian laws instead, and look at what that’s led you to do, Miss Marron!’

‘It wasn’t like that!’ The woman looked up. ‘I didn’t cheat on my spouse with another man! I am not attracted to men, Shepherd, but women! I asked my spouse’s permission to have an affair with one, and he consented! This baby could have been his and he thought so too, or he would have kicked me out instead of helping me conceal the state I was in for nine months!’

‘Oh, what rot!’ one of the guards snapped, and I jumped for I’d never heard any of them speak so loudly before. ‘You were overheard saying that you had to get the baby back to its father! And then you yourself said that to us! Now… what? It’s an immaculate conception?’ He turned to the king and said. ‘This woman is insane, your highness. I’d suggest that you have Chronly add extra binds!’

Ahh… so the Nephilim boy had a name. I scrutinised him idly, wondering what else he could do, besides binding people and blinding them with the perfect symmetry of his face against his scarlet hair.

‘It wasn’t a man! Not at first! I… I don’t know what happened but…’ Abbey-Linn began to cry, as we all gawked at her. ‘I don’t deserve this… I don’t…’

‘Neither did your child. I must say- as horrified and perplexed as I am by this story, Mrs Culkin, I am grateful that we have the Government-run adoption process in place to lift it from such appalling circumstances.’ I stiffened as everyone else murmured in agreement and understood that THIS was what Karol wanted me to see; a bad mother. A ‘worse’ circumstance than mine. I kept my eyes trained on the woman and silently cursed her for being such a selfish, crazy idiot for she wasn’t helping our nation get a queen with behaviour like this! Were we supposed to believe that one fruit-loop was the reason why I was being traded for sex? Were they forgetting the part where THEY had made this stupid two-child only law?!

But you’re still fighting over gold and favour...

‘I’m certain that I understand this scenario perfectly,’ the king turned to Shep. ‘So are you sure that we must speak with this other witness…?’

The Shepherd nodded. ‘She came forward of her own violation sir, so we must.’

‘Very well.’ Elijah glanced at Coaxley and said, sighing: ‘Bring in the accused’s witness, please.’

Another buzz went through the room, and just when I was wondering what kind of unfeeling idiot could think to speak for a woman who had tried to throw a day-old baby over a fence and to its doom, I saw the worst mother imaginable to me walk in the door and steal the oxygen from the room by doing it.

Mine.

4.

Oh… my…

Kohén’s hand tightened around my waist, practically pulling me onto his lap and I tried to slap him off when he for one second, came between me and the view of Sapphire Whittaker entering the throne room, faded so that the name ‘Quartz’ would have suited her better.

‘I’m sorry…’ Kohén whispered, and all at once I understood that he’d known in advance.

Eleven years had passed since I’d seen my mother last and yet she wore those years like thirty. Her hair was streaked with grey, her complexion was dry and lined and her gait had lost all of its pride and strength. She had her eyes lowered to the floor and as though fate were guiding her, when they lifted they landed on me and her face twisted into an expression of horror and disbelief that hit me like a kick to the stomach.

Yes mother, it’s me draped over two princes. Are you proud?

I couldn’t breathe or move- I could only stare at the bedraggled woman who was prodded forth gently by Coaxley, who then looked up with an expression of empathy that made me burn for the betrayal. They all knew who she was! They’d all been expecting her! And not ONE of them had warned me! I tried to get to my feet but my legs wouldn’t work and though Shep reached for her hand to turn her to face him, my mother did not take her eyes off me and tears drizzled down her papery cheeks. Instinctively, I knew those tears weren’t for me, but the ones that welled in my eyes were most certainly for loss of what I’d never truly had.

‘Larkin..?’ Kohl’s voice sounded far away and he twisted his fingers around mine as though testing for life. ‘Are you okay?’

My throat was on fire. ‘No.’

‘Okay.’ He squeezed my fingers again. ‘I’m here.’

‘And where is that, exactly?’ I asked bitterly. ‘Everyone seems to know but me, and it feels like Hell.’

‘Sapphire Whittaker, is it?’ Shep asked my mother, but she did not respond vocally- only with a nod of her head. She did not take her eyes off my face. I stiffened- what was she looking at, or for? What did she know of me now?

‘And you’ve come forward today to bear witness on Mrs Culkin’s behalf?’ Shepherd asked, and everybody made agitated sounds.

My mother nodded again, wet her lips and still looking at me said: ‘Yes,’ and I flinched on the inside. I did not know her voice anymore either!

‘And what can you tell us that would be considered a suitable defence? After all- I’m right in assuming that you’re the one who talked her out of throwing the infant over the fence last Saturday night, yes?’

My mother finally faced Shep. ‘She wasn’t throwing the baby- she was passing him to the baby’s father.’ She swallowed. ‘I told her not to.’

Everyone started to murmur over that, and my mind spun. Was my mother a liar? I didn’t even know! Oh, I wished everyone would stop looking to me as though confirmation of her words would be written on my face, because I was as confused as they!

‘The other witness said that there was no one there,’ Shep said, his voice still low and calm. ‘Are you saying that she is lying, or mistaken?’

‘He… he mistakes people on purpose…’ my mother muttered, mostly to the crook of her arms. ‘He’s… duplicitous.’

‘Who is, Mrs Whittaker?’

‘The baby’s father.’

‘And who would that be?’

‘I don’t know!’ my mother erupted. ‘I’ve seen him many times, but I don’t know his name! But he’s always there, haunting that fence- I see him every time that I stray near to it! He’s waiting for women to go walking alone, and for children. I… I know it sounds crazy but I am not the only one who’s seen him! He has solicited me, and once, my eldest son had to stop him from trying to take Larkin!’

‘Oh my God!’ I got to my feet, jolted into action by adrenaline. ‘The Banished man?’

Everyone in the room turned to stare at my mother and me was the first. Finally, her face flushed with blood and animation. ‘You remember that? You and Finch-’

‘We were playing ball, and I went too close to the fence!’ I cried, turning to Shepherd. ‘There was a man there who told me that he was magical! A Nephilim with banished glyphs on his arm!’ The hum became a din. ‘He said that if I touched his fingers through the fence, I would not be harmed for he was powerful enough to survive the current, and I almost did! Try I mean, not...’

‘Oh my God! Larkin, how come you’ve never told me this?’ Kohén demanded, kissing my fingertips as though healing the death wish that someone else had made for me- and unwittingly sparking me hard enough to make my fingers twitch. Kohén cursed at himself and rubbed my fingers, but he was so worked up that it only made it worse, so I yanked my fingers from his grip and gave him an ‘Enough already!’ Look. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the king and his eldest son stand and exchange a puzzled look, but neither looked as dumbfounded as mother, or as frustrated as Kohén.

‘If my brother hadn’t picked me up and carried me away, I would have died! Yes!’ I turned to Abbey-Linn, ignoring Kohén. ‘He’s about six-three, right? With golden hair and blue-’

‘Blue eyes,’ she said at the same time as me, going pale.

‘He speaks with a strange accent,’ I went on, raising my voice higher. ‘Like a-’

‘Rabian almost, only more clipped.’

‘British, in the old-world way,’ my mother filled in and suddenly everyone was on their feet.

‘There’s a predator out there stalking children?’

‘They’re clearly lying!’

‘They’ve colluded!’

‘Larkin think of what you’re agreeing with here!’ Karol said, stepping forward to speak to me in a low voice. ‘We have security surveillance, remember? I checked the tape that night and I didn’t see anyone there! And I don’t see how a Nephilim could bear glyphs!’

‘I’m not saying the woman accused is innocent, or that the man is magical,’ I said to Kohl. ‘I’m saying that there is definitely a man out there who preys on children, or wishes to. He told my brother that I’d be better off with him and called me pretty, so trust me when I say that I remember the incident well, because he was the only person to call me pretty until I turned twelve.’ I paused and said: ‘Martya was the first to say it, the night that she left. ’

A dent appeared between Karol’s eyes when I overemphasised the word: ‘Left’ meaning ‘Was Killed.’ ‘Larkin…’

‘I know my truth, and memory is strong,’ I said quietly. ‘But it is the Shepherd’s job to decipher her truth.’

‘And there’s been no collusion!’ Kohén cried out, getting to his feet and taking the golden belt of my toga in his staticky hand so he wouldn’t kill me with his indignation. ‘Larkin did not even know her mother was coming in, for we’ve all shielded her from this!’

‘They haven’t spoken in eleven years,’ Kohl agreed, taking my right hand and looking at his father over his shoulder while my mouth fell open. Had Kohén shared every private detail of my life with his twin?

‘So what are you saying, exactly Larkin?’ Shep asked me. ‘That your mother is telling the truth?’

‘About the man stalking the fence and asking for children to be handed over, yes,’ I said. ‘And if the word of a Companion is not good enough for everyone here-’ I gave my mother a hard look and her face twisted again -‘then ask my brother. He was at least thirteen at the time and saw the man as clearly as I did and he had denounced me as kin, so do not think he will lie to aide me or my mother, who he doesn’t speak to either.’

‘And I saw the man on Saturday night,’ my mother whispered. ‘Waiting to take the baby. He was on the edge of the Wildwoods, encouraging Abbey-Linn to hand the baby over and I knew he was dangerous so I didn’t care if he was the right father or not- but they were known to each other.’

‘He is a Nephilim!’ the accused woman cried. ‘The fallen kind. I went to bed with a woman I met at the Sanchez Cup, who claimed she was a tourist from Rachiel, and woke up groggy and with male seed spilling out of me!’ A few people grimaced and looked away. ‘I did not know who I had lain with until he sought me out three months later and told me that when his child was ready, he would assume responsibility for it, as he had with the others! I did not know him or recognize him at all but he’s come to me thrice since and has called me by name and brought up the things that I discussed in private with Sybil.’

‘You think this man is finding a way into unwitting women’s’ beds, and then serially assaulting them through an eight-foot electric fence?!’ Karol asked of my mother.

‘Yes,’ my mother answered for him. ‘That is what I believe.’

‘He’s clearly insane, whoever he is!’ Kohén said.

‘No, this sounds like the work of Satan-’

‘Kohl Barachiel!’ King Elijah got to his feet and pointed down the hall. ‘Must I send you from the room to save such a foul word as that one from passing your lips in here?’

‘No, your highness,’ Kohl said, dropping my hand and sitting once more, wilting like a paper rose in a fire, and my heart twisted for him yet again. I’d seen Kohén use the word ‘Satan’ before and ‘Hell’ without being threatened! Was it different because this was in public, or because this was the ‘other’ son?

‘And how would he get in?’ Karol insisted, zeroing in on my mother

My mother stared back at Prince Karol. ‘If I had a blueprint, I’d hand you one, but all I know is what I am telling you! I have been seeing this man for years and I saw him on Saturday night! And I know that Abbey-Linn is only attracted to women because she confided it in me!’

‘And what were you doing out on Saturday night if you were not at the ball to delight in the sight of your daughter like the rest of Arcadia was?’ Karol snapped, and my cheeks flushed. ‘She was quite the vision indeed.’

‘We’re not going to ask about the gender-switching Nephilim?’ the duchess asked, her tone droll, ‘that’s a lot more interesting.’

‘Too interesting to be considered logical,’ Elijah dismissed her. ‘Don’t encourage such foolishness.’

The duchess dropped her head like Kohl had, only this time; her eyes slid to her disgruntled son and smiled a confidential smile, and then sought out his fingers with hers.

‘Abbey is my neighbour,’ my mother said softly, not looking at me, and I feared that I would get whiplash from trying to follow all of the conversations. ‘I knew she was pregnant so when I saw her sneak out at such an hour, I followed her, wondering if she was running because she’d had the baby, or trying to get rid of it. I was appalled when I saw him and realised that he’d talked her into giving it to him, and though I can’t confirm that he is the child’s father, I can say with absolute certainty that she was trying to pass the baby over before the kingdom could take it from her, and not with the intention of dropping it and killing it.’ She glanced at me, swallowed, then back at the prince. ‘She was desperate and has been traumatised by her own fear, but she’s not a murderer.’ She lifted her chin and narrowed her eyes at Karol. ‘And I’m sorry but I don’t think watching every man in Arcadia have a turn at delighting in my baby girl at YOUR-’ she poked him hard in the chest, ‘collective whims is as precious a sight as you think it is, your highness!’

An audible gasp went up in the room and with a flick of the King’s fingers; Coaxley was pulling my mother back from a red-faced prince. I met the guard’s eyes and saw tears in them and my heart went out to him. How he must feel watching me go through this while Lindy was in almost as precarious a situation! I wanted the earth to open up and swallow me but Kohén took it a bit further and turned me into his arms in a protective hug.

‘You’re pure,’ he whispered, and I gulped down tears. ‘Sweet. Chaste. Mine.’ My fingers tightened in his sides and I heard him suck in a breath. ‘My Lark…’

‘Spare me…’ Emmerly muttered, making her hearing-distance known and I gave her a shocked look. Did she begrudge me comfort at such a moment? I narrowed my eyes and hugged Kohén harder, and he sighed and dropped a kiss on my shoulder, making my skin tingle despite all of my hard feelings towards him. Emmerly scowled and looked away.

Damn straight. You got the sea-captain hero for a father while I got the crackpot mother, now you get the guy’s erection but I get his affection!

‘Fine!’ King Elijah said. ‘Shepherd I am convinced that the accused is disturbed and has broken only two laws, and should not be charged for attempted murder.’

‘I concur,’ Shep said. ‘Intentionally or not, Abbey-Linn Culkin has broken her Joining Vows. I would allow her to stay for that alone in light of her distressed mental state, but she attempted to conceal a third-born from the crown in a rather dangerous fashion, which is inexcusable.’ He turned to her. ‘I do not know who this man is or if he even exists, but you will be branded accordingly for your crimes and removed from the kingdom, Mrs Culkin, and if we find him we will do worse.’ He turned to my mother and Tera. ‘Thank you for bearing witness today,’ he said softly. ‘You are excused.’

Abbey-Linn began to wail anew, but she did not fight off the guards as they began to remove her from the room. Tera nodded and wiped tears from her cheeks, demonstrating a conflict of conscience, but my mother’s voice rang out in the cavernous hall.

‘And what about him?!’ my mother demanded. ‘You have a demented, dangerous Nephilim stalking your citizens, your highness!’ Her words were aimed at Karol, but her eyes latched onto mine. ‘Will you actually attempt to find him and hold him accountable, or is a woman allowing herself to get raped crime enough to equal his out?!’

‘There are no dangerous Nephilim in Arcadia!’ the king barked. ‘We would know it if there were!’

‘Would you?’ my mother spat on the floor. ‘Or would you conceal your kin so one more entitled asshole could rape my daughter and call it an act of God?’ She jeered. ‘Or is it divine intercourse?’

‘Mother!’ I gasped, seeing other mothers shoot her a horrified look before leading their own children out of the room. ‘Are you drunk?’ And then I caught myself, wondering what I was saying. Was I drunk? Didn’t I agree with her? Wasn’t being forced to consent the same thing as rape?

Who am I?

‘Mrs Whittaker you are pushing the limits of my tolerance…!’ Elijah growled. ‘One more disrespectful word against the crown and I will-’

‘Have your son take it out on my daughter?’ My mother gave Kohén and me a derisive look. ‘I doubt that. She’s been sixteen for a whole day and I don’t see a skerrick of gold on her, despite the fact that she clings to his side like the vapid whore you’ve trained her to be!’

I almost blacked out from the strength of the mortified looks that people shot me collectively then.

‘You forget yourself, madam!’ Kohén snapped, pushing me behind him as though he were about to fight her. ‘And you don’t know a single thing about your daughter but rest assured, she is not vapid, and she is as brilliant as she is kind and beautiful!’

‘Then what’s the problem?’ my mother demanded, and though I saw the Nephilim run over at a nod from the king to do something, the redheaded boy did not make it in time. ‘Is she shrill and irksome as her sister, or as lousy a kisser as her useless father is?’

My soul collapsed and my knees went with it. Too heartbroken and shocked to respond, I began to wilt and then it all happened at once. The sparks erupted from Kohén’s hands around me, and as he wheeled on my mother, Karol shot forward and scooped me up out of his arms. But before Kohén could even take a step forwards, Kohl leapt to action from the floor, lifted his hand and slapped my mother so hard that a crack rang throughout the room, and then seemed to echo on and on.

5.

It took me a moment to realise that it wasn’t an echo though, but the sound of thunder. Had Kohl done that in his rage? I was breathless.

‘Kohl!’ Kohén yelled, running forward to grab his brother as I yelped in shock. My mother bent over and gasped and when she looked back up at us, her eyes were watering and blood was trickling from the corner of her mouth. My stomach, heart and mind turned over all at once. Not because what Kohl had done had been wrong, or caveman like- but because striking a woman was a crime and he could pay dearly for this.

For me.

‘Nice to know that after six hundred years, a man is as quick now to raise his hand to a woman as he is to rape her still.’ My mother shook her head while Coaxley twisted her hands behind her back and forced her down to her knees. ‘What a perfect society you’ve created, God.’

‘God made us all equal, and you worthy of a good smack,’ Kohl snarled, and then stepped back. ‘And I’ll hit you again if you try to argue otherwise.’ He turned to look at Elijah. ‘Am I dismissed?’

‘Indeed.’ But Elijah’s smile was visible behind his beard, and when he patted his back as he walked past, I let go of a breath I hadn’t know I’d been holding. Kohl looked up at me with apology in his eyes before he retreated towards the south wing, but the look hit me somewhere much deeper than anger or fear. His eyes were neon blue, but fading fast. One slap was all it had taken to get the youngest prince’s ‘surge’ out of his system… so why did Kohén have to sleep with other girls to deal with his?

What if he didn’t? I wanted to follow him to the poolroom or wherever he was going to ask, but I didn’t dare.

‘I want her husband interviewed, and her son to see if they can back her claims….’ Elijah whispered to Karol as I was passed back to Kohén like a thing- but this time I was a protected thing. I looked over at my mother and saw that though she was red-faced and screaming, she was too out of her mind for a single word to be coherent. ‘And regardless of whether or not they can, I want the Whittaker family given twenty extra coins this month for bearing witness. And seeing as how she has retired now, I’d like her to serve a day of voluntary community assistance a week for twelve moons, as compensation for this contempt, all right? I’d make it an official ruling, but I don’t want to humiliate poor Larkin further by having her family name written up on the noticeboard.’

‘Do you think that’s fair, Larkin?’ Karol asked me, not turning to face me. I saw my mother try and throw an elbow at Coaxley’s head and I winced.

‘If you look into her claims, yes,’ I said. ‘If not, I will be the one with a year’s service added for demonstrating contempt.’

‘My pleasure,’ Karol said, and before I could work out what he meant by that, his mother shocked me by cuffing him over the back of the head so quickly that it could have been a hallucination on my part. Thankfully however, Karol’s ‘Ow,’ was not.

‘Do not flirt with your brother’s girls,’ she snapped. ‘It’s unbecoming.’

I smiled, thinking that even if she hated me, the duchess had an uncanny habit of trying to get me out of situations that neither of us wanted me in. She wasn’t a mother to me, but in her own special way, she was my guardian angel.

Karol smiled ruefully at his mother after she’d hit him and said: ‘You told me to look after myself after I leave here, but send me off with concussion?’

‘You’ll heal,’ she said, and then addressed her husband. ‘Speaking of him looking after himself, I want a Nephilim guard going with him.’

‘He already has two trained guards! And is trained himself!’

‘I’d like him to have another,’ the duchess, said, and then huffed when she was answered with a frown. ‘Very well, if it puts you out so darling, I will go make the arrangements.’

‘Constance…’ Elijah said, but she gave him a look while twirling the diamond ring on her right hand, and he sighed dejectedly. I stared down at the ring, wondering if I’d just witnessed a secret code being used, but then the duchess glanced at me with as much heat in her glacier-blue eyes, and I looked away quickly.

‘Speaking of guards and getting the hell out of here before you two start bickering about my safety… I have a carriage to load,’ Karol said, turning to wink at me. ‘A heavy one.’

‘And I have a soccer ball to chase down,’ Kohén said, smiling a trembling smile at me. ‘I think someone needs to sweat out some feelings…?’

I’d been considering going to the gym to punch it out, but now that I knew Kohl had gone that way I could not follow, so I smiled and nodded. ‘I’ll meet you on the rear lawn in half an hour.’

‘Good.’

‘Larkin?’ Karol piped up. ‘Would you like to come outside for some fresh air? I’d be interested in knowing your thoughts after today’s proceedings.’

I nodded and moved to follow Karol, eager for some sort of distraction, but Kohén caught my hand. ‘Alone? No.’

Karol glared at him. ‘I’m not going to molest her, little prince.’

‘I’m not going to give you the chance to. The ball can wait,’ Kohén snapped, moving along beside us and holding my hand tightly.

‘Very well,’ Karol said, turning to me.

What fun… my two least favourite people, escorting their escort!

I felt incredibly awkward, but I slipped my hand out of Kohén’s and clasped them together in front of me as I walked, sandwiched between the two and enjoying Kohén’s joint less nose. ‘Are you eager to know all of my thoughts, your highness?’ I asked, not missing the frown that the duchess sent my way as I walked away flanked by two of her sons. ‘Or just the ones that make you feel justified for having dragged me into this today?’ We left the grand doors and passed through the courtyard and luckily, my mother had vanished from sight by then.

‘You may speak candidly with me,’ Karol said generously, sliding his hands into his embroidered pockets and nodding his proud nose to Resonah as she glided by us on the mossy trail. ‘But I do hope you understand that we aren’t allowed to warn anyone about the identities of the witnesses coming forward before a Shepherding, yes?’

‘He’s right,’ Kohén jumped in. ‘I hated keeping that from you, and Kohl was fit to be tied when he learned that you were being led in to see her unawares, but it’s for their protection.’

I nodded, unhappy but understanding. The law was the law and Kohén was already trying to break enough for me... apparently. But it did explain why Kohl had been so stiff when he’d come in, and why he’d lost his temper the way he had- because he’d anticipated her acting as she had. It made me want to track him down and hug him more. He was kind to be protective of me- but I was glad that I’d seen her at last.

‘I know you would have been surprised to see her, and please know that none of us anticipated her lashing out the way she did…’ Karol glanced at me and smiled sadly. ‘But I didn’t think you’d want to miss the chance to see her again either, especially given the stance she was prepared to take.’

‘You wanted me to see that she would speak for a woman charged with killing third-borns, so I’d understand how lucky I am to live here?’ I asked.

‘No,’ Karol said, and his green eyes betrayed no treachery. ‘I wanted you to see that we have saved some lives with this system.’ His hand brushed mine as we walked and I felt the warmth of his need to please me and soothe me. ‘And I wanted you to see how it was the woman who screamed the word ‘whore’ who was judged today, not the girl it was screamed at.’

I nodded, for I had seen that. When my mother had first attacked me, I’d searched other faces looking for expressions of contempt, but all of the angry eyes had been on her. ‘I did see that. And I hope that you saw how much more peaceful this kingdom would be, if the child laws were abolished all together.’

‘They’ll never be abolished all together,’ Karol said. ‘Even when the world was in its golden age last time, millions of people were starving. It is my family’s job to ascertain that everybody in the world- not just Arcadia- is cared for and that cannot happen if we lose track of everybody as we did before.’ He smiled at me. ‘But, hopefully once this locust plague is under control, and people everywhere start receiving greens and grains again, we might consider lifting the child law from two, to three. There would still be penalties for fourth-borns, of course- and we will never be able to support eight-person families…’

‘I know that but… but really?’ I asked, my hopes climbing.

‘When I am king, yes, I hope so. Obviously it won’t be my decision alone, but if I can claim another territory and it is one with arable land and a good water supply… I don’t see why not.’

‘It’s all about control,’ Kohén agreed, and he’d dropped the pitch of his voice to try and keep up or rather- down- with his older brother. ‘And balance.’

‘We need another territory and another caste, and I’d very much like to get into drilling oil in the north if suitable land can’t be found in Calliel so we have another resource too, but yes…if we have the space, the funds and the means to build larger homes to accommodate a population rise, I don’t see why not.’ Karol smiled at me. ‘This pleases you?’

‘It does,’ I said. ‘Very much.’

‘Good. I do so adore pleasing you.’

‘Get over yourself,’ Kohén sniped at him before turning to me. ‘And don’t you fall all over yourself. I have the exact same plans, but we’re both still being forced to wait out a panacea for this plague, and it could take years yet!’

‘Haven’t you ever heard of miracles?’ Karol asked his brother, his hand brushing mine again.

‘Yes, and they went out when the last of the guardian angels left earth,’ Kohén reminded him.

‘Maybe one stayed, and is going to help me out,’ Karol suggested. ‘To remind people that the Barachiel men belong on the throne. You never know…’ then he squeezed my hand briefly. ‘You look like a bit of an angel, Larkin. Care to inspire me?’

I glanced at Karol, and understood from his smug smile what he was really saying- Martya’s cure, and my help, could help abolish the third-born caste. I’d given it to Karol, not Kohén, and he would be a God because of it, and I his angel. I smiled, knowing that I should feel guilty for going behind Kohén’s back yet but my knowledge didn’t change the fact that Karol was NEXT in line, and Kohén still only being considered for Pacifica, not Arcadia. I’d done the right thing, and he was going to do the right thing by me.

‘I told you not to flirt,’ Kohén grumbled as we walked out the front courtyard gates and onto the lawn.

‘I’m not flirting with her,’ Karol argued, before he motioned for us to walk over to where his carriage was waiting to be loaded. It was huge- the kind the royals used when they intended on touring for a while, and had two separate seating compartments. Six beautiful black horses were lashed to the front, and I ached to run my hand down one of their gleaming coats. ‘I am being charming. Prince Charming, you might say.’

I gave him a dirty look, not appreciating the way he was baiting Kohén whose jealousy I did not care to aggravate. But we reached the horses and I stretched out my hand to gingerly stoke its soft nose. It snuffled and nuzzled my palm, and I smiled, wishing that I knew how to ride.

‘Ha! Do you still think you’ll be her Prince Charming once she learns that you’ve demanded that her two favourite staff members leave Arcadia with you today?’ Kohén taunted.

‘What?!’ I asked lightly, trying to look surprised as I turned away from the horse.

‘Karol’s requested that Coaxley and Lindy and her entire family travel with him to wait on him for the next six months!’ Kohén said.

‘I don’t think Larkin will mind-’

‘Mind?!’ I interrupted Karol, giving him a little shove. ‘I am FURIOUS!’

Karol’s eyes bugged. ‘What?!’ he asked, incredulous. ‘Since when does that-’

‘I hate you! Just when I was beginning to warm to you, you drag my favourite staff away!’ I threw myself into Kohén’s arms and pretended to sob onto his shoulder. ‘Is it not enough that I had to learn what a witch my mother has become today?’ I wailed. ‘Now I must lose my surrogate mother too?’

‘I know Larkin,’ Kohén whispered, rubbing my back, and I had to bite down on my own knuckles not to grin as I heard Karol splutter in indignation behind me. Kohén pulled back then, so I smoothed my face and looked miserably into his crystal blue eyes. ‘I know honey, but they’ll come back. Would you like me to go get them so that you can say good-bye?’ he asked, and I felt a twinge of guilt then because he looked genuinely concerned.

‘Yes, please…’ I said, and now the tears in my throat were genuine. I did not want to say good-bye to Lindy, but I had to. ‘Thank you Kohén… you’ll be such a beloved leader.’

Behind me, Karol snorted. Inside, I was inclined to do the same thing!

Kohén handed me a folded handkerchief and kissed my forehead. ‘I’ll do that right now. They must be ready to leave. Stay here… and if he gives you any trouble, just kick him, okay? Crown’s orders.’

‘My crown is still bigger and closer than your crown,’ Karol seethed, but Kohén jogged away. I waited until he was out of earshot and turned to smile cheekily at Karol while dabbing at my tears.

‘He will be a beloved leader, don’t you think?’

‘He’s so gullible that he’ll trade the kingdom for magic beans,’ Karol grumbled, but then motioned me over to pat the horse again. I did, smiling blandly as I answered:

‘And find a treasure at the top of the stalk, no doubt,’ I said and Karol shook his head and produced a sugar cube from his pocket, which he handed to me. I palmed it and held it under the horse’s mouth, and smiled when it ate it readily.

‘You’re getting to be quite the little actress, aren’t you?’ He demanded, but he was trying not to smile, and the ease with which he had taken my prank made me realise that our odd bond had the potential to be a congruent one, for in many ways, we were alike. ‘And you literally have some of us-’ he patted the horse ‘-eating out of the palm of your sweet little hand.’

‘Only the most beautiful creatures in Eden’s walls…’ I said blithely, and stepped in to nuzzle my nose against its, keeping its head between Karol and I. ‘The big, ugly ones continue to try and break me down.’

Karol laughed. ‘I’d say that you’re going to end up in hell, but I’m duty bound to make sure that you don’t…’

‘Thank you, and yes, I’ve been studying hard for my exams,’ I said. ‘Like a good little Given girl.’

‘I can see that,’ Karol fed the horse another sugar cube, and then dusted his palm on his leather slacks. ‘But Larkin, as much as I love it when you’re in such an entertaining mood, and as much as I can see that I deserved that... I do have one thing to say to you.’

‘What?’ I asked, lifting my face to his.

He leaned across the horse’s nose and whispered: ‘That’s five.’ I stiffened, and when I didn’t laugh or bite back, Karol’s lascivious smile vanished.

‘Okay, Larkin that was sort of a joke and…’

But I wasn’t hearing him. I’d looked past him to the woman standing at the solid steel part of the front fence, and staring at me with a teary, bloody face. She didn’t call out to me or wave me over, but when I began to move toward her, she didn’t run either.

‘Larkin? What… oh.’ He rested his hand on my shoulder to send more soothing energies into me and halt my tardigrade steps. ‘Oh, would you like me to fetch the guards?’

‘No,’ I said softly, swallowing hard and shrugging off his hand. ‘I’d like to speak to her alone.’ I glanced back at him. ‘Is that okay? I do not want to get into trouble.’

‘You have my permission,’ Karol said gravely. ‘And I am right here. But please be careful.’

‘I will.’

‘Larkin!’ I heard someone calling out my name and when I turned around, I saw that Kohl and Kelia were jogging out of the gates and towards me. Kohl looked angry, Kelia looked scared.

‘Don’t go near her!’ Kelia’s coils bounced as she ran. ‘She’s no good!’

‘She’s dangerous!’ Kohl agreed, but Karol stopped them both.

‘Let me go!’ Kohl snapped, but Karol held them both tightly. ‘She shouldn’t be alone with her!’

‘No, she deserves a moment alone with her, and the chance to stand up for herself,’ Karol admonished them both. ‘In her position, you’d want the exact same thing.’

Kelia began to cry, surprising me with her sudden outpouring of concern for my safety, and when Kohl saw this, he stopped fighting and patted her back in comfort, keeping wide eyes on me. I nodded to let him know that I would be careful, and then crossed the next twenty metres to reach the side of the fence.

6.

My mother was standing on the path, and probably in the exact spot where Abbey-Linn had been spotted trying to throw the baby from, and behind her the Wildwoods looked gnarled, spiny and threatening, but nowhere near as dangerous as I felt.

‘Did you wish to speak with me, Sapphire?’ I asked, enjoying the way her nostrils and eyes flared at the name. ‘Or did you just want to stare a little while longer at your whore of a daughter?’

My mother was dressed in a lovely, simple gown, as she always had, but up close I could see that the hem was frayed, and the colour fading. She’d always taken pride in her appearance, and without any children around, there ought to have been money suffice for her to keep herself well clothed, and yet everything about her cried: Broke. Or maybe broken.

‘I didn’t mean for that to happen…’ she whispered. I wouldn’t say that she looked guilty, but she certainly looked stricken. ‘And I never wanted to lose you, Larkin. You were… you were the sweetest baby I ever…’ her voice broke and she knelt, sobbing into her hands. ‘I loved you so!’

Oh no…

I’d been prepared for her to scream hateful things at me, but not for her tears. I didn’t want to be moved by her obvious grief but I needed whatever love I could get from her, even if it came only in small, powerful bursts of regret. A lump was forming in my throat, so I mirrored her actions and kneeled across from her, keeping a safe distance between the fence, and myself as she had on her side. The poles between us were thick, dark green and capable of stopping a person’s heart, but there were wide gaps between each, so it was easy to see her through them and blessedly, too many people were going into the castle grounds that day to bother with the Tidal Fall so no one passed her by.

‘Where’s father?’ I asked. ‘Why did he let you come alone? It’s clear that you can’t handle this.’

My mother sniffled and gulped and wiped at her eyes. ‘Your father has not helped me handle things in many years. Ever since you left he’s been…’

‘What?’ I asked, wondering if my heart was pressed against my ribs as though to overhear a wonderful secret.

‘Resigned. Angry. Annoyed that he got attached to you only to lose you. Annoyed at me for not being more careful. I…’

‘How dare he freeze you out?’ I asked, furious with my father for holding my mother responsible for my birth. They were married! They were legally bound until they died- that was supposed to mean something! ‘It takes two people to make a baby, and break a law,’ I whispered. But when my mother lifted her face to mine, her bloodshot eyes and downturned mouth were so hard that I understood, and my soul shook.

‘It does,’ she croaked. ‘But as far as your conception is concerned, he was not one of them.’

My body sagged so that I could clutch at the grass. ‘No!’ I cried. ‘Oh… mother no! You broke your vow?! You had me with someone ELSE?’

‘I didn’t know I was in love with her, until she was kissing me…’ mother whispered, and I physically curled up like the air was poisonous and I needed to shrink away from it.

‘Her?!’ I demanded. ‘Who her? What does she have to do with my conception?’ The word Satan came to mind unbidden, and I pushed it away with a black wave of fright. No, no I’d read too many books, that was all. My imagination was getting away from me!

Mother pushed her hair back behind her temples. ‘I was in love with your father, and I was going to devote my life to being his wife,’ she whispered. ‘But then he had his accident, and not only could he not… but he grew angry and demanding and surly… I spent every day at the hospital by his side but he’d shoo me away, or tell me to get the kids out. I tried to weather it knowing that once he was out of that bed, it would pass but… after weeks he only got worse. One of the nurses was a beautiful girl, a transfer from Rabia, and she would console me. She’d play with Finch and Jaiya so I could be alone with him, and when he got too hard to handle, she would take me into another room and comfort me with kind words and glasses of wine. She told me that he was lucky and that he’d see it in time. She told me I was beautiful. And when she kissed me, it felt… magical.’

I slowly lifted my fingers to shield a wail from my mouth. ‘You like women?’

‘Not until I met her! I fell in love with her and about a month after your father’s admission, we were in that room and she kissed me and held me and…’ my mother’s face was red, as I imagined mine was. ‘I fell asleep in her arms. But when I woke up… she was gone. I never saw her again. I waited for her to come back but she never did- not for a single day in the month before he was let out. Not long after that, I discovered that I was pregnant and I was devastated, and though it should have upset your father, it gave him purpose. He knew we’d have to work harder to provide for a third for five years, and he had too much pride to let his family suffer. He began to do his exercises, and then his disposition changed. We would talk all the time about how we might run, how we could disappear, and we ended up so united that I confessed to him about the nurse and he admitted that he’d found her alluring too and that had made him question us, as well. She was a temptress, Larkin! But with this honesty, our marriage healed and my pregnancy progressed. And I honestly believed that we were going to run. But then you came out late- a month late according to when he and I had made love last, and you looked nothing like him…or me.’

‘No,’ I croaked. ‘Don’t say it.’

‘I told him I’d never been with another man and though he claimed to believe me, he stopped talking about running away, and started to shut down again. I still didn’t want to let you go though Larkin, and he loved you too. But then one day, you and Finch came inside and told me about the man who asked for you to leave with him, and it spooked me. I went out to the fence every day looking for him and then one day- there he was. Beautiful. Golden- and asking where his child was.’ She sighed. ‘He knew me by name, and could describe my naked body. He knew ME, and I knew that she’d told him every detail!’

I felt like I’d swallowed something cold and sick. ‘Just like Abbey-Linn?’

‘Yes. And I don’t think that she and I are the only ones- so many of us think we’re protected, meet this woman, are seduced by her kindness- and then end up with a child to spare, which he then comes to claim from women who just may be desperate enough to hand it over!’

‘So you think it’s a scam to what… adopt?’

‘To absorb,’ my mother made a huffing sound and I picked up on the striking scent of stale breath and mothballs. ‘Maybe she can’t have children, or maybe…’

‘What?’

‘Maybe he is a Nephilim as I suspect- a dark one- and he is trying to breed more like him.’ She let me see the absolute belief in her eyes. ‘And you are his Godless spawn.’

Satan! Satan, SATAN!

‘No,’ I whispered weakly, pressing a hand to my heart, and feeling it fling itself about wildly as my scalp prickled. A dark Nephilim? I’d believed that maybe there was a mischievous one out there causing trouble, but one of Satan’s minions? Kohén had seemed certain that it was possible, but Martya had said… she’d said…

Am I Satan’s spawn?!

‘No!’ I repeated, as the truth came to me. ‘I love God dearly, and I am nothing like a Nephilim, good or bad! I have no power at all!’

‘That is a relief,’ my mother said, frowning in consternation and negating her statement. ‘But your transformation-’

‘I grew out of the sobriquet of ‘duckling’ a while ago mother, and slowly. It was no miracle- just puberty and a lot of lotions and make-up today...!’

‘Fine,’ but she wrinkled her nose, making her scepticism clear. ‘But that doesn’t change the fact that this man thinks you are miraculous. He was desperate to get to you, Larkin and some Nephilim don’t show powers for years, so that would explain why he lingers.’

‘Lingers?’ my pitch was glass-breakingly high.

‘Yes. He came more than once, and pretty soon, the concept of running and keeping you safe from him started to seem impossible, and without your father’s support, and without me being able to voice my suspicions that you were another man’s child… I ran out of options. I realised that I wouldn’t be able to guard you forever, and I couldn’t bear the thought of you being raised in the Wildwoods like some heathen. I hate the third-born rule, but I also knew that it could save you where I could not. So I handed you over to the crown, hoping you’d be sent far from here where you’d be safe from him, but when they kept you in Arcadia and for such a purpose as this one-’ she motioned to my dress, ‘it broke my heart.’

I winced to know that despite all of her grief, she was still ashamed of me. ‘Why didn’t you go to the king and duchess and explain that you were attacked?’ I demanded.

‘Because they wouldn’t believe me! And if they found him and he was able to repeat my personal conversations with Allegra, it would damn me further and see all three of my children raised motherless! ‘

Sybil… Allegra… Golden man… Satan...

‘… Besides, I didn’t really believe him; I always hoped that you truly were your father’s… just a month late and that he was a madman, and one on the other side of the fence! And you were so pale, while he so golden… you didn’t resemble him anymore than you did your father. But… then I looked up and saw you today and… and you could have been fraternal twins, so striking is the similarity!’

My heart sank, and I closed my eyes against tears and was assaulted with memories of the golden man. Yes, we did look alike now. We hadn’t then but now… I sobbed. My father wasn’t my father, and there was a good chance that my biological father was a nutcase, or evil. I shuddered.

‘I’m sorry Larkin, but I was bound by law and a vow to God and the need to protect all of you from my mistake as best as I could. I realised that I couldn’t spend forever protecting you, or even risk you coming back to visit, so I cut ties with you and waived that first visit. And I’m glad that I did, because he came back every six months until the year you turned nine, and that was when he must have given up. I have not seen him since but by then, it was too late for me to visit with you, and I’m sorry but yes, your occupation destroys a little part of me every time I think about it, so I needed that distance too!’

‘How do you think I feel?’ I demanded.

‘I wouldn’t claim to know,’ she admitted morosely. ‘But I did know my own heart, and though we are all supposed to be equal…’ she swallowed. ‘I have taken an unbreakable vow and I suffer for it every day. I sleep in a cold bed alone and if I try to demand more compassion from your father, I know he will likely detonate and expose me, so I close my lips against my sobs so I don’t cause him lost sleep as well. One night, he got so angry and drunk that he made a crude comment about ‘Larkin’s father’ in front of your brother and sister-’

‘Father has seen him?!’

‘Yes, just once, six months after you left, which was when he first distanced himself from me by moving into another room. His faith in my love for him got us through the pregnancy and the start of your life, but his unhappiness surged once you were no longer around to call him ‘father’ with love in your eyes, and his distrust has eroded our family slowly since. Now when he visits your brother and sister, he does it alone without a farewell, and I know he is escaping me like they did.’ She sniffled. ‘One day I know… he won’t come back.’

My heart twisted. ‘Mother…’

‘Don’t call me that! I am not, I have failed that purpose, and I feel as sorry for myself as I do for you, perhaps more.’ She pressed her forehead into her palm and sobbed again. ‘You are so vibrant and healthy and loved, but I have been walking on eggshells for almost seventeen years and I am as cracked as they! Then I come here and see a duchess and king joined because they were not sure of their love enough to marry as I did and are therefore, free to use girls like you, born from loving, broken marriages like MINE and staring down at me with their judgmental eyes and I just…’ her voice was growing raspier, her breath staler as though she were decaying from the inside out. ‘I can’t handle the judgement from people who I know are worth less than me.’ Her eyes flared. ‘I didn’t cheat on your father with another man, and he forgave me for my dalliance with another woman because he’d contemplated the same thing and yet here I am, suffering still, and yet he does not care! They say time heals all wounds but not his.’

‘Not at all?’ I asked forlornly.

She sniffled. ‘Sometimes, I catch him looking at me with fondness or longing, or he brushes my hair with his hand and I think maybe, there’s still love there,’ she wiped at her eyes. ‘But he’s threatened to leave me a few times, and I think doubt is the only reason why he has not. I’m scared that one day he’ll see you and know for certain that you are this man’s child, not his, and he will snap and cast me out.’

‘Is that why you came forward today?’ I asked. ‘Hoping that her case would correlate with yours and convince father of your innocence?’

‘Yes,’ she said sadly. ‘But I couldn’t save her any better than I could save myself, and it won’t until he is found and proven to be a predator!’

‘I still don’t see how this makes any sense!’ I cried, shifting closer and hearing Kohl call out my name in warning. ‘This man would surely have to be a dark Nephilim to lower himself to such behaviour or shape shift or whatever, but I truly have no powers to back that claim!’

‘Well, if he is a Nephilim, then he must be a weak one or he’d easily get over that fence to snare you and others like you instead of harassing his conquests into handing you all over.’ She bit her lip. ‘And weak Nephilim find it harder to conceive a child with a divine gift. Perhaps that’s why he’s fathering so many- hoping and hoping that one day, he’ll get one that he can use!’

‘Well it’s not me!’ I whispered. ‘Tell father that, tell him to come see that I am powerless and maybe that will buy you more of his belief. And… tell him he will always be my father to me, and that I miss him.’

My mother shifted closer. ‘I’m sorry Larkin, but it’s no use. He does not love us anymore… and in coming here today, I’ve only made it worse. Now that we’ve all described this man so perfectly to the court, and if he is seen by your side after… everyone will suspect that I am an adulteress. And if they catch him and test your blood, they will know it, even without power, and I will be banished.’ Her face crumpled. ‘And your father will let them take me away! And why? Because once again I did the right thing- the honest thing to help someone else, and now I am in more trouble than before, and caused you grief when I only wanted to shield you from such things!’ She inched closer, looking desperate. ‘Do you have any idea of how much it scares me, to think that I could not only lose all of his affection, but his protection? After how I stood by him?!’

Tears spilled down my cheeks as I thought of how desperate I would feel without Kohén’s loyalty. ‘I do.’ I clutched at the grass near the gate and heard the electricity hum, and this time; it was Kelia who cried out. ‘Oh, mother… I wish I were a Nephilim- a healer! I’d come home, I’d touch his heart…’

‘Are you sure that you’re not?’ my mother asked, perking up. ‘You could do so much for me, if you were! Maybe you just haven’t found your power yet! They say it usually takes a severe emotional prolapse to-’

‘There’s nothing there!’ I cried, pressing my hands to my sweaty, heaving chest. ‘I’ve know every kind of emotion there is- I have been at my lowest, and my happiest, and I have been incredibly angry but all I can do in that state is yell, whereas Kohén only has to feel a flicker of emotion and- boom-the power surges!’

‘But he was so certain of you!’ my mother whispered, eyes bright with hope. ‘He was certain that you could touch that fence! He didn’t want you dead when he asked you to do that- don’t you see? He wanted to prove to himself that you were the one worth fighting for!’

But I shook my head. ‘No, Kohén zaps me all the time and it can hurt a lot!’

‘But it doesn’t kill you?’

‘No,’ I said, wiping at my own tears. ‘But he wouldn’t dare touch me if there was a risk that he might!’

‘Are you sure?’ my mother breathed, and held out her hand. ‘Try and see! Maybe you are stronger! Touch the fence Larkin! Right now! Or take my hand and we’ll touch it together!’

‘What?!’ I demanded, alarmed. ‘No! It will kill me or us both!’

‘No it won’t!’ she wept. ‘And even if it does kill you, at least they won’t bother testing your blood, and I won’t be found out! Or it will spare you and kill me and I will get out of this life before the truth of your origin can damn me in your father’s eyes!’

It felt like I’d been hit with a truck. A shiver started in my scalp and travelled right through me. ‘You WANT me to die?!’ I shrieked, unable to comprehend that our intimate interaction had taken such a downswing. ‘For your own protection?’

‘Larkin!’ I heard Kohl bellow. ‘Get AWAY from her!’

‘You should!’ my mother bit out, her eyes wild and unfocused. ‘I am old and frail! I will not survive long if your father turns me in!’

I brought my hand up to my mouth to hold in a sob and that was when my mother struck out, reaching for me. She got a fistful of my hair and pulled and I screamed as I began to pitch forward.

‘Stop! Don’t!’ I shrieked, certain I would drop dead from fear if the fence spared me.

‘Devil child!’ she hissed. ‘Whore! I rid myself of you years ago and yet you still yank at my heartstrings and judge me in my dreams! I won’t see Satan get me in her need to get to you!’

My heart jumped into my mouth as I caught myself on the ground with my nose only an inch away from the fence. I wanted to brace myself against her but the brick was too far away and the grass ripped out in fistfuls when I grasped at it. The hum was a scream in my ears but then a hand was around my waist and I was flying backwards.

‘Larkin!’ Kohl’s voice was in my ear. ‘Are you all right?’

‘Oh my God!’ Kelia took my hand and tried to pull me off him. ‘Oh my God! Mrs Whittaker you are an evil, monstrous-’ she screamed again and I felt something grab my foot and drag me back towards the fence. I craned my neck and saw that my mother was gripping my sandal, biting down on her tongue and smiling with grim triumph. I kicked out but Kohl hooked my knee and dragged it up, bellowing:

‘No!’ And tugging my mother into the charged bars. Her eyes widened with horror, but she managed to halt her fall on the grass with one hand.

‘Whore!’ she screamed again. ‘Be a good girl for mummy, and just fucking DIE! God wants you gone!’

‘God wants her love and none of yours!’ Kohl hollered, throwing me clear of him and to the side, and a blinding light flashed as thunder cracked. Kelia jumped and I caught her and pulled her back into my arms, feeling her shake violently. Rain started to fall hard on us, and when my mother saw the sky open above us, she screamed and flinched then to my complete horror- grasped the fence with both hands to steady herself.

No! God please no!

More light flashed and just like that, her hands were on fire. I watched screaming soundlessly as she shook and jerked with thousands of volts before being thrown clear. Her body landed hard, like a dropped rag doll, and though smoke and flames had already begun to waft from her hair and clothing, the rain pelting down on us put it out and made the air fill with acrid smells and evil hissing; the rain that Kohl had called forth, to save me, just as he’d shocked her with that crack of thunder, and forced her to grab onto whatever she could! I wrenched my eyes away from my mother’s corpse and looked at Kohl, who looked thunderstruck himself.

‘I didn’t mean to…’ he whispered, and his face crumpled. ‘I just- I just killed-’

‘No,’ I dropped my head onto his chest and held him, trembling. ‘You just saved me, and put the fire out!’

‘She grabbed the fence,’ Kelia whispered, coming to his other side and taking one of each of our hands. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. ‘She took her own life when she failed to take Larkin’s hand. We all saw it! Kohl, that was so brave!’

My mother is dead because of me, oh God, forgive me! Take her soul please! I know that she loved you!

But Kohl lowered his head and sobbed. ‘I’m not supposed to lie. I’m not supposed to do murder! I am a Barachiel- even those accused of murder deserve a hearing before they are-’

‘I heard her,’ I whispered, sobbing into his neck. ‘She was guilty, and so she took her own life.’ I lifted his face and stared into his neon eyes. ‘I saw it, Kohl. She said it. My father didn’t love her anymore, and she wanted to die if he could not forgive her for having me for him to lose. You just stopped her from taking me with her.’

Kohl bit his lip, looking anguished. ‘Really?’

‘You are a hero,’ I whispered, ‘not a murderer.’

Kohl stared hard at me, and I back at him and then suddenly, his eyes softened and the rain stopped leaving him glowing, glorious and with his white deep-necked shirt plastered to his muscular frame. A scintilla of lust burned inside my lower abdomen.

Satan help me… he is truly divine!

‘I will go get help!’ Kelia sniffled, getting to her feet. ‘Karol and Kohén are on their way, let Larkin explain Kohl. Larkin…’

I looked up at her and away from Kohl’s heaving, muscled chest. ‘Yes?’

She shook with her tears. ‘If I ever see you within two feet of that fence again, I will kill you myself.’ She swallowed. ‘I am NOT going into that harem without you!’

I tried to laugh, but only more tears came out. She smiled a friendly, relieved smile and trotted away, intercepting Karol and Kohén and speaking heatedly. Kohén looked so shaken that I knew he’d not leave my side once he’d arrived at it, so I turned back to Kohl and grasped his hands.

‘Kohl… we’re going to be surrounded by people in a moment so before they come, there’s something I need you to know.’

He stared at me, his expression still anguished. ‘Yes?’

I leaned in and hugged him, pressing my lips to his skin, just beside his mouth. ‘You may be a Nephilim to some people, the prince’s twin to others, and a third-born to your parents… but to me, you’re my guardian angel, who I am afraid I will fall in love with, if you do not leave soon...’ I kissed the side of his mouth and he moaned softly and turned his face to mine, trying to kiss me properly. My heart skipped and I inhaled sharply, widening my eyes because I could see Kohén racing over from behind us, and thankfully Kohl seemed to remember himself and the laws, grasped my jaw instead.

‘I am already in love with you,’ he whispered, looking at my lips with so much longing that I ached for the touch of his. ‘And I am going to become King of Pacifica, just so I have the power to make my own laws, and twist those laws so that we can be married.’ His eyes burned into mine. ‘Not joined- but married.’

My heart skipped again, this time because I was as moved as I was terrified of what Kohl’s devotion to me would mean for Kohén’s dreams. But before I could respond, I glanced over at my mother’s body and screamed when I saw that she was not there alone because standing behind her, and grinning at me through the thick, spiny bracken, was the golden man.

My father.

I screamed, and then the world went black.

7.

Chaos reigned in the castle following my mother’s death, and from what I was told, there were a lot of very scared and confused people waiting anxiously for me to wake up and explain my side of what had happened.

Only I did not wake up for days- three whole days and when I did, it was to a changed world. No one knew why I had been unconscious for so long, and though they put every healer in the castle to the task of waking me up, it wasn’t until Kohén came in to wait at my side that I was roused by his familiar scent. I blinked until he came into focus, and stared when I saw tears on his cheeks. This concerned me at first as I wondered what else had happened to make him cry (Clearly he couldn’t be weeping over my mother! Even I wasn’t sure if I could do that now!) But then, after holding me so tightly that I thought my head would pop off, Kohén explained that I’d been out for days, not seconds or minutes as I’d thought, and to him it was a miracle because he’d been starting to fret that I never would come to.

‘I love you,’ he whispered, and I remembered my moment with Kohl instantly and felt a pang. ‘And I’m so sorry for the way I’ve acted because of those feelings. On your birthday, I thought I would die if you did not open your door for me but when I thought you were dead, I wanted to die for having wasted our time together, or for having led you to believe that I objectified you the way that she did!’ He rubbed my hands between his, and his eyes were neon again. ‘I will never treat you that way again Larkin. I can see how my lust for you scares you, and I don’t want you to be scared. We are friends, and I won’t give you cause to worry that that has changed until you are free. I promise you that!’

‘Thank you,’ I whispered, though my coma had done nothing to chip away at my anger toward him. ‘That means the world to me.’

Kohén didn’t want to leave my side, but a lot of people wanted to see me so he grudgingly went and had a shower (he hadn’t left my room for those three days) and when Kohl walked in alone next and shut the door behind him, I shrank into myself a little. What was I going to say to him?

‘They let me in next for being your hero and all,’ he said, smiling gently but stopping at the foot of my bed before I could become lost in my thick pillows.

‘Three times over,’ I said dazedly.

‘I suppose… but…’ he swallowed. ‘I’m going to make this quick. I meant what I said the other day, and I can tell that I don’t mean enough to you to say anything so… final… back.’ I winced but he held up his hand and went on. ‘And even if you could, I don’t think it’s safe for me to hear it because, well, we’re alone, and you just scared the hell out of me so I’d probably kiss you enough for a lifetime if you did.’ He smiled and I flushed. ‘But Larkin…’ he wrapped his hand around the white leather bedpost with equally white knuckles. ‘I am yours, and I am going to wait for you to be free.’

‘You shouldn’t say that,’ I said sadly. ‘You’re right when I say I cannot say it back. Regardless of how you make me feel… I have signed a contract that states that I am his property. You cannot kiss me or make advances on me, I cannot encourage you to win the Pacifica crown when he is championing my dreams, and I cannot promise my future to you because for all intents and purposes, it is in his hands.’

‘But you’d consider it otherwise?’ Kohl whispered, stepping closer.

‘If I wasn’t Given?’ I repeated, and felt safe in answering: ‘Yes, of course. Kohl… you’re wonderful!’ My throat tightened. ‘But I can’t give you children-’

‘I don’t need children, as a third-born son, no offspring of mine will be entitled to anything that a commoner couldn’t earn for himself anyway, so my parents won’t fuss as much over my life choices as they will over Kohén’s own.’ Kohl smiled and I sobbed. ‘And so, I will wait, and pray that you’re not so fussy either.’

‘Kohl-’

He held up his pendant and kissed it. ‘He has vowed not to touch you for the sake of your friendship, so I won’t make advances on you for the sake of your freedom.’ He began to back towards the door, giving me the chance to admire his deep dimples as he reversed. ‘But I am yours, Larkin, and you will be my wife.’ I went to protest but he put his hand on the doorknob, silencing me. ‘I would love to convince you further, but I have to let Kelia in before she beats down the door- she has been almost inconsolable.’ He winced. ‘And barely tolerable.’

‘Really?’ I asked, surprised as I sat up.

‘Yes her voice gets very high-pitched-’

‘I meant is she really that upset about me?’ I asked, smiling all the same.

He nodded and grinned. ‘Funny how it takes almost dying to find out how loved you are, hmm?’

Kelia came in next and Kohl was right- she was a bundle of frazzled nerves and refused to leave my side as she chattered on and on about how scared she had been and how sorry she was for being jealous and what a hateful person my mother had been and that she never would have been so cold toward me if she’d understand where I’d come from. I assured her that my mother had never been like THAT, but she didn’t believe me and I was still too mad at Sapphire to argue much.

Then Kelia told me all of the news- Karol hadn’t wanted to leave until I was awake but he had commitments to uphold quickly (Lindy’s gestation, no doubt) and so he’d gone and I’d missed my chance to farewell my friends. I cried a little over that later, but some of those tears were happy ones- for all Karol knew, I could have been dead, but he’d upheld his end of the bargain and Lindy might just be safe because of it.

Then, Kelia went on to explain that the entire kingdom was scandalized and confused over what had happened, and apparently my father had already moved out of our family home and out with Finch instead of into a retirement home. The official story was that losing me had drawn a wedge between my parents, and so she’d been falling apart since, and that she’d attempted to grab me at the last minute to take me with her into heaven to save us both. Everyone believed that because it wasn’t uncommon for the departure of a third-born to destroy families, which was why the family unit was so guarded in the first place. My depressed mother had gone to extremes, but people understood and came to her funeral to farewell the woman that she had been in her early life, and not the wild woman she’d become in the hours before her death, and I was grateful for that.

Beyond that, however, I couldn’t find much of a way to mourn the loss of someone who’d lost me intentionally.

But what had happened to me was the biggest mystery and when I explained to King Elijah that I had seen the golden man and fainted from shock, he’d become even more confused. Fainting for three days did not make sense, and when he took me back to the place where flowers had been lain for my mother and asked me to show him where the man had been standing, I honestly couldn’t see a place where he could have crawled, let alone stood. In my memory, he’d been behind the trees but when I looked again, I saw that there was no ‘behind’ the trees. The gnarled branches twisted closely together and were spiked with spiny thorns that overlapped. Those woods would have ripped a small child to shreds in there- so there was no way a grown man could have fit, even if the vision of him was still clear in my mind.

After he saw my befuddled expression, King Elijah said that I must have suffered a hallucination or repressed memory in the shock of seeing my mother die, and once I saw the security surveillance which confirmed that yes, the woods had been empty, I ended up conceding so that no one would wonder if I had inherited some sort of mental disorder from my mother. But my curiosity had been stirred up too much for me to let it rest, and I knew I’d end up spending a lot of time in the gardens alone from then on, in the hope of seeing him again and getting answers. Having the wrong father I could deal with- but not knowing what he was and what that meant for me would slowly drive me insane.

Kelia had more news for me- in fact from the way her breathing changed and eyes dilated, it became clear, and rather quickly, that she’d forced her way into my room so that she could explode her private secret to someone- anyone that she could trust to keep it: She was in love. And when she confessed that Kohl had stolen her heart, I almost checked out of consciousness for another three days.

Kelia spoke quickly and passionately, filling me in on everything that she had thought, felt or done concerning Kohl Barachiel over the course of his two-week stay. She had been shadowing him since he’d saved her at the ball, and was absolutely convinced that he wanted her as desperately, because he’d spent many hours out in the hall with her, waiting for me to come to. So gone on him was she, that she had started to have faith in what she’d overheard Martya say to me- that if she escaped this place as a virgin, she would steal Kohl’s heart and marry him, becoming the princess that she’d always meant to be. A third-tier one, but a princess all the same.

Her excitement made me feel sick, as did the realisation that she was trying to follow me through my loophole, but I smiled for her and told her that anything was possible- so long as she didn’t share this with the other girls and give them ideas.

‘Of course!’ Kelia smiled and winked and said. ‘Just imagine, Larkin- we could become sisters!’

‘You think I have designs on becoming a princess?’ I asked her.

‘I don’t think Kohén’s going to give you the option,’ she said. ‘We all know that’s why you haven’t got any gold yet… you’re too precious to him for that. Why do you think I was so jealous?’

‘Because you play sport like a girl?’ I’d joked, and she’d giggled and hugged me again.

I had returned her embrace, while praying for both of our souls, and a cotton field so wide and tall that it would look like Heaven on earth to make up for how hellish everything before then was destined to be.

*

Kohl left for Pacifica with the king at his side three days later, and though he only hugged me when he left, I felt his heart pounding and saw tears welling in his eyes to mirror my own.

‘I will see you soon,’ he whispered to me.’

‘So long as you see me and our paths clearly when you do,’ I said back, and kissed his cheek.

‘Too late.’

‘Okay you two,’ Kohén said, pulling me back so that he could step in and hug his brother. ‘Don’t make me regret introducing you.’

Kohl had kissed his pendant over his brother’s shoulder, and then closed his eyes and hugged Kohén tightly- so tightly that minutes passed before they let go with wet eyes, red faces and trembling lips. Not a word was exchanged during this, and I know that everyone on the dock was as moved by the twins strong bond as I was. There and then I vowed never to break it by coming between them, but when Kohl’s first letter arrived two weeks later- one he’d posted from the dock and slipped into a book so it wouldn’t be found, I forgot how not to fall for him.

June 17th AA643

Dear Larkin,

I’ve read so many wonderful books that I think it should be easy for me to string together something beautiful for you with words, but then I remember how the sun looks on your hair, and I forget how to think.

I will miss you dearly.

Love, Kohl Barachiel.

‘Six months,’ Kohl whispered to Kohén.

‘Six months,’ Kohén agreed, and then my best friend turned to me and buried his face into my neck, so that he wouldn’t have to watch his brother walk away. I hugged him and tried to be there for him, but the truth was that Kohén was holding me together as much as I was him- because watching Kohl smile sadly at us over his shoulder almost undid me.

Then again, to put it into perspective that I had no compunction of what love- or losing love- truly was, the duchess’s legs crumpled beneath her as soon as Kohl’s back was turned, and the blade that had been wedged in my heart since my fifth birthday twisted.

‘Please…!’ Constance wailed. ‘Elijah! Kohl! D- don’t l-leave me here!’

I didn’t know if I was more depressed that my own mother hadn’t missed me like that, or because I could feel the infertility vial in my gut, reminding me that I’d never have the chance to break over somebody like that either.

The king looked back over his shoulder with a mournful expression on his face- but Resonah and Rosina were travelling with him this time, and they were holding each of his arms tightly and so, he did not attempt to move to embrace his wife, and nor did her son. So while the ‘luckiest’ and most beautiful and most admired woman in Calliel wept balefully, the gangplank lifted, and her family sailed away- Elijah and Kohl on the boat, and Kohén on foot back up the hillside, leaving her completely alone because Karol had already departed for the East.

I hurried after Kohén, breathless. ‘Aren’t you going to comfort your mother?’ I demanded. ‘She’s falling apart!’

Kohén wiped at his tears and shook his head. ‘If I were capable of putting her back together, she wouldn’t be, would she?’ he gave me a wounded look, then held up a glowing palm, showing me the sparks crackling at his fingertips. ‘I have to…’ he swallowed then faced forward. ‘Train... or something.’

And then he left me alone there too, and I was too angry with him to let a single tear fall. I turned back to the ship so I wouldn’t see him slip into the harem and saw Kohl standing there, watching me. I kissed my wooden ring and blew it to him.

Five years...

*

It took six weeks for Karol to announce that he may have found the key ingredient to complete the formula that Martya Rice had created for locust-deterrent, and by the time he’d been proven right, four months had lapsed and many other things had transpired.

Lindy wrote to me to let me know that she’d survived two weeks before having her daughter- Skylark- who was healthy and living with them in a small coastal cabin in Janiel, and I’d whooped so loudly that one of our harem servants had come in to see if there was a spider needing killing. Lindy thanked me expressly for saving her family and told me that in a few years, she would return to see me again. She’d also included a photo of baby Sky, and bragged that the ‘divine’ Prince Karol had bought them a personal camera (a luxurious item- only the royal family had one within Eden’s walls) before he’d ‘traded’ them in Janiel, on the condition that she send me lots of photos. It was a sweet gesture and an insurance policy, because now that the world was so excited to see if his cure would work, Karol was obviously terrified that I’d mess it up for him by letting the ingredients leak to the masses. I wouldn’t of course because I’d given my word, but I couldn’t help but wonder how hard Karol had prayed that I would stay in a coma and not wake up to hold him to any of his promises. I sure knew that part of me wished that I’d stayed asleep long enough to lose my appeal to him so that he wouldn’t hold me to my promise!

Lindy also wrote that her eldest daughter was ready to take the exams and had her sights set on becoming an academic- and a birthing doctor, which made me grin and pray for days, even more than I prayed for my own. But I had to laugh out loud when she told me Karol’s explanation for why he was taking her away- apparently, he was doing it as a sixteenth birthday present for ME! And she added, rather saucily- that he’d made a demand of his own though- he wanted her to make me a gown that I would be able to wear to his thirtieth birthday masquerade ball the following year- something that had to be lower and higher cut than the ‘swan’ dress, but one that had to have feathers! I’d rolled my eyes so hard that I’d given myself a migraine, and had written back demanding that she make me a duck suit- with an accentuated backside, webbed shoes and a mask with a big ‘ol bill! I was fairly certain that she’d adhere to Karol’s demands, but I amused myself later that day by sketching out possibilities.

Lette turned sixteen in July and joined us in the harem, and walked out the morning after with gold chandelier earrings and a relieved smile on her face. She’d gone to Emmerly who by then, had earned herself a golden anklet as well, and they’d whispered and giggled together in the private dining room while I sat across from them wondering why I’d thought it would be a nice gesture to eat in there with them to celebrate a third joining us. There was no ‘us’ in the harem, and because Kohén avoided me for the next few days, I began to sink into a depression that didn’t abate until I found another book and letter from Kohl waiting for me on my bed, wrapped in brown paper.

August 19th AA643

Dear Larkin,

I found the letter you stashed inside my things and I am… speechless. I can’t believe you trusted me with this formula even though you say that you cannot love me, and I really cannot believe that Karol has actually kept his word and started mass-producing this at your request! Father is gobsmacked to think that Karol worked this out himself, and cannot wait to come home and brag, so if Karol returns soon- make sure he knows to make the most out of that throne access while he can- because the king seems ready to settle in for the long-haul now that his kingdom is back on track again! And with girls like you showing such loyalty to the Barachiel men, how could we ever derail?

You were right to trust me Larkin- I am loyal to Karol and supportive of his future reign, but I am equally, if not more, devoted to you and to put your mind at ease, I will trade a secret of my own as a thank-you for yours, and it is one that could get me in as much trouble for sharing as yours will so please, guard this with MY life:

There are dark Nephilim left and my father (and his father before him) have always been aware of that fact. Their numbers have to be small, practically extinct as we have publicly claimed, but they have made their presence known over the past one hundred years, which is why father added the electric fence. They cannot fly of course, and they do not seem very powerful or they would have agitated us much more than they have, but father believes that the locust problem is to their credit, and I think that I agree. The world was changed during Armageddon yes, and we see evidence of those changes in Calliel every day; the evolution of the salt and pepper bears in the north which have been known to try and bite through our fences, and the gator fish that prey on those foolish enough to end up in the Atlantic ocean, and the fact that we have fruits and trees that did not exist in the time before… but these locusts plagues were set upon us by God, among many other things, so it is strange that they continue to plague us despite the fact that he stopped everything else.

The creatures themselves don’t make sense either- they don’t have the same biochemical traits as locusts from the time before, and their migratory habits are haphazard and sometimes seem intentional, as though they know exactly where to strike to hurt the kingdom the most. Because of this, my father theorises that they may be less than natural, which is another reason why we’ve found ridding ourselves of them to be an impossible task, and if he’s right about that then it’s feasible that the swarms are set upon us not by nature, but wicked Nephilim trying to vitiate our perfect society by crippling our food source. We have taken a vow to ward off poverty after all, and so much of the way the kingdom is run can be traced back to that, so by depriving us of dietary staples, these locusts are causing more unrest than there should be and making my family look as though they’re failing to uphold God’s vision.

So this is why father is so desperate to strike them out, and probably why he was so brash and threatening with your friend for giving him false hope as a means to escape her sentence. I know him Larkin and he would never hurt another person- I swear it- so please, have a little faith in my word if you cannot in his, and know that though it may appear like he took your mother’s evidence lightly, he is trying to find a way to get into the north and see if there are not nests of Nephilim hiding there, as he suspects, because the Wildwoods are just one more part of this new world that makes no sense! How could something grow so densely, somewhere where the ground is harder than ice? They must be protecting something, and that something may be a cabal of dark souls who have nowhere else to hide!

I know that your suspicion has been aroused, but laughing off the Nephilim threat is the only way that my father can keep people feeling safe and from despairing, which could not only cripple Arcadia, but hurt God’s cause as well, so we have to keep this secret and to ease your mind no, Kohén is not aware of this- father simply confessed it last year to me when he was inebriated on palm wine.

So now you have some very powerful information in exchange for yours, and I won’t insult you by asking you not to tell anyone- especially Kohén who is already too incorrigible on the subject of tracking down dark Nephilim- but please, feel at ease when confiding in me.

Not that you needed insurance, sweet Larkin, because the fact that I write I love you to you in ink is enough to have me branded. But I do, and I would take searing pain on my shoulder over no reply from you and effectively, a searing pain on my heart!

Love, Kohl Barachiel.

August 20th AA643

Dear Kohl,

I will always reply and keep every word we exchange confidential. It is nice to have something of mine to give to someone else willingly, even if they are just a few, dark truths.

Love, Larkin.

8.

Things with Kohén continued to be strained over the next few months, but he continued to make time for me and sometimes, we’d get so involved in a hand of cards on my bed that we’d forget what the true purpose of that bed was supposed to be, or so puffed chasing around a ball in his backyard that I’d forget to look for the golden man. We studied for our exams together (he and I were the only ones who bothered, as Kelia had been utterly convinced that she’d become the future princess of Pacifica because Kohl had sent her a postcard) and that was fun and soothing and began to thaw out my anger towards him at a rapid rate.

Or at least it was until Elfin’s birthday passed and saw her walk out to breakfast the next morning with not one token of her affection (or Kohén’s secretion, as Kelia and I liked to giggle) but three. Emmerly was positively livid, Lette was not surprised, Elfin practically glowed, Kelia went white in fear and I locked myself in my room and sobbed over the bundle of letters I’d received from Kohl, trying to tell myself that this was how it was supposed to be.

It wasn’t how it was supposed to be though, and I fell harder and harder for Kohl with every letter I received, feeling as though I were transferring feelings from one brother to another and hating myself for being such a girl- and one with such a conflicted heart! I was unbearably fond of Kohl, but Kohén was my life and the dream of one day sharing one with him never really died, even though it hurt me so much every time he appeared in the corridor looking guilty and sated. He was growing so tall and strong and proud that just looking at him made my chest ache and my mind blur, and when he’d stop whatever we were doing just to enfold me into his arms and breathe into my hair without a word being spoken, I knew that he’d always be my first love, if not my only, and I his.

But love didn’t always last forever, and thanks to his need to sate his urges with other women, and my need to protect Lindy by making that deal with Karol well, ours certainly would not stand the test of time, circumstance or caste and I made a sad sort of peace with that; at least by agreeing to lie with Karol, I’d broken my own heart and dashed my own hopes for a true romance with Kohén, sparing myself the agony of him instigating my fall.

And I supposed, given the way I’d been raised, that I was lucky to have known love at all so like God, I embraced what I could: taking friendship and promises from one twin, and declarations of undying affection from the other while loving both in equal measures and praying to God every night, that someone-anyone- would love me back one day and be allowed to, because I would be free.

Kelia was the last of us to turn sixteen and she passed out from fear twice the week before. I confessed this to Kohén and he looked ill, so when Kelia emerged from her suite the day after without a single adornment, another birthday postcard from Kohl wishing her a happy sixteenth, and a smile on her beautiful face, I knew that even though sometimes Kohén’s body was in the wrong place- his heart was in the right one- and with me, and so, I defrosted a little more.

We participated in our preliminary examinations one week after Kelia’s birthday, and though the other Companions only did the basic test and an Artisan one each, Kohén and I went through every single exam, both prac and written, which ensured that we went to bed exhausted every night for a week. But it was fun and distracting, and I don’t think two people were ever closer to one another than he and I were after each test, when we’d come out of our rooms and embrace and then go back to mine or to the ballroom or the training room to study for the next together. Kohén was nervous- determined to best his older brother’s overall rank of 96% on his final examinations when he turned twenty-one, but I was oddly calm, knowing that if I did poorly, I’d have the chance to take it again in five years AND with no one to compete against.

We drank wine together after the final combat exam (which was used to qualify people for the voluntary defence Corps), and ate the last- and only winter strawberries- (they had grown in my garden alone) and laughed with breath that misted the air, talking about what jobs we might have had in the ‘old’ world. I said that Kohén would have been a solicitor or a judge, and he was pleased as punch with that, but when he said I would have been a princess, I threw my strawberry at his head.

‘No, not a fairy tale one,’ he protested. ‘I once read about one from near the end of the before, who was a star. An actress, a princess and a great beauty who inspired millions with her kindness and charity.’ He blushed and popped a strawberry into my mouth. ‘I don’t remember her name, but yeah, that could have been you.’

‘I’m no actress…’ I mumbled, and my face flamed, proving me right. In fact, I felt flushed all over, so I shrugged out of my light jacket. ‘My Artisan score will surely reflect that.’

‘You could have been,’ he challenged me. ‘You have a flare for theatrics, and when you talk… I can’t tear my eyes off your face. No one can- I even heard mother say that you’re so animated that even she finds it hard to not laugh at your antics.’

‘Kohén…’ I complained.

‘Larkin…’ he whispered, and when I glanced up and saw him watching me remove my wrists from my cuff, my fever spiked. ‘You’re poetry in motion, little bird. You struggle to remember dance steps, but every move you make is liquid and beautiful and...’ he offered me his hand. ‘How?’

‘You are more beautiful than I am,’ I said honestly, taking his hand and smiling, then running my finger over the marble-smooth skin on the back of his hand which was without a pore, freckle or stray hair. ‘Every inch of you is perfect, and you dance beautifully now.’

‘I have the blood of an archangel in my veins,’ he said me, as he pulled me off the concrete edging of the great stone steps and then down into his arms. ‘But what explanation have you for inheriting both moonlight and sunlight?’

‘Kohén…’ I blushed, looking down at our hands and away from the shadows caught in his thick lashes. I knew I should ask him to refrain from saying such things but...but...

He pulled me closer. ‘Dance with me?’

‘There’s no music,’ I protested, but I followed him out across the dewy lawn, which shimmered like the stars had fallen upon it.

‘Then I will make some.’ Kohén took me into a waltz hold and began to sing a song in a voice so rich and beautiful that I was almost too overcome to move my feet. I wanted to ask where he’d been hiding this talent, but he spun me around and we ended up stumbling and giggling, then swaying on the spot beneath Lady Liberty’s shadow.

It was a beautiful, light and intimate moment, and the more I picked up on his charge, the more it felt like I was betraying Kohl. Then again, not indulging in such a moment would have felt like betraying myself. And what could I do? I was sixteen, my life was open-ended, my feelings were in turmoil and Kohl was so far away… whereas Kohén was my everything! And to demonstrate that, he ran his hands up my arms and then cupped my face.

‘Can I kiss you tonight Larkin?’ he whispered, his breath like honey wine and his eyes neon in his excitement. ‘Just once to tide me over for the next four years?’

‘I cannot refuse, your majesty,’ I reminded him, and he lowered his lashes in shame and moved to release me. But I stopped him, holding onto his elbows and, drunk as I was, moved my body up against his while a blue light began to glow across his skin. ‘But I am also permitted to ask for a kiss from my master so please....’ I brushed my mouth against his. ‘Kiss me?’

He did, moaning softly when our lips parted and tongues brushed together, and my mind whirled as though we were still spinning in circles. Thankfully for my suddenly heavy, aching breasts and shaking knees, it only lasted a moment or two and when he pulled back, his eyes were shining and I was overheating.

‘Can you tell me a lie?’ he whispered. ‘Tell me that you’ve at least once contemplated inviting me to your room, regardless of how it would affect your future?’ He ran one hand down my neck and the other, down over my collarbone. ‘Tell me, just once, that I’ve done to your body and mind what you do to me every time our eyes meet?’

‘I would not be lying if I said that,’ I whispered back, and his eyes flared bright enough to blind me. I giggled, intoxicated on the effect that I had on him. ‘Or if I said that I considered flunking that exam so I’d never know that I had any potential, but to make you happy.’

Kohén groaned and rested his forehead against mine. ‘Thank you, I feel better about contemplating locking you in your room all week now.’

I laughed. ‘And I love you so, because you didn’t.’ I leaned up and kissed him again, just quickly, and then removed his hands from me and kissed his fingers. ‘Don’t go to them tonight, all right? Not after this.’

Kohén turned away and whispered. ‘As if I could…’ and my heart ached all night, robbing me of sleep and leaving sensual fantasies in their wake. I was changing, and so were my needs, and four years sounded like an eternity to hold onto what I had only ever grasped before in a Barachiel man’s arms.

The next day I woke up to an envelope on my bed with ‘PCE’ stamped in the golden seal at the back. I kept it sealed and rang the chime to signal Kohén, but a second later he burst into my room holding up his own unsealed envelope.

‘Ready?!’ he demanded. ‘I just saw Lette- she got a ninety in dance, and she’s ecstatic!’

And so she should be- ninety was high enough to guarantee a place in the Artisan caste and as a Companion, there was little else she would need to call herself a success. Maryah would pop champagne!

‘Wonderful!’ I squealed. ‘But who cares about them? Open your letter already!’

Kohén opened up the parchment, read the letter and then held it up, beaming. ‘Dance, seventy percent, Music...’ he blushed, ‘ninety-nine percent-’

‘Whoa!’

‘Shut up.’ He went on, still red at the ears. ‘Combat, ninety-two, Athleticism, ninety-three, Math, ninety-six, Science, eighty-nine…hmm, have to work on that!’ And I rolled my eyes- that could have gotten him into the Academic cast alone. ‘Written, eighty-seven, General knowledge, one hundred-’

I squealed. ‘You made it into the Blue Collars! You could be a shopkeeper with a score like that!’

‘Again… shut up,’ he joked and then finished: ‘Theology, eighty-nine….’ He frowned and I waved my hand.

‘What’s the average?’

Kohén folded the paper and grinned at me. ‘Ninety-one point one!’

I threw myself into his arms. ‘You’re gonna beat Karol in five years time, baby! No sweat!’

‘I hope so, because Karol got a ninety on his first test- but a ninety-six on his second which is still the men’s record. But I did better than I hoped so… wow. I mean…’ Kohén pulled back and scratched his temple. ‘I’m a little shocked by how poorly I did in some categories that I’m supposed to ace but still…’ he pointed to mine. ‘Okay, Miss future academic slash farmer! You go!’

‘Okay!’ I turned and opened my envelope and began to read the totals, but by the time I got to the number at the bottom of the page, I was so sure that there had been a mix up that I couldn’t stand to let any of the figures sink in.

What the HELL?

‘Cheater!’ Kohén complained. You’re supposed to read them out loud!’

I folded up my piece of paper quickly and whispered. ‘I don’t want to. I think there’s been a mistake so…’

‘Let me be the judge of that! If you flunk dance and ace history, we’ll know it’s true!’

‘No!’ I protested, taking it back. ‘Sorry but…‘

Kohén looked at me sadly. ‘It can’t be that bad, Larkin- you’re a bit brilliant and if these scores don’t reflect that, well… there’s always next time, okay?’ He sat down on the bed. ‘Just read them.’

‘Fine. But… I warned you.’ I swallowed and opened the paper and began to read in a monotone: ‘Dance, sixty-nine, Music, eighty…’ I cleared my throat, a little surprised that I had done even that well in music, and vowed to practice even more on the harp for the next exam. ‘Combat, ninety-four, Athleticism, ninety-six, Math, ninety-seven, Science, ninety-five-’

‘Wait… what?’ Kohén sounded bewildered.

‘I know,’ I said, going on: ‘Written, ninety-nine, General, ninety-five, Theology… one hundred, History… ninety-nine.’ I lowered the piece of paper to stare at him. ‘Average… ninety-two point four.’

Kohén pressed his hands to the side of his head and looked at me as though I’d just told him that God had been a miniature pig. ‘Ninety-two point FOUR?’ he cried, and I winced, knowing that as much as he loved me, he was going to take this hard. He had been MY history and theology teacher before anyone else, and I had bested him!

‘I… I had nothing to do but read and…’ I swallowed. ‘You travelled and-’

‘Ninety-two point four?’ he demanded again. ‘And you beat me in COMBAT?!’

‘Yes...’ I said in a small voice, and he stared at me, astonished.

‘That’s beaten Ora Camden AND Amelia-Rose Choir!’ He exploded, naming noble girls who were renowned for having aced the PCE the year before. ‘Do you know who the only person in this family was to ever get over a ninety two their first time before?’ he demanded. ‘My mother!’

This was news. ‘Seriously?’

‘The woman was brilliant, still is- she just uses it to think up clever insults and colour match her nails to her gowns but…’ Kohén threw himself at me and hugged me tight. ‘Larkin…! This is incredible!’

‘You’re not mad?’ I asked weakly.

‘No, I’m depressed...’ he chuckled, but sounded uncomfortable. ‘The evil part of me was sort of hoping you’d get a forty and leap into bed with me!’

‘You’ll have me on the second one… asshole,’ I said, squeezing him before pulling back to tweak his nose. ‘There are only so many places where I can improve and music and dance are not my fortes.’

‘And picking the right girl to lose my mind over is not mine.’ Kohén leaned down and picked up both of our envelopes. ‘Do you mind if I take this to show Karol and mother? They really are going lose their minds when they see these results.’

‘Sure,’ I said, for my fingers already itching to write Kohl and Lindy to tell them that my fondest wish had come true and now I knew that so long as Kohén kept his word, I could be anything.

Anyone.

Anyone’s.

But whose?

And then I smiled and sat down on my bed when it hit me: I would be my own person, and nothing mattered more than that.

9.

June, AA644

The first half of my seventeenth year flew by in a blur of classes, letters, books and glad tidings. The locust panacea was working and fields were being hurriedly sown and cultivated in time for the fall harvests, the train line to Yael was completed, Rabia held another election and voted back in their existing president Connor Camden for a second term, there wasn’t a locust or golden man to be seen, and Karol kept his promise to Kohén after he returned from his tour, and gave me a wide, albeit often cheeky berth. Sometimes, he’d even slide face first along whatever corridor we’d meet in, (usually if Kohén was at my side) to make it clear that he was not eyeing me, but if I was with others, he’d keep his face set like stone, then nod and say: ‘Duckling. Looking as unappealing, as always… carry on.’ And yes, that made me laugh. He was still a vile human by my standards, and sometimes, thinking about the promise I’d made him prevented me from sleeping, but I’d gotten old enough to see the appeal that he held for other women by more common (visual) standards, and I felt sorry for any woman who was stupid enough to fall prey to his multiple charms- the way he looked in leather pants and a sash not withstanding- because I enjoyed watching him swagger away for more than one reason. Thank goodness he never caught me sneaking a backwards peek!

It was no surprise that he’d become easily distracted and less observant though, because he was turning thirty that fall, and that made him old enough to consider taking a wife, or to at least start courting eligible girls. Because of this, our common went from being a place to picnic and sing and relax- to a fashion parade, as the eligible Arcadian noble girls took to dressing themselves up and lingering near to the castle daily in the hopes of catching his eye.

Traditionally, the crowned prince was expected to choose a noble girl from another kingdom to marry or join with, which was why Ekita Tariel had had her heart set on landing him (Constance had also hailed from Tariel). But Karol had always taken a firm stance on the issue of marriage, and had repeated often (and loudly) that he was entitled to marry whoever he wanted to so long as she met the legal criteria, and that although he would allow his parents to comment on the subject, he would not rule out marrying someone if they didn’t approve whole-heartedly. In the same vein, he would very happily consider marrying or joining with a local girl based on compatibility, even if such a match offered few trade benefits.

He did say though, that he knew every girl in the Arcadian noble caste, and so far, he was fairly certain that he lacked the chemistry that he wished to have with a spouse with all of them. But even though those of us in the know were well aware that these noble girls were most likely wasting their time, Kohén refused to state this publicly, or to take any steps to dissuade his would-be female suitors and their attentions. And, being the bugger that he was, the prince would often go to the window at the end of the south wing, which overlooked the common, and make a big deal of staring down at the girls as though considering them one by one, which made everyone in the palace snigger, and the girls on the common strike poses and batt eyelashes and return the next day with bigger hats and bustles.

‘You’re so cruel,’ I said one day while he and I were playing Kelia and Kohén in a game of Basket-Racket doubles. It was a freshly-invented game and an addictive one, and since the king had installed his own court, I’d practically had to be dragged from it every day.

I wasn’t happy to be there that day though, because Karol had challenged me to a game, and where he went, his avid audience went, which meant that they were now ‘our’ avid audience and they were throwing me off.

‘Why don’t you just go out there and converse with them, or shut the blinds and stay inside so that they find another way to pass their time?’

‘If I go out there, they will start stomping on one another and if I shut the blinds and lock myself away, not only will I lose my tan, but they will just go to the other side of the common,’ he ambled past me and returned a serve from Kelia. ‘And none of us want to live in darkness because I have to shutter the whole damn house.’

‘You could lock yourself away and none of us would mind, and you can’t exactly lose your tan,’ I pointed out, lobbing a ball back to Kohén. ‘Your South American slash Native American genetics make that sort of impossible.’

‘I like to be darker, and if I’m to impress President Camden’s daughter Ora in a few months, I need to be darker- they tan well down under!’ he joked, pounding the ball back at Kelia who returned it so well that it flew past me and just made it into the line before going dead against the fence. ‘Besides, anyone stupid enough to assume that I’m going to pick a bride through an open window deserves to be made an example of. I may be a prince but this isn’t the sixteenth century- I will marry someone who makes the most sense as my wife, not someone who is devoid of all sense but has many ribbons.’ Kohén tried to ace us with a serve right to the hoop between and behind us, but Karol intercepted it and sent it thumping past Kelia, winning us a fast point. ‘Anyway, they’re attracting single men to the common like bees to honey. They may go home without me, but they ain’t all going home alone!’

‘Did you say wife?’ I asked, incredulous. ‘As in: you would give us a queen at last?’

Yes! Yes yes! Get married NOW! If you marry before I’m released, you can’t touch me! Oh, God- PLEASE!

Karol winked at me. ‘If a girl can steal my heart the way you have Kohén’s, or has a chance of scoring as high in every exam as you have, then yes!’ he declared, and then turned to return another serve from Kohén, lobbing it directly down the centre line, and then into the basket between him and Kelia- winning the game for us. ‘But if I do… it probably won’t be for years yet, you know?’ He wiped sweat off his brow then turned to me to pat my shoulder. ‘Probably like, five years…? I need sow all of my oats first!’

The women watching cheered crazily, and I rolled my eyes, slumping a little in my dejection to understand that I was the oat he had the needle stalled for. I wanted to cuss him out but even if I’d had a snappy comeback, not only would it be unwise to hurt his feelings while Lindy’s life was still in his hands, but his fans were cheering so loudly that he wouldn’t have been able to hear me anyway!

It was sheer pageantry, and if I hadn’t been cured of the desire to have a family or raise a son before then, I certainly was after! Who wanted to be a bee or a honeypot when you could be the keeper of something worthwhile? And regardless of Karol’s sudden and unexpected good intentions, they were still just intentions- if I knew him at all (and I thought that I did by then) he’d end up marrying the hottest piece of ass in Calliel regardless of where she came from or what she could bring to the forty-seat dining table in Eden’s grand dining hall. We’d be stuck with a queen who ruled that every Thursday would be sparkling sandal day, when what we needed was a queen like Martya! Someone strong, proud, razor-sharp and observant. Someone who didn’t care how she looked, only about what she did. Amelia-Rose Choir had potential according to everyone- everyone outside of the two eldest brothers that was, who’d met and had already taken a dislike to the intellectual noble girl. But she couldn’t be the only one amongst them who had both looks and a mind, could she? The only one who could win the nation’s heart?

A girl in my position shouldn’t dream, but I did- I was rebellious that way, so I dreamed of princesses…. the kind who I might be lucky enough to love as a sister one day.

*

Kohén continued to make my life in the harem easier on me by keeping his dalliances with the other girls low-key, and his feelings for me either concealed or maybe even by getting over me entirely. I couldn’t be certain which it was, because I didn’t dare broach the buried subject now that I’d finally gotten some good-sized sods of normalcy on top of it, but something had changed between us since I’d gotten my results and after that day, Kohén finally found a way to keep his promise to spend time with me- without reaching for me or letting flowery, sentimental words cross his lips. It annoyed me to realise that he clearly hadn’t thought I’d do well enough to actually qualify for the Academic caste before, but he was taking my ambition much more seriously now, so that was all that mattered. And for my seventeenth birthday he gifted me with two things: his brilliant, cheeky smile- and a ruffled green bonnet folded up in delicate tissue paper.

‘Um…?’ I took the satin bonnet and turned it over in my hands, curious beyond measure. It was a small gift, but Kohén was not a man of small gestures, and I knew it was liable to mean something larger than the intent to keep my already balmy temperature up. ‘Is this one final attempt at domesticating me…?’

He laughed. ‘No. And I know it’s not quite as lavish as the statue, or the binoculars that I got Emmerly,’ he said. ‘But it’s a genuine artefact from the mid-nineteenth century.’ He took it from my hands and put it over my head, fastening the bow beneath my chin and met my eyes so that I could see his delight. ‘Karol has read Gone With The Wind too,’ he explained and his radiant smile could have been his big brother’s. ‘And he said you’d appreciate this.’

I melted, took his face in my hands and kissed his forehead. ‘I do!’ I said, thrilled not only for the reference to my favourite novel, but because I finally had a REAL antique! ‘So much! But not half as much as I appreciate you.’

Kohén was radiant. ‘I thought you’d look silly but… I hadn’t noticed that there were shades of green in your eyes until now. Larkin…?’

‘Yes?’ I asked, swallowing down a sudden surge of panic, because I didn’t want him to kiss me, but if he did, I would kiss back and passionately.

He sighed and finished as though stating a dull fact: ‘You’re beautiful.’ He stepped back and kissed my limp hand. ‘Happy birthday, friend.’

I swallowed again. ‘Thank you.’ I touched the bonnet gingerly. ‘I’ll treasure this.’

He walked out, and I stayed in- in my room and in my bonnet. Later, I went out into the hall to show Kelia, and bumped into Karol getting into the pool, which was referred to as ‘the spring.’ He had pants on thank goodness and appeared to be settling in to converse with Adeline rather than fornicate, and when he saw me, he grinned.

‘I knew it,’ he said, his smile smug. ‘I love being right and Miss Scarlett, but you do look ravishing.’

‘Fiddle-de-de,’ I said, but I smiled at him as I did, and that was as much of a thank you as I could muster to the man who truly had me bound.

The reprieve from Kohén’s open affections was both welcome and difficult. I began to sleep more easily at night, without dreading that my door knob would suddenly turn, or that he’d start a huge fight with me over some imagined slight (as he’d been doing since his hormones had kicked in) but every time I saw him leaving to sail with Emmerly and returning with haphazardly-buttoned shirt or glazed over eyes, or painting MY statue with Elfin before ‘helping’ her carrying her things back to the room (which he wouldn’t come out of for a few hours after) I’d be attacked by jealous spikes from the inside out. Then I’d have to spend days hiding from him so that he wouldn’t see the anguish in my eyes, and I’d do so in Martya’s garden, so that I could pretend to work when really, I’d do little but gaze out at the fence in the hope of seeing the golden man so that I’d have an excuse to scream at someone and vent my many frustrations.

But it was better to be frustrated than scared, and easier to deal with anger than heartbreak, so I let Kohén cast a wide net in the hopes of keeping myself out of his butterfly one, and for the most part it worked. We were friends again who did not dance, or kiss, or talk of wanting, and Basket-Racket court was a great way for us to spend time together without getting too close. It was new too, so we were both learning and so, there was no teacher/student dynamic on the court when we played- just a lot of laughter and a lot of falls.

To my delight, the duchess got addicted to the game as well, and after Elijah’s return, I often saw her and the king go down to play at night alone together, which gave me even more hope, not for myself but for the twin’s continued faith in their parents’ union. The sight of her crumpled on that dock, as she had crumpled in the Collection Room in my first day in Eden had haunted me until the king had returned, and though I didn’t like her, I didn’t want her or her family to suffer for Elijah’s roving penis any more than necessary. In four years’ time, Kohén and Kohl would turn twenty-one and so the legal union that they’d been conceived within would be dissolvable, and no one wanted to see it dissolved. Never before had a King and duchess of Arcadia split up after fulfilling their obligations to one another, but from what I’d learned from castle gossip, never before had a duchess been so miserable before either so her obvious distress over her spouse’s philandering was a bad sign… as was the way she had ghosted the palace halls in his absence, twisting the gigantic rock on her right hand while staring down at it abhorrently.

Kohén did not like talking about his mother or his parent’s relationship, but I had learned from him that that ring was an engagement ring of sorts- a promise that Elijah had made to marry her when their Joined relationship had commenced, regarding what he would offer her when it ended. No one knew for certain if the king really would follow through on that promise, but if she took it off, it would be a clear sign that the situation was hopeless.

Ideally, I would have loved to see her dissolve the union and take him back only if he agreed to be married and commit to her physically (as she never, EVER went off with other men even though it was her right to seek out a male Companion), but I couldn’t see that happening unless it was the king’s idea. She had a strong backbone, yes, but he’d kept her at heel for so long that I couldn’t conceive that she’d get her footing beneath her enough to stand her ground now. That was a shame because I thought it would have done Karol’s character wonders to see his father as the one doing the chasing for once! And if Arcadia got a queen through her then Karol, well, we’d be that one step closer to equality!

I wanted to believe that Elijah loved Constance regardless of what he did with Resonah behind the harem doors, but who could know, really? And how could I put any stock in the chances of redemption for him in her eyes, when I doubted that I’d be able to forgive Kohén for a year of affairs with other women, let alone the thirty-two years of it that poor Constance had had to bear?

And even though I continued to resent Kohén for going to the other girls, I stopped resenting him for it on their behalves, for they were so much happier now that they were earning gold (and let’s be frank: getting their own hormonal needs seen to) that they became better company. Maybe it was because I was coming across as less special to him now, or maybe it was because they were just genuinely happy with their lot in life, but they stopped treating me, and one another, as though we were all rivals.

In fact, one day while we were catching some summer rays out by the pool, Elfin and Emmerly found a way to admit (grudgingly) that they were impressed by my examination results, and agreed that it was a shame that I was in the harem with them. Not because I was ‘better’ than they, as Kelia and Emmerly had once foolishly stated, but because I WANTED to be less. Glamour, adoration, praise and beauty were like drugs to most girls, and these things were offered to Companions in fistfuls, so the fact that I didn’t value such things made me less of a threat to them, and that made them generous enough to cheer me on- and out of their sight so that I wouldn’t get in the way of their goals.

But they continued to believe that Kelia was a spoiled brat with unfounded airs on herself, and that her shyness was a smokescreen barely veiling her contempt for them and her feeble brain, and so they couldn’t understand how someone as smart and strong as I was, could stand to be around her so often. I tried to come to her defence, but they waved off my insistence that Kelia was just scared and sheltered and in need of our support. And when I pointed out that she was a great Basket-Racket player and had a lovely singing voice, which she used to soothe me to sleep when I was in a bad mood or feeling unwell- they merely bubbled their lips and rolled their eyes.

That had been an awkward twist in the conversation but luckily for me, Resonah, Rosina, Adeline and Karol all came out for a swim at that exact moment, so I had excused myself without pressing Kelia’s redeeming qualities further, and they waved me off the golden chaise that we’d all been draped upon, for they knew that I didn’t like the older prince, and welcomed the chance to whisper about his body without me making gagging motions and spoiling their fun.

Four years… tick tock! Ugh, Karol! Lose Adeline already, find a wife and spare me your slimy lips and their belief that I am a threat after all!

*

Kohl and I continued to exchange books via the mail, and every two weeks, without fail, I’d find a letter from him inside one. In late February, he wrote to tell me that he’d scored a 90.4, which was incredible given the fact that he hadn’t had half of the education that Kohén and I had, and in March, he wrote to respond to my letter about my own score, with the pledge to grovel at my feet accordingly, in due course.

‘I always knew you were a goddess, and every day you prove that you are more than that. I miss you so much, Larkin, and every day, I grow that little bit more resentful of my life, and the fact that Kohén was the son that got to stay in Eden, and share an existence with you.’

I wrote him back:

‘You both have me in very different ways. And every time I hear from you, you make me so happy that I find myself wishing every single day of my life away, not so that I can make my dreams come true, but so I can find a way to share a life with both of you: He as my dearest friend; you as the boy who made me believe in romance and love.’

‘Do you love me, Larkin?’

‘In so many ways. But what that means for us I do not know, for I am questing after a love that will consume me entirely and right now, I am not complete in myself enough to give any real part of me away.’

‘Then I will find a way to consume your every thought and dominate your every wish as soon as you are at liberty to wish for something of your own again!’

Our correspondence was so much more than an exchange of ink and paper, but an on-going conversation, which served to escalate the stakes between us. I could be open with Kohl in a way I had never been able to be with his twin, and I was the only confidante that Kohl had ever had and so his hopes, dreams, fears and emotions poured out of him like liquid gold- every one as poignant and moving as the next. And because we trusted each other so, we did not keep secrets from one another, well except for the pact I’d made with Karol-because I figured that was my horrid business alone.

But aside from that, Kohl understood that my feelings for Kohén ran too deeply to be discounted, and he confessed to me that he found Kelia’s crush on him flattering, even though he was not attracted to her- the attention was nice after so many years of feeling like an invisible discard. I did not feel even slightly threatened by Kelia’s crush, but when he wrote to me after my seventeenth birthday to tell me that one of the island girls had taken to leaving shells on his windowsill, and that he had gone on a moonlit walk with her just to tell her that she had to stop, and that he’d had to kiss her a few times to get her to agree to leave him be, my heart could have turned green from jealousy, and suddenly, the ocean separating us seemed twice as wide as it had before.

‘I don’t know how my brother does it,’ he wrote once. ‘Has you in that harem and keeps himself on the other side of your door, I mean. I always thought that the thing about Barachiel men’s hormones was a load of pineapples, but now that I’m almost fully-grown, I’m starting to understand that yes, sex is a need, not just a want, and when I get frustrated over missing you, the rain starts falling.

I would never, ever sleep with another girl, Larkin- not so long as there’s a chance for us, and you have to trust me on that. But I will admit that I get excited easily and often, and that even though I was not attracted to Lokina, it hailed after I left her and her eager kisses. I sleep with my window shut now out of loyalty to you, and I brush her shells to the sand to discourage her even though I know that a few of the other guys in the Corps have found sneaky ways to get their needs met with the native fawning flora... But sometimes I wonder if I’m trying to keep her out- or me in- and I can’t stop the thunder from rumbling when I awake from lustful dreams of you in my cold bed alone.

Please don’t hate me, I just want you to know that… Kohén is stronger than me. I probably wouldn’t have touched the other girls in the harem, but I would have had to find a way to get you banished so I wouldn’t rip your dress to shreds. Because the way I feel about you makes me want to swim home, just to bury my face in your hair and experience Heaven with my hands, tongue and… well...I think you can work out the other thing for yourself.

Please, don’t be scared of me or think this means that you can’t trust me but God, Larkin… I want you. I want to be inside you every way a man can be, and if we get a wedding night, I WILL nail our own window shut so that you cannot escape my passion once you have consented to want it, and I will rain kisses upon every inch of your golden flesh!’

That letter did crazy things to my head, and worse things to my body. I had a stack of them amassed by then which I kept in a hollow book that Kohl had sent me, but that night, I went to bed with that one angled so that the moonlight could shine on it, and experienced Heaven with my own hands, while imagining his tongue, hands and that other thing doing it for me.

This isn’t cheating on Kohén… This is my imagination- no harm, no foul, no contact, no broken contract!

But, when I woke up the next morning to Kohén bursting through my door to tell me to pack my bags because we were going to Pacifica, I seriously considered feigning illness, just as I had before the ball. How could I be around Kohl, knowing that he wanted me so? And how could one twin keep his desire for me a secret from the other? Despite the six month promise that they had made the previous summer to meet again, a year had lapsed and so I hadn’t been prepared to have to see Kohl in the flesh anytime soon, least of all with a few day’s notice! I didn’t want to go- I was certain that I’d end up being banished if I did.

But this was Kohl I was being given the chance to spend time with- the boy who needed me more than he needed anyone else- not just Kohén, the boy who loved everyone physically and equally, so I stupidly packed my bags and tried to convince myself that I was going to be fine, and that I’d be able to rise above the temptation to embrace Kohl as I had learned to do with Kohén, even though something sick inside me told me that regardless of both of their vague feelings for me, I was going to end up alone and haunting the other side of Eden’s fence, just like my father.

THE CREATION STORY

BOOK V OF VI

THIS TEXT IS NOT TO BE EDITED, ALTERED, SUMMARISED OR TRANSLATED INTO ANY LANGUAGE. OFFENDERS WHO ATTEMPT TO WILL BE CHARGED WITH TREASON AGAINST CALLIEL AND PUT TO DEATH.

After three years of Armageddon, the world’s population had dwindled down, God was almost exhausted and though many of the angels had brought evidence of Satan or the battered bodies of her dark soldiers, many had not returned and he realised that they were probably all dead, possibly even Miguel, which made him shake with rage for he could not return to Heaven to check until he’d found Satan.

He’d encountered many of her ‘Soul-Mates’ with their black wings, and had seen them encouraging people to stuff their pockets full of diamonds and jewels, telling them to take everything of ‘worth’ instead of trying to get them to safety. Furious that such value had been placed on such ridiculous things as shiny rocks, and that the fallen angels remaining were turning the humans left against one another and him in one final bout of greedy, corruptive warfare, God had sent out a wave of ill-will and ugly hatred, turning every precious stone under the earth’s crust to dust and making mines and mountains collapse where they stood, rendering them utterly worthless. He then took one last shot to scare Satan out of hiding- he burst riverbanks and then dropped the temperature until the water and land froze as one, and then he inundated deserts with rain, but still, she didn’t come forward, which was aggravating beyond measure. The face of the earth was recognisable but notably altered, and there were only a few thousand humans left alive out of billions, so where was she? He knew that she wasn’t dead because people were still crying out her name and their souls were leaving their body before he could get to them to earn their hearts, so how had she managed to stay concealed and retain power?

God was weakening again, and because he knew that soon enough, he would be too weak to fight her, he called out to the people of the world, speaking to them through their hearts again for the first time in thousands of years, and let them know that if Satan did not show herself in a heartbeat, the earth would be gone the beat after for he had to leave it, but he would not leave it to be overrun by demons.

He felt Miguel’s spark of anguish instantly and took flight with a relieved heart, arriving on the grassy precipice of New Eden just as Satan landed across from him, as glorious and powerful as ever. She was too strong for him to fight as a man, and he saw that straight away, so he prepared himself to do what had to be done- give her the option to concede defeat and love him once more, or implode the earth so that she would not be able to draw negative energy from it again.

‘You’d impregnate a women even in all of this chaos?’ Satan demanded, thunderstruck by the sight of the infant in Gabriella’s arms- at least until God descended across from her, and then her focus changed and her surprised expression turned into a beatific sneer. ‘Men…!’

‘You’re appalled by the mating habits of a man, after all the temptation you’ve encouraged?’ God asked, even though he too was a little thrown by the sight of Miguel protecting humans, instead of saving them. He addressed his favoured son: ‘Why have you not returned to me, or called for me?!’

Miguel stood forward and unfolded his wings, revealing a skeleton of ragged, dirty feathers. ‘I could not, Lord. I have given too much to return home.’

‘Oh …’ Satan’s brows pulled together. ‘You look like-’

‘Hell?’ God supplied, and Satan turned on him, hissing.

‘Hell was beautiful! And loved and cared for!’ she reminded him, and she was still so beautiful that it made him ache for the first days when he’d kissed her rosy cheeks, and had run his fingers through her satiny hair in gentle, paternal affection. Only now she was as beautiful as a diamond was- her face was hard, and she was adorned in cloth that looked like starlight, while twinkling from head to toe in precious gems. She was pure poison to a male’s heart- even his.

‘It is YOUR favourite son who looks as discarded as I once felt!’

‘Yes well, I’m about to heal him and rob you of your ability to corrupt another innocent soul again!’

‘Not without a fight you won’t!’ Satan jeered.

‘You cannot destroy the world! Either of you!’ Miguel cried, jumping to his feet and protecting Gabriella and his children by wrapping what remained of his wings around them. ‘Or one another!’

But God and Satan were too focused on one another to hear him. ‘I am not here to fight you unless you force me to, but to absolve you!’

‘How could someone so fallen hope to heal or absolve anyone?’ Satan demanded.

‘I have not fallen!’ God raged at her. ‘I cannot fall!’ But he sighed at the sound of wounded pride and self-righteousness in his human voice, which had once been so gentle and kind, and struggled to get control of his character. Still, he seethed on the inside to know that she was already influencing him- he had to end her! ‘And no one should have to.’ He paused and then said sombrely. ‘I made a mistake when I cast you to that dark place, Satan. And I’ve come to make things right by offering you a place in heaven, but I can only do that if you come with me now.’

‘Because you want my soul there at your side?’ Satan demanded. ‘Or because if I surrender my power to you in the name of love, you will once again be as strong as you were in the beginning?’

God stared at her, bewildered. ‘You think I want your heart to fulfil some greedy purpose?’

‘You did not want it when you thought it would work against you,’ she pointed out. ‘So what’s left for me to assume, but that you only want my soul now, so that you can harvest the strength that I have cultivated from the seeds of your weakness?’

God’s soul ached. ‘You’ve started believing your own lies. When I cast my negative qualities to that place, I became nothing but good! So it is unfounded that you would think that I would save you for any reason BUT to save you! I am love- YOU are hate! My motives can only be decent.’

‘Well, thanks to you- I lack the ability to take you at that word, and the last time we met, you did nothing to warrant my trust, did you? Perfect or not!’

‘I never said that a human had to equal me- only that they should strive to be for the sake of life! And it has taken me this long to regain enough power to return, because you have been hoarding so many souls to suit your own purposes!’ God growled, feeling dark, invisible fingers wrap a chill around his heart as she worked her will to break him down. ‘You encouraged those ridiculous stories and rules with your propaganda-spreading cults, knowing that it would turn hearts against me!’

‘I never said a word or created any cult!’ Satan protested. ‘People saw what was done to me when I failed to emote you, and told others and formed their OWN religions. There is no punishment without a punisher, God, and that is a title you are known by just as readily as The Almighty! All I did was forgive people for being as weak as me, and then invited them to love me and be loved by me, if they could not believe that you would!’

‘You knew that I would love them anyway! But you stole their souls to fortify your power when originally it was your job to spread the truth!’

‘No one has ever learned my truth, God, and you should be grateful for that fact, because if they knew you killed an ill-treated, grieving mother for accidentally killing the child of a woman who taunted her and the man who had forsaken her, I would have been the martyr, and you know it!’

God’s heart ached to be reminded that yes, he had brought this upon himself by not thinking things through, but he sighed and spread his wings, letting her see how undamaged and glorious they still were. ‘I am sick of debating this,’ God said sadly. ‘I know that I have wronged you, but it is only you who I have wronged, and the rest of the world should not be paying for that any more than you should have been made to suffer for an eternity. In the end, I encourage love and you cause pain, and I must stop you- even if it is my fault that you are the way you are.’

‘How have I caused more pain than you have?’ Satan demanded, her eyes wide with incredulity. ‘You’ve just spent three years burying people in rubble and taking all that they love from them! This world was not perfect before and yes, the human race has damaged it, but you COULD have used your return to heal it, only you chose to damage it further in the name of vengeance!’

‘Not for nothing! I have offered the human race sanctuary after this chaos is through, in a place where chaos is not possible, and where they can be with their loved ones again!’ God countered. ‘I have ended the war that you started and created a place where there is only peace! Lust does not exist in Heaven, nor does greed or selfishness and so there is no violence, paedophilia, no corruption and no starvation… no tinder to start one of your immoral hell fires with, so it is a blessed place!’

‘And in comparison, you assume that Hell is the torturous place that the humans have whispered about?’ she demanded.

‘Everything outside of Heaven feels like torture,’ God whispered, pressing a hand to his aching, pounding and weakening heart. He had to get away from her! ‘Especially Earth, so I do not want to even contemplate what Hell is like, if it is the earth you favour.’

‘Something you should have considered before banishing me there, so long ago,’ Satan rasped, ‘and leaving me to suffer in the hell fire that you lit and bound me to the pyre of for eternity! Can you blame me for giving myself human form to escape your negative energy? Can you fault me for trying to survive, or making the best out of the very worst?’

‘No, I cannot.’ God whispered. ‘But even if you can’t forgive me, Satan, I can still forgive you.’ He extended his shaking hand. ‘Give me your love, and you will enter Heaven and finish this war as a victor. I will purify your soul, and turn your feathers white once more. There will be no more suffering the worst of me- only the best, and at my side.’

The humans and Miguel watched, holding their breath, as Satan studied God’s hand. She looked at him, smiled sadly and said: ‘No, father. I am sorry to say it, but I do not love you, and I cannot.’ She hugged her wings around herself and studied him with genuinely sorrowful eyes. ‘You rendered me incapable of that and now, you must co-exist with me as an equal.’

God lowered his hand. ‘I could never agree to such an unfathomable request! And why should I? You’re choking on your power, but if you consent to love me, it will fortify Heaven for us all!’

‘Because I have no choice but to hate and distrust you!’ She snapped. ‘I am made up of fear and lust and greed and paranoia because of you! And I have no heart to give you, because you and Miguel shattered it! I am TRAPPED, God!’

‘Then we are at an impasse,’ God conceded with a regretful heart. ‘I understand what you are saying but surely, you know that I cannot allow the earth to exist, knowing that you will be here turning more hearts against me and leading them to suffer so that you can gain more power from it.’

‘I have never made anyone on earth suffer!’ she cried. ‘I have forgiven them for making others suffer, and I have made them atone for it after! Perhaps under my thumb, the human race could live as they do in Heaven on earth!’

God felt a twinge of anger and offence as she continued to pull at every trace of pride and vanity that he had in this mortal body. ‘That is a ludicrous statement! Heaven is love, hell is hate and you do not have the power to reverse that, or the slightest comprehension of what Heaven is like!’ God turned to his beloved son. ‘Miguel, tell Satan what Heaven means to you, so that she knows what I am capable of creating, and that nothing that SHE could ever do would compare to that, please!’

Miguel cleared his throat. ‘How should I do that, father, when I am too grieved by the prospect of leaving earth to consider returning to Heaven?’

God whirled on him, enraged. ‘What?!’

Miguel held out his hands. ‘I love this earth, sir. I love being a mortal. I agree that Heaven is a perfect, incomparable place but after so many centuries there, I have grown numb to it. I felt many wonderful things in Heaven- but alive was NOT one of them!’

God could not contain his shock. ‘Are you saying that you would rather suffer here, than be at peace there?’

‘You once told me that being in Heaven felt almost exactly the same as being a pure form of energy,’ Miguel pointed out, and God stared at him, incredulous.

‘Yes! Yes that’s exactly right!’

Miguel smiled sadly. ‘Then why did you feel the need to create the world, if you already felt a perfect sense of balance and energy as you were? Why did you desire to grant life and corporeal form, if they weren’t needed to feel harmonious?’

‘Because I wanted to share it with someone else, and that is what I have done! Now I can share something better with everyone!’

‘I don’t want what’s better- only what’s ours!’ Miguel turned and moved his family in front of him, holding them near and letting God see how much he loved them as they were- flawed, bitter and shell-shocked. ‘You created me in your image God, and though I will never cease to be thankful and grateful for that gift… I now want to create as you did, and here, and I want to share it with these individuals! I have started building a life for all of us and we are content and eager to live those lives out with grass between our feet and laughter in the air. And as much as you’ve ruined everything, we have enjoyed such simple, important pleasures every day here since we came.’

‘But you will feel the same thing in Heaven again as you always have!’ God raged. ‘Without any heartbreak or pain or sorrow or pollution or bloodshed-’

‘That doesn’t matter. Right now… I don’t-’ Miguel glanced over at the people behind him and they nodded in confirmation. ‘WE don’t want to give up our lives on earth any more than you would give up your Heaven.’ He cringed when God’s face turned a mottled red, but lifted his chin and said: ‘So if you insist on destroying the world that you’ve come to abhor, well, you may get control over the mortal coil, but you will not get my love!’

Shocked, God glanced over at Satan and saw the quirk of her lips before she could hide it. ‘So to earn your love back, you want me to leave you here on earth so that SHE can corrupt you? No! I would sooner see you dead, then suffering eternal torment!’ He lifted his hand, feeling his eyes well with tears as the gravity of what he was about to do hit him. His words sounded so selfish but Heaven WOULD be enough for Miguel, and Miguel did love him still, God could feel it, so he’d make it, wouldn’t he? But if he granted Miguel’s wish and left him there… he’d be a sitting duck for every vice that Satan could throw at him. ‘All of you! You may not love me, but I love you too much to let this world go on turning while she continues to influence it-’

‘It matters none to them!’ Miguel cried, hugging Gabriella and infant tightly to him while she pulled her daughter against her legs and began to weep. ‘They don’t love you God! They need to live longer and in harmony to get there, which they cannot do if you strike them down now! Only my son is young and pure enough to make it to Heaven with you, and if you take another child from me as Satan did I will HATE you from Hell!’

God had tears rolling down his face as he looked at the beautiful infant. ‘Well, I’m very grieved to hear that Miguel,’ he swallowed back tears in his papery throat and lifted his hand so that they could all see the beam of light emanating from it, and all of the survivors shrank back in terror: ‘But at least your child will be safe in my love…’

‘No!’ Satan screamed and suddenly, she was flying forward and throwing her lithe body between Miguel and his family, and Heaven’s fury, and the world held its collective breath.

-End of book Five-

PART TWO

10.

July 1st AA644

It had taken Kohén years, but he’d finally managed to convince his mother that I should be able to go to Pacifica with him on the grounds that Companions were often expected to travel, so me accompanying him across the ocean that July would be good ‘training’ for my future. She didn’t want me there and that was clear and probably only agreed because she hoped that I would fall overboard, but in the end she did agree on the condition that the other girls came along as well. Translation: No more special treatment for Larkin! And to be honest, I didn’t mind. The more of us there were, the more of us there would be to monitor and maybe I’d have a better opportunity to get Kohl alone so that we could talk openly and establish some ground rules.

It was the perfect time to visit Caldera Island, and the first time that we had been legally able to. King Elijah had made the general of the Corps division stationed there, Atticus Hartley, Prime Minister of Pacifica during his last trip, which meant that the islands, and the ocean between it and the western coast of Arcadia were now officially considered to be part of the Commonwealth of Calliel, governed by the sovereign of the Arcadian monarchy, which was Elijah. The title of prime minister was only a temporary arrangement for the general until one of the Barachiel boys was crowned sovereign of Pacifica, but the territorial rights were absolute, which allowed us girls to leave the mainland without having received our brandings first, because we were technically staying within Arcadian perimeters. By this definition, we could travel to St Miguel, Nitika and Rachiel- but would still not be allowed to go to Tariel or Rabia, or anywhere with a flag of its own, until we had been branded.

The six-day voyage across open water was unlike anything I’d ever experienced before and though I loved every second of it (Kohén joked that I hung off the front as often as the mermaid figurehead of the ship) the other girls didn’t take to it so well. Kelia turned a lovely shade of green the moment she stepped onto the dock, and that colour didn’t fade for three days after we had stepped onto Pacifican soil, and the confined sleeping compartments and lack of deck space made Lette and Elfin so claustrophobic that Elfin looked ready to dive overboard and swim the rest of the way, just to stretch her long legs. Emmerly complained that the crew were smarmy and stared at her too much, but she did like being on the boat and spent a lot of the voyage at Kohén’s side, either telling him what she knew of sailing or sharing anecdotes that had been passed down to her from her seafaring, (now deceased) father.

Much to my surprise, I found myself liking Emmerly even more during that voyage, but that ended up depressing me because I saw it at last- her squashed potential. Her love of the water and all things maritime was genuine, and she would have lived her life on boats if she’d been able to. For that reason alone, she truly could come to be Kohén’s favourite companion, and rightfully so. She was no princess, but she was growing out of her catty ways, and she was close enough to being a noble to be worthy of his attentions, as well as being genuinely fond of him and completely prepared to stay at his side- even if he did end up crowned King of Pacifica. And to top it all off, she had a sharp tongue on her, which Kohén was going to need if he was going to escape growing up as smug as Karol had!

His spouse would loathe her and the golden glyph that I was certain she would eventually receive, when and if his time to join with a suitable partner came. I thought ‘when,’ to keep myself thinking realistically, and ‘if’ on the single, pure white feather of hope that such a day would not have to come between us.

Kelia, on the other hand, was not cut out to be a seafarer’s wife, and I hoped that the boat trip would turn her off pursuing anything serious with Kohl- hoped. I was a nervous wreck about seeing them together, and seeing him again. What if he favoured her, now that she’d grown so tall and willowy? Or what if he made it obvious that he favoured me?

What if you’re a demon for growing hypothetically jealous over two men?

I wanted the boat ride to last forever so I’d have time to prepare myself for the moment of truth- seeing Kohl and Kohén side by side- but soon enough I was descending the gangplank, and there was Kohl (wearing his eye-patch!) waiting for me at the General-come-Prime-Minister’s side, surrounded by beautiful, exotic-looking girls in grass skirts- and at first glance, my heart began to flop about like a fish out of water.

Oh sweet Jesus he’s gotten even more beautiful!

Kohl was shirtless, and had obviously been standing in the sun for a while, so he was covered with a sheen of perspiration and practically radiating sunlight from his taut, bronze skin under several garlands of frangipani and hibiscus leis. He was wearing white silk pants with a gathered waistband and drawstring, which sat low on his impossibly narrow hips, clung loosely to his muscular thighs until just above the knee and then flared out to billow around his bare feet. The pants (and I saw quite a few of the local men wearing them in a various shades of coloured silk) were split at the sides almost all the way to hip, and no one wore them better than Kohl, whose bulging thighs were sun-stained the golden shade of coconut husk. In the year since I’d seen him last, he’d grown out his truffle-brown hair just long enough for it to be fastened back now with a stubby ponytail, and his shoulders were so broad in comparison to his waist, that some sort chemical inside me screamed: ‘Mate! Mate!’ on sight; a reflex that was not discouraged by the eye-patch, but rather enhanced.

I reached for a railing to steady myself, but there was no railing there and I lost my balance. I yelped, thinking I was about to fall into the shallows and saturate myself (in both water and embarrassment), but Kohl dashed forward and caught me swiftly like some heroic pirate, and suddenly I was in his arms and his sweat was on my skin and his scent was filling my lungs and head. I gasped, at a loss for a salutation that wasn’t ‘Holy shit!’ and he grinned at me.

‘Aloha!’ he whispered mischievously, his grin making his deep dimples prominent. ‘I thought you were sure-footed?’

‘Eye patch!’ I managed breathlessly, quickly touching my pendant, which he was still wearing around his neck and ignoring the need to pull him down to my mouth with it. ‘Threw me!’

‘I’ve been reading- and re-reading a lot lately,’ he said conspiratorially, and I flushed scarlet, knowing that he meant my letters. ‘So it’s just a precaution.’

‘And an effective one at that,’ I teased, ‘except the effect you’ve managed screams: ‘Caution!’ your highness.’

His grin could have split his face. ‘There’s my girl!’ He pulled me up and hugged me to him tightly, and he was so hard and muscular that he could have crushed my body, my intellect and my heart in one.

Now it’s clear that he’s water Nephilim, and not an electric one! Oh man, is it going to be a damp holiday under THIS toga!

‘You smell incredible,’ he whispered, taking the words out of my delighted sinuses, then leaned back before our clinch could be labelled as improper, and kissed my cheek so that he could whisper into my ear: ‘And you look like a sin just waiting to be committed, by the way…’

‘Me?’ I breathed, trying not to stare too hard at his chest muscles, and arouse the suspicions of anyone who might be watching. ‘You’re…’ my eyes shifted to the silver hoop in his right ear, and the urge to snag it between my teeth was strong- as was the urge to mount his shoulder like a good little bird ought to. I wasn’t a parrot but boy, would I hang on to that body tight! And I’d certainly fly after, if given the chance to!

Dear God, how dare you put me in a pirate’s path and forbid me from being pillaged by him?

Kohl bit his lip, and he was so tan that the hue of his eye was akin to neon sapphires, like Kohén’s when he was furious or excited. ‘I’m...?’ he baited.

‘Making me want to ask for permission to climb on board,’ I whispered, and his visible eye sparkled with mischief. He hugged me again and moaned slightly.

‘I love you,’ he whispered into my ear, and my eyes widened. ‘Now I better go hug my mother before everyone else sees it- talk later.’ He released me just like that, onto legs that were not up to the task of supporting my weight, and knowing that my face was bound to be as red as my breathing was haggard, I stepped forward and accepted a lei from one of the grass-skirted girls, so I’d look just as enthusiastic to see the local colour as I was the local Barachiel.

When I glanced back, Constance was gripping her son tightly and weeping down his shoulder and I felt a pang of sorrow, because he looked more irritated by her open show of affection, than grateful.

That poor woman… she’s been counting the days to see him, while he’s been counting the days to see me!

I sighed to myself on her behalf for the umpteenth time since I’d come to Eden. The duchess had been wrong not to fight harder for her right to keep Kohl in Arcadia, and I knew from his letters that he had never gotten over the sting of it- but she did love him, which was more than my mother could honestly have claimed for me so that was something at least. She’d not been able to keep him and his brother together, but she had broken and bent many rules to see him as much as she was able to and to set him up somewhere idyllic to serve his sentence, and though it was unfair to every other Corps kid in Calliel, I was glad that Kohl had been the recipient of such an advantage, because the fact that he and his brother were twins had been an especially cruel twist of fate and warranted a bit of extra consideration, as far as I was concerned. Every Given kid understood that they were living less of a life than their brothers or sisters were, but few of them were forced to see an exact replica of themselves do so, for want of a few minutes!

‘Is that a bloody earring in your ear?’ Was Elijah’s greeting. ‘Kohl… will you ever try?’

Kohl’s face tightened, and I tore my eyes away before I heard his emotionally muted response. That poor guy!

‘Aloha,’ one of the girls said to me, taking my suitcase from my hands and I tried to smile at her, but I was so busy wondering if she was the shell-girl that it couldn’t have translated as a genuine smile.

‘Aloha, and Mahalo,’ I said, before turning back to watch the twins embrace. Once again, the sight of them together warmed my heart, but they didn’t look anywhere near as identical as they had six months before. Kohén had been studying a lot, and Kohl had been working his ass off and it showed. I admired said buttocks in the clingy white silk, until Kelia moved in for her embrace and there it was at last- jealousy. She’d gotten a bit of colour in her skin on the voyage across, and the sunlight was picking out a few golden highlights in her unusually frizzy, copper-coloured hair, and because she was dark as I was fair, I had to admit that she and Kohl looked good together- really good, even though he dwarfed her by several inches. White definitely looked better on her than it did on me too, (as tan as I’d gotten, white still washed me out a little) and my sudden envy was unexpected and hard to deal with.

Don’t be a girl! You’re here to see the world- not scope out imagined competition you idiot!

But seriously, why doesn’t she let go of him already? She has signed a contract too! Wrong prince little noble girl- so back the hell up!

I turned away from the sight and stared down the beach, seeing it really for the first time and shaking my head in awe. The sand would have been a bright white, but it was practically buried in pumice stone, and the palm trees looked like something sketched by a crazy artist compared to the hemlocks and elms and pines in Arcadia. The sky was a bright, cloudless blue and the ocean aquamarine, and I was so overcome by it all that grateful tears welled in my eyes.

I’m in paradise, and I’m going to have two more weeks to get to know Kohl AND experience this with Kohén and Kelia! I am lucky, even if it is an odd, manipulated sort of luck. It is not fair that an exception has been made for me either, so the least I can do is be grateful for what I do have, right?

‘Hey…do I see tears?’ Kohén came up to me and turned me to face him, his expression puzzled. ‘Are you okay?’

‘I am better than okay,’ I whispered, turning away to gesture to the breaking waves. ‘Because of you and your friendship.’ I gave him a sidelong smile. ‘So don’t worry, they’re happy tears.’

Kohén chuckled and rested his chin on my shoulder, wrapping his arms around my waist, pulling me close as though there was a chill he was trying to shield me from. ‘Yes, because it’s your friendship that inspired me to move the statue of Liberty across an entire continent, and then you across a sea.’

I stiffened in his arms and turned my face to his. ‘What does that mean?’

He kissed my shoulder. ‘It means that I’ve brought you here to win your heart back, my darling,’ his words were more breath than tone, and they made my heart flutter with fear and every feeling I’d ever had for him that I’d been trying to slam the harem door on for over a year. ‘It means that avoiding you for the last few months has been painful and I couldn’t take it anymore, and it means…’ he kissed the back of my neck. ‘I wanted you out of that palace and on this vacation with my family, because there’s almost nowhere for you to hide here. I want my mother and father to see how happy you make me and realise that you’ll never be less than the love of my life to me... and I want my twin to get to know his future sister-in-law better.’

Oh my God, he’s still contemplating marrying me?!

My palms went cold and my fingers, numb. ‘That’s a lot of pressure to put on one trip, your family, an eon of traditions and us, don’t you think?’ I made a weak attempt at laughing, trying to lighten the heavy tension vibrating between my back and his chest. ‘I was kind of imagining coconut drinks by the ocean and little else. I mean…’ I wet my lips, ‘didn’t we agree that the subject of ‘us’ was one better left unexplored until I’m a free woman?’

And until I’ve been dropped on my head so many times that I’m too brain-dead to recall the smile on your face when you left Emmerly’s room?!

Kohén kissed the back of my neck. ‘YOU decided, and then your scores came in and since, I’ve been scared into believing that you might just know better than me.’ He squeezed me more tightly. ‘BUT if I’m going to be a king someday, I have to start being the one who makes decisions for himself and follows them through, and as far as you are concerned Larkin, my heart and mind have been set since I was five.’ He ran his hands down my stiff shoulders as I arranged a string of insults to fling at him by alphabetical order inside my head- starting with ‘A’ for Arcadian Laws, ‘B’ for Barren, ‘C’ for Corpse then ‘D’ for Duckling then ‘E’ for Emmerly, ‘F’ for fucking, ‘G’ for Golden payments…

‘H’ for Harem and HELL no am I going to become your duchess or the whore YOUR future duchess will loathe if you get so carried away that you-

‘No, don’t pout, and don’t think you’re going to be able to squirm out of my grip’ Kohén chastised me. ‘You love me and I love you and even though we can’t be together the way I want to be yet, I can sure as hell monopolise your time while I’m here, and I plan on doing just that…’ he nibbled on my ear and made a contented sound. ‘Starting at sunset.’

I turned to face him, practically snapping: ‘What happens at sunset?’

‘Father is arranging for us to have a romantic picnic for two in the caldera that the island was renamed for,’ he said, smiling proudly. ‘And guess what? I get to take you on horseback! You’ve always wanted to ride, haven’t you?’

This was his father’s doing! I was so angry that I was surprised that steam wasn’t shooting out my ears. ‘And why does your father care what we do all of a sudden?’

Kohén shrugged and looked away. ‘He doesn’t. I mean, I asked…’ his voice faltered and I crossed my arms and glared at him.

‘Will there be jewellery in that picnic basket, your highness?’ I demanded, feeling like I was about to burst into tears.

‘No,’ Kohén said, but a look flashed across his eyes and I KNEW that there would be, probably at his father’s insistence. That didn’t mean that Kohén expected to get it on me of course, but people were staring to expect such things and suddenly, I wanted to be back on that ship and sailing home. ‘You know I’m not going to ask for that sort of thing from you…’

‘Then what are you asking for?’

He looked wounded. ‘A little faith in me? In us?’

I shrugged. ‘Fine. Then leave whatever trinket he’s gifted you behind, or you’ll need faith that a healer’s going to be able to pull it out of your father’s ass after I’m done with you both!’

‘Larkin!’ He stepped into me and went to put his hands on my shoulders, but I saw the concern and suspicion on Kohl’s face behind him and that was enough to kill my good mood or any chance of redeeming it completely.

‘Excuse me your highness, I’m seasick and need to throw up.’ And with that I swerved around him, took Kelia’s hand and yanked her away from where she’d been gawking at Kohl, before it was her that I threw up on.

11.

Almost everyone lingered on the beach to eat the ‘Welcome’ luncheon that had been prepared for us, but Kelia was green enough for me to be able to plead that we be shown to our rooms so that she could rest, and so we were led to our accommodations by a chubby native Pacifican named Jovi who pointed out everything interesting along the way. There was a huge white plantation mansion with a wraparound porch and pillars on the beachfront, and though Jovi told us that the royal family had always stayed there in the past, it had been gifted to the PM since he’d been appointed the position, and new accommodations had been built for the Barachiel’s behind it.

The main house had a beautiful pool or rather, five beautiful pools built to spill into one another over stone waterfalls, and it served as a barrier between the PM’s residence and the VIP accommodations behind it all. My jaw dropped again when I saw where we were to stay, because it wasn’t so much a house as a tiny resort of our own, cloaked by a jungle of tropical foliage and rainforest trees. Six bungalows had been built in a semi-circle around another lush tropical pool, and there was an outdoor barbecue area AND a Basket-Racket court as well!

Five out of six bungalows were identical to one another, but the sixth one, in the middle, was larger and had a hedge fence in the rear to offer the occupants (the king and duchess) privacy. Each cabin was adorable; all were painted white and had a small porch each to match the main house, only they had thatched roofs instead of red tile and when we got inside ours, we realised why- there was no electricity! We had a small kitchenette and a bathroom, which was standard, but even though the interiors still reeked of fresh paint and were incredibly modern at first glance (way more modern and minimalist than the décor in Eden which was all grey-stone furniture with timber accents) there were no light switches, ceiling fans or solar panels to speak of. Jovi explained that this was because Caldera Island had only just completed stage one of their development plan and so far, only three places on the entire island had electricity: the main house, the barracks’ kitchen and administration building, and the town hall, which doubled as an evacuation centre when the monsoon seasons reared their ugly, windy heads. (Or when Kohl lost the plot and howled at the moon as sexually frustrated Nephilim boys did!). But aside from the people who spent a lot of time in those places, almost everyone on Caldera Island still lived as though the dark ages had never lost their grip on the world- either dark age, AD and AA.

True to form we had a gas stove and an ice box in our kitchenette, and the water for the showers- though plentiful and very hot- was collected in aluminium rainwater tanks and heated by the sun’s direct exposure. And when they went without sun, they boiled water for baths and clothes washing. This scrambled Kelia’s mind, and the thought of us having an overcast day and having to draw her own bath depressed her to no end, but I was excited by the prospect of living differently for a change. After all, if I was going to be a farmer, I had to learn to become more self-sufficient in my day-to-day activities!

And we would live differently. As Jovi moved about the room, bringing in our luggage and showing us where everything was, he explained how differently Pacifica worked compared to Arcadia. There were no roads, so there were no carriages and definitely not a car or truck to be seen. People got around on horseback, on foot or by bicycle, and there were plenty of dirt tracks to make this easier. There was only one Arcadian village at the base of the caldera because so far the region had only accepted one hundred Arcadian settlers (all Academics or Blue Collars and not a noble amongst them) in addition to the indentured Corps division that Kohl was a member of. But there was a smaller village of ‘native’ Pacificans who contributed to the island as guides, Artisans and plantation workers who earned very good wages and served to keep the culture of the region going strong- and our jolly Jovi was one of them.

There was no such thing as fashion in Pacifica, not by Arcadian standards anyway, because it was hot year-round and the living easy, so everyone got about in saris, sarongs or the like, and to welcome us- we Companions had received a complimentary vacation uniform that almost made me faint when I saw it, for it consisted of a crocheted bikini that wouldn’t cover half of my breasts, a white silk wrap and golden sandals.

I stared at it in shock after Jovi had joyfully farewelled us and left, wondering if I had to wear it, or if I could stick with my toga. I asked Kelia if she thought that I could get away with staying dressed as I was, but she confirmed my worst fear: Maryah had told her about the island uniform before we left and because it was what the resident Companions wore, we had to as well because people had to know who we were to avoid us being coveted by men who didn’t have crowns.

Accepting defeat with a self-pitying groan, I had a long hot shower, which made me feel a lot better about life. Not only was it nice to be alone for once, but also I loved the feeling of being clean and coconut-scented after a week and a half on the boat with only sponge baths available. Afterwards, I wriggled into the ridiculous get up, and Kelia came in when I was stuffing my breasts into the flimsy crochet with one hand, while finger combing my long tangled hair with the other.

‘Larkin this is adorable!’ she squeaked, and I turned and felt my heart sink because she looked sexy for the first time in her life, and like the petty, undercooked teenage girl that I still was, I didn’t want Kohl thinking the same thing. ‘Look how lean it makes me-’ she stopped dead when she saw me, and scowled.

‘What?’ I asked, but then I followed her accusatory glare and looked down at myself, cringing and nodding when a second glance re-affirmed my fears that I looked like I’d shrunk my clothes in the wash. ‘I know- I look stupid. Argh, I am so done with white scraps of cloth!’ I nodded at her and smiled encouragingly. ‘You do look amazing by the way, and what do you mean by saying that it makes you LOOK lean? You ARE-’

‘It looks cheap on you,’ Kelia said sharply, cutting off my compliments cold, and I flinched, caught off-guard by the sudden acidity in her syrupy-sweet voice. ‘You need a bigger one, and I’m going to tell Kohén right now before you ruin all of our reputations!’

I watched her go with an open mouth, amazed that I could be charged with something as ridiculous as giving a bunch of teenage hookers a bad name, but ended up shrugging it off. Still wrestling with the knot in my hair, I went out to the kitchen to boil the kettle, telling myself that Kelia had meant well. Yeah, I was embarrassed and sort of irritated, but if her hissy fit got me a larger size then I’d put up with the derogatory fashion commentary. Not that I had a choice to do otherwise! She was the size of one of my legs, just stretched longer- what was I going to do- throttle her? I’d probably rip her perfect neck off her perfect shoulders!

This and the fit that she pitched at the ball aren’t about me… she loves me! She says I’m her best friend so she can’t MEAN to hurt my feelings, right? I mean, I just happen to be around when she gets overwhelmed by the frustrations of this life, right? And she just doesn’t know how to vent politely because noble children are clearly born thinking that they’re above Blue Collars. That’s NOT her fault but society’s… she knows what’s proper, I guess. She’s a sweet girl… I’m sure of it! Just… just… a little mean sometimes...

‘Stop hustling me!’ Kohén sounded beyond irritated when I heard him cross over our porch a few minutes later. ‘You think I’m shocked to learn that Lark has an issue with her clothes? The woman’s got more hang-ups then-’

‘Ease up,’ Kohl’s voice was smooth and unmistakable, and I was tempted to crawl into one of the tiny kitchenette cupboards and hide at the sound of it. ‘She’s got a right to feel uncomfortable with a lot of the crap that’s demanded of her in her caste, as does Kelia and as do I.’ He chuckled. ‘You need to get in touch with the common man again, brother, before you become unmoved by our various plights!’

‘An unsatisfactory wardrobe is not a plight,’ Kohén insisted. ‘And from the way Lark carries on, you’d think that she was queen already, not a common anything. She can be downright im-’ his voice died.

‘Queen ‘already’ ?’ Kelia repeated, sounding dubious.

‘Downright what?’ I turned around and gave Kohén a dirty look, and found him staring at me with glassy eyes and parted lips.

‘See?’ Kelia wheedled. ‘She’s falling out of the thing like a tramp!’

Okay yeah, I might have to decapitate this best friend of mine!

Kohén swallowed and I felt his gaze do things to my flesh that only hands and lips were meant to do. ‘Oh sweet Jesus...’ he covered his mouth and stared at me, shaking his head.

‘I know, okay?’ I turned back to the tea I was making and poured the boiled water over the leaves in the strainer. ‘You can get me something more appropriate, yeah?’

‘You think I’m gonna find you something else?’ Kohén demanded, and I twisted back to blink at him. ‘Larkin you’re a heart-stopper! You should wear that every second of every day for always! In fact yes it’s decided- I’m moving here by the end of the year and bringing you with me just so THAT becomes your uniform!’

‘Ugh!’ I turned my back to him and finished pouring the water with a trembling hand. ‘You’re useless! Kohl, tell your brother that I look shameful, and quickly please.’ I waited, but there was no response, so I glanced over my shoulder and saw Kohl staring at my back with glazed over eyes, my nerves jangled. ‘Kohl?’

Not you too! No, you see past this stuff, right?

‘I do not take orders from my brother, or my Companions!’ Kohén interrupted, then glanced at Kohl, and then shoved him a little as he smirked knowingly, snapping his twin out of his stupor enough to evoke a lethal look. ‘Besides, Kohl can’t speak right now anyway, can you Kohl?’

‘Uh…’ Kohl’s eyes moved back to mine and he cringed. ‘What?’

You’re supposed to be the decent one!

Actually no, he’s already admitted that he would have molested you long ago! Wake up and smell the twin instincts, darlin- Barachiel blood runs in his veins, which means it runs to his crotch as quickly as it does with the other two! Maybe even more quickly, seeing as how he’s denied access to a harem of his own!

‘That was Virgin for: ‘Get on the horse, Larkin, or be ridden like one in his mind,’ Kohén teased, pointing out the door. ‘It’ll be sunset soon enough so we may as well leave now so that I can enjoy the way you look before darkness falls. And Kelia?’

‘Yes, your highness?’ she asked, her tone and face disgusted.

‘You clearly consider yourself to be a pillar of proprietary, and my brother is going to need to learn how to act around such fine young ladies when his time to return to society comes… so could you please allow him to walk you around the grounds so that he can practice his courtly manner?’ he elbowed his brother. ‘And learn how not to gawk, as he is still doing at Larkin?’

My eyes met Kohl’s, and we shared a mutual look of panic. No! I didn’t want him off with Kelia dressed like that while I was off with Kohén, dressed the same! And if I looked that appealing to Kohl, then he had to hide it better! He hadn’t denied a single one of Kohén’s silly charges!

‘I will do so, your highness,’ Kelia purred slinging her arm through Kohl’s and making me feel heartsick. She turned her pretty face up to his. ‘This place looks so romantic, Kohl, and I’ll bet that you know all of the most beautiful, secluded spots, yes?’

‘Um…’ Kohl blinked at me, then lifted his eyes to mine and offered: ‘It’s what everyone wears around here, Larkin...’

I sighed and shrugged, turning back to my tea. ‘If you say so, then fine, I guess...’

But Kohén should have to wear those pants too… and get your tan… and grow his hair out… hmm… what would Kohén do if I just went over and licked the dimples in Kohl’s lower back?

‘Then it’s settled,’ Kohén said. ‘Oh and Kelia, one more thing?’

‘Yes your highness?’ My best friend was all sugar and spice again.

‘Remember yourself when you are out of my sight,’ Kohén said quietly. ‘Because manners are the only thing you have going for you right now.’

‘Excuse me?’ she demanded haughtily, and the kettle shook in my hands, spilling hot drops of water on the bench. I turned around, and was impressed to see that Kohén did not looked moved by her curt tone in the slightest, which was a feat because my feet were tingling for my intimidation.

‘I said: I am sending Kohl off with a lady, not a Companion of his own,’ Kohén went on. ‘And if I hear that you’ve made a single advance towards him, I’ll have you not just removed from the harem, but from Arcadia, got it?’

A shocked silence followed this statement, and though Kelia’s face flushed scarlet with guilt and surprise, it was my heart that had to have lurched the hardest.

Well, at least now I know what the penalty for licking Kohl’s back dimples will be!

‘I, I don’t know what you are-’ Kelia stammered but Kohén waved his hand.

‘Please Kelia; do not insult me by denying it. My loyal brother tells me everything, including what has been written in the letters that he has received from you- and my father has eyes everywhere watching for forbidden flirtations. I can understand it to a point for you have been isolated from the world, but touching a man intimately who is not myself is an act of treason, and I will see you punished accordingly if you cross one of my generously drawn lines.’

Uh-oh!

Kelia shot Kohl wounded look and then damned herself by removing her arm from his. The ground had continued to sway for me since I’d departed the rocking ship, but now it lurched a little harder. Kohl had told Kohén about Kelia’s crush? If he was that loyal, how could I believe that he’d kept OUR correspondence a secret?

Um, because you’d be strangled by now if Kohén knew what had been written by either of you to one another behind his back?

Kohl cringed. ‘She won’t, Big Kahuna…settle down.’ But Kohén stood taller and Kelia shrank with every passing second. He looked nothing like himself in that moment- more like a cross between Karol and Elijah and even though he was the smallest of all four Barachiels, he suddenly seemed like the most self-possessed.

‘And also,’ he went on, darting a look at me, ‘please remember how kind Larkin has been to you before you pitch a jealous fit in the future, instead of admitting that she looks like the very embodiment of the word paradise. Because if you offend either of us again, I will spare you the boat ride here the next time I bring my Companions to Pacifica, by leaving you behind so her perfect figure won’t make you sick to your petty stomach.’

Oh my GOD!

I blinked, and Kelia’s face fell. Looking more insulted than apologetic, she lowered her head. ‘Yes, your highness,’ she whispered.

‘Good,’ Kohén said. ‘And please, don’t feel as though you cannot confide in me about crushes you may have, or needs that you have developed. All of the other girls have been very forthcoming about their own fantasies- especially regarding dear old Prince Karol’s ability to turn heads and invade dreams- and I accept the fact that you will notice other men. In fact, one day it could be your job to do just that-’

‘What?!’ Kelia’s head snapped up and her eyes were bright again with indignation. Kohén was clearly implying that he could punish her by taking her to bed, effectively pulling the loophole he was attempting to keep open for her shut, as quickly as someone might tug on a drawstring. Naturally, doing so would cement her in a future as a whore, and so I was not shocked to see her expression become an outraged one. ‘But you-’

‘I said COULD be- not definitely WILL be…’ Kohén drawled. ‘But if you cannot deal with your own urges then please, feel free to seek me out, for I have plenty of gold and urges-’

‘No, your highness,’ Kelia said, her voice acidic as she crossed her arms, and then had the audacity to include me in on her glare, as though Kohén’s behaviour were my fault! But I did wince at the severity of Kohén’s threat, and the implication that being attracted to a man meant that she ought to be attracted to ANY man, but what could I say? She had been throwing herself at Kohl, and I knew that Kohén had recently suggested dismissing her (talking his father into letting her go into the Corps instead of fulfilling her service with the rest of us) but Kelia had declined that offer believing that she was too good for such a fate… so it was her fault that she was still here, wasn’t it? Yes, we both wanted freedom but at least I would have been willing to work for mine in the Corps if I’d been given the same offer!

‘I will return as virtuous as I departed,’ she grit her teeth around the words: ‘and loyal to you.’

‘That is all I ask for, so thank you for understanding that it is not much. And Kohl, enjoy yourself... within reason.’ His smirk returned. ‘I’m told that Kelia has a lovely singing voice. Not that she’s ever offered to sing for me but...’

The ground lurched again.

‘Um…’ Kohl looked like he wanted to disappear into a hole in the floor and I knew that he’d wring Kohén’s neck for putting him on the spot like that later. To be honest, I was a little surprised that he hadn’t already. Was it possible that he was actually intimidated by his brother? Or did he agree that Kelia ought to be reprimanded so harshly? And should she? I didn’t even know anymore!

‘Good. Now, Larkin…’ Kohén took my hand and smiled proudly at me with hard blue eyes, making it clear that I’d be the next person to receive a tongue-lashing if I defied him and heaven help me, but it was a little bit sexy to see how he’d reduced us all to twitching, silent lumps. ‘… Are you going to get onto that horse yourself, or do I have to go procure a drag net to trap you into spending time alone with me?’

‘I cannot get on a horse without your help, your highness,’ I said stoically, offering him my hand. ‘Help me mount it please?’

Kohén grinned. ‘Damn, I was rather looking forward to wrestling you into submission while you were wearing something so flimsy.’

‘I know.’ I smiled sweetly enough to give myself- and him- cavities. ‘Why else would I agree to comply, so quickly?’

Kohén rolled his eyes, but then grabbed me and as I yelped, hoisted me over the shoulder and smacked my backside hard. ‘Come on brat! I have woo to do!’

‘You wish you could woo,’ I muttered and he made an annoyed sound, but he didn’t throw me off and I allowed him to carry me out like the caveman he’d become, just so I’d have the chance to meet Kohl’s eyes as he watched us go. His expression was mournful, but I took advantage of the fact that Kelia had already turned away to snatch up her sunhat (I couldn’t believe she was still going!) held up my palm and pointed to his ring on my finger. Then, I kissed it, before blowing him the kiss. Kohl’s face split with a smile, and he lifted his pendant to his lips and kissed it too, and I knew that even though we were being forced to spend time with other people, in our imaginations we’d be unified, and safe from detection.

It had to stay in our imaginations though, for I’d sooner die than be dismissed from Eden for being an actual whore!

12.

My bikini felt as inappropriate as it looked- I bounced so roughly that after twenty gallops of the mare’s long legs through the jungle that I was forced to hold onto Kohén tighter and smush my breasts against his back. I didn’t have to see his face to know that he was smirking, but by the time we got to our destination, his scowl was fixed firmly back in place once more and I wanted to sigh in irritation. Why were we going through with this charade? How were we going to convince the king that we’d had a romantic outing, if we came back covered in the food that we were supposed to eaten because we’d started flinging it at each other?

But I didn’t dare voice such a thing out loud because I knew it would only antagonise Kohén further, so I bit my lip and slipped off the horse and into his arms, not even commenting when he let me go too quickly, almost causing me to fall onto my backside. Was he trying to prove how much he had over me, and how miserable I would be without his adoration? Well, more fool him because it only made me wish that I’d come with Kohl instead!

We had our picnic in a valley that had grown over time in the ruins of an old volcano. The caldera that the island had been renamed for had high, rocky ledges forming a craggy peak at the northernmost tip, and a grassy basin beneath spotted with wildflowers, which glowed a pale pink in the watered-down raspberry sky. The ocean lapped against the beach on one side of it, and the village was on the other side of the more elevated western rim, and like a teardrop, the rest of Caldera Island swelled out south from there. Once upon a time, it had been shaped differently, and almost every coastline had been developed. But so far, the Corps had only managed to wrestle that small northern tip free of the jungle’s and ruin’s grip to settle, and a large part inland had been cleared for a patchwork of small farms.

According to Kohén (who’d decided to start talking to me again once he realised that he was the authority on the subject and could take a know-it-all tone with me) the Caldera was the safest place to live because the eruption that had detonated Diamond Head Mountain had happened long before Armageddon, rendering the once active volcano extinct. In fact, the island we were on hadn’t had any active volcanoes at the time of God’s return at all, but our creator had made the plate which lay beneath the entire chain of islands shift and detonate so fiercely, and in so many places, that every one of the islands had been damaged by the power of the eruptions and much of Caldera Island’s ‘Oahu’ Coastlines had been washed away by the ensuing tidal surges. The skies had blackened and the earth had shaken buildings until they toppled, and by the time God had run out of steam, three islands had been rendered uninhabitable and several smaller, underwater volcanoes still posed a threat to the ones remaining. They’d never be able to bury towns again, but they still killed marine life and had power enough to cause earth tremors and sea surges, which was why only the Prime Minister’s house remained on the shore. And as for the plate itself and what lay beneath well… who knew what it was still capable of doing? Officially, some of the volcanoes of the Pacifica region had been active since the dawn of time, and always would be.

Kohén arranged the blanket on the grass and then smacked the picnic baskets right down in the middle of it so that it would be between us, and went about the mission of pouring us champagne (Elijah was generous when it came to getting his child bedded!) and strawberries and chocolate sauce and an assortment of soft cheeses. I watched Kohén spread it all out, and when he took out a handful of white rose petals and scattered them around, my skin crawled like he was scattering spiders. He looked up at me and saw me downing half of my glass in one go to relax myself, his eyes shone for a moment.

‘Is your cliché-detector going off, my well-read friend?’ he asked.

I swallowed the fuzzy sweet bubbles and pressed my hands to my ears. ‘What?’ I asked, too loudly. ‘I can’t hear you over the romance!’

Kohén laughed and thrust a strawberry at me. ‘Take that brat. And yes, I agree this is… trite.’

‘You’re missing the strolling minstrels but yeah…’ I cocked my head. ‘Is this what you do with the other girls?’

‘No,’ he scoffed, taking a big gulp from his own glass then pointing at me. ‘And technically, you’re supposed to be a strolling minstrel. Have you learned a performance yet to recite for me, little slave girl?’

‘I have,’ I said, sitting taller and clearing my throat. ‘Would you like me to recite a passage of text from my Boll Weevil book? Or would you prefer a reading from The Godfather?’

Kohén laughed. ‘Maybe The Godfather later.’

‘That is an offer I cannot refuse,’ I joked, and he smiled politely, missing the reference. I waited a beat, sighing a little to know that Kohl would have laughed, but then changed the subject. ‘Well?’ I prompted him, and he frowned at me.

‘What?’

I motioned around us. ‘These aren’t your moves, so… what are?’

‘You’re not seriously asking how I seduce your friends, are you?’ Kohén looked ill.

‘The ones you seduce are not my friends,’ I pointed out. ‘But yeah, I guess I am asking.’

‘Why?’

I smiled wickedly. ‘So I’m adequately prepared for you on my twenty-first.’ I picked up a rose petal, sniffed it courteously and then tossed it over my shoulder. ‘Can I expect to find these on my bed along with my torn contract that evening, sire?’

And I’m asking so that I can feel a little less guilty about how I’d be acting if it were Kohl handing me champagne, rather than you...

‘Nah,’ Kohén scoffed. ‘The white roses are dad’s touch- they’re technically the Barachiel flower but the locusts have been ruining them, so we’ve not seen them bloom in Calliel in over twenty years. They grow in abundance here though, and I expect we will see many next spring back home.’ He lay back on his elbows and eyed me. ‘And no you won’t find them on your bed on you twenty-first.’

‘Thank goodness, I said, then smiled. ‘Though if there is a chance for me to weigh in on how things go that day- I’d much prefer white rose petals, or even a few locusts- to finding Karol in my room again.’

Not that I’ll have to worry about that, because it is I who must go to him that day if he doesn’t find a wife in time...

He chuckled. ‘That’s a relief. But come on... I wasn’t going to pounce you on your birthday Larkin- I’m not an animal, and even though you’ll be free, I’ll still be prohibited from having sex with ladies outside of the harem until I get bound to one legally, remember?’ He waved his hand toward me. ‘Sort of the whole point of your caste to begin with...?’

‘I know,’ I said, abashed. ‘And I’m sorry for how weird I’ve been today. I just feel…’ I shifted the top into place and blushed. ‘Vulnerable, and displaced and still sort of like the world is rocking beneath my feet, and I don’t like that.’

‘Neither do I, which is why I’ve been tolerant of your smart mouth so far.’ He wagged a finger at me. ‘But that stops now, got it? I don’t pick the clothes, and I’m not going to feel bad at staring at you, because you’re beautiful, and ought to get used to being stared at because the whining is getting old. And like I said to Kelia- you two are spared the obligation side of this arrangement but get all the benefits, so the least you can do is treat me with a bit of respect every now and then, all right?’

I lowered my lashes. ‘I only rebel against you because I respect you enough to know that you will take it with grace, tolerance and good humour, Kohén.’ I made my confession while spinning my finger around the rim of the glass. ‘That is me demonstrating how much faith I have in you as my best friend, not a lack of respect for you as my superior- which I have in spades.’

‘Hmm, well...’ I looked up and saw him flush which made me flush on the inside. I’d spent so many months not looking at him that I’d forgotten how cathartic it was to drink him in.

Drink him in? Okay yeah… maybe put the booze down?

Kohén squinted at me. ‘Really?’ his voice was softer and much more self-conscious. ‘You think I have the making of being a leader?’

‘Of course I do,’ I said softly, though whether he was the best candidate for Pacifica was another, more volatile subject. ‘Why would you question that?’

‘You’re such a…’ he appeared to search his brain for the term. ‘Not anarchist, but something like it. I wouldn’t suppose that you’d paused your loathing for the monarchy long enough to consider how I would fit into it.’

‘I consider it every day,’ I said, giving a look to let him know that my words were loaded with what I wouldn’t say. ‘Every decision you make is seen as a foundation brick for the nation for me. And the ones you make regarding me well…’ I lay down on my side and smiled at him. ‘They’re fundamental.’

He chuckled. ‘Point taken, as always.’ He lay down across from me and appraised me thoughtfully before saying: ‘and on that note, I’m sorry if I alarmed you back at the dock, or in your room. But I refuse to believe that the love I have for you is cause for distress on your part after how I’ve managed to rise above the constant temptation to claim you as I am legally allowed to, and desperately want to do.’ He twisted his lips to the side briefly then continued: ‘and I’m sorry if I embarrassed you just now in front of them. But Kelia really got under my skin by taking that tone with me, Kohl pissed me off by practically drowning in his own drool over you-’

‘It wasn’t like that,’ I scoffed, brushing a rose petal away.

‘Pfft!’ Kohén snorted. ‘He couldn’t SPEAK, darling. And knowing that Kelia has already gone behind my back to express feelings for him, after hiding under her bed from me for the last eight months had me feeling inadequate enough as it was. I mean, what am I- some sort of demon? We look just like each other, so why does she forget her piousness around him, but hefts her guard up around me?’

‘It’s probably a free will thing,’ I said, deciding not to point out that they didn’t look much alike at all right now. ‘I wouldn’t take it personally. It’s common knowledge that the more forbidden something is, the more attractive it becomes to the beholder.’

‘Yeah well, he’s not more attractive or a better person than I am and if she had a lick of sense to go with that free will, she’d batt those lovely lashes at me just once to humour me, as she’s been trained and compensated to do- and stay in my good graces!’ I raised an eyebrow, making it clear that I was unimpressed by the hot air he was blowing and he rolled his eyes. ‘Okay, so maybe I’m a little jealous that he’s like, grown a foot or whatever since I saw him last, and that my mother weeps all over him or that Atticus thinks the sun shines out his butt even though Kohl is responsible for so much unwanted rain- and if I’m being completely honest, I guess don’t care if Kelia’s on her knees right now giving the poor kid a break because I don’t want her anymore either.’ He frowned and I squirmed over the idea of Kelia giving Kohl oral sex. ‘But him looking at you is another thing entirely, so I just had to… I don’t know…’

‘Mark you’re territory?’ I supplied, taking a big gulp of my champagne. Yep, he really did.

‘Yeah.’ He scrunched up his face. ‘Sorry, but it’s a guy thing- and it’s not often that I have to deal with other guys our age drooling on you, you know? I’m not used to it.’

I chuckled ironically. ‘Sucks, doesn’t it? Having feelings for someone and worrying that they’re going to end up wrapped around someone else-’

‘Stop right there,’ he said, sounding instantly aggravated. ‘It’s not the same thing, but you’ve just proven exactly why I won’t be telling you what I do with other girls. You’re jealous enough as it is and I hate the fact that I make you feel threatened in that sense. Besides... it’s sick.’

I screwed up my nose. ‘Gosh! Now I have to know what you do if it’s that abhorrent?’

He tossed a grape at my head and I shrieked and ducked it. ‘Talking about it is sick. What I do is… normal, I guess.’

‘Tell me,’ I said, taking another sip.

‘No.’

‘Why?’ I said, fantasying about pulling out his new spine and beating him over the head with it. Since when did he say no to me? ‘I’m sick of not knowing about what you do and what you think all the time, like I used to- actually you’re right. I am jealous, and I hate sharing you with them, so maybe if you share something small with me I’ll feel less left out.’ I finished my champagne and then sat up and held out the glass for him to fill it with more. ‘Don’t you agree? All of this secrecy is killing us.’

He arched an eyebrow at me as he sat up and fetched the champagne. ‘What secrets do you have?’

I looked down and tossed my strawberry into my glass to see if it would taste as nice as they said it did in my romance books, and avoided his eyes in case he saw Kohl’s warm reflection within them, or my fear over what I would have to do with Karol. Gosh, come to think of it, I had many secrets from Kohén! The formula, my suspicion over Martya’s death, what my mother had said about my father... ‘I just mean... all of the doors that keep getting locked between us.’

‘Well, you’re welcome to unlock yours or join us at-’ he cut off when I gave him a foul look. ‘Okay not funny.’

‘Us?’ I demanded, my face going hot as my temper boiled over. ‘Kohén Barachiel! You don’t go with more than one at a time like your gross brother, do you?!’

Kohén groaned and lay on his back, covering his eyes. ‘Larkin… no, I’m not like that and you know it, and please- stop.’

My relief was more pronounced than even I’d expected. ‘Thank hell for that,’ I took a big gulp of bubbles like I was trying to douse out the hot flames of jealousy licking up inside me. ‘You know I’d never hear an ‘I love you’ out of you again if you even tried…’ I shuddered.

‘I know- that’s why I don’t do that kind of stuff with them, and go to them only when I must and not... And don’t say hell…’ he leaned over. ‘Here…’ he reached over and pulled the fastener out of the end of my hastily woven braid, coming his fingers through the still-damp lengths. His eyes moved to mine, and his lip curled in a not-quite smile in response to my perplexed expression. ‘I’m supposed to be wooing you, so you can’t go back looking as tidy as you left,’ he said. ‘The other girls will know something’s up, if you do. As will dad.’

‘So he does anticipate a seduction tonight?’ I asked curtly, but I wasn’t oblivious to the way that the air warmed between us (at least for me) after he’d suggested messing me up.

‘Frankly yes. But before you get all tangled up in that delightful string underwear, bear in mind that I’m only going through the motions to put his mind at ease so he stops hounding me about it.’ He smiled gently. ‘My father is happy that I’ve found romance within the harem, but he’s not going to believe it’s a two-way romance if he never sees evidence of a physical connection between us.’ He strummed my hair gently, untangling it, and his touch was so gentle and sensual that I was holding in a moan with my breath. ‘To buy us time, I’ve told him that I love you and that I intend to keep you around permanently, but that I may not act on it until I can kick the other girls out to appease you- and he’s okay with that... to a degree. But if I can’t get you wearing gold, I need to at least make it appear that I COULD if I wanted to. Hence: sunset picnic.’

I was a little moved by that. ‘A desultory seduction masterminded by the future prince, huh?’

‘Unbearably slow,’ he smiled wryly at me. ‘Seemingly eternal.’ He blew out a breath to his brow. ‘The future prince feels about nine hundred already.’

I tilted my head. ‘Then do you have to do the white rose dance with Kelia too?’

Kohén snorted, shaking his head. ‘No. My father knows that she turns me off, and he understands that completely. Like with him and Maryah, he expects her to get out of this unadorned because we lack for chemistry- but because she’s also so fragile, he knows that I’ll delay kicking her out for as long as I can stand to keep her around.’

‘Turned off by her?’ I asked, startled. ‘But you once said that she was the prettiest one!’

‘She was,’ he agreed. ‘But you’ve eclipsed her on a solar and lunar level since, and she has not developed well in your shadow. In fact, she’s become whiny, demanding, anti-social and spoiled- and her face is almost constantly puckered up-’

‘Okay, okay this is my friend we’re talking about here,’ I reminded him. ‘Ease up.’

‘She’s not your friend,’ he said coldly. ‘She clings to you because you’re the only one tolerant enough not to kick her off, and because she knows being special to you makes her off-limits to me.’

‘Fine, if that’s what you think,’ I said, not in the mood to stand up for Kelia’s timid nature in light of the way she’d talked down to me earlier, and sort of moved to think that I had so much sway over Kohén’s personal choices in companionship. ‘But why is it okay for her to get out of the fake romance stuff-’

‘Because I’m fucking wild about you, okay?’ he exploded, making me twitch. ‘Because nothing is fake for me when it comes to you and everyone knows it! I make these grand gestures and trip all over myself and demand overseas excursions….’ he grimaced. ‘But you’ve stopped being my shadow since you turned sixteen, and it’s making people speculate. My father doesn’t want to believe that you’re manipulating me because he’s genuinely fond of you but my mother thinks you are trouble and-’

‘All right!’ I said softly, catching his hand and smiling tentatively at him while my heart skipped several beats at the surge of energy that passed between our palms. ‘It’s all right please; don’t make my hair all staticky in your distress. I flipped out this afternoon because you’ve left me alone for months-’

‘You wanted me to,’ he said.

‘I know, and I appreciate the fact that you have. I was just caught off-guard, is all. I mean honestly…’ I shrugged. ‘I’d started thinking that you’d moved past us, you know?’

Kohén’s eyes lifted to mine in shock. ‘Are you kidding? Larkin I… I fall more in love with you every day.’ He leaned over, bracing himself against the ground and added: ‘and I want you more every second! It’s hard for me to stay away from you, but I do it to keep you calm.’

I looked down at the blanket beneath us and bit my lip, confused by the way my heart was pounding. I’d come here expecting to fall harder for Kohl, and yet here I was with Kohén, and the way he’d just looked at me had made me shimmer on the inside, like he’d reduced me to molecules of radiant light and heat.

‘Oh,’ I whispered. ‘Well…’ I swallowed. ‘Mystery cleared up then.’

His hand came down on mine- his winged ring against my wooden one. ‘You still love me too, right?’

I looked up at him, not certain what to say, but certain that he was using his charge against me to heat me from the inside out because I had been too angry at him for too long for the passionate emotions stirring inside me to be for real now. ‘I do,’ I admitted sadly. ‘But I don’t know in what way anymore, Kohén.’

‘Like hell you don’t,’ he whispered, looking even more alarmed. ‘Say you’ll marry me still, and mean it!’

‘I cannot,’ I said. ‘Even though I am bound to respond to your every request with a yes- that is the one thing that YOU are not permitted to ask of me.’ I smirked. ‘And just try and run off to your mother and father to complain that your whore said ‘no’ to a marriage proposal from you- and see who ends up on the other side of the fence!’

‘You think I’d do that?’ he demanded, looking hurt.

‘I think you just threatened Kelia with that fate for far less of a betrayal than denying your love,’ I pointed out. ‘So who knows what I’d be in for, if your feelings for me flipped?’

‘As yours have for me?’ he asked.

‘My feelings for you are like a canoe in a squall,’ I whispered. ‘They’ve flipped about so many times that I don’t know if I’m drowning in them, or surviving by clinging to them alone. And I will not know if I am destined to love you or hate you or be indifferent to you until the storm has passed, and I have been granted the space and the freedom to paddle where my heart urges me to.’

Kohén’s eyes flashed dangerously as he pulled me into his arms and onto his lap, angling me across it so that my head was on his shoulder and my backside in the cradle of his crossed legs. ‘You’re scaring me Larkin,’ he whispered, but he did not look scared- he looked certain of something illicit. ‘And I don’t like being scared.’ His lips pressed against mine when he whispered: ‘you love me in every way that a woman can love a man, got it? I am your best friend, your lover, and your benefactor: say so now!’

‘If you command me to, then I must,’ I whispered, ‘that won’t make it all true though-’ I groaned when he kissed me with angry, lustful lips, forcing mine open so that he could strum my tongue with his and forcing me to admit the truth, at least to myself:

I wasn’t sure what the word love even meant any more, but I adored him and I wanted him, and I hated myself for it.

13.

A thrill shot through me as Kohén’s charge hummed around me, one that was as fearful as it was excited, and I tried to push him off before things could get out of hand, but he pulled back first and whispered:

‘You want me!’ he whispered. ‘And you love me, I know you do! You’re just afraid of being trapped and though I’ve always been understanding of that and have tried to do whatever is in my power to put your mind at ease- you’re stopped offering such comfort back and I’m starting to wonder if I’ve held you too far from me to know me anymore.’ He sat taller and rearranged me again so that I was straddling his hips, and wrapped my legs around his waist before holding my face steady with his hands. ‘I gave you space and you took it, and you never infringe on mine- though you must know that I would gladly welcome it. I go to other women and you allow it without showing the faintest hint of jealousy. I tell you that I love you, and you tell me that you must say the same, and I speak of plans for our future and you shut down…’ he pushed my hair out of my eyes. ‘You shut me out, my love, so tell me why I shouldn’t believe that my mother and fathers’ fears are warranted, and that you are just using me to get your way, preparing to discard me after?’

I stared at him with a racing heart. ‘Because if your love for me is true,’ I whispered, ‘then you would know me well enough to understand that I could never use or discard anybody intentionally.’

‘And if your love for me was true,’ he countered, ‘you would not be able to bear this distance between us any better than I have!’

My eyes welled. ‘Who says that I have been dealing with it well, Kohén?’ I ran my fingers through his shaggy hair, which looked almost black in the moonlight, realising that it was true- I had been dealing, just not well. ‘The more valuable the hand, the more impassive the poker face must be!’ I ran my hands down his neck. ‘My heart has been breaking for over a year now, and if I must accept that you will go to them, as you asked, you must accept that I will withdraw from you or suffocate in my own jealousy and heartbreak!’ I kissed him roughly then whispered. ‘Yes I love you, and yes I desire you, but I am not your everything, Kohén! You must pursue a throne, and your studies, and have your arousal sated and travel often without me, while I must wait patiently and witness the locking of doors and the departure of vessels all alone! I have signed a contract to do that, so I live my life around yours accordingly, and you have offered me more after, and that means so much to me!’ I swallowed. ‘But aside from your word, there is no guarantee that I am safe investing even one of my hopes for the future in you, so it is unfair that you demand every one of them!’

‘But I love you so much Larkin- I need to know that we are together on this! I cannot focus on rewriting laws over my conviction alone!’

‘Well I have no conviction regarding us! I have been trained not to! If that changes, I will adjust accordingly but until then, stop asking me to put my life and body and heart in your hands while you can only throw me crumbs of your own!’

‘That statue was not a crumb!’

‘That statue is not mine, and you know it!’ I pointed out. ‘Will I be able to take it with me when I leave Eden?’

Kohén’s eyes widened. ‘Why would you leave Eden?!’

‘You want to go to Pacifica!’

‘Well I’m not lugging it across the ocean, it’ll fall apart! Regardless, she is positioned somewhere that will always be a home to us.’

‘I didn’t say that you had to move her across the Pacific!’

‘Then what are you saying?’

I looked down at his chest, averting my eyes and resting my hands on his warm, taut shoulders. ‘I am saying that Liberty is not liberty at all if it is bound. If you want me to say that my home will be where yours is- whether that be here, Arcadia or who knows- then you must wait until I am free to say that, because they will not be true or certain words until they are spoken by a free woman.’

‘That’s nonsense-’

‘No, that’s freedom,’ I said quickly, wetting my lips. ‘I love you Kohén, but I won’t be released from a cage with the expectation being for me to flutter about on a golden leash instead.’ My nerves were jangling in alarm for what I was about to say, but it had to be said. ‘I cannot tell you how I truly feel, because I do not know who I am, understand where I have come from, or have the slightest conviction regarding who I will be. So if you love me, you will give me the time and the distance to ponder my options once I am free, and the chance to get to know you- and other men- and options for my future outside of this master/slave dynamic before you make demands of my heart or body or future-’

‘You want to see…?’ Kohén’s voice sounded like acid, but I let his words and eyes burn through both of us without correcting them and held his gaze defiantly.

‘Other men? Yes, I would like the right to do so.’ And then I cringed and waited for the electric shock to stop my heart as I had clearly just stopped his.

Kohén’s hands went to his hair and he pulled on it like he was trying to physically remove my words from his brain. It was clear, from his thunderstruck countenance that he could not even CONCEIVE of sharing my affection or attention- not even for a second, and dread chugged through my veins like melted lead.

Ahh… now we’re getting it, aren’t we? Bit of a stretch to ask that the person you love be given free range, huh?

‘Why?!’ he bellowed the word, but I did not jump back, for I had been expecting it.

‘Well, it would be very nice to have the situation reversed, for one,’ I pointed out, trying to seem casual even though I was trembling. ‘I have to know that you’ve kissed many sets of lips- and worse- and you want me to deal with that as part of nature’s course. That’s fair enough, but I don’t think you understand what you’re asking me to deal with, and will not, until you’ve seen me with another man, and then have made your own peace with it.’

‘I’ve seen you with Kohl!’

‘Who I thought was you,’ I corrected him, my cheeks growing warm. If he only knew how much more touching Kohl’s fingers meant to me now than our kiss had then! ‘It is not the same thing but once again, you don’t know that, do you? You’ve never been in my shoes- you’ve only fornicated with the women who stole them!’

‘You’re not sleeping with anybody else!’ he snapped. ‘If you fucking well do, I’ll kill you, him and myself!’

My heart fluttered nervously, because it didn’t matter how things progressed with Kohl- I’d already made a deal with the devil that was next in line. I’d done it in a moment of desperation without pausing to contemplate it first, but that had been my choice and now I had to see it through. And wasn’t that why I’d released Kohén from my heart since the day after my birthday, and had turned to Kohl instead? Didn’t I suspect that deep down; only one brother would be able to forgive that? Kohl was besotted with me yes, but he didn’t treat me like a thing he owned, and had sent me those books before he’d known that I might escape his brother’s physical molestation. Besides, he was Given too, so he understood obligations in a way that Kohén never would be able to.

But I also saw that I’d have to confess my promise to Karol to Kohl as well to be fair to everyone. If neither boy could live with it, then neither boy could be with me, and realising as much would set me free, as much as counting on them both to forgive it would surely see me burned.

Or maybe, one would get so angry that they’d fly to Eden and slit his sleazy big brother’s throat, sparing me...

‘I didn’t say that I would want to have sex with anyone,’ I conceded. ‘But I want the freedom to decide for myself, and I’ve earned the right for you to tolerate my doing so with a forgiving heart. I know that you love me, but I don’t know how strong that love is until the foundation it has grown upon shifts, much like the plate beneath this part of the ocean did-’

‘Then let’s shift in my way, so you understand how I am going to MAKE you forgive me, my love,’ Kohén whispered, grasping my hips and pulling them against his, as his mouth came down hard on mine again. He groaned, fluttering his tongue teasingly inside my mouth like butterfly wings and I overheated in a heartbeat when I felt the bulge in his leather pants press into the apex of my legs. He gripped my hair and pulled my head back and began to molest my neck with his teeth, lips and tongue, biting, suckling and panting against my skin, and I began to sweat under the heat of my responding desire.

‘Kohén…!’ I couldn’t move- he was pulling too hard on my hair for me to upright myself, and when his hand cupped my breast through my bikini, every muscle in my body locked up in fear, except for my breasts which burned sweetly at his touch. ‘Please…’ but my plea was weak. I was dizzy and aroused already and scared and too overcome to think clearly.

‘I’m not going to take your virginity tonight,’ he suckled hard on my neck, making me gasp, and held the pressure there. ‘But I think I’m going to have to start making you wish that I would…’ his fingers peeled the crochet away from my breast and tucked it under my breast, hoisting it higher, and then he bent his head and took my nipple in his hot mouth and I cried out as a thrill shot through me.

Oh my GOD!

‘Fuck, yes…’ he whispered, his mouth coming back to mine while his fingers tickled and tweaked my nipple, working it over until it was so stiff that it hurt. ‘You think another man is going to be able to do this to you?’ he lowered his mouth to my chest again and I went limp as his erection stiffened more between us and pressed into me deliciously. ‘You’re wrong! You’re asking for the freedom to discover what I already know…. that we belong together.’ He held my face back so that I could see how dilated his pupils had become, and how his fingers were crackling where they touched my skin again. ‘I am going to waive the contract for exactly ten seconds, Larkin,’ he whispered. ‘And I am going to ask you to let me make love to you with my mouth...’ he lowered one hand to rock my backside into him again, forcing me to gulp down air so that I wouldn’t faint for the strength of the pulsations. ‘Here.’ He slipped his hand between us and pushed the fabric of my string underwear aside, then gently pressed his fingertips into me. My abdomen contracted and my hips rocked back. ‘Yes…’ he breathed. ‘Feel how wet you are Larkin? That’s your free will. That’s what you feel for me.’ He eased a finger inside me and grunted and I felt myself squeezing him- not pushing him out but holding him there, and we were both so hot and breathing so haggardly that I could have sworn that a sweet mist had descended upon us. I was out of my mind with lust and when he began to slide his finger gently in and out of me, I knew that I wasn’t going to have the chance to say yes, because I was going to orgasm within a matter of seconds.

‘Ask me to serve you, my sweet, sexy little slave girl,’ he whispered, pressing his thumb into my clit as he massaged my wet sex at a more rapid rate. ‘Command me to pleasure you! There will be no repercussions- no debts owed to me after, just bliss. Just…’ he pressed his mouth against mine and whispered: ‘My tongue in this perfect pussy, and my conviction in your very soul.’

I opened my mouth to cry out yes, but there was a sudden boom and then a moment later, ice cold rain was falling in a thin sheet, saturating us both in a matter of seconds.

Kohl.

I yelped and Kohén laughed and helped me to my feet. ‘Here!’ he moved the picnic things aside, swept the blanket up off the ground and slung it above us, holding me close while I shivered and shook for a million different reasons. Champagne had spilled, strawberries were everywhere and we were both drenched, but when Kohén turned to me and took me into his arms, he was still hot and his grin was brighter than lightning ever had been.

‘I guess they argued, huh?’ he asked me, kissing me quickly.

I doubted that an argument with Kelia was the source for Kohl’s sudden anguish, and was fairly certain that if I lifted the picnic blanket, I would spy him not far away watching us or rather, watching over me. I felt awful about it all, but not on just one of their behalves, but both. I was so confused!

‘Ten seconds is up,’ I panted, and Kohén smiled at me.

‘That’s okay. I got my answer.’ His eyes were sparkling. ‘And look at you… all hot and bothered. I’m not going to lie, it’s fucking thrilling to see, and to know that you’re going to sleep with as much difficulty tonight as I have for the last year.’ He touched my neck, staring at it. ‘And this looks even better than gold- I’m certain my father will agree.’

I pursed my lips at him. ‘You marked me?’

‘I marked you well,’ he said proudly, then pointed to the sky. ‘And we have a good excuse for why I didn’t get to finish what I started.’

‘You’re so…’ I didn’t know whether to be amused or dismayed. Kohl would see the bruise and... and..

And assume what? The truth?

‘I know,’ Kohén said, then lifted his finger to his lips and suckled on it, making my face flame when he closed his eyes. ‘And you’re as heavenly as I thought you would be.’

I narrowed my eyes at him, even though I felt that strange fluttering in my lower stomach again at the sight of him doing something so salacious. ‘Be careful, your highness,’ I said. ‘You’re starting to look a little hot and bothered yourself.’

‘I am,’ he whispered. ‘But that is nothing new.’

I stepped into him and whispered huskily: ‘Can I assist you in cooling down?’ I tugged gently on his belt buckle. ‘Perhaps with my hands?’

His eyes popped open, and almost blinded me with the light within them. ‘You would do that?!’

‘Of course,’ I lowered my lashes. ‘It is my duty to make sure that you do not overheat, remember? I’d hate for somebody to get hurt because I left you simmering as you have left me.’ I reached up and kissed his chin sweetly. ‘Besides, I really, really want to…’

Kohén’s breathing was enough to steam us alive under there. ‘Yes…’ he rested his forehead against my temple, swaying into me as I caressed his bobbing Adam’s apple with my mouth slowly and sensually. ‘God yes… have your way with me.’

‘As you wish, master.’ And then I grinned, reached up and pulled the picnic blanket out of his arms. ‘Voila! One COLD shower to put out your fire!’

The rain was still falling hard and we were instantly inundated. Kohén let out a bellow and reached for me but I squealed and jumped back. ‘You misleading, defiant little tease!’ he exclaimed, lunging after me.

‘I only behave such a way, because I know that you have the grace and humour to bear it, your grace!’ I taunted, and then dropped the blanket and ran. ‘Mahalo for the picnic, master! We should do it again in another four years!’

And to prove my athletic scores to be accurate- only his laughter could keep up with me, so when I returned to my room I was wet, puffed and alone.

But not miserable. Not like Kelia. Without saying a word, I opened my arms to her, and she ran to me and sobbed.

‘I thought Kohl could save me from this life,’ she whispered. ‘But he confessed that he is in love with someone else-some native no doubt! And then he tried to say that I announced my own feelings on the dock earlier while Kohén was listening and I just feel…’ she clung to me, crying. ‘They’re both awful!’

‘I’m sorry that you’ve been hurt,’ I kissed the top of her head. ‘But you need to save yourself, Kelia, don’t you get it?’

She pulled back and regarded me with red eyes, then pointed to my throat. ‘How can I, if you cannot?’

I pressed my hand to the place on my skin, which felt tender but warm, thinking that allowing that much had saved me, but Kelia did not wait for a reply. Sighing in defeat, she turned and went back into her room and locked it between us too, so I sighed and went to sit in front of the fire.

That was when I noticed the books sitting on a small cane and glass table beside the hearth, and reached for it, curious as I had not seen it before. It was the old kind, and the cover almost fell off when I opened it, and my eyes widened when I saw the bright red stamp in the front of it. ‘Contraband- destroy.’ There was a note in there too, in Kohl’s hand, and I lifted it to my eyes:

Larkin,

‘And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God's angels worship him.”

This has not changed yet, but you are the reason why it could, for when you smile at me, I feel the joy of a million angels’ smiles upon me.

-Love always, the third-born son, Kohl Barachiel.

I dropped my watering eyes and read the tile, almost shaking when I realised that I was in possession of one of the books that was supposed to be as absent from our new world, as precious gems were.

‘King James Holy Bible…’ I pressed my fingers to my mouth, amazed that Kohl would break a cardinal rule by supplying me with such a thing, and not at all surprised by myself when I picked it up and took it to my room immediately to read.

I’d outgrown many things, but curiosity was not one of them.

14.

We went on a guided horseback tour of the island the very next day and once again, I was the only person fascinated by the things that Kohl, Elijah and the prime minister really wanted to show off: the small, pretty village surrounding the coastal side of the rise of the Caldera to keep it out of the reach of storm surges, and then fields and fields of spiky little heads, all poking out of the red soil in sweet little rows.

Kohén clearly expected me to ride with him- he’d not stopped grinning at me all morning and asking me how I could bear to wear my hair out in such heat- for I had it hanging over my shoulders loose again to hide my love bite, but Elfin flung herself up onto the horse behind him before he could ask me, and because Lette had already nabbed Kohl (at Kelia’s soft insistence- she had been in a foul, silent mood all day) I ended up with Jovi, who went far too slow for my liking, but gave me the opportunity to have a long chat with the prime minister who rode beside me.

‘It’s amazing that you’ve developed so much land!’ I exclaimed to Atticus from behind my guide’s chubby, grass-skirted back. ‘Corn, pineapples, coconuts, wheat…’

‘We need to be pretty self-sufficient here,’ he said, his smile warm without a trace of lust peeking out from within. True to military form he was a tall, rectangular-shaped man whose every feature was both wide and squared off, from his square ears to his perfectly straight teeth, which seemed to be in aligned with his flat, straight eyebrows. ‘And we never had the locust problem that you did. So we’ve had fifteen wonderful years of harvests, and not even the most prolonged monsoon seasons can knock down a pineapple!’

‘Just think of what Arcadia will be like fifteen years from now, now that thanks to you and Karol, we are free of locusts too Larkin,’ Elijah had said, pulling up on the other side of me with Constance behind him and a contented smile on his face. He’d trimmed his beard to accommodate the topical climate so it was no longer wiry and braided with gold, but razed to a shadow with ornate edges. ‘Pretty soon, Pacifica will be able to run without us needing to visit so often.’

‘Except when we come to see our son of course,’ Constance reminded him, poking him in the sides a little, but he laughed.

‘Our son is almost a man,’ he pointed out cheerfully. ‘And a man understands that it isn’t conceivable for his entire family and their entourage to cross the Pacific twice a year when there are matters demanding their attention back home.’

‘Kohl is one of the matters demanding your attention, and as his home is not with us, it is your duty to come to him,’ the duchess said snidely- her snappish mood in complete contrast to the way she’d pulled her black cloud of hair up into a coiled pony-tail which bobbed with every hoof-fall. She looked so young! And yet every word out of her mouth was loaded with centuries of contempt. ‘It’s called being a parent, and you need not bring along anyone but your loving spouse, you know.’

If Elijah sensed his spouse’s tone, he either ignored it or attempted to smooth it over by smiling at the prime minister and saying: ‘Our son is being given equal, if not more consideration than any other Given child in Calliel, Constance, and has grown well for it. Besides, Atticus here is all the father figure he’ll ever need to make him into a man.’

‘And all the father figure he’s ever had,’ the duchess snapped back. ‘Possessing testosterone in excess is genetically guaranteed for Kohl. But I fear for how that chemical will begin to burn through him without a mother around to monitor where it flows.’ She gave me a derisive look. ‘You never know what sort of future he may come to lust after, if he’s not guided away from vice.’

‘That’s true,’ I said blithely, though silently panicking as to why she’d looked at me and not gestured to the girls ahead of us. ‘He may harden so that he’ll never come to know love… at all- from anyone.’ I gave her a dark look of my own. ‘Or how to fight for what’s right, or to want more than what one’s birth determined they should have.’

‘So we still haven’t convinced you that the third-born rule has its benefits?’ King Elijah asked, studying me curiously and with barely disguised frustration. ‘I would think that you, more than anyone could be able to clearly see how some children can profit from being cared for by those with the means to do it?’ he lifted his hand behind him and fingered his wife’s chain, smiling at me. ‘Like this- I see you staring at this constantly, which I picked up right here in Pacifica on our first voyage. But do you know that there have been Companions who have been able to procure more jewels than my own duchess has? No third born child remaining at home could ever hope of seeing such a thing!’

‘A girl who covets jewels but prefers cotton to silk and would get her hands dirty to earn them herself?’ Atticus Hartley tossed me a crooked smile which true to form, was a perfectly angled slant. ‘Jovi, have you ever heard of such a complex creature?’

‘No sir,’ Jovi said from beneath me. ‘But it would be an honour to know one well.’

‘I like anything that sparkles,’ I confided to Atticus, giving Jovi a grateful squeeze. ‘But jewels are hard to come by and impossible to afford, and I could never hope to own more than one. So I strive toward what would make me just as happy: owning an expanse of land where I could enjoy shimmering things in multitudes and for free: falling stars and fireflies…’

‘Those are fleeting and rare,’ the king said, ‘and they can never be truly possessed.’

‘The most valuable things in this world are precious because they are rare and hard to attain,’ I said to the king, flipping my hair over my shoulder so that he could see my love bite. ‘And last night, Kohén seemed to agree that a fleeting moment with a free firefly brought him much more pleasure than trapping one in his hand would have.’ I saw the king looking and winked. ‘The firefly enjoyed itself too, for the record, and asked for nothing in return.’ I pushed my hair back when I saw the duchess scowling at me. ‘And never will.’

Elijah’s slate-blue eyes were shining with a touch more of Kohén’s neon vibrancy than usual. ‘But it would be gifted to you anyway Larkin,’ he said. ‘Fireflies, cotton fields, shooting stars and most certainly in time, a diamond if you worked hard enough… so why not start working now, and invest in yourself?’ he winked. ‘Especially given how radiant you are the day after such a fleeting moment?’

I smiled benevolently, wishing I had something to stab him with. ‘If profiting from others was my ambition, I would lie down and embrace my, uh, fate, eagerly,’ I said. ‘But despite how you have all spoiled me so, I remain a simple girl at heart: I want to love and be loved more than anything else, and that is my ultimate goal. Anything else, I hope to procure for myself via hard work. Is it a crime to strive toward winning Kohén’s heart before I hand over something as precious as my purity?’ I asked. ‘Like with you and Resonah?’

Constance hissed but the fuck did I care.

‘Certainly not,’ Atticus said. ‘It’s rather commendable.’

‘You are loved here, Larkin,’ the king said, frowning slightly. ‘Profusely. Any fool can see that, so a smart girl like you ought to see the short cut offered to her and-’

‘Short cuts are for lazy people,’ I said. ‘I am not lazy and neither is Kohén, which is why we get along so famously. Honestly, your highness- why command him to take the easy route when he has the capacity to scale a mountain to attain his goals?’

‘Because that can be a very time-consuming, frustrating thing to do,’ he muttered.

‘Only for someone with a weak character,’ I said cheerfully. ‘And Kohén is anything but weak. In fact, every day he grows stronger, and as his Companion, I will continue to encourage such astounding growth.’

‘You wish to be joined with him then, don’t you?’ Constance snapped, tapping Elijah’s shoulder. ‘I told you! She is manipulating him!’

‘And be as cheerful as you are for it, duchess? Certainly not! And I swear to you on my life, Elijah that I will not be leaving Eden as a virgin. I have given your son my word to come to his chamber the moment I am free if I do not surrender to my feelings for Kohén before then.’ It was tricky trying to word the declaration without lying but I managed it. ‘So rest your mind- I will repay the debt of raising me to this crown before I embark upon any plans of my own, and leave either almost empty-handed but hopefully with his friendship- which will make me wealthy indeed- or stay by his side as his friend and lover so long as I am his only lover.’

‘Is that the arrangement then?’ Elijah asked, looking intrigued and not suspecting that I was talking about anyone other than Kohén- and not paying the slightest bit of attention to his wife behind him, who looked ready to jump and tackle me to the ground. She probably would have but she was wearing the split pants like Kohl’s in a pretty baby blue that she probably didn’t feel like marring with dirt.

‘It is,’ I smiled. ‘I want to be his only, or his friend, and I know that is not too much to ask for, if he himself cares enough for me to take his time cultivating our relationship before the time to harvest comes.’

‘I feel much better about it now that I know you intend to sleep with him regardless.’ He turned to his wife. ‘See? I told you that she was too smart to attempt to manipulate our son into trying to marry her! Larkin understands how things have to be darling- you could take a leaf out of her book.’

Constance’s eyes narrowed to slits and I could not blame her.

‘It is not my book,’ I said to Elijah. ‘It is the Barachiel book and I am just doing as best as I can with a frightfully corrupt situation. And I commend the duchess for trying to make you read between the lines and find the meaning of love amidst the bureaucracy, for it has inspired Kohén to do the same! And if you stop interfering Elijah, when the time comes for him to sit on a throne of his own, his beautiful, level head will be a perfect fit for Miguel Barachiel’s crown, which will glow like a halo once more for having loved his fallen woman, even if he does not keep her after, as you have ‘kept’ your spouse and your lover!’ I pressed my heels into our horse, spurring it on so quickly that I had to look back to deliver my parting statement to Elijah: ‘Unlike Karol, who will have to squeeze his head into that crown, and yourself, your highness, who wears it so loosely that it has slipped over your eyes and blinded you to your sons’- both of your sons’- true glory! The ability to rise above temptation for someone else’s good, as God would have!’

Constance’s mouth popped open, and Elijah’s face was as purple as his violet silk shirt, and though I knew I should have been scared, I faced forward and gripped Jovi more tightly, determined to enjoy the horse ride and the wind rushing through my hair before I lost all of my liberty. ‘Go!’ I hissed. ‘As fast as you can!’

The horse hurtled forward through the group and then past them all, and Jovi turned his head to me and cried: ‘You are loco, pretty girl!’

‘Crazy is the one thing they can’t stop me from being, even if they put their mind to it!’ I whispered in his ear, and he laughed. ‘And honest is another, now that I am old enough to understand that no punishment they can dole out can hurt more than biting my tongue wounds my pride and my intelligence!’

‘I am happy in my life, and welcome Pacifica becoming part of Arcadia’s empire,’ he said, panting a little as his excess flesh slapped around. ‘But I think I be happier with a queen like loco pale girl in charge!’ he pulled on the reigns to slow our mare. ‘Just not of horse!’

I kissed his cheek. ‘Mahalo, but I meant it when I said that I dream only of becoming a farmer, and not a queen.’

‘Then be careful what seeds you sow,’ he said, ‘for you are planting a hurricane and it is going to pick up a lot of crowns- and they are more dangerous projectiles than pineapples!’

I pressed my forehead against his back and laughed as we raced past a field of white roses in full bloom, for there was nothing else left for me to do but accept that my future was about to pick me up and whip me around until my bones rattled.

*

Both the king and the duchess avoided me for the rest of the day, and when I saw Elijah pull Kohén aside to have what was clearly a stern word with him while we stopped for lunch and a surf in a small cove, I almost laughed myself off the horse- especially when I saw my suddenly spiny friend snap something back before storming off, casting me a dirty look on his way. I knew I was in trouble for running my mouth, but I didn’t see why that should concern me. The most they could do was command Kohén to deflower me now, and I’d never been naïve enough to convince myself that that wouldn’t always be a possibility. Thanks to the promise I’d made Karol, there really was no way that I was leaving Eden with my maidenhood intact anyway.

And if I was being brutally honest with myself, I was so exhausted by the act of juggling the Barachiel’s boy’s affections that soon enough, I’d probably say: To hell with it! And allow the first one of them to pounce to chart my destiny for me. The way things were going, it was out of my hands anyway- like I was the parcel in a children’s game being passed around, and when the music stopped, I’d be unwrapped by whoever had me in their possession, and there wouldn’t be a damn thing that I could do about it but fake an orgasm to get it done with quickly and then walk it, my dreams and my pride off.

But my heart- it was still mine to give freely, and if Kohén bent to his father’s will, he would pay a higher price than anyone. Once upon a time, that had terrified me because I’d wanted his love desperately, and the night before, he’d moved me into believing in ‘us’ again with his words and champagne and his Nephilim current... but not even the most passionate words could erase history, and our history was littered with defiled young girls who had been sacrificed for my freedom and that we would both have to atone for that. I’d told Kohén that I might come to love him and forgive him, and it was true- I might, for I certainly had the capacity to. But if he clipped my wings before I had the chance to fly with them against my will and on his father’s command, I’d run on my bare feet and never look back.

I didn’t like the fact that I was going to have to make a choice to hurt either Kohén or Kohl or both, but it was my choice to make, and I wouldn’t have it decided for me.

I didn’t get a chance to be alone with Kohl all morning, and he didn’t look at me once. I began to fear that he’d seen something he could not forgive the evening before, but there was no way of knowing while Constance was monopolising his time and already so furious (and rightfully so) with me, so I breathed through it, remembering something I’d read in the bible the evening before about the virtue of patience. Besides, if I was as clever as I liked to think I was, I’d give Kohl a wide berth and allow what may develop between us happen organically so that neither of us could be accused of orchestrating an affair after.

Kelia didn’t want to get into the water to surf at first, but when a sexy native guide offered himself up as an instructor, she developed a NEED to surf and practically smacked Lette to the ground in her eagerness to claim him as her tutor. She should have learned faster than she did, for the guides, Kohl and Kohén and even Atticus were all amazing instructors, but Kelia pleaded ignorance to keep her guide on the board with her for the entire two hours. I was frustrated with her for trying to act ‘over’ Kohl by avoiding him, but flirting with other men wasn’t going to do her any favours either! How could I rescue her if she was determined to sink beneath the surface as dead weight?

Still, surfing was a lot of fun and without Kelia clinging to me as usual, I had the chance to really concentrate on what Atticus was telling me, so I picked it up faster than everyone but Elfin, who had already taken some private lessons with Kohén back home.

Kohén didn’t teach anyone- he stayed in his mood and paddled out the furthest, while Kohl stayed in the shallows and helped his mother who would only paddle out if he were at her side. She fawned all over him, talking up his finesse, and it seemed like a bunch of bullshit meant to win him over, for the waves he was teaching her to ride were no higher than my hip. But eventually, Kohl got the chance to go out where his brother had been sitting all morning to ride in one of the larger waves, and our jaws dropped collectively when he jumped off his board mid flight, spun it beneath him and then landed smoothly on both feet again so that he could coast all the way in to the sand. It was an awesome sight, and I wondered if I was the only Companion of Kohén’s whose string bikini had almost untied itself in desperation to be naked against someone so physically competent.

‘That was amazing,’ I said when he jogged up to where I’d been sitting, catching some sun, and taking advantage of the fact that his mother wasn’t there listening to us for the first time all morning ‘Just… wow.’

‘Yeah?’ Kohl pushed his hair out of his face and grinned at me, his teeth and eyes sparkling much like the water on his bronze skin, and my relief that he was not furious with me almost made me sag. ‘Thanks Lark. Maybe I could teach you a few tricks sometime?’

‘Lark’s not really a water person,’ Kohén said, interrupting us by spiking his board in the sand beside me and shaking salt water over me so that I squealed, for the Pacific Ocean was ice cold. ‘And you’d probably find it harder to manipulate waves to suit her than you do for yourself… cheater.’

They exchanged a wrinkled-nose look of fraternal annoyance and I raised an eyebrow. ‘Wait… you tailor-made that wave for yourself?’

‘He did,’ Kohén said, sitting beside me and grinning up at Kohl. ‘Why do you think he’s so good? He knows what it’s gonna do!’

‘Well, then I’m even more impressed,’ I said, leaning against Kohén so that he’d be more distracted by my skin against his than my flattery of the boy he was clearly trying to take down a peg or two. I winked at Kohl, whose annoyed expression melted away a little. ‘And yes, I’m booking a private tutorial before I go, if that’s okay?’ I turned to Kohén and smiled. ‘Maybe then I’ll be less embarrassed to surf beside you when we get home, hmm?’

‘Knowing you, you’ll end up scoring a ninety-seven out of one hundred on that too and make my ego regret approving it.’ Kohén teased, but he didn’t baulk at my private surfing lesson suggestion because as I’d assumed, he was already leaning in for a nose-rub. ‘But still, I’d like you to learn to surf for me very, very much.’ He hovered over my shoulder to whisper: ‘By the way, you’re in BIG trouble with me over what you said to my parents... over my knee, sort of trouble. And you-’ he made a face at Kohl. ‘Nice rainstorm last night. Really, the timing couldn’t have been more disastrous.’

‘Huh?’ Kohl asked, his eyes moving to me, and my muscles seized up, but his expression was unreadable when he turned back to Kohén. ‘Did it rain?’

‘Right on my parade,’ Kohén said, ‘just as things were getting good and moist already-’

‘Kohén!’ I slapped his leg hard and he yelped and rubbed it. ‘Now you’re the one who’s in trouble! In fact, you’re looking down the barrel of a four-year drought!’

‘Good thing I have Kohl then, eh?’ he teased, then dangled his finger over my head. ‘Help a brother out huh? I could use some precipitation right between her-’

‘Wait until she’s a free woman then,’ Kohl interrupted, winking at me. ‘And I’ll see what I can do.’

I was certain my eyes would have bugged out of my head, but luckily, Kohén took the low blow with good humour. ‘You know when you wink with an eye-patch, we don’t see it the way you mean it, right?’ Kohén teased. ‘And as for the other thing- not a fucking chance man.’

‘Then start working out,’ Kohl chuckled, lifted his eye patch and made a big show of winking as he backed away. ‘That’s what got Kelia damp for me! Guess some things you don’t get by birthright hey- like preference?’

‘I am going to kick your ass!’ Kohén yelled after his brother, and I was so glad that no one was sitting close enough to us to have overheard that entire exchange.

‘In four years, if you’ve worked out enough to even try!’ Kohl called back, and I fell on my back laughing.

Kohén swooped down and kissed me briefly: ‘Tell me again that he doesn’t want you,’ he muttered.

‘Of course he wants me,’ I said, kissing him back but only a peck. ‘Look at me- who wouldn’t? In fact, he’s already declared his love, and offered to marry me when you fail to! Now I have him and Karol as back up plans, like the clever little duckling that I am.’

Kohén shielded the sun from my eyes so that I could stare up into his face. ‘If you’re trying to goad me into out-smarting my brothers by keeping my word… you’re succeeding.’ He grinned when I pumped my fist triumphantly and kissed me and when he pulled back again, his face was more serious. ‘I’m not thrilled by some of the things you said to my parents this morning Larkin- mother especially-but thank you for helping me convince my father that you want me the way that I want you.’

‘How mad are they?’ I asked.

‘Plenty.’ He wriggled his eyebrows at me. ‘But it’s worth it.’

‘What is?’

‘Knowing that you’re doing this willingly, and not because I’m asking you to.’ And Kohén swooped down again and captured my mouth in a longer, more sustained kiss. I cupped his face in my hands and kissed him back, and he moaned and pulled me up into his arms. My heart was pounding from the stress of it all, and knowing that once again poor Kohl was being forced to watch. But I was Kohén’s and when he released me, the smirk on Elijah’s face across the way as he gave Atticus a thumbs up told me that if I wanted to attain the power to make anybody happy, I had to play by the rules, and better than the rest of them.

I was also laughing on the inside- I’d just confessed my feelings for Kohl and my plans with Karol too him and he hadn’t even blinked. Telling the truth was easier than lying, for my truth was too insane to be given a second thought.

‘God…’ Kohén nuzzled my neck. ‘This is so perfect. You look like you’re a mermaid, and you’re in my arms in paradise…’ He grinned at me. ‘I’ve been hard all night. I tried to deal with it, but it won’t go down.’

‘Really?’ I asked, fluttering my eyelashes. ‘What a coincidence- I was up late reading the bible, and about how touching oneself is a sin.’ I shook my finger at him and said: ‘the old God is very angry with you now. Perhaps that thunderstorm last night was his doing.’

‘Ha ha,’ he pecked my lips again and stood up. ‘Nice try but not even you’re that reckless, and I’m fairly certain that they stopped leaving Bibles in resort rooms a long time ago. Besides-’ he threw a towel at me, covering with sand. ‘That storm was an act of brother, not God and you’re going to seriously earn yourself a spanking if you keep up the lip.’

I blinked. ‘You mean, they’re not one in the same?’ I turned to look back at Kohl. ‘I swear, he looks exactly how I imagined God-’ Kohén’s hands pulled me off the ground and spun me so that he could plant another hard kiss on my lips.

‘That’s one,’ he whispered, and a chill went through me.

No- that was Karol, and suddenly, Kohén seemed as like him, as Kohl did to God.

15.

It was eventually time to leave (the sharks started filling the bay as dusk approached) and though Kohén tried to catch my eye when we all got out onto the track again, I began to move toward Jovi, who I was becoming very fond of and who I didn’t feel weird about hanging on to, for his breasts bounced more than mine. But before I’d taken two steps, Kohl slung his arm around my neck and said loudly:

‘So, Larkin. I heard you say that you wanted to go faster earlier today, but your guide was too worried for your welfare to do it?’

‘That’s correct,’ I said sadly. ‘But I understand.’

‘Well, I don’t give a fig for your welfare,’ he said, launching himself up onto his horse and then extending one salty wet hand to me. ‘So... do you wanna ride with me?’

I did, and no one but Kelia and Constance looked disturbed when he flung himself up onto his saddle and pulled me on behind him- though Kohén did make a face and gave him the finger, and I smiled, mollified to see that I had guessed the right way to flip him off when he wasn’t looking, all of those months ago.

‘Hold on tight,’ Kohl whispered, turning his head to mine. ‘This is going to get a little out of control.’

I pressed my cheek to his bare, warm and insanely broad back as we galloped off and whispered: ‘I hope so!’ and he chuckled again.

We set a cracking pace, and it wasn’t long before it was just Kohl and I crashing through the jungle paths alone. The wind blew through my hair and the leaves ahead of us formed a canopy, allowing dappled sunlight through and though we were bouncing along pretty hard, I had no qualms with pressing myself against Kohl’s hot, bare back for support. His heart was racing as mine was, and I breathed in deeply and exhaled long and heavily, soaking up the moment of solitude.

‘Are you enjoying Caldera Island, beautiful?’ Kohl called back to me, and my heart started to gallop faster. ‘I’ve been dying to ask but I can’t seem to get a moment alone with you.’

I swallowed and smushed my face into his back. ‘I know…’ I complained. ‘And I’m so sorry Kohl. I don’t think I would have come if I’d known that he intended to use this trip to romance me, and right in front of you! I feel wretched, absolutely wretched!’

‘So this is a new development then?’ Kohl asked, and his voice was strained. ‘I was a bit shocked to see the way that he’s been draping himself over you, but I had no way of knowing if this is how you’ve been this whole time or-’

‘No,’ I shook my head and squeezed him more tightly. ‘I would have told you if we had such an intimate relationship, and I wouldn’t have been sending you, uh… signals, if his sudden passion went two ways. I mean, there have been moments between us in the past, but they have always been sporadic and there have been none since my sixteenth, okay?’ I hesitated. ‘Well, we shared one kiss around the new year but that was seven months ago, and it was supposed to be the last for four years,’ I shook my head. ‘He’s been Mr Arm’s length all year but now he’s an octopus and I’m very confused and am sorry to have confused you too.’

‘You don’t have to make excuses for your relationship with him, or your conduct,’ Kohl said back, keeping his voice loud to be heard over the pounding of hooves against the dirt packed road. ‘He has told me a few things, of course- that he was pretty sure that he messed up with you by going to Emmerly when you may have been coming to him. That you told him I love you just before then, during your initiation but refused to discuss a future with him after, and that you have cooled toward him completely since the week I left. I hoped it was because of me-’

‘It was for many reasons, and he is right about several of them and clueless about the others’ I said, hugging him tightly and thinking about Karol’s leer. ‘But yes, your arrival and departure changed me, and that has altered the dynamic between your twin and I so drastically that I don’t know what I want anymore.’ I sighed. ‘But he’s pretty set on marrying me still, and though I have refused to consider it until I am free, and think it is the most inconceivable, hair-brained plan I’ve ever heard- I cannot lie to you and say that I wouldn’t… I mean… if it was possible I- I…’ I rested my head on his back and groaned. ‘God, do we have to discuss this now? I just wanted to soak you up while I had the chance to!’

Kohl slowed the horse to a trot before bringing it to a complete stop, and then wrapped his arm around mine so that one of his hands was caressing the ring on my right hand, but his other was holding the reins and horse steady. ‘I’m sorry Lark- I want that too. But like I said: I know how I feel, and what I’m willing to risk to win your hand… but I cannot fight my brother for something he has already won again- it will break me.’ He touched my neck, where the bruise was. ‘As it broke me to see you together last night.’

‘That was your rain?’ I asked. ‘You did it to break us apart?’

‘No. I did it because I could not help it. But yes, I am glad that I broke you apart because I wasn’t sure if you were kissing him by choice or force. Seeing you running away after- and not staying with him to ride out the storm- improved my mood greatly though. Just as seeing you laughing together today instead of fighting eased my mind from worrying that he’d been too forceful.’

‘He wasn’t trying to force himself on me,’ I said quickly. ‘I still don’t believe that he’s capable of that. But your father is hoping he will and is wondering why he hasn’t, so I had to allow Kohén to…’ I touched my neck and winced. ‘Ruin me a little, even if only on the surface.’

‘I thought as much- I’ve heard mother complain about you endlessly since she arrived.’ he let out an annoyed sigh. ‘She believes that you are set on joining with him or becoming his favourite whore who he will not part with- effectively ruining his chances of marrying a good girl like herself. And yet father wants Kohén to keep you around if he loves you so dearly- but only so long as you are his favourite little whore and not his master who interferes with his need to breed and join with someone else.’

I rolled my eyes. ‘How lofty their dreams for him!’

Kohl chuckled. ‘I know. Luckily for me, they don’t care what I do!’ He looked into my eyes, and then exhaled. ‘But I do care- a little- about what you do, sweetheart. I want to be with you, and I can handle knowing that you are indulging him in this feigned romance to appease his royal ego… and if he betrays his word to you by taking you by force, I will still take you into my arms after, and settle for being your second so long as I am your only from thereon.’ He swallowed. ‘But if you had lingered and reached for him as he had reached for you after that downpour, or if you go to him willingly because he is your first choice… I would not reach for you after.’

‘You cannot reach for me at all,’ I whispered. ‘You saw how he handled Kelia yesterday- I can’t even imagine what he’d do if he saw us touching this tenderly!’

‘I know,’ he cringed. ‘I feel awful for telling him about her writing to me but I couldn’t help it. One of the natives who was helping us unload the luggage saw Kelia hugging me and asked if this was the great beauty that I’d spoken of who wrote to me so often, and she said yes with a big, proud smile- not realising that Kohén was right behind her!’ I groaned. ‘Yes,’ Kohl went on. ‘Kohén didn’t alert her to the fact that he’d overheard her then and there, but he asked me immediately about her after you two left, and because he was clearly in a bad mood already, I tried to laugh it off; saying that it was nothing and that I’d been talking her up for appearance’s sakes, and that I’d only sent two postcards back, you know? But when she came looking for him to give him a hard time about your get-up, she walked into his bungalow, saw me sitting on the couch, assumed he was out of earshot and told me that she’d missed me desperately.’ He chuckled. ‘But Kohén was in the kitchen and though I knew he’d heard every word, I didn’t anticipate him detonating about it the way he did, and embarrassing her.’ He shook his head. ‘She’s pissed at me now and though I feel badly about the way it played out, I am relieved that she has backed off.’

‘So am I,’ I confessed. ‘God, I’m an awful person.’

‘No, you’re bound to a man against your will, but draw every other man with eyes, ears or a nose to sense you with to you like bees to pollen.’

I smiled. ‘I am so crazy about you right now for getting that overused analogy accurate, because everyone else says honey, but the instinct drives them to copulate with the bloom.’

‘I read,’ Kohl joked, and not for the first time. Then, he picked me up and easily twisted me so that I was sitting in front of him, face to face, and the motion made my heart skip a beat. ‘And I’m trying to get a reading on you, so hold still while I do that, okay?’ He clasped my face in his hands and lowered his head so that his eyes were staring into mine, and I couldn’t breathe. His gaze moved to my mouth, then back up to my eyes, and he smiled. ‘I don’t think a man alive has ever wanted to kiss someone as badly as I want to kiss you, every time that I see you.’

‘You can’t,’ I whispered, but my face tilted to his. ‘Kohl I want to explore what’s between us, but it must be done carefully for the next few years with every sense but touch, you understand that, don’t you? I will not break my vow to him.’

‘I won’t kiss you,’ he promised, and then plucked a frangipani from the lei around his neck. ‘I don’t want to outrightly betray my brother any more than you do, and I love you more for keeping your word to him. But….’ he pressed the bloom to my nose, and I closed my eyes and inhaled the heavenly aroma, before he moved it to press against my throat and then ran it down to my clavicle with the most delicious, most tentative touch I’d ever known. I shivered. ‘If I were allowed to put my lips on you,’ Kohl’s voice was husky, ‘this is what they’d be doing…’ he ran the frangipani down between my breasts and I gasped and arched, moaning when he passed it over my belly button. I felt a rush of heat between my legs and as though he sensed it, he agonisingly-slowly trailed the petals over my hips until I gasped. Then the bloom was against my lips and I whimpered and heard him suck in a breath.

‘And they say there’s no electricity on this island…’ he whispered. ‘What I feel right now could light up Tariel!’

I opened my eyes. ‘Was that electricity?’ I whispered. ‘Because I feel more like I’m on fire- the kind of fire only you will be able to put out, being the beautiful, powerful Nephilim that you are.’

His eyes darkened. ‘You care for us both,’ he whispered. ‘And you have imagined futures with us both and without either. I don’t want to push you Larkin, or steal his girl via manipulation, or cause either of you any strife- but I can’t walk away from this unless I am forced to. So tell me, honestly, that you are set on him and I will release you and find a way to treat you like a sister. But tell me that you could love me more- tell me that there’s even the slightest chance- and I will steal as many chaste moments of your time as I can between now and our twenty-first birthdays.’

‘That’s all you need from me?’ I asked, awed and touching the small silver hoop he’d had pierced into his right ear, like the bird attracted to shiny things that I was. ‘The affirmation that we have a slight chance? No physical gratification demanded, and no promises to be made?’

‘I cannot demand what you cannot give,’ he whispered. ‘I know that you are between a rock and a hard place. But, if you could give me the slightest indication of how you see me… eye patch and all… that this could be enough for you...’

I smiled, took the flower from his fingers and pressed it to his lips. ‘This is what my lips would be doing, if I were free to use them on anybody that I wanted to,’ I whispered, and then trailed it down his neck and over his chest. The look he gave me could have set the rainforest on fire, but we heard the approaching stampede of hooves before that spark could ignite us. Kohl twisted me again until I was behind him, and then guided my arms until they were around him once more before I’d even had the chance to blink. He let out a: ‘Ha!’ and then we were off, and though I knew we’d just had an incredibly close call, I was suddenly too drunk on Kohl to care.

‘To answer your question,’ I called out, running my fingers down his stomach as I adjusted my grip, and scenting the flower that was still in my other hand. It was so much lovelier than the stink of roses. ‘I am enjoying Pacifica and the hard places I’ve been pressed against very much!’

I felt his laughter tighten his stomach beneath my fingers, and wondered why any girl would be stupid enough to want a noble over a man who worked with his hands- and waist!

*

We had a fish fry that night out in the open air around our pool, and it was more fun than I’d ever had before in my life. Under the starry sky we drank cocktails and played games in the pool that Kohl taught to us all and then after that, Kohén dragged Kelia and I onto the clay Basket-Racket court so that we could explain the rules to Kohl, who’d never played a game despite the fact that the court was right there.

‘Jovi and Atticus play a lot,’ Kohl said to me, his voice slurred a little as he admired the racket in his hands. ‘And the general has often said that he’ll have to have me over for a game sometime… but I work from sunrise to sunset, you know? And the other kids don’t get invited over so...’ he swallowed and so did I, rubbing his lower back in comfort. ‘I hope I’m good at it, I mean… I don’t want to embarrass myself in front of him and father and talk them out of inviting me back...’

My heart had folded for him so many times since we’d met that I was certain that it had a permanent crease down the centre of it by then. ‘You couldn’t be terrible at anything,’ I assured him. ‘Just… just try and keep your shots on their side of the net and between the lines, and try and get it into that basket behind us at every opportunity that you get… okay?’

He looked at me, his expression mournful. ‘Will you play on my side?’

But I cringed and looked up to see that Kohén was already beckoning to me from the other end of the court while Kelia slunk toward us with a dejected look on her face. ‘I don’t think that’s a great idea but… but I’ll go easy on you, okay?’

Kohl sighed sadly and did not look at me. ‘Okay.’

‘Kelia’s really good,’ I assured him, feeling awful. Drunk wasn’t a good look on him.

‘Okay…’

I patted his bare shoulder and then walked toward Kohén with a regretful heart, and his eyes were shining. ‘Ready to whoop some butt, sweetheart?’

I took the racket he was holding out to me from him. ‘I don’t know Kohén I mean…’ I looked back toward Kelia and Kohl, then back to him, lowering my voice to whisper: ‘Do you think that’s a good idea? I mean, they’re already the underdogs. Can’t we let them win a few games, at least?’

But Kohén laughed and took my free hand, dragging me across the court behind him. ‘And what good will that do them, huh?’

‘It will give them a little bit of pride,’ I pointed out. ‘And they both need more of that, and we both know it.’

‘Pride is not given, Lark- it’s earned and it can only come from the inside out.’ He pushed a lock of hair out of my face and lifted my chin to regard me, and I scented coconut milk and rum on his breath. ‘You were born without a skerrick of pride to call your own, but you are glorious now because you have earned every inch of the esteem that you’ve accumulated. And you’ve transitioned from being the underdog, to the potential future queen of Arcadia because you have worked hard to become a force of nature- not because I felt sorry for you, or you for yourself.’ He leaned in and kissed me gently, and he tasted so sweet that I had to struggle not to kiss him back too eagerly. ‘And you have inspired me to reach for the skies in order to win your esteem because of it.’ He pulled back and tapped my wet hair with the racket. ‘So don’t cripple their evolution, by handing them anything that they have not earned, especially a victory, or you will only further to encourage the ridiculous belief that children born noble are entitled to more than anyone else.’

I stared at him, a little dazzled yet again. Sometimes when I thought I had him pegged, he’d do or say something to prove that he was wise beyond his years, and it never failed to leave me breathless. Like when he’d declared as a five-year old, that he didn’t want me to go easy on him in poker- but wanted to know how to win the hard way off the bat, or the way he’d held his tongue about my mother, believing that I needed to experience the shock without a prior warning first.

Yes I could argue back that he’d been spoon-fed as well, but that would be a lame argument, because I knew deep down that if Kohén Barachiel had been born as a Blue Collar, then he would have ended up working his way into the noble class anyway. And if inheriting a title had been off the cards to him, as it practically was to Kohl, then he would have earned one of his own- as a general, or maybe even a president because, he didn’t let anything come between him and attaining his goals- least of all- rules.

‘I-’ I was about to just drunkenly blurt out that I loved him, but there was a sudden buzzing sound and Kohén’s expression immediately shifted from sexily arrogant, to wide-eyed and flummoxed. He spun in a circle, and then his eyes landed on the clay ground and he let out a bellow:

‘WASP!’

I jumped, and then I heard Constance scream.

‘Oh my Goodness Kohén, Kohl- get out of there!’

I followed Kohén’s gaze and saw the rather innocuous looking bug on the white line a few feet from his sneakered feet, and snorted.

‘You’re afraid of that?’ I joked, moving toward it, and intending to stomp it with my own foot. ‘Kohén’s it’s just a tiny-’

‘Don’t move Larkin!’ Kohl cried out then, and I looked up to see him hurdle the fence and come to a standstill a few metres away. ‘Don’t disturb it, please? We’re safer so long as we know where it is.’

‘Oh my God!’ I froze, looked from one twin to the other, then over at Constance who was opening the fence and striding in while waving us over, looking deathly pale. ‘What’s-’

‘They’re allergic!’ the duchess was breathing heavily and beckoning Kohl over with urgent flicks of her hand. ‘They disturbed a nest in Eden when they were three and were stung badly. Kohl ended up swelling up to twice his size and Kohén-’ her voice broke. ‘Baby, please? Get away from it!’

I looked at Kohén. ‘What happened to you?’ I whispered.

‘My heart stopped,’ he said quietly, still staring down at the wasp, and my heart stopped. ‘Whether it was from the venom, or because I took such a fright that I zapped myself too much from the inside out, we’ll never know. But Karol couldn’t revive me- so I would have died if father hadn’t jump-started my heart again.’ He swallowed hard. ‘I’ve been terrified of them since.’

‘Oh no!’ I felt tears prick at my eyes. ‘Well, get away from it, now!’

But Kohén shook his head, his eyes not moving from the insect. ‘I- I don’t know how to…’ his forehead creased. ‘Dad?’

‘I’m here son.’ I looked over and saw that Elijah was now beside his wife, looking concerned. ‘Just breathe through it, and then walk over slowly, all right? But if anything happens, I’m here.’

‘Both of you, please!’ the duchess sounded distraught. ‘Before it-’

The wasp moved, and Kohl and Kohén grew rigid, both boys flashing blue so brightly that it blinded me. They were scared- really scared and we all held our breath as we watched the little bug zoom about in a small circle before settling back onto the clay again, making it harder to see.

‘I’m so sorry!’ the general called out, and behind him and Jovi, I heard the other Given girls whispering between themselves in panic. ‘Honestly, I take such precautions-’

‘Precautions?’ I whispered.

‘We have the grounds fumigated against them,’ Kohl said quietly. ‘In Eden and around my barracks, but we don’t see them as often as we do honeybees here in Pacifica so… Kohén?’ he swallowed. ‘We move on three, all right? Slowly.’

But Kohén shook his head yet again, and his eyes hardened as his glow abated. ‘No,’ he said. ‘I’m not going to let fear make me run like a princess from these things for the rest of my damned life.’ He winked at me. ‘There’s no pride in that and besides… there are hot chicks watching, man.’

‘Really hot,’ Kohl agreed, though despite their cavalier words, both boys still looked petrified and were tinted blue. ‘We’re gonna lose face if we don’t take it down.’

‘So we do just that.’ Kohén wet his lips and lifted his eyes to Kohl. ‘On three- together.’

‘And if we miss and just piss it off?’

‘We pick up our skirts and fucking run like matching princesses before we leave matching puddles of pee on the clay.’

A nervous giggle escaped me and both twins blinked at the sound and glanced at me, surprised as though they’d only just remembered that I was there and listening to their drunken big-talk. But then Kohén smiled and Kohl’s taut features evened out and he nodded, wetting his own cherry-red lips and I was overcome by the sight of these mirror images both damp and sweaty and tensed with fear flanking me on both sides. Oh, to be the filling in a comfort sandwich right then! ‘H-how-’

‘I’ve been trained to focus on small objects…’ Kohén said quietly. ‘I could probably do it alone with ease but just in case it moves-’

‘I’ve got it,’ Kohl said. ‘Let’s do this.’

Kohén nodded, inhaled through his nostrils and then let it out gently. ‘One…’ he whispered, and my spine felt like it was made of cold steel.

‘Two…’ Kohl’s eyes darted to me and he smiled grimly, before focusing back on the wasp.

‘Three!’ Kohén declared, and the entire court lit up as both twins flashed blue like camera’s firing. Energy shot out from each of them- a stream of water from Kohl’s fingers, and a stream of electricity from Kohén’s. Both elements connected in the exact position where the wasp had been sitting, and there was a crackle followed by a hiss and a brighter flare of light and then- nothing but a small puddle, with a tiny black figment of dead bug sitting in the middle of it.

I let out a breath as a whoosh and around me, felt everyone else doing the same thing. I moved to embrace both boys, but before I could, they let out twin hoots of triumph and practically bounced into a hug of their own and so I wrapped my arms around myself and grinned, stepping back from the glorious sight and then turning away from it just as the duchess whizzed past me, sobbing relieved tears and embraced both.

I was proud of them- so proud that I knew that I needed to get away from them and spent the rest of the night drunk and in my bed alone with my hand in my underwear and with two boys in my dreams before I did something really stupid… like swooned.

16.

The king kept us very busy on Caldera Island and every day there was a new activity. Snorkelling with native guides, two horseback riding lessons with just Jovi, Kohén, and I, pineapple-picking as a group, hula dance lessons with Kelia and the most exciting highlight for me- visiting the salon with the other Companions and the duchess.

I’d never been one for pampering, because the salons back in Arcadia only offered cheap-looking enhancements to change how someone looked, like stained complexion colour creams to make pale girls look tanned, or dark girls look fairer, and prissy up styles or fake extensions for hair. But the Pacifica one specialised in natural treatments to enhance or decorate one’s natural looks, and some of those options allowed us to get a little wild. It did tattoos in semi-permanent brown ink with stencils, hair-braiding and beading and solar-bleaching (using only concentrated sunlight through a sort of scope and natural ingredients to lighten hair in streaks), piercing, hot mud baths (in a thermal underground chamber!) eyebrow-shaping by threading, and massage. I got a mud bath straight up with Kelia and it was lovely enough to even pull her out of her four-day funk, but I was determined to get a piercing from the moment we first walked in, and when the duchess wrinkled her perfect nose and said that would make us look like heathens (in front of a native girl with four piercings on her face) my mind was made up. I had my ears done and then my navel, (I made sure to choose the thinnest possible gold so no one would think I’d ‘earned’ them) and afterwards, I could not stop looking at the little gold hoops in my ears and the slightly thicker one through my belly button. For the first time in my life, I felt sexy! Not because I thought that I looked sexy, but because I felt like a woman who’d finally chosen something for herself.

The other girls loved the way it looked too, but I’d whimpered and my eyes had watered when she’d done my stomach with the needle (it had hurt way more than I’d let on though) and then after my skin went bright red in all three places and then began to itch like mad, so they stuck with the non-permanent stuff. When we walked out of there, Emmerly had more golden highlights in her toffee-coloured hair, Elfin had a tattoo right across her lower back shaped like a sun setting over waves, Kelia had had her eyebrows threaded and hair braided into a multitude of tight ropes to stop it from frizzing in the heat which was a sexy, grown-up look for her, and Lette had done her legs in the tattoos and had gotten a chunk of golden-blonde in her bangs, which looked effective and stark against her dark eyes.

But I was scratching and irritated and developing hives, much to the duchess’s delight. Kohén took one look at me and freaked out, threatening to go cuss out the ‘heathen’ for poisoning me, while frantically demanding that a Nephilim be brought at once, but when the crown’s native healer’s power failed to improve matters, Kohl actually laughed and dropped to his knee in front of me, looking up with a curious, bemused expression.

‘Larkin… have you ever worn gold before?’

I made a face, and Kohén gave me a dirty look. ‘Not ever,’ I said honestly, ‘why?’

‘Some skin types develop an allergic reaction to certain metals.’ He pushed his hair back from his ear and pulled a tiny silver ring out of his ear and asked: ‘Do you trust me?’ I closed my eyes and cringed when I saw him reach for my belly button, but the skin was so irritated by then that I barely felt him touch me until he said: ‘Okay, there…’ he motioned the healer back. ‘Try now.’

The healer came over and brushed her fingertips against my skin and like before, my skin returned to its normal hue. We all stood there, waiting for the blotchy redness to come back, but when it didn’t, I looked at Kohl with my mouth agape while Kohén snapped:

‘Are you saying she can’t wear gold, just silver?’

‘Nope,’ Kohl reached for my earrings and unsnapped them too, gently enough but I still winced. ‘She’d probably do worse with silver- but my earring is technically white gold, which is a harder metal to come across, but a common substitute for jewellery for someone with a nickel allergy.’

‘Great, so she’s going to be a costly Companion, is that what you’re saying Kohl?’ Constance demanded of her son, and I wanted to scream at her. Maybe I’d offended her at times, she’d been downright abusive toward me since the day that we’d met and I’d done nothing heinous enough to warrant all of that. Besides, her own diamond ring was made of white gold, and was the most precious jewel on the face of the planet- but I was the expensive one? Ha!

‘No. I’m saying she’s allergic to yellow gold,’ Kohl said pointedly, and she scowled slightly and not for the first time, it was clear that their relationship was a complex and awkward one. ‘So until Arcadia has recovered from the locust crisis completely, her and my big bro are best off staying just friends or, moving to a region where white gold is the national colour.’

I did a cartwheel on the inside while Kelia and Emmerly exchanged an eye roll.

‘Get out of here with that big brother crap,’ Kohén drawled, but he smiled at me. ‘Gee Larkin, it’s a good thing that I’ve resisted your charms for this long, hey? But, while we’re on the subject of precious metals… want to come for a walk with me? I have something cool to show you that dad thought you might like.’

I was instantly curious, but before he’d allow me to go off with Kohén, Kohl marched me back down to the salon to get my earrings traded for white gold ones, and then put my gold hoop in his ear.

‘I was going to offer you a private surfing lesson tomorrow morning,’ he whispered. ‘But now that you’ve gotten this…’ he glanced down at my tummy, ‘You won’t be able to lie on a board for days.’

‘Then I’ll take it out,’ I said, keeping my voice just as low while Kohén charmed the girl behind the counter. ‘It’ll probably close up, but it’ll be worth it.’

‘Don’t you dare,’ he whispered. ‘It’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.’

‘Really?’ I was a little baffled. ‘But it’s so common here.’

‘It’s the mark of a wild, native girl on a pampered palace pet,’ he insisted, touching the ring and making me shiver. But then I saw that Kelia was watching our interaction so I smoothed out my features and stepped back, adopting a more casual and less intimate stance.

Lord, she can’t hear us can she? No, Kohl’s using that velvet voice of his...

‘He marked your neck for a few days but this is permanent, and Pacifican, like me.’ He grinned. ‘And it gave me an excuse to think up an even better plan.’

‘And what would that be?’ I asked, darting my eyes Kelia’s way and smiling blandly, and Kohl smiled and tugged on my hair, completely unaware of her.

‘Atticus thinks that you’re interest in developing farming is fascinating, and has asked my father if he could take you down to the barracks to show you around. He thinks it will be good for the boys’ morale, to meet a Companion who scored the highest in Calliel history-’

‘Only on the first round,’ I said quickly, turning my attention back to him. ‘Karol got a ninety-six on his second.’

Kohl rolled his eyes. ‘It’s an excuse to get you on my turf Lark- are you in, or out? I already know that my brother has made plans with the girls to go to the luau tonight so… he may be occupied for a while with one of them after...’

My heart twisted, but I ignored the pain. To be fair, Kohén hadn’t gone off with a single girl since we’d gotten there, making his preference for my chaste company over their gratuitous kind clear, which was mollifying me a little. ‘I’d love to go- send for me when you are ready, all right?’ I stepped back, already determined to ask Kelia along to thwart Kohl’s intention to have an intimate evening for two, and then giggled when I saw Kohén climb into the piercing chair. ‘Oh, hello!’ I exclaimed, turning away. ‘Did I start a trend?’

‘Barachiel see, Barachiel do,’ Kohl joked. ‘You gonna get an eye-patch next, Big Kahuna?’

‘I was thinking more like a crown,’ Kohén said, and my instinct was to punch him in the nose. But then he smiled and said: ‘But mother’s spent so much of her time here parading you in front of father and Atticus’s nose that I doubt that’s going to happen so who knows… maybe I’ll get a cane?’

‘Or a top hat,’ I said as Kohl snorted, reaching for his hand when I saw the beautician pull out her needle. ‘Either way, you’ll look positively fetching for your date this evening wearing nothing but an ear stud and a smile, your highness.’

Kohén winced before the needle pierced his skin. ‘Say the word before I bloody detonate Larkin, and they all go.’

‘And what word would that be?’

‘Yes.’ He smiled salaciously. ‘Please. Now. Harder… deeper…. there are many to choose from.’ He wriggled his eyebrows at me and I wanted to slap the pretty off his face. ‘But, ‘See you in the morning,’ or ‘I’m deathly jealous,’ will suffice if you cannot manage any of the others.’

I turned to the woman with the needle and said ‘Now- harder, and deeper,’ then turned back to him with an impish smile. ‘How was that?’

Kohén winced. But he squeezed my hand then as the needle came to his ear, and I squeezed back- not just because he needed me, but also because I needed to be needed by him, and not even Kohl’s proximity could negate that.

‘I’m deathly jealous,’ I whispered, kissing the tip of his nose. ‘I wish I had it in me to be your Companion for you.’

‘I am glad you are not,’ he whispered back, and then moaned as the needle went into his skin, and I loved him for meaning that.

*

After we left the salon, Kohén led me up to the main house, and into a small room marked with the bright red: ‘Caution: Entrance restricted- Monarch’s only.’ I poked my tongue out at the sign as I was pulled into the dark room, and then forgot to feel self-important when Kohén flicked on a light switch, illuminating the solitary glass display cabinet in the centre of the room.

‘Oh my gosh!’ I exclaimed, rushing over to it and biting on my fingers to keep from touching the glass. ‘What is this?’

‘Treasure,’ Kohén whispered, moving behind me. ‘Actual buried treasure. The Corps found it while clearing room for a new field about a week ago, and this safe was built for it immediately.’ His voice was low, and hushed. ‘Beautiful, aren’t they?’

‘Sinfully so,’ I agreed, my eyes roaming over the assortment of jewels rapturously, and Kohén laughed, hugging me.

‘I love you,’ he said softly. ‘You embrace the need to boil water for tea here and turn up your nose at every sort of comfort you’ve ever been offered- but like the bird you are, the sight of something shiny makes your pupils dilate.’

‘It’s an odd weakness, isn’t it?’ I asked, smiling at the truth in his words. ‘But I wouldn’t be surprised if most Blue-Collar reared girls felt the same. Our homes are lovely and cosy, don’t get me wrong, but nothing glitters in our houses, aside from glass. To me, diamonds evoke what I’d expect to feel if I could hold moonlight and sunlight in my hands at once- and they come from dirt being packed hard enough to transform itself! It’s the ultimate Cinderella story, really.’

‘It is,’ he agreed.

I shrugged. ‘Or maybe I’m just more of a girl than I thought I was. I mean, I was bound to catch a bit of shallow from sharing a dormer with that lot for the last twelve years…’

Kohén chuckled. ‘Nah. I’ve seen you get almost as excited over a shooting star or a potato crisp that has curled in half, or a carrot that is much larger than others, so I think I’ve figured it out- you are drawn to things that are one of a kind or at least, rare.’ He tickled my ribs. ‘And that’s why you keep your heart from me, isn’t it? The fact that I have a doppelgänger qualifies me as common, rather than unique?’

‘You two don’t look that much alike…’ I said, feeling a bit sick.

‘Do you think we are alike?’

‘As much as you can be for two people raised so differently.’

‘I suppose…’ he cleared his throat. ‘You get along well. Kelia mentioned that you are going with him to the barracks tonight…?’

‘With Atticus, yes I am and I was going to ask Kelia to come along too.’ I smiled at him, relieved to see a bit more relief in his eyes, while silently cursing Kelia for interfering. ‘As a third-born, I could not stop myself from seeing what may have become of me.’ I turned away. ‘And as for us getting along- he is your other half, so I figured it was an unspoken command from you that I do. Not because you are a royal, but a twin.’ I gasped, and then pointed to a string of bright white stones that were reflecting blue light. ‘What are those? They look like ice!’

‘Those are diamonds, sweetheart- their bluish tint is a product of their supreme clarity.’ Kohén said softly. ‘Father says that is the most valuable necklace in existence, because each diamond is considered perfect, and there are at least seventy of them. You’d be hard-pressed to find another diamond to equal one of them, or to glow as prettily.’

‘Hard-pressed,’ I giggled. ‘Like a diamond. And that electric blue! It is just like the colour of your eyes when you are excited.’ I shook my head and grinned. ‘Perfect! How old is this stuff?’

‘Judging by the clasp, early twentieth century, we think.’ I felt him a brush a strand of my hair behind my ear. ‘But we won’t ever know for sure, and it’s hard to know the value of them, when there is nothing to compare them to.’

‘What do you think?’ I asked. ‘Roughly I mean. You’re usually pretty good at guessing this sort of stuff.’

Kohén smoothed his fingertips down my braid. ‘You flatter me darling,’ he joked, but his voice sounded strange when he said it, like there was something he wasn’t saying and his voice was low, making me wonder if this was a secret or something. ‘Well, back then, it was probably only worth about a million dollars, I think, depending on the designer,’ he said. ‘But right now, I don’t know… six or seven million? Which is the worth of a very small kingdom with undeveloped land, or a VERY large favour.’

‘Whoa!’

‘I know.’ He pointed to the glass but didn’t touch it, telling me that the pale green glow shrouding the case was sure to either cause us pain, or trigger an alarm. ‘The collection as a whole is practically invaluable, and it belongs to Pacifica alone. Imagine that, huh? The tiniest, newest quasi-nation is now in possession of the largest collection of jewels on the planet!’

‘Yay for the underdog,’ I said, hugging myself so I wouldn’t be tempted to stroke the glass.

‘I thought you’d appreciate that, and I knew you’d fall in love with that choker at first sight.’ Kohén knelt beside me and turned my face to his, and his eyes were softer than coconut cream. ‘Which is why I’ve decided that it will be my wedding gift to you.’

My mouth fell open. ‘Excuse me?!’

‘I want you to have it one day,’ he said seriously. ‘It is the only thing in the world that comes close to being as beautiful as you are, my little bird.’

‘That’s impossible!’ I whispered, shaking my head. ‘And unfair! Why should one person have so much when a whole kingdom could benefit from a seventh of the funds that it would take to procure that chain?’

‘Because I love you more than I love my kingdom or myself, and I have hurt you.’ His dimples vanished. ‘I need your forgiveness, darling- I need to know that you understand that you are what is priceless to me so that you marry me someday.’ He glanced at the glass, looking wistful. ‘And if you wore that, everyone else would know your worth too!’

‘Everyone would hate me!’ I exclaimed. ‘I would hate me! If it is my favour that you are after, why not invest a seventh of that amount of money into farming and construction so that the country can support the obliteration of the third-born caste?’

Kohén frowned at me. ‘Because I will not have the funds to do that! If I am crowned king of Pacifica though, all of these will belong to me and that could be gifted to you, not purchased with money that Eden does not have to spare.’

‘So it is not a gift at all,’ I said. ‘You’re keeping the money in the family- just dangling it around my neck!’

‘Most women would kill for such a thing,’ he said, looking annoyed. ‘Why are you getting so angry? I banked on your delight!’

You’re banking on owning me!

‘It’s too much pressure, and I am NOT most women!’ I cried. ‘And I am not swooning Kohén but offended, and if you knew me at all, you would have anticipated that!’ I pointed to the case. ‘I would not sell you my body for gold, so you want to buy my forgiveness for going to other women with diamonds?’ I stepped into him. ‘What would you do if you were penniless huh? If these urges were just as strong, but you without the funds to marry me or access to a harem- how would you have handled them?’

Kohén glared at me. ‘To have these urges, one has to be a Nephilim- and there are no penniless Nephilim Larkin, and even if there were- they would not be royal and prohibited from having a relationship until they are thirty like I am, so your question is unfair!’

‘No- your answer is unfair, and wrong.’ I stepped back. ‘Kohl is a penniless Nephilim with urges that he can’t have met for four more years by paying for it, or nine years after THAT by marrying! And, yet one year after coming of age, he is a virgin still and no one’s dropped dead yet!’

‘He doesn’t have the love of his life with a body from the very devil in his face every fucking day!’ he cried.

‘Do NOT use your love for me as an excuse for what you have done! I will hate you for it even more!’

‘You hate me anyway!’

‘Be grateful that I feel something so passionate for you yet!’ I exclaimed. ‘I want to be numb to you Kohén!’ I clutched at my chest as I felt the crackle of breathlessness develop in my airways. ‘I want to forgive you, but I don’t think I can, okay? Knowing that other women can do for you, what I cannot-’

‘They cannot!’ Kohén roared, and I jumped. ‘They never have!’

I made an awful face at him. ‘Oh come ON-’ but he lunged forward and took hold of my shoulders, silencing me.

‘Why do you think I am so frustrated?!’ he demanded. ‘Why do you think I have been keeping my distance from you this last year? Because I was so happy? So satisfied that I climb the walls? So sated that I hum?’ He squeezed my shoulders more tightly. ‘I have known release with one of those girls -ONCE- and since then, trying to do it again has been a maddening exercise in futility- and it is all your fault!’

My mouth popped open. ‘What? They wear gold! They speak of your prowess-’

‘They like my stamina! They think I am a God because I stay hard enough long enough to find THEM again and again and they’re so inexperienced, that they don’t realise that they are not doing the same for me, okay?’ he released me and stepped back. ‘So it’s all been for nothing. I hurt you for nothing! I keep going to them now because I have already ruined them for marrying someone else, and feel indebted to gift them with as much gold as I am able to in compensation for that. But it does practically nothing for me. In fact, I have to take them by their hair and turn their faces away so that I can pretend they are you enough to get hard at all, and if I’m lucky, I can fool myself for long enough to get to the precipice of release with the friction- so that I can finish myself off in my room after! But I have not come with any of them since your sixteenth birthday, and I’m fairly certain I never will with anyone; ever- again!’ He stepped closer to me. ‘But with you…’ he shook his head and swallowed hard. ‘I can get there in my dreams with you and the other night, when I touched you, that was almost enough too unman me.’

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. ‘That can’t be true,’ I whispered. ‘If you could arrive with Emmerly once-’

‘It’s not physical, Larkin.’ He tapped the side of his head. ‘I am emotionally impotent. My body works and responds just fine to a point, but every time I get close, I see your face in the hall that night after I left Emmerly’s room when I was sated and…’ his voice broke on a sob and he turned away. ‘The guilt… its like I’m denying myself permission to be sated again without you, lest it would cause history to repeat or my future to implode!’

‘Oh my god,’ I whispered. ‘That’s… awful.’ And it was- we’d been ripped apart by that harem, and it had all been for nought.

‘Yeah,’ he said roughly, and then turned back to me. ‘Lark? I have to know… why were you in the hall that night? Really?’

Oh no! No, no, no!

‘I told you…’ I said softly, looking down at the carpet. ‘I wanted to thank you for the statue.’

A long silence followed this and he whispered. ‘How were you going to thank me? Tell me the truth, please.’

Tears pooled in my eyes and one dripped onto the floor as I remembered how full of hope and love I had been in that moment. I knew I shouldn’t say it, but I had to. ‘I was going to tell you that if you let them go, I’d be your only…’ tears clogged my throat, stalling my speech.

‘My only friend?’ he asked thickly. ‘Companion?’

My throat felt like it was full of sharp rocks. I shook my head.

In a small voice he asked: ‘My everything?’

I nodded, and suddenly the room filled with blue light and I ducked and screamed.

17.

‘Fuck!’ Kohén turned around and punched the wall, and his fist disappeared through it. ‘Fucking hell! I knew it! I waited! I hoped! You-’ he turned back to me and pointed a finger at me and I screamed and rolled out of the way, even though only plaster dust fell off his fist with some of his blood.

‘Don’t hurt me!’ I squealed, scrambling to my feet as he yanked me back up with a crackling hand. ‘I’m sorry!’

‘You’d think I’d hurt you?’ he cried. ‘All I’ve ever wanted to do is love you!’ He pulled me roughly to him and pressed his mouth to mine so hard and with so much passion that static crackled between our lips, making me jump. He then released me just as violently, turning away again to bow to the ground, facing away from me. ‘Fuck!’ he hit himself in the head. ‘FUCKING HELL!’

‘Kohén stop!’ I got my feet and pulled on his arm, pushing him down as I did. ‘Please, don’t!’

‘You don’t understand me!’ he bemoaned into his hands. ‘Or the way I feel for you! I make ONE mistake and you punish me-’

‘I’m not punishing you!’

‘Well, I am being punished by someone, aren’t I?’

‘I didn’t know!’ I protested. ‘How could I? You’ve been so in control of your powers that I thought that was a sign that you were handling this! That bolt you just sent out-’

‘I train with Regan for four hours a night to keep my powers under control, while you’re all sleeping soundly!’ he snapped hotly. ‘And I wouldn’t have had to do anything with anyone if you’d just-’ He spun around and took me into his arms. ‘Why didn’t you say it?’

‘Because by the time I realised that I could say it, it was too late!’

‘Why did you let it go too late?’ he demanded tearfully. ‘You knew I was at your door!’

‘I didn’t see her- Liberty- until after I’d done crying and…’ I shrugged. ‘I ran straight out to find you the moment I did, but you were already coming out of her room and yes, it was too late.’

He lifted my face to his. ‘But you understood what the statue symbolised? My devotion, I mean?’

I smiled wryly. ‘For about two and a half minutes, I was fairly sure there had never been a man more devoted to a woman since Miguel Barachiel.’

‘And I proved you wrong and myself utterly worthless over ONE error?’ he asked, stricken.

‘The error was not yours, but mine.’ I looked down at his chest. ‘I interpreted your gift to mean more than what it did, Kohén. All of that time, I’d feared what giving in to you would mean for my future, and I’d always equated leaning towards you, as leaning too far over the edge of the Tidal falls. It is a thrilling thing to do, but I’ve always pulled back the moment that I felt gravity grasp me and urge me toward danger and then have stayed back after- certain that I would fall and end up pushed under the ocean’s surface with the power of the water, and be pinned down to drown. I would lose my purity, my status, my dreams- and all for the want of a man who could never marry me.’ I swallowed. ‘But I saw my statue and I realised that I didn’t care if I drowned or not, because the fall would be so beautiful. I believed that your love would be a fair exchange for any dream- that I wouldn’t need a future if I had your heart, and there could be no greater love than one that made me feel as vulnerable but protected as yours did.’ I wiped away my tears but they continued to fall. ‘So I went looking for you, ready to tell you that I didn’t need cotton, my reputation, a wedding band any of it- and then I saw you with Emmerly, and it was more like I had fallen over the side of the falls at low tide rather than high tide.’ He groaned morbidly and I looked up at him again. ‘Instead of drowning, I was pulverised into the rocky, sandy grotto beneath and that’s when I knew- I couldn’t give you my heart, because I’d ALREADY given you my heart- and you had just shattered it….’ I gasped for the pain shooting through my heart and bowed. ‘You broke me that night, and I have been breaking into smaller pieces since so yes, it is too late because I don’t think I an ever allow myself to fall in love again.’

‘God… Larkin… no! I’m so sorry!’ he gripped my elbows and pulled me closer. ‘That’s what I thought at first! But you were so cold and seemingly unaffected by it that I thought… I thought maybe you could separate the two and be okay.’

I had been cold; ice cold, and I had not yet defrosted. ‘I was in shock,’ I whispered. ‘I honestly thought I was going to die…’

But then Kohl came along with his jar of fireflies, and kept me alive… and has kept me alive since!

‘You didn’t even cry when I saw you the next day! You made jokes! You…’ He shook me, shaking my tears free. ‘And now you say that you’ve been breaking up since, but hiding that so I would not have a chance to see the damage and fix it?’

‘It can’t be fixed!’ I wailed, trying to fight him off as he tried to crush me against him.

‘Yes it can! Now that I know what you were willing to sacrifice, I can send them away, and we can have a fresh start! And once I’ve proven how faithful I will be to you-’

‘You don’t get a fresh start!’ I said, shoving him off again. ‘Don’t you get it? We were an US already to me! I cannot go to another man, so my loyalty was never going to be compromised! It was YOU who had to prove that you had what it took to be my true love, and you failed!’

‘You told me it was inevitable!’ he looked winded. ‘That you wouldn’t be able to do it for me so they could… you pressed my hand into Emmerly’s! You gave me your blessing!’

‘No, YOU told me that it was inevitable by making that an ultimatum in the first place! And I stupidly hoped that you were wrong! That you’d feel her hand in hers and feel nothing! Well, more fool me huh? Message learned- if a Barachiel tells you that he loves you, but is going to have to fuck someone else then believe it, because Barachiels mean every word they say and do not compromise for anybody! Even the girl they love! Which I’m sorry Kohén- but that means that it isn’t love you felt but fixation, just like Miguel and Satan! What we have feels real, but it will not stand the test of time!’

‘That’s not fair!’

‘I thought everything was fair?’ I demanded hotly. ‘I thought this world was perfect, right?’ I slapped my head. ‘Oh wait- when things go wrong for you, Karol and your father, it isn’t fair! But for Kohl and I it’s: ‘Well you’re third-born so fucking DEAL with things being unfair!’

‘Stop throwing the fact that you are third-born in my face!’ he cried. ‘I do not throw it in yours!’

‘You do not anymore, but society will until I prove that I am more than that!’

‘Well, here’s your chance- take that chance on me! Say you’ll marry the prince! This is your Cinderella fantasy Larkin, and I am trying to make it a reality- but you keep throwing the glass slipper at my head and making me wonder if I am crazy to offer it to you!’

‘You are crazy! And I grew out of fairy tales a long time ago, your highness, because I realised that there is no such thing as a happily ever after for a woman in this world, not even for your mother- who has lived every facet of a fairy-tale and yet still cries herself to sleep in her bedroom alone!’

‘I’m saying that I want to marry you, not join with you! You’ll never live my mother’s life!’

‘I already have!’ I cried. ‘In Cinderella, the prince turned his back to the ugly step-sisters, Kohén- he didn’t fuck them and hand out rare shoes as a consolation prize!’ His face twisted in grief. ‘And if your twin Kohl HAS to rise above his needs by law, you could sure as hell manage it for love if you tried, but made it one week without going for the pussy that was yours and nearby for the taking because YOU DID NOT LOVE ME ENOUGH TO TRY!’

Kohén’s face constricted. ‘Yes I DO! I went to her so I wouldn’t pound down your door!’

‘That’s not love!’

‘YES IT IS! And I am GOING to marry you!’

‘No!’ I cried, and he drew back like I’d stung him. ‘No, no NO you WON’T! I won’t say yes! I will run! And if you do not take me at my word right now or banish me for denying you, then I will run TONIGHT! I will swim until I drown!’

‘How can you say that?’ he asked, aghast. ‘Just the other night we were-’

‘I will not survive your dreams and promises if I stay!’ I cried, thinking of Karol as I ripped at my sarong, then kicked it free. ‘You have such grand dreams for us but you have built them on a foundation of nothing but your sexual frustration and optimism! And if you will not take even two seconds to consider the fact that is your frustrated cock making these promises without a lick of sense then- here!’ I tugged at my bikini strings, exposing my breasts. ‘Have some clarity of mind!’

‘Now who’s being fucking crazy?’ he demanded, walking closer and snatching my top off of the ground, shoving it at me. ‘Put this back on now or I’ll-’

‘Or you’ll what?’ I help up my hands, saw his eyes go straight to my breasts and sneered at him on the inside. ‘Finish the threat Kohén! Do you think it’s a new threat to me? Do you think I don’t live under the shadow of your truest promise every day: ‘Do as I say- or I’ll do as I please!’? Well, go on and do it already! Because my future is in your hands regardless, right? I will never know freedom; only a different kind of contract- whore, spouse or wife- and I’ll be treated the same way as all three! But if I fuck you now, you’ll have four years to get it out of your system-’

‘I will never get you out of my system!’ he protested.

‘Yes you will, and you are holding my dreams hostage until it is done. So take me now, see that sex is just sex and my anatomy is incapable of doing anything for you that theirs cannot, and dismiss me after and make that your NEW vow to me! You’ll get what you want, they’ll get you, and I’ll earn my keep as a whore! The prince has never thrown out a woman he’s defiled while she’s still so young, has he? Which means I’ll be so tight and youthful in comparison to the other working Companions, that I’ll make more than enough to fund at least one plot of land in a year if I really go hard at it, won’t I?’

He took my face in his hands. ‘Stop it! Stop it right now!’

‘Stop what?’ I demanded, tears running down my face. ‘Tempting you? But this is what your nature NEEDS more than anything right? So take it!’

‘No! I mean to stop your empty threats and your ugly words! They are not going to break the hold you have on me! All you are doing is making me suffer more!’

‘Actually, I’m trying to stop you from suffering on my behalf for another second longer.’ I leaned in and kissed him and whispered: ‘Take me Kohén…’ I nibbled on his lip gently and tasted both of our tears. ‘Complete my training, fill me with your seed and then turn me out of your life.’

‘You are bluffing!’ he whimpered, but he caught my elbows and held them tightly as his lips pressed back. ‘You are worth too much to yourself to do this…’ he groaned then shoved me back. ‘You are just trying to trick me into proving that I don’t love you, which is horse shit, Larkin!’

‘I don’t bluff,’ I whispered, ‘you’ve played poker with me enough times to know that.’ I pulled at one string at my hip and his eyes flickered to it, then the other, and when the fabric slid down the gap between my thighs, his eyes stopped moving at all and glazed over. ‘And I have not been worth one cent to myself, since I saw you trade your love for me, for her body.’

He shook his head. ‘That’s not what I did.’

‘Yes it is. You gave me Liberty, and then took Emmerly’s as payment, and now you hold my heart in debt for that too and I will never be able to love myself again for cutting her off at the knees, much less you.’ I took his hands and pressed them to my breasts, and he fell to his knees in front of me, staring up at my body with an entranced expression- not my eyes. ‘But I do want you, and you need me. So take what I am offering- because it is all that you will ever get from me, your highness; I will not promise you my future and cannot go on in this way a day longer!’

A single tear escaped the corner of his eye, and when he lifted his gaze to mine, it slid down his perfect jaw and onto my knee. ‘You hate me so much that you cannot bear to even conceive of a future with me anymore?’

‘I am grateful to you enough to give you what you have earned from me, so that you will not take it against my will,’ I corrected him, kneeling before him and leaning in to kiss his jaw. ‘Your feelings for me are too strong to deny. Every day since we have arrived here, you have grown weaker in spirit, but harder beneath the belt…’ I nibbled on his ear, and moved his hand to start opening the buttons of his shirt while he kneaded my breasts and nudged his face closer and closer to them. I moaned. ‘You’re not sleeping, are you my darling?’ Kohén groaned and shook his head a little. I dropped my face lower and suckled on his collarbone, spreading his shirt open further. ‘You’ve thought about forcing yourself on me, haven’t you? The other night, if I’d said no…? It occurred to you, didn’t it?’ I pushed his shirt open and ran my hands down his chest, feeling his gentle, perfect muscles. ‘You want to know what I feel like, don’t you? It’s never far from your mind, is it?’

He whimpered and took my nipple in his mouth. ‘Your touch is scalding hot! You are burning me Larkin!’

‘Burn with me then,’ I cupped his crotch and caressed him with a trembling hand and he shuddered and shoved me back.

‘I am starting to hate you…’ he growled, thickening in my palm. ‘But I am also starting to think that you want this more than I do!’ he came down over me and pushed open my knees, staring into me with greedy, dilated eyes. ‘And you know how much I like to give you what you want!’

‘Mmm…’ I writhed as he slipped his finger inside me, gritting my teeth when it hurt. My body was nowhere near relaxed enough to welcome the intrusion but I turned my face away so he wouldn’t see my grimace. ‘Yes! Yes I do want you!’

It will hurt yes, but you can take it, and it will be over soon enough. Breathe- it’s just sex, he’ll never truly get inside you and Karol will never get your virginity!

‘This?’ he demanded, and I looked up in time to see him unbuckle his belt clasp. ‘This is what you want?’

‘Yes!’ I cried, sitting up to help him get his pants off faster. ‘So much! I can’t even bear it, Kohén!’

‘Then how can I deny you?’ Kohén leaned into me and tried to press his lips to mine, but I was about to sob with fear, so I lay back down.

‘You can’t,’ I croaked, hitching my knees and letting my thighs open again. I touched myself, and felt nothing- absolutely nothing- until he came down on me again and tried to turn my face up for another kiss and then panic flooded me.

‘Now!’ I practically turned my face all the way around to get it away from his mouth. I wrapped my legs around his waist and reached between us, trying to get to his open jeans so that I could coax his erection out. ‘Impale me now!’

‘Wait!’ Kohén’s hand yanked my face back, and the moment our eyes locked his face lost all colour, and he fell back. ‘Oh my god! I can’t even… this is like the night we first kissed, isn’t it? And your sixteenth!’ he immediately began to rise. ‘You don’t want this, not at all! You’re acting, only instead of going limp this time or making fun of me- you’re pretending to be aroused!!’

‘No!’ I sat up and reached for him. ‘You know I want you! You’ve felt my body respond-’

‘Because you love me! You got wet for me the other night because you love me and we were having fun!’ he slapped my hand away from his leg- hard. ‘But you don’t believe that you deserve things like fun or love, so you’re trying to cheat us out of a future with sex!’

‘We don’t deserve a future together!’ I cried.

‘Then we will earn one! We will atone!’

‘I am third-born and can never be anything but a sacrifice to you!’ I screamed, my anger with myself and Karol rising to the surface and making me panic. ‘You cannot support the kingdom’s right to reap girls to be your playthings on the basis that they should not exist otherwise- and then tell me that I deserve more! And that is what you did when you went to her, and that is what I cannot forgive, because it damned us both!’

‘I can’t be held responsible for our kingdom’s laws!’

‘But I do hold you responsible! Every time you go them, you are saying that it’s okay!’

‘It’s okay with them!’ he said. ‘They welcome me!’

‘They are lying to themselves, not you! But it’s not okay! Either we all deserve more- or I deserve to be treated the same as the others!’ I grabbed his hands and tried to pull him back down to me. ‘I am not special! I am not better than they are and I will not be able to hold onto your heart for long, for I am nothing! And you are no better than your father or Karol, so do what all three of you want to see done-’

Kohén wrenched his hands from mine and turned away. ‘You’re wrong,’ he growled. ‘About everything! Put your clothes on NOW!’

‘Or WHAT?’ I demanded yet again, getting to my feet and stamping my foot. ‘Or what, or WHAT?’

‘Stop it!’ he pressed his hands to his ears. ‘Stop it Lark!’ a sob shook free of him. ‘Stop trying to make me a monster!’

‘Or WHAT?!’

‘Or I will banish you so that you HAVE nothing!’ Kohén roared as he turned around, and when his arms swung out, a ripple of blue energy escaped from every one of his fingers and burned the air. I screamed and ducked and then scented the acrid smell of burning hair. I heard him gasp as I turned and saw the severed lock of blonde hair on the floor beside me, and then looked up to see the perfect scorch mark ringing the walls. I jerked my head back to look at his face, and screeched when I saw that his eyes were bright white and terrifying.

‘Lark-’ he staggered toward me but I turned into the wall and sobbed.

‘Just do it!’ I mewled. ‘Take me, kill me, banish me… punish me; I am at your mercy as the law decrees I should be! Worthless! Third! You will be the end of me either way, and I cannot live another second in that palace knowing that with every day that I draw closer to being released, you are weakening and contemplating claiming what is yours!’

‘I am not weakening!’ he cried. ‘I am growing stronger and taller- like you said to my father! Like you said to Atticus! With your love, I will be the equal of Miguel-’

‘I lied! I lied to save my own ass! To stop him from pushing you to seduce me!’ I hid behind my hands. ‘Miguel would never have lain with one of the other survivors if Gabriella had denied him, but you did! I am not your Gabriella- I am your Satan! And God, if he could see us, would surely despise us both for how our love has ruined the others! So take me, release me, and let me make money however I can, and I will give all of the profits I make to the three-child families in Janiel so Jasper Bronx never makes a rule like this one!’

Kohén pulled back, looking sick. ‘You are a stupid, stupid girl if you believe that giving you cause to hate me more now will make any of this right in God’s eyes, when all he wants is for us to love,’ Kohén growled. ‘And a fool if you think that having you now will cure me of what I feel for you- and an idiot if you think that taking you now won’t lead to you receiving a golden glyph tomorrow!’ He wiped tears from his face and my abdomen clenched in fear. I’d kill him, if he tried that! ‘I have done nothing but love you, and I have never forced you to say no to me, but have backed off, and just now, I have risen above a need you cannot even conceive of, to leave you as a lady, not a conquest. But… it’s still not enough for you, is it? You’ve become too jaded to let me inside you in any way, haven’t you?’

‘Satan wanted to take God’s hand in the end,’ I swallowed. ‘But she could not, because she’d forgotten how to love or trust.’ I lifted my wet eyes to his. ‘That is what has happened here.’

‘You’re not Satan,’ he said.

‘You’re not God,’ I whispered, and he bristled, his eyes darkening again as his frustration rebuilt itself within his soul. ‘So how on earth is a potential whore who has never known pure love from anyone- even from her mother- and a half-bred angel with lustful cravings, supposed to hold on to love, trust and one another, if the two most powerful entities of all time failed to do so for the good of mankind?’

‘Do you hate God?’ he whispered.

‘I do not love him right now and my dreams will never come to pass so long as you obsess over me,’ I said, wrapping the sarong around myself. ‘So you might as well take me- because in the end, I am screwed anyway.’

‘I cannot do that,’ he said. ‘I am obligated to win love for God by making my people happy, and you are one of them.’

I laughed, getting to my feet, thinking of a passage I’d read in the bible the night before. ‘If, however, the slave survives for a day or two, he is not to be punished, since the slave is his own property.’

Kohén glared at me as he re-buttoned his shirt. ‘What is that?’

‘My life as a whore; it is true now as it was in the time before, and you are kidding yourself if you believe that you will not do something in the next four years if you abstain now, short of covering your eyes every time our paths cross, to send me flying into Satan’s eternal embrace.’

‘Then I will turn my back to you,’ Kohén croaked getting to his feet, ‘as you have turned your heart. I will find a way to feel complete without you, keep my promise and prove just how wrong you are- and win your heart for God in the long run, even if it is lost to everyone now.’ He threw my swimsuit at me as he walked past. ‘And to ease your mind and your suffering- rest assured that I will never, EVER look at you with lust or love or friendship in my eyes so long as you remain within that harem AGAIN, for you deserve none of them- just to be free and alone, you hateful girl!’

I sobbed, pressing my hand to my lower tummy as it contracted around the pain evoked by his words, for he actually sounded as though he meant it. Such a promise should have brought me hope, and yet I felt as though he’d jammed a boiling hot poker through my gut instead. Was gaining liberty worth losing him?

No, but it should be.

Kohén opened the door, and then glanced back at me and true to his word, he looked only furious. ‘By the way, when they found that treasure, they were clearing that land for you to farm. It was to be my eighteenth birthday present to you, to give you a reason to be able to return with me every voyage and imagine a future with me here... but you know what?’ His brows drew together over black eyes. ‘Fuck you, duckling!’ I flinched as though he’d punched me. ‘It’s needed to rebuild the village that your new best friend Kohl smashed flat last December, so sod off to Janiel, and take him with you so I lose both of my Achilles in one go!’

And with those words echoing through my head like the slipstream of a scream, he stepped out of the door and slammed it shut behind him- and between us forever.

18.

After Kohén had left, I sagged back against the wall, holding on to my numb, stupefied state while I waited for my brain and heart to process what it had just heard, and what I was about to feel as a result… I tried to prepare myself for it- to prepare myself for a life when I was part of the inconsequential rough to Kohén, rather than the diamond, but I could not fathom it.

I glanced over at the case of precious jewels, and the beautiful necklace that was so like Kohén’s eyes, and the shock hit me like a punch in the stomach. I began to tremble violently and suddenly, I was too hot- like pinpricks from boiled needles were stabbing me in every pore, and I sagged to the floor, screaming a soundless scream and then clapping a sweaty, clammy palm over my mouth. What had I done? What else could I have done? I had been his almost- everything, but that hadn’t been enough for me and now I was duckling again!

You were always going to end up as his duckling if you refused him after your freedom had been granted, and his swan with plucked feathers if you didn’t make it that far. Despite his very best intentions, which were admirable, you were a feathered creature by birthright and he, a wolf!

The door burst open and Kohl came flying in. ‘Lark?’ he was looking around, but I couldn’t make a sound. In fact, I retreated further into the corner, aware only of the fact that I was naked and he was a Barachiel who could flatten villages. But he swivelled around, saw me, and his face went red. ‘Oh my God!’ He rushed forward, spotted my bikini in my hand and then lifted his eyes to mine- black eyes: ‘What did he DO to you?!’

I shook my head many times, but didn’t respond. ‘He…’ I fought for the words, motivated by the blue glow that had developed against his skin. ‘No. Not that. He said no. He ended us. Or… or I ended us and he…’

Kohl knelt at my side, and tied a knot in my strings with trembling fingers. ‘You fought?’

‘Yes…’ my teeth were chattering as the hot flush left me and suddenly, I felt snap-frozen. ‘How did you…?’

‘I was down at the luau with the Atticus, waiting for you when he came marching down, picked up a full bottle of rum and went straight to the beach, commanding everyone to leave him alone unless they felt like becoming lightning rods. My mother said that he’d been up here with you, so it was no surprise that he was in the mood to kill someone because that is how you made her feel, and I told her to shut her mouth and came up here... What happened?’

There was no window in the small dark room, but the door was ajar so I did not miss the way that the fading sky outside suddenly brightened neon blue and then faded as quickly as it had flashed- Kohén. I began to shake in a more pronounced way- no tremors, but actually contractions of muscles. ‘He tried to promise me the world again…’ I whispered. ‘Or rather that diamond choke-collar, as a wedding gift.’

Kohl glanced back at it, and then turned to me. ‘My father couldn’t afford to buy that for my mother! I’m not even sure if the king of Tariel could swing that!’

‘I know- but he thought he could claim it with his crown and give it to me.’ I stiffened when Kohl reached around my neck to sling the bikini top over it, but went on. ‘I realised that he was becoming unhinged and that the weight of his promises, and the state he is in when he makes them would topple down on us in time, so I… I offered him my body. I said to just take me now, for I would never be able to love him, or him me now that he has been with all of the others...’ Kohl’s eyes hit mine hard- hard and blue as sapphires. ‘And I stripped and he almost… but he…’ I began to cry, pulling my knees into my chest and resting my head on them. ‘He knew I was faking. He called me a fool, and a duckling. I am spoiled and ungrateful and he is done with me.’

‘Larkin…’ Kohl’s voice was softer now. ‘Do you really believe that going to bed with them makes it impossible for him to love you, or you to love him again?’

I nodded. ‘Yes.’

Kohl sighed. ‘Then you are a fool.’

‘What?’ I demanded, lifting my head as the outrage filled me.

‘Sex and love are two very different things,’ Kohl said matter-of-factly, looking me dead in the eye. ‘And trying to take one to prove the other is what caused such distress in the time before. You do not have to be in love with someone to sleep with them or to even crave them, and that’s why we have Joined unions as an alternative to marriage- they’re for people who know the difference, but still want to have families.’

‘I thought it was to force people to procreate for the population’s sake, while keeping us from breeding more than we can provide for in this asshole of a Kingdom?’

‘That too,’ he beckoned me to lean forward and I did and he reached around me and caught the strings at my ribs, tying them deftly. ‘But in time, the people of Calliel will be trusted to make such decisions for themselves and to use their own judgement, and when that time comes, the stigma of sex being dirty in the absence of a marriage will have been debunked. How could you have scored so highly on that exam, without seeing how all of your correct answers added up to my family’s good intentions for this kingdom’s paradisiacal future?’

‘Because I am not part of this kingdom, or one of your father’s shepherded people,’ I said bitterly. ‘I am a sacrificial lamb for everyone to feast on. I have been starved of love and fattened with luxury and expected to believe that it is okay because my great-granddaughter will benefit from it.’

‘As have I,’ Kohl said, resting his hand on mine.

‘It’s not the same. You are not ruined like me- you can have children, remember? I cannot.’

‘That doesn’t mean that you’re ruined- you’re the most desired woman in Calliel, and believing otherwise is propagating the myth that a woman needs to be a mother to feel complete, and that’s not fair, is it? What about women who are born noble, but infertile? Are they worthless if they become accountants instead? Doctors? No!’ he brushed my tears away. ‘Men would sacrifice their first-borns to noble women for the chance to bask in your company, Lark, and Kohén just tried to sacrifice eleven million dollars worth of diamonds to make it clear that he is one of them!’

‘A poor trade for his guilty conscience indeed,’ I whispered.

‘At least he has a guilty conscience,’ Kohl said softly. ‘There are many men out there who would pounce you in the shadows for the chance to steal what you just offered him for free. And on a dark enough night, I could have been one of them!’

‘You could not,’ I muttered.

‘There is no such thing as good or evil, Larkin… only different coloured feathers, and they are painted by who we are and what we want and how we intend to get them. If I were more like father than mother, or had a cruel General’s influence growing up instead of Atticus’s, or Kohén’s reflection to aspire to equal… I do not doubt that I would be less of a person with the bitter third-born taste in my mouth.’

Oh God...

I freed tears with rapid blinks, hearing a ring of truth escape as far as I was concerned. I was confident like Emmerly because I was almost as smart as Martya, and my looks had taken so long to kick in that I didn’t have a shred of vanity, and that had helped keep me anchored after I had blossomed. But if I’d grown up spoiled and beautiful like Kelia instead of grateful for everything I had, would my wit and strength have helped me grow up to become someone awful? Someone drunk on their power over the prince and manipulating him as the girls did now, to keep it? That was why the duchess hated me so, wasn’t it? I had her brains and Resonah’s hold over my master, so she was terrified that I was looking to rip Kohén’s still-beating heart out of his chest and throw it at her as soon as I had the chance to. I wasn’t, but he seemed determined to do it himself, which was just one more reason why I had to get out of there. Not before I could be ruined- but before I could ruin HIM.

‘I am sorry that he’s caused you pain by going to them, but it does not mean that he doesn’t love you- it means that he cannot resist his urges, and if you’d met him later in life as widowers or whatever, who he’d slept with before wouldn’t matter, would it?’ I sniffled and shook my head, feeling part of my fractured heart throb with pain, and he sighed. ‘He is flawed, as God was in the beginning- and just as you and I are for connecting behind his back, though we know it is wrong.’ He took my hand and kissed it. ‘But while we have made a vow not to touch one another until it is legal out of love for him- he is trying not to touch you out of love for you.’ He wiped away one tear with his thumb and whispered: ‘It is not a divinely perfect gesture, but it is more than any woman has ever received from a Barachiel man before Larkin, and it speaks volumes about his feelings for you, and if what you say is true, and he just walked away from the sight of you naked…’ He looked down at his knees. ‘He is a better man than me, because if you stand up, I will be lost to myself.’

My eyes spilled over. ‘And if I did touch his brother?’ I croaked. ‘What of his love then?’

Kohl frowned. ‘Well, you’d be just as bad as him, wouldn’t you? Possibly worse, and you couldn’t really blame him for being angry and disenchanted after, could you, because you’d have done so with your free will for personal gain?’

I rested my face on his hand and began to sob to have my darkest fears confirmed. ‘I knew it…’ I whispered.

‘Shh…’ Kohl stroked my hair. ‘Don’t cry. You and I are stronger than our temptation is, or at least, the threat of being banished is a motivating enough factor to keep my eyes on your hair and your chance with him an open door- if that’s what you need to hear...’

‘The door is shut, Kohl. I am going to lie with his brother,’ I whispered. ‘I have promised to. I will not love him or crave him at all, but I will do so willingly and it will be for personal gain, and I will lose Kohén for it anyway.’

Kohl’s hand stopped on my hair. ‘What?’ His voice was incredulous, and I caught a few notes of imminent outrage. ‘Me?! You can’t be-’ he gulped. ‘Are you using me, Larkin? I can’t even imagine how-’

‘Not you, Kohl: Karol.’ I lifted my eyes and let him see the desolation within them for I was certain that it was burning through my soul. ‘The deal I made with him, remember? There was one stipulation that I have not mentioned to you: a promise I made in order to ensure Lindy and her family would remain safe after they’d been transferred.’ I gulped as his eyes brightened with anger. ‘When I am released, whether it is as a whore, or a lady, I must go to his chamber first to demonstrate my retrospective gratitude.’

Kohl’s mouth fell open. ‘He demanded that of you?’

‘No,’ I began to shiver again. ‘I offered it. It was the day after my birthday, I was heartsick over Kohén going to Emmerly, furious with him and terrified that in bringing attention to Lindy’s plight, I would damn her by showing my hand, as Martya had been damned by showing her own.’ I wiped at my eyes. ‘I needed leverage over him, and because he’d made it clear to me in the past that he’d make me his whore if Kohén released me as one, and because I was convinced that Kohén would slip up after the night before anyway and ruin me regardless, I sold my soul to the devil to dissuade him from stealing it.’ I covered my face with my hands. ‘To have SOME control over my destiny, and to stop myself ending up a corpse like Martya!’

‘Oh my God…’ Kohl sank to his backside. ‘Why didn’t you tell me this?!’

‘Because I was scared that it would change the way you felt about me, the way I knew it would kill Kohén’s friendly feelings towards me when he found out. And because I wasn’t certain how I felt about either of you at the time and because, as Kohén just said: I have become jaded in this gilded cage, and have never, ever believed that your twin would see his promise through- not since he kissed me anyway, and not since he gave in to Emmerly’s charms.’ I sniffled. ‘So I went to someone who had the power to do what I needed, and told myself that I could afford to pay the price with my body, because it would be taken from me anyway… and I was so angry with Kohén that I didn’t believe I’d ever feel kindly toward him again, so I didn’t care if I hurt him by going to Karol after he’d had his pick of his litter.’ I looked down at myself and shook my head. ‘But I’ve come to forgive Kohén, so I regret going over his head now, even though I know he wouldn’t have been able to do much to help Lindy. And as far as him being tempted to ruin me goes… he just proved that he is much stronger than I gave him credit for and now… now…’ I sobbed harder. ‘Now I see how I’ve messed everything up, and have even less faith in anyone’s ability to love me once I am out of here, than I did before! So I AM ruined!’

‘Don’t,’ Kohl rasped, squeezing my hand. ‘You just told me the truth, and it’s not for your personal gain at all! You did it for the kingdom and your friend and in a moment of fury and no one can blame you for that!’

‘Kohén will,’ my hot flushes were unbearable, but my teeth were chattering regardless. ‘You know he will.’

‘You don’t know that! I love you still and I don’t care what you do with Karol or Kohén with your body before you are mine- because I see that your heart is of the purest, most blinding white gold I have ever known, Larkin! You just need to say one of our names with love in your eyes, and we will be yours!’

I looked up at him and squeezed his hand back. ‘Thank you,’ I croaked. ‘But the fact remains; I won’t be getting out of this place as a virgin, and so I will never be able to marry him. Which means that his dream is futile. And because of the rules, I probably won’t be able to marry you either- so I can’t say one of your names with love in my eyes without ruining his-

‘I don’t care if we can get married!’ Kohl insisted.

‘You have to,’ I reminded him. ‘Kohén is convinced that your father is still considering granting you the throne here in Pacifica, and don’t even try that: ‘I’ll change the law nonsense,’ because your mother will kill us both if you even suggest it!’

‘Then I’ll abdicate my title,’ he whispered, and I felt my fingers tingle. ‘We have a right to do that, you know.’

‘What?’ I demanded. ‘Kohl, no! You were born to be a ruler! You will be the best, most compassionate king that any nation could ever hope for!’

‘Not if I lose you, I won’t be! I will be wrathful and surly and miserable. So…’

I shook my head. ‘So… ? What are you saying?’

He shrugged. ‘I’m saying that if Kohén trips up and makes you a Companion, then I will be your only customer.’ Kohl smiled into my eyes and I felt it in my heart. ‘Or, if you are released and wish to travel as a single woman or plant roots when you desire to, then I will follow as a friend, and wait patiently for you to turn to me and ask me to be more than that for you... ’ I sucked in a breath and his dimples deepened. ‘But if you love me and wish to marry me the moment we are free, then I will get us to a kingdom that will bless our union- regardless of the status of your purity!’

‘B-but you can be forced to take the crown if-’

‘I won’t be,’ his jaw tightened. ‘And if anyone tries to thrust a crown between us- I will denounce them and render myself ineligible, by taking the elixir and moving to Rachiel with you, and remind the world of what a true Barachiel will do for love, in case they’ve forgotten!’ He ran his fingers through my hair. ‘Which clearly, even the Barachiel’s have forgotten, for my mother was already in an agitated mood when Kohén came down, because my darling father has been hanging off the local Companion Alicia all evening! Behind Resonah’s back and in front of mother’s face, that bastard!’

‘Oh God…’

‘I know,’ Kohl clutched my hands in his and kissed my fingertips. ‘But that won’t be you. I love you, Larkin, and we do not have to be married to live as soul mates.’

I began to cry anew. ‘Really?’

‘On one condition,’ he said, and I stiffened, waiting for the other glass slipper to drop and take my sarong with it, but Kohl smiled and fisted my hands. ‘You have to tell Kohén about Karol first.’

‘What?’ I asked, aghast. ‘No! He’ll kill him!’

‘No he won’t, because it’s illegal to kill a Nephilim, even if it is done by another Nephilim, and even if he tried, don’t underestimate my eldest brother’s ability to heal himself or stun Kohén into a twenty-one year long coma.’

‘And if he kills me?!’

‘He won’t,’ Kohl scoffed. ‘He loves you too much, and that’s precisely why you have to tell him.’

‘I can’t,’ I croaked.

Kohl bit his lip and leaned back. ‘Because you’re afraid that he’ll say go to hell, and you’ll lose his heart completely?’ he whispered. ‘Or because you’re afraid that he will love you regardless, or get you out of it, thus securing yours more than any law could ever hope to secure your body?’

I felt the hot tears slide down my cheeks, and gulped to get a breath in. If I believed that Kohén would have forgiven me for Karol, I would never stop hating myself. ‘He has hurt me so much, and the things he has done to them in that harem, in MY name, strike me as being more than wrong, but evil- and if I love him despite that, I will be evil too, won’t I?’

‘I gave you that bible last week so you could see how un-evil we all are,’ he whispered. ‘Remember the feather thing? Forgiveness makes them all white.’ He smiled at me sadly. ‘And like God, no one’s feathers will ever be as purely white as yours- so you must be willing to forgive those who are not as strong as you are, or face an eternity of being alone with only your perfection for company.’ He touched my lips, with a hungry look in his eye. ‘Kohén’s lustful nature does not make him unworthy of you, little bird- just in need of your influence.’

‘Your feathers are white already!’ I whispered. ‘You are an angel and I know that I can love you! And if the words you wrote in those letters were true, then I can’t imagine that forgiving Kohén will reverse the fact that you have been stealing my heart since the day you sent me that book!’

‘I sent you that book because Kohén said that you loved books and old things, and old books were all I had to give with no one to give them to before then.’ Kohl looked down at me and his tears slipped past his grim smile. ‘And I wrote to you the first time to thank you for being his friend, because I was sad for him every day.’ I began to feel a shimmer radiate through me- a scintilla of something potent and promised. ‘But I fell in love with you, based on the letters that he wrote to me along the way, and the stories that he told to me about HIS little lark,’ he brushed my tears away. ‘About the girl who once ran into a tree in her ambition to chase down a ball, and the girl who brought up the Companion sexual-itinerary in front of my parents and to spite Karol at her first formal dinner. About the girl who could not pass her ballet exam, so she turned around and shook her ten-year-old tush at her teacher and did a Native American war chant as her song, and the girl who gave him reason to smile on the day his twin was sent away by teaching him poker and promising to cover for him for dirtying the Collection Room floor…’ A sob escaped me and his features wrenched painfully. ‘About his soul mate. And those are the words he’s used Larkin, again and again since he was seven.’ He swallowed hard, and it felt like he was squeezing my heart in his hand. ‘And if I let you read those, I don’t think you’d ever doubt your feelings for him, or have any for me ever again. And if you could feel so passionately about one another and marry- Arcadia would become a paradise at last, and as a Barachiel- and a brother- I must put the kingdom’s happiness before my own, even if it does break my heart to do so.’ He sighed, pulling me to my feet and keeping his gaze turned while I adjusted my clothes. ‘And I will deserve it, because it was wrong of me to kiss you, even when I thought you were Emmerly, and I was wrong to seek you out and write to you and even coming to you now is an act of betrayal toward my own flesh and blood- because you are his until you say otherwise.’ He ran his hand down my hair. ‘I may never forgive myself for saying any of this if I lose you because of it, but I won’t deserve your love or his, if I don’t.’

‘I…’ I was moved beyond measure. ‘B- but you’ve lost so much to him already…’

‘On our fifth birthday, Kohén jumped into the ocean from the dock, declaring that he was going to swim to Pacifica, so I would not have to be sent by ship the following week,’ Kohl whispered, and my heart lifted into my throat. ‘He almost drowned, because he couldn’t swim, but he did it because he knew that being on a large body of water that was too big for me to control would wreck me, and it did- I didn’t recover for weeks and still baulk at the idea of open water.’ Kohl’s face constricted again and he touched my earring gently. ‘Just as I know now that losing you without having the chance to fight for you, will wreck him, and haunt him after. His attempt to sacrifice himself for me didn’t change anything, and this may not either and of course, I will be gladdened indeed if he proves you right and hurls you into my arms, just as I am sure he is now grateful that he didn’t manage to swim more than five metres that day.’ He touched my ring- making as much contact with me as he could without actually touching my flesh. ‘He did not abstain from the harem he has been offered, but he is taking pains to save you and your very best friend with it, even though Kelia was always his second preference for her prettiness and sweet nature. So…’ he wiped away a tear. ‘If your true love is already in your cage with you, then what does it matter if he is blocking the door? What does it matter if he slips up? Where else could you possibly want to be?’

I stared at him. Kohl had just made the most romantic declaration I’d ever heard, but it had been on Kohén’s behalf and suddenly, my soul was screaming its need for those words to be true. I loved Kohén, desperately, but I kept trying to hide from it, like he said, because I didn’t have faith in God or man. But if he loved me… if he loved me… I wouldn’t need diamonds, and I wouldn’t need cotton, and I wouldn’t need to worry about losing my sense of self because he had more faith and belief in me than anyone did, even Kohl. And he didn’t find pleasure with the other girls, not as easily as I had with Karol that awful day. He loved me and he would forgive me or even better- he would stop it from happening.

He would never be like Karol.

‘I have to…’ I got to my feet slowly, tying myself up. ‘I’m sorry Kohl, but I have to know…if he can love me anyway, and if he has the patience...’

‘I need you to know,’ he said, releasing my hand as I began to back away. ‘And if you have cause to come to me after…’ he pressed his hand to his heart and smiled tearfully. ‘I will have one black feather, but a golden soul, right?’

‘Right,’ I croaked, then I turned and ran, taking two steps at a time- flying out into the foyer and hurtling through the open manor door. Soon, the cool sand was beneath my feet and my breath was rattling around in my chest. I could see the lights and hear the music of the luau straight away and I ran through the centre of it, hoping that I wasn’t too late to prevent Kohén from writing himself off with rum. I needed him coherent- I needed him: full stop.

The sky lit up blue again and all heads turned toward it just as we heard the anguished cry and my heart skipped a beat. He was taking it worse than me! I raced past the king, who had Alicia on his lap and past a native couple who were dancing erotically on an otherwise abandoned dance floor. More natives were huddled over tables, clinking classes and laughing, Jovi was standing by Atticus’s side, but there was no sight of my friends, and no sign of the duchess. I remembered what Kohl had said about Kohén having headed down to the beach alone and I twisted quickly and ran across the manicured grass of the esplanade, coming to an abrupt halt when the sky lit up again, allowing me to glimpse Kohén sitting in the dunes right in front of me. Only his head and shoulders were visible, but he was facing the ocean and had braced himself on the steep rise of the dune before him, muttering to himself and bowing his head as though he was feeling every bit as anguished as I was.

‘I love you,’ I half-whispered, half-exclaimed, smiling when his head whipped around and his eyes widened. ‘I’m sorry. I love you Kohén and I have something to tell you…’ I stepped forward in the cool, rough sand, preparing myself to show my hand, but my voice died when I heard her exclaim:

‘Yes! Oh Kohén! Cum for me, please?!’ Her voice was almost too husky to be recognisable, but it didn’t matter, for my feet hurtled me forward another step up, high enough to put me above him and then looking down into the hollow of the dunes- and right into a nightmare- so that I could recognise the head of braids glinting copper in the moonlight.

19.

No!

Like a fisherman trying to reel in a massive catch, I tried to tug back my heart before it could become entangled in the Companion net, but it was too late- there were too many moans, too many naked limbs and the moon too bright for what I was seeing to be questioned. Kelia was bent over beneath him and he was pressing into her from behind, and Lette was writhing with her pelvis under Kelia’s face, and had her pretty face lifted to the palm fronds above with a rapturous expression upon it. Kohén was bent as he was because his palms were pressing against Lette’s delicate shoulders, holding her down for Kelia’s oral debasement, and he’d not been bowing to sob- but thrusting into my best friend’s virginal body. Elfin and Emmerly were behind them all, Elfin’s head between his thighs, doing something to his testicles with her mouth, while Emmerly penetrated her with her fingers from behind and begged for her turn.

History repeats, and always too late for anything to be done to stop that.

My heart stopped, and I was fairly certain that it would never start again. He was JUST like Karol, and the amount of lives that had been sacrificed for me suddenly numbered five- because I included Kelia’s mother among the victims. Only this time- I knew it was NOT my fault, but his.

Kohén’s lips parted but I held up my hand. ‘Never mind,’ I rasped. ‘I can see that you’re busy so…’ I turned away and my shoulders curled together when I heard him gasp and Kelia begin to make a long, keening sound. Kelia, who had been a sweet little girl with dreams and was now just a convenient orifice, and not even that was enough to sate his newfound hatred for me- he needed the others too! I pressed my hands to my ears and ran three long strides back to the shadowy part of the esplanade, wondering what an aneurism felt like- and smacked into a warm, hard body.

‘Don’t go down there,’ I said, not recognising my own voice but immediately knowing his tropical scent. ‘His highness has company- lots of it, and I’ve already rudely interrupted once so… I’d hate to deprive Kelia of her first orgasm...’

‘Oh my god…’ Kohl’s dismayed moan made his chest rumble in a guttural way. ‘Oh he didn’t!’ he strained to see past me while holding me in place by my shoulders. ‘That fucking idiot!’

‘He found a way to deal with his little soul mate issue, yes,’ I confirmed, smiling at him with teeth that would not part for my stiffened jaws. I had to get out of there, and quickly.

Kohl pulled me to him and murmured: ‘Larkin, forgive me for sending you headfirst into that. I never would have if I’d known that-’

‘Don’t apologise,’ I whispered, then shook him off. ‘You just ripped the cage door off its hinges so if you don’t mind, I’m going to go stretch my wings without the weight of obligation and guilt keeping me grounded.’ I swallowed. ‘And before I do something that will get me banished.’

‘Of course,’ he whispered, holding my hand until I stretched too far for him to maintain his grip. ‘And while you do that, I’m going to rain on an entitled parade again!’

I nodded, tore myself from him and ran off to the left, my chest heaving with sobs that I didn’t let out until I was into the first line of trees at the edge of the rainforest and crashing through the dewy foliage like Amalie Sanchez back in the second beginning, bolting from demons- inner ones, with the corpse of what could have been a wonderful life heavy in my arms.

I would have been next. I would have done it. I would have sold my teenage soul for a half-baked Nephilim boy who could get as much satisfaction from me, as he could from Kelia or from his own bare hand. Maryah had been right- the Barachiel boys were insatiable but not just in the physical sense. Like Miguel before the fall of Satan, they wanted everything they could have, and the things they wanted the most- like Satan- they put on pedestals and left to gather dust until the thing they so prized choked on their requited but delayed love. I’d been trying to yank Kelia’s dead weight up onto that pedestal with me but he’d grasped her while swinging his paw at me, and now she was lost.

Kohl seemed to be different- exceptional even- but I would not be so foolish as to stake any real hope in a future with him, than I would with Kohén now. Perhaps Kohl and I had slipped through the same crack together, but I wouldn’t dare to dream that we would land in the same place until he’d caught me. He had convinced me that the Barachiel’s could love, and I believed him- I just knew now that they loved the things they adored to death and ruined everything in their path while pursuing them!

You have not lost anything that you wouldn’t have lost anyway, and haven’t lost before! So recover! Fight back, and fight harder! Stop allowing yourself to whisper half-truths, when the real truths ought to be screamed and proudly! This world is not equal! This cannot be God’s plan for us! Not for ONE of us and certainly not for me! I am better than this! Forgive me God for doubting that! It was Satan whispering, not my common sense!

I heard branches break around me and felt them tear at my skin, but I did not hear footsteps pursuing me and for that I was glad. I leapt over a fallen tree and into a field, almost rolling my ankle on a coconut gleaming on the silvery moon-bleached grass outside the tree line, but  I regained my footing quickly after and stood still for a moment, looking around to try and get my bearings. There were three fields in the clearing- two pineapples ones and in the distance, something that was either corn or sugar cane.

Did we go past here on the tour? Yes! And if find the road going through the centre here and cross to the other side, I’ll come out at that beach we went surfing at eventually!

I ran along the sides of the two pineapple fields, but when I stumbled upon the dirt track separating the sugar cane from the pineapples, the agony of seeing Kohén with the others tore through my core again and I doubled over at the waist and gasped as my head buzzed from a lack of oxygen and my lungs collapsed with each breath like paper bags. I wanted to run on, but where could I go where my life wouldn’t find me? If I turned and followed the dirt track separating the fields, I’d be discovered soon enough and have to face Kohén or get screamed at by Elijah for going off alone, which was forbidden, but if I ploughed into the corn, I’d probably get bitten by a snake and even if I made it to the other side of Caldera Island, where to then?

Part of me would welcome a swift death under a starry sky- the parts that had belonged to Kohén which I now realised was everything BUT my brain- but the rest of me remembered Martya and Lindy and most importantly- God. If I died now, I could not be certain that I loved him enough to end up in his heavenly embrace, and I wanted to- I wanted to be good!

The buzzing sound increased and I fell to my knees and cradled my head, wondering if I was having some sort of panic attack, but then it faded- and then spiked again and then suddenly, things were whipping against my skin, hitting me hard, but not causing actual pain. I swatted away what I presumed to be a march fly, thinking that maybe I’d fallen down near a dead bird or something and that was when I realised that the buzzing was coming from every direction- swarming around me and then suddenly over me. Dozens of tiny, winged creatures getting tangled in my hair and brushing against my lips. I snatched out my hand and grasped one, wondering if I’d stumbled headfirst into a wasp’s nest, but just as my palm closed around the tiny body, I felt it disintegrate rather than sting me, and when I opened my palm again, glittering, glowing blue dust was all that was left of the winged illusion.

Magic!

I spluttered in shock and stood, staggering back until the buzzing lost its energy, wondering if Kohén really had just made me run into hell, and that was when I saw her: Constance standing in the middle of the road near the centre of the field and holding her hands out as if to embrace the swarm of locusts above us. No, not embracing… sending forth!

The truth hit me like a thunderclap, and seconds later, an actual thunderclap resonated in the skies above. I looked up just as the rain fell on me in one sheet, and I knew that back at the beach, Kohl had just put out the fire that had incinerated me, casting everyone into wet blackness and giving them the cold shower that they deserved. I pushed hair, tears and rain out of my eyes and squinted back at Constance, just as she fell to her knees. At first I thought she was praising Satan, but then I realised- she’d collapsed and the locusts had dissolved. That made me raise my eyebrows- was she too weak to see her witchcraft through? Or had Kohl’s powers overwhelmed hers somehow?

‘It’s you!’ I cried, staggering toward her. ‘You’re the dark Nephilim who has been plaguing Calliel with locusts! Why? Would you starve your own people?’

Constance swung around almost drunkenly, bowing again and catching herself on the already sloppy ground. The rain was falling so hard that it was rebounding back up and hard, splattering her with mud, but she spat it out of her mouth as she rasped in response: ‘You! Get out of here you damned whore!’

‘I am NOT a whore!’ I screamed, but the thunder rumbled again, muting the sound. ‘But you are a witch, and a hellion and when Kohl finds out that you’re sabotaging what he’s devoted his life to-’

‘Oooh!’ Constance screeched and pushed off the ground, coming at me with fingers curled, but I dodged her and she went down hard, her palms skidding against the ground. ‘You’ll die before a word gets out of that mouth of yours!’

I went to tell her that she didn’t look like she could go two rounds with a single locust, but she recovered quickly and suddenly swung out her leg, trying to take my feet out from beneath me. I stumbled back and missed her span, but the road sloped down to the pineapple field behind me and I lost my balance and fell back hard, realising that I was about to either be killed by a Nephilim, or be held accountable for killing one, because I was not going down without a fight! I gasped for the pain shooting up my tailbone and when I saw the duchess stagger across the road and loom over me, I began to spider backwards, pausing to pick up a sizeable rock and pelting it at her as I’d been trained to do by Regan.

Never give in! Keep bringing the pain! Keep attacking!

The rock hit her hard and she screeched and I picked up a handful of them, throwing them near her eyes to shower them with dirt particles. ‘This is treason! How could you do this to your people? Your king? And especially to your SON?’

‘I do this for my son to spite my king!’ she snapped, staggering down after me and taking hold of my foot when I was pricked by a spiky pineapple leaf and momentarily distracted. Already, my rain-slick skin was coated with dirt and loose grass and parts of my flesh felt chaffed and raw ‘If this field gets obliterated, Elijah will feel compelled to stay and even if it’s just for a week…’ she sobbed. ‘Just a few more days with my poor baby…’

‘You can’t cry love now!’ I croaked out, and kicked out- getting her hard in the stomach. She huffed out a lost breath and I rolled over, going sideways instead of letting her get me into the field where we would both be slashed to ribbons. ‘And I won’t believe you! I have been schooled, your majesty, and I know that every word out of a fallen Nephilim’s mouth-’

‘I’m not fallen,’ she growled at me, cradling her stomach and glowering at me, and her pale yellow wrap pants looked wet and heavy and were clinging to her slender legs. ‘I love God, but once, I thought I loved a man more! And since I learned that he did not love me in return, and never would, I have tried to devote myself to our offspring…’ she bowed her head to the ground and it hit me hard- Kohén and Kohl and Karol were so powerful because they had Nephilim blood on BOTH sides! ‘But… but no matter what I do… I can’t stop them from turning out just like him. Only Kohl is unspoiled but… he hates me anyway and...’ she groaned and curled her fingers in the dirt and rocks and I watched her, enraptured. ‘I’ve failed them all…’

‘You’re a light Nephilim?’ I asked, bewildered. She was NOTHING like the sweet pink-haired healer, or the redheaded boy, Chronly, and certainly nowhere near as exuberant as her spouse and children! ‘Does your family know? The king?’

‘No,’ she wheezed. ‘And even I do not know who I am anymore…and I don’t know how to atone or change things. My parents raised me to do what was right- to infiltrate the kingdom of Arcadia and make sure that God’s influence continued to shine on us all from within Eden’s walls… but I fell in love with him. I wasn’t supposed to- I was supposed to live for love of God, not for my own purpose. But he stole my heart only to break it countless times and now I cannot be repaired or do anyone any good!’

‘You feel sorry for yourself?’ I demanded. ‘You came here to collar him for Tariel’s interests, and now bitch that you cannot speak or breathe freely through the collar that he got on you first? What hypocrisy! Try being one of the Given kids out in the Tariel gold mines who are covered in boil scars because they can only afford medicine to treat their afflictions, because their ambassador has been starving them of nutrients by wiping out fields of the vegetables that they sorely need!’

‘Shut up!’ she staggered to her feet and toward me. ‘I have motivated the king to keep feeding his people as his priority! Do you know what happens to men when they are given an easy rule? They spend less time thinking about their nation, and more time in the harem- I’ve seen it happen with Elijah’s father! Besides, I have taken care to attack only the crops in the most prosperous regions, like Arcadia!’

‘Pacifica is the least prosperous!’ I pointed out.

‘Actually, it just became one of the wealthiest,’ she snarked back. ‘Didn’t Kohén take you to show you proof of that this afternoon? What did he promise you from within that pretty case?’ she stepped closer to me. ‘And what did you give him to motivate him to keep such a promise?’

I considered myself too much of a tomboy to slap anybody, so I drew back my arm and punched her-hard-in the eye. She screeched and teetered back, but I caught her before she could fall and shook her: ‘I am NOT a whore! And if I ever become one, it will be YOUR fault!’ Clearly thinking that I was going to attack her again, she ducked her head in and bit my shoulder, and it was my turn to squeal because she hadn’t exactly bitten me gently.

The duchess shoved me away and cried: ‘You should thank me if you do! At least you will get paid to be used for sex and ignored after! I did it for free! I was supposed to be better than this, and I was supposed to heal the world. Now, I just wish I was half as smart as I am, so I wouldn’t be aware of how low I have sunk!’

‘Try being intelligent AND slated to become a sex-worker, witch!’ I hissed. ‘I’d sooner be covered in boil scars then semen, and you know it!’

‘Yes I know it, and yet you encouraged his affections!’

‘I wanted only his friendship!’

‘But you got more of his love than I did, and more of his love than I got from his father! Do you know how much it hurts to sacrifice every facet of your character to please a man only to fail and see another woman win his devotion?’

‘No,’ I said coldly. ‘As much as I love jewels, I am not so weak as to accept a solitaire instead of a golden band from a man who claims to love me!’

She flinched. ‘I was strong too Larkin, but they hold sway over your heart. Every touch is divine- every smile beautiful, and every ‘next’ year will be the one when they will marry you. From when they’re new-borns to when they’re throwing sixteen year-old tantrums or embarrassing you, or sneaking off in the dead of night to lie with another...you cannot help but love them and it poisons you on the inside until you become the unloveable one.’ She held out her hands and I began to tremble in fear that she was speaking MY truth, for I did love Kohén so and always ALWAYS ended up forgiving him only to be slapped again and left emotionally bankrupt. What if I did it this time as well? Or what if Kohl manipulated me in a similar fashion once he was free to be an entitled prick too? He had escaped being spoiled thus far, but that wouldn’t be for always. ‘I was out here to do Kohl a good turn and look at me- ripped up by one son’s fondest desire, and saturated because my other son cannot contain his sorrow over the same whore!’

‘You know that Kohl has feelings for me?’

She spluttered out a laugh. ‘Of course I know- they’re identically idiotic, and fall for your eyelash batting without attempting to break that fall while wearing that same, stupid, wide-eyed look on their faces!’ She pointed at me. ‘And you encourage Kohl too, and don’t think I don’t see it!’

I glared at her. ‘So why haven’t you told Kohén to get me into trouble?’

‘And betray Kohl for him again? Watch the king whip our forgotten son stupid, for daring to dream? Not even to humiliate you. You’re a conniving bitch, but at least your presence sparks some life into the kid. If you’d known him two years ago… you wouldn’t have recognised him!’ She sneered at me. ‘Still, he can aim a hell of a lot higher, and if I get my way, you won’t see either of them again after your twenty-first, so that he does!’

I slanted my eyes at her. ‘I think at least one of them will see that you don’t get your way.’

‘Well, if you have a lick of sense, you’ll get yourself out of my way and spare me the trouble!’ Her eyes glittered. ‘You don’t want this life, Larkin. You don’t want Kohén’s love! I did everything I could to please Elijah, but he still does not love me. His first son was perfect! The next damaged because of his abuse and the last perfect again despite it, but shielding only two from his temper made me a failure in his eyes!’ her shoulders dropped. ‘That’s why he does not love me, you know. Before the twins were born, he kept Resonah and Rosina around only to offer them comfort. But after…’ she sniffled. ‘Elijah has never forgiven me for that- for making him so angry by denying him that I forced him to attack me, and then for birthing him solid proof that his reflection was less than flawless away from the looking glass!’ She fell down and sobbed. ‘But in the beginning, I thought we’d be so happy! And I thought I’d give him daughters- that was my purpose for the women in my family have only EVER had daughters, but it’s as though his genetics are-’

‘What do you mean by saying that only your first and last sons were perfect?’ I demanded.

Constance rubbed slobber from under her nose. ‘You know what I mean! Kohl looks incredible now, but being born as he was- with the cord around his neck and the lazy eye the-’

‘What so you mean BEFORE you had another perfect baby?’ I screeched, and she realised her error just as I understood the depth of her true deception. She clapped two hands to her open mouth and regarded me with shock. ‘Oh my god!’ My skin broke out in gooseflesh and I got to my feet, pointing at her and spitting the accusation: ‘Kohl was the first twin born, wasn’t he? WASN’T he?’ Constance’s hands moved to her snarled black hair and she pulled on them in a sign of approaching hysteria, and I pressed my hand to my stomach, certain that I was going to be sick. ‘You picked him! You had to send one away, so you…you picked the lesser of two innocent infants?’ I couldn’t speak. ‘Monster!’ I screamed. ‘You are WORSE than my mother!’

The duchess fell forward and grabbed my calves. ‘Forgive me!’ she cried, and I’m certain that my eyes would have bugged out of my head in shock. ‘I had no choice! I had to give one up and-’

‘And you gave up the flawed one even though he was first-born?’

‘Elijah made me! He couldn’t take the guilt!’

I sobbed and kicked her hard and as she crumpled, I remembered the morale of the story from the second of the six creation books.

And so God cast Satan into Hell…

‘And what if he’d been okay?’ I asked, tears streaming down my face for my sweet, perfect Kohl as the duchess clutched her hateful womb and gasped for breath. ‘What if he’d been Kohén’s equal, as he has grown to be? Would you have found a way to keep them both? Would your husband have found a loophole?’

She looked down at her red and angry stomach. ‘He’s not my husband...’

It was like being slapped by one of Kohén’s charged hands: they would have. Elijah wasn’t a fair king- he was a manipulative one and Kohl had lost more than he ever realised, but had forgiven more than he could be expected to, to begin with! ‘You are…’ furious beyond measure, I reached down, took her by the hair and savagely yanked her to her feet, getting my other hand around her neck. ‘You are going to atone! You are GOING to make this right, and not for your benefit, or Calliel’s good or even God’s- but Kohl’s!’

‘I can’t tell him…!’ he voice squeaked for my chokehold on her. The rain was making her graceful neck slipperier than an eel, but I dug my nails in and refused to let go.

‘I agree!’ I snapped, furious. ‘If he learns the truth he will be so fucking ruined that…they BOTH will be! To each other, too!’ my voice shook and my teeth clanked together. All of these years, Kohén had felt so guilty about staying while Kohl had been turned out… how would he feel if he learned that he had every right to feel guilty now that he’d finally gotten excited about his future? How would he feel when he learned that his mother was sabotaging his and his brother’s dreams to make up for what could never, ever be made right? I shook her in my anger. ‘And I also see that you are sapped right now, aren’t you, you twisted little angel?’

She slapped at my hands as her skin turned a ghastly shade of red. ‘Stop…!’ she gargled the word. ‘If you kill me you’ll be put to death too!’

‘My nature is already a death sentence for me,’ I said coldly. But her eyes were turning white- fading like a fire dying out and it spooked me so I released her. ‘I am a proud, strong and infertile woman… thanks to stigma’s perpetuated by lying, filthy martyrs like yourself, that is certain to get me thrown into the Wildwoods in due course! And though I would sooner take death over this life, I won’t do so while so angry with God, so you’re going to balance out these scales and act like a mother for once!’

The duchess was gasping, clutching at her neck. ‘What are you saying?’

‘I think I’m I am falling in love with Kohl,’ I whispered, and her head snapped up. The shock registering on her features was almost comical. ‘Yes, the one with the lazy eye. Yes, the one with no destiny but to come second to the boy he should have surpassed. Yes I have been confused for a very long time but my mind was made up tonight: you failed Kohén by not treating us like little girls- and now he is a single-minded lech like his father and eldest brother, and I will NOT stick around to become one of his pretty, wasted things! So I’ll do you a deal: You’re going to get me out of here and soon. I don’t care how you do it, but it happens before Kohén succumbs to the weakness in himself and brands me! I will give you time, but only until the end of the year duchess, for Kohén’s character is corroding faster with every passing day!’

‘But you can’t give him children, so Kohl will never rule if he tries to be with-’

‘He doesn’t care- not about my infertility and not for a crown- he wants me and only me and will abdicate to be with me, if it comes to that.’

‘And you believe him?’

I kicked her and she screamed, hugging her thigh to her chest. ‘How should I, if you don’t believe in him yourself? Ugh! I HATE you!’

‘Stop! I’m sorry! I don’t know if I can…. I couldn’t even keep Kohl! How am I supposed to…?’

‘You’ll lose Kohl, your spouse, your life and the respect of the world forever if you don’t! So find a way with that extreme intellect of yours, or I will expose you, and I will start by telling him how his mother has cheated him out of his destiny at his father’s request!’ I stepped back from her, and felt the rain ease and all too suddenly, I could hear people shouting out my name. I pushed my stringy hair out of my eyes and knelt by her to whisper: ‘He deserves one thing that is his and his alone, and I will be that for him and he will be happy, if you allow it. And if you don’t…’

‘I don’t trust you any more than I can trust them!’ she hissed.

‘Find a way, and fast, because I may be the only ally you have.’ I glanced over my shoulder when I heard Kohén’s anguished voice call my name, and saw lighted torches bobbing towards us from across the way. ‘They’re coming for me, and they’re going to wonder what on earth I’m doing with you and why we look the way we do so here-’ I turned to her, grunted and shoved her backwards. She squeaked as she plummeted back into the ditch. ‘Help!’ I cried loudly. ‘The duchess has fallen!’

‘You little…!’

‘Your hero,’ I whispered, glancing back to make sure that the others would be close enough to separate our silhouettes from the grey light, and then scurried down the ditch after her, getting my arms beneath her and lifting her weight. She was as light as a feather and weeping quietly, so it wasn’t hard to get her back up the incline. ‘You’re going to say that you went for a moonlit walk and that you tripped and hurt yourself, and I’m going to say that I ran away from Kohén’s orgy starring Kelia when I heard you scream, and not because I was disgusted.’ She looked up at me, stricken and I nodded and spat on the ground. ‘I know right? He was so sweet…’

‘They can’t help it, she said miserably, resting her head on my shoulder ‘Believe me Larkin, it’s a male thing. It doesn’t matter how smart or beautiful-’

I groaned loudly, cutting her off. ‘Just… don’t, okay? Believe what you’ve been brainwashed to believe, but please, allow one of us to maintain some fucking sense.’

Constance bowed her head and sniffled. ‘I had wings once,’ she whispered. ‘I was born with them, so strong was I! But after one year in Eden, I didn’t even have to try and hide them anymore because they had disintegrated...’

‘Then prove your worth, by giving them to me,’ I said in a low voice, though I was impressed by that fact. No Nephilim had been born with actual wings for centuries, not even a Barachiel. ‘And I will fly Kohl to safety and to God.’

She sniffled again. ‘I’ll try.’

And then Kohén was hollering my name and running across the field toward me, and I grit my teeth in preparation for the greatest performance of my life- looking at him like I didn’t wish him a swift death.

20.

To my amazement, the excuse I’d hastily constructed to explain why the duchess and I were bloody, muddy and upset was readily swallowed by everyone. The king helped the lie along because for one, he believed me and secondly, he was clearly accustomed to his spouse pitching fits after he’d exercised his right to pass time with Companions. Kohl was baffled at first, but smartly arranged my soggy hair over my shoulder so his mother’s bite mark wouldn’t be so obvious, and Kohén believed everything because he had not yet lost his trust in people the way the rest of us had.

The duchess and I were both in a bad state, and both stayed in our rooms for the next two days, me to read from the stack of books that Kohl sent to me, her probably to fume, and though I missed being with Kohl and hated being confined to the cottage with Kelia, I welcomed the respite from everyone’s attentions, especially Kohén’s. He did not infringe on my privacy, not even once, except to leave a bouquet of white roses with Kelia with the message to thank me for helping his mother when none of them had even heard her scream, and to tell me that as soon as I was ready for company, to send for him.

I did not send for him and I let the flowers lie on the dining table without water, and he did not attempt to bridge the awkward gap between us again. This time, he didn’t suspect that he’d messed up- he KNEW that he had, and because I had too, he’d obviously decided to stop fighting for a lost cause. Pacifica was an enchanting place, but our time there had only served to disenchant us about one another enough to reduce our relationship to one of Master and Commander, to comrades, to ships passing in the night.

I tried to hide from Kelia as best as I could but she came in to see me every day with juice or a fresh flower for the bowl of frangipani’s that Kohl had brought me beside my bed, smiling a secretive little smile and wearing a new piece of gold jewellery, and though I knew she was dying for me to ask what the hell had happened, I did not. For the first time in my life I’d finally found a subject that I wasn’t curious about, and like with Kohén, she seemed to grow more disenchanted with me and my lack of interest every day. I caught her a few times, looking at herself in the mirror and admiring her bejewelled reflection, and I almost dissolved in the guilt. But when I saw her pick up my dead flowers through my open bedroom door, put them in a vase and walk them into her room while humming prettily, I realised that some people really were built to be whores to some sort of system, and I surrendered her fate to her and tried to find comfort in the fact that at least she was being spoiled and petted again, even if it were by a clawed hand.

I remained in a state of semi-shock for the rest of the week. Not only because I was the only person in possession of all of the facts and understood how messed up everyone was, but because the person who now knew more of my truths than anyone was the person who loathed me the most. I’d lost my mind in my anger with the duchess and had said a lot of things that could motivate her to kill me, but I tried not to let that weigh on my mind. If she was a pure Nephilim, as she’d proclaimed to be- then she would have to defy her every natural instinct in order to do murder to someone who was beloved by her own kin, and the fact that she’d gone to the effort to actually treat me cordially since told me that she’d taken my threat seriously and considered me one, if not an ally.

I didn’t know how she was going to manage to get me out of my contract prematurely because like she’d said- she hadn’t even been able to bend the rules for Kohl. But I was so angry with Kohén still, that I didn’t care if her method for evicting me came in the form of banishment, and I intended to tell her so if too long passed without her thinking up an alternate escape plan. So long as I’d only be banished for a petty crime- the sort that would see me forgiven and accepted by another kingdom, it didn’t matter, and if the golden man came at me in the mood I was in, I’d welcome the chance to thump him straight back to hell! Him any other mean-spirited banished individual who tried to ruin the ruins of my life!

Preferably, I would have liked to demand a transfer to Pacifica so that I could be close to Kohl, and I went to great lengths to spend more time with the Atticus in my last few days there, including a belated tour of the barracks with him and Kohl after all in the hope that he’d welcome my transfer one day, but I didn’t get my heart set on it or mention anything about my escape plan to Kohl at all. I was done tying my future to another man’s kite, and knew that I needed to think up not only a plan B to fall back on if Kohl and I fell through, but a C and a D- and studying every minute of every day for my next round of exams seemed like the best course of action to action all. If Kohl loved me as he said he did, the next three and a half years would fly by in a whirlwind of letters until we could be reunited- even if we didn’t get to see one another again until we’d come of age. And it was probably safer if we stayed apart too, because now that the spark for Kohén had been snuffed out from inside me, I had a whole lot of guilt-free time to pass, mentally undressing and absolutely ravishing Kohl’s naked, perfect body, and I wasn’t so sure that I could be trusted not to pet the true Prince Charming personally, if we were legitimately stranded on a tropical island together for three years.

Kohl and I got one chance to be alone together before I went home, following a knock on my window. I’d been pacing my floor in the darkness, contemplating going to his barracks to find him and damn the risk, and wishing on one of the many fireflies that blinked past my window at dusk that he’d come to me, so when I heard the tap on the timber frame, I flew across the floor so fast that I almost tripped.

‘Easy…’ I heard him chuckle as I clawed the white curtain out of my way and hoisted myself onto the sill. His arms were waiting for me already and I leaned into his warmth and now oh-so-familiar scent and nuzzled his shoulder as he pulled me outside and into the small gap between my window and the hibiscus hedges behind it, which offered privacy screening, but little space.

‘I don’t want to go…’ I mewled as he cradled me and lowered us to the silvery grass. ‘Can’t I oversleep in the morning and miss the boat back? Perhaps get lost in the jungle?’

Kohl wasn’t wearing his eye patch, but his hair was obscuring the opposite eye so he flicked it out of his way with a twitch of his head and leaned in so that or noses met. ‘You think Kohén would allow anyone to pull up the anchor and leave you behind?’

‘Yes,’ I said honestly, and when he pulled back a little to let me see his doubtful expression, I nodded and pulled him back. ‘Do you think I ran because the sight of him with other women made me fall out of love with him? Or because I realised that he doesn’t comprehend the meaning of love enough to have ever truly felt it for me?’ I held up my finger. ‘And don’t give me that ‘natural needs’ business or you’ll end up on my list too.’

‘I won’t,’ Kohl said honestly. ‘The need for a woman is one thing, but taking on several at once including her best friend, to get back at the girl you claim to love is just depraved, especially when you’ve made it obvious that you don’t like the best friend at all.’ He made a face. ‘I’ll admit that group sex is a tempting fantasy and there’s probably not a man on this earth who hasn’t daydreamed about such a thing, and I KNOW that Karol’s done it many times, but Karol’s not in love with anyone, so it’s less grotesque to me. But no, I’m in love with you and I couldn’t even…’ he winced. ‘They looked like a bunch of animals fighting over a carcass, only I couldn’t tell which one was the carcass!’

‘That’s exactly right,’ I said. ‘It didn’t break my heart so much as it cured me of him.’

‘Really?’ Kohl asked. ‘You were so upset! When I let you go, I was so scared that you were never going to come back-’

‘But you let me go,’ I said tenderly, ‘and I ended up spitting out ‘I love you and I’m sorry, can we talk? I have a secret-’ to a stranger mid-orgy.’ I smiled ruefully when he blanched. ‘You should have seen the look on his face when he saw me there though. I could have laughed. In fact, he was so in the moment that I don’t even know if he heard me, and I hope he didn’t.’

‘I don’t know,’ Kohl admitted. ‘The rain chased them apart and he came running out and when he saw me, I gave him the foulest look I have. He said: Where is she? And I said: In the rainforest and making some serious time, and he said: You let her go alone? And I said: She’s not mine to protect, but yours.’ Kohl paused. ‘He told me to go screw myself and then took off after you-’ Kohl turned me in his arms so that I was sitting on the sand between his open legs, and stroked my hair. ‘And he hasn’t spoken to me since.’

I glanced over my shoulder. ‘He’s avoiding you?’

‘Like a plague of bubonic wasps,’ he confirmed.

I frowned. ‘Gosh, I hope he doesn’t suspect that we have feelings for one another…I got the feeling he did the other day.’

‘Ha- you saw him with Kelia- he’d flip his lid if he suspected. Nah... this is an old brotherly war injury rearing its ugly head- rivalry and rivalry alone. As kind as he’s always been to me, he has a habit of pulling rank and is not used to me standing over him. I went off at him after he kissed you and called you a corpse last year instead of just admitting that he liked you, and told him that if he ever hurt you again, I’d break his face.’ Kohl gathered my hair into a ponytail. ‘He didn’t take the threat too seriously then, but I’ve gotten bigger and uglier than him and have a reputation for breaking the occasional arrogant face so…he’s smart to avoid me, but not smart enough to suspect that you could love someone other than him.’

‘Maybe he doesn’t care,’ I said softly. ‘He didn’t actually care about you and Kelia- just the fact that she cared bothered him. Ugh, you’re right- it’s so petty.’

‘Yeah but it’s genetic,’ he teased. ‘I loved the fact that Kelia preferred me. It was good for my starved Barachiel ego.’

I chuckled. ‘That makes sense. You’ve got something to prove- but he’s treated like he proved the theory of gravity, and it isn’t right. So I don’t care why he’s not threatened by us, so long as he leaves ‘us’ alone out of spite.’

He pulled my face back and stared into my eyes. ‘Are you certain that’s what you want though? You’ve been close for a long time, and I sure as hell don’t believe that he’s over you, even if he is pissed still.’

‘He’s never been under me, not completely, and if you say that with all of your Nephilim needs, you couldn’t participate in an orgy to hurt me intentionally, then the same ought to go for him because you’re twins,’ I said flatly. ‘He’s not suffering- he’s just been raised to believe that it’s okay for him to do things, even if he wouldn’t abide it in return, and I cannot love a man who is so sexist and selfish.’ I twisted in his arms and pressed my hand to his chest. ‘Not when I have a man like you to compare him to.’

‘I don’t think it’s his fault, honestly,’ Kohl said.

‘I don’t either- it’s your mother’s fault, and father’s and Maryah’s and Resonah’s and Adeline’s and… you were lucky to be sent here Kohl, because being raised outside of the palace has ensured that a man with Nephilim blood bypassed becoming a ruler, and became an angel instead,’ I rested my head on his shoulder and smiled up at him. ‘And a divine one indeed. Hard work looks superb on you.’ I rubbed my face into his bicep and tasted his sweaty, coconut-scented skin. ‘And tastes good too…’

‘You’re ethereal,’ he whispered, tracing my lips with his fingertips. ‘Your smile is so wide and bright and your skin so hot, I swear it’s going to drop five degrees at least when you sail away.’ He nuzzled his nose against mine. ‘And not because it’s coming into fall, wise-ass, and I know you were going to say that.’

I giggled because I had been about to point that out, but he plucked the hibiscus bloom out from behind my ear and pressed the petals gently to my lips. ‘I love you,’ he whispered.

‘I love you too,’ I replied, and because it was the first time in my life that I’d uttered those words without any obligation to, or fear that they’d be used against me, my eyes stung with sentimental tears. I rolled over to straddle his hips and hitched my sari up to my thighs, and then said with a stuttering heart and a soul full of desire: ‘And I want you, Kohl.’ I pinned the flower behind my ear and enjoyed the way his eyes brightened when I whispered: ‘Now.’

It felt as though time were suspended just for us after I’d voiced my desire, and my heartbeat paused with it. Kohl blinked up at me, and though his handsome features were alarmed, his hands reflexively clenched near to my hips.

‘Larkin… we can’t.’ He looked pained to admit it, but he said it all the same. ‘If I kiss you and you so much as press your lips back-’

‘I know,’ I whispered, and then stretched above him so that my breasts were almost suspended over his face. His pupils dilated as he stared up at them, but I plucked a frangipani hanging low from the tree pushing against the bungalow, then dropped it on him. It hit his lips and rolled down his chest. ‘That’s one kiss,’ I whispered, stretching out to pull off a whole bustle of them in one go. Then I wriggled back so that I was on his thighs, pressed the next bloom to his lips, and then let it roll down him as well. ‘That’s two…’

Kohl leaned his head back. ‘Mmm…’ he whispered. ‘That tickles.’

‘Three…’ I removed another, and ran this one down the centre of his chest, over his abdomen and then oh so gently, over his lap. He moaned a little, and when I saw the front of his pants grow tighter around the bulge beneath, my heart quickened.

‘What are you doing?’ he whispered, eyeing me with foggy curiosity.

‘Making love to you,’ I clamped the edge of the next pure white stem between my teeth and leaned down to gently run it along his length. ‘Without touching you.’

‘God…’ he watched me intently. ‘The heat of your breath…’ he closed his eyes and rocked a little when I dropped that flower onto his lower stomach. ‘Lark….’

‘Four,’ I placed the next between my teeth again and this time when I bent to his waist, his erection had lifted away from his body in a very prominent, very sexy way. ‘Five…’ I brushed against him again taking my time, letting my head and lungs fill with the scent of frangipanis and the slightly musky, sweaty and utterly masculine aroma of his anatomy through the silk. By the time I was halfway along him, I had to exhale and he moaned and shivered, and when I reached the tip of him, a small wet spot appeared in the cloth clinging to it, making me grow damp as well. I shifted so that I was straddling one of his thighs and pressed my crotch against him, moaning softly when I felt my sex tingle. ‘You’re so beautiful…’ I whispered. ‘I don’t have enough flowers to demonstrate what I’d like to do to you right now… but taking this...’ I plucked another bloom and ran it along him again, ‘-into my mouth would be a start.’

‘God! Lark…’ Kohl went to reach for me, but I leaned forward and he reclined in fear. ‘You’re wet… you have to stop or I’m…’

‘I am, but you won’t,’ I whispered, and traced a spiral over his abdominal muscles with the flower, watching it snag between each indent, glorying in the sight of him arching and panting and straining against his silk pants. I began to breathe more rapidly, and rocked again. ‘Six…’ I pressed that bloom to his lips and they parted. His nostrils flared to catch the scent and when I trailed it slowly over his jaw and down his neck, he arched that to me too and gripped the grass on either side of him.

‘Fuck… Larkin…’ Kohl tried to sit up and when he opened his eye, it was so blue that I knew I had to act quickly or end up in a situation that neither of us would be able to prevent from escalating because I wanted him more than freedom. It would pass, but we had to pass it swiftly together.

‘Seven…’ I ran my next flower down between my cleavage and he moaned, his cock flexing under the silk obviously, and making me clench for the need to feel it inside me. Straddling both of his thighs again to access myself, I knelt tall, bowed my back and ran the waxy petals down my centre and to my hips, imagining him plunging into me and he watched, panting.

‘Press it to yourself….’ he whispered. ‘Then give me that kiss. I want to know how you taste…’

‘Yes, your highness…’ I murmured and he sat up but did not grab me- only watched the downward descent of the sweet little bloom. I ran it beneath myself and between my legs, then back up to press it against his lips. His eyes rolled back into his head.

‘Your scent…’ he breathed. ‘It’s more pure than the flower…’

I smiled, plucking the last flower from the small branch of stems, but before I could use it, he took it from my fingers, pushed my head back gently and pressed it to my forehead. ‘Eight,’ he rasped, and I shivered as it slowly passed over my nose, then lips, then jaw, evoking a trail of heat and never losing contact. The pressure was too light to do much but tickle, but the lack of pressure caused enough desire for more to make my skin heat. When it slipped between my breasts I cried out, and then when it landed against my lower stomach, I couldn’t take it anymore. I looked at Kohl and he was panting, and when he pressed the flower between my thighs under the hem of my rucked-up skirt, I gasped, snatched it and plunged my fingers into my bikini bottoms, pressing the petals against me.

‘Nine!’ I mewled, and began to come apart. I lost hold of the flower and slipped my finger into myself and allowed his lustful expression and grunt of desire push me over the edge. ‘Yes!’ I spasmed and Kohl groaned, pulled my hand from my panties and suckled on my finger. I felt each suckle resonate on my clit and Kohl’s grunts began to increase. To help him, I pulled the only flower left within reach from behind my ear and rocked forward on him hard, locking our hips together as I pressed it to his heart.

‘Ten!’ I gasped and Kohl began to thrust up into me until I felt something warm and wet flood against my sex from beneath. Understanding robbed me of my breath, and I watched in fascination as his eyes closed and he fell back, taking me forward and over him. His teeth bit down around my knuckle and when I felt him pry my wooden ring loose, my heart spiked in alarm, but then he sat up, still gasping, cradling me on his lap and lifted his ring to my left ring finger instead of the right.

‘This means that I love you and that I am yours for always, even if we never join or marry or even see each other again,’ he stuttered out the words, and slid the ring over my knuckle, bringing tears to my eyes. He trapped my face in his hands and his eyes were the palest, prettiest blue. ‘I am yours, and I will wait faithfully for you and only you until you are free to come to me. And if you cannot or do not wish to, send it back to me, and I will let you go, my beautiful firefly.’ He threaded his fingers through mine and squeezed my hand tightly. ‘But wear it as long as there is a chance for you to love me as you did him, and that is the only promise you will ever have to make a Barachiel man again.’

I began to cry. ‘I don’t want to leave you,’ I whispered, even though my heart had already run off with the hope that I would be free to return to him and much sooner than he thought. I kissed the wooden ring, brushing my lips against his knuckles. ‘Why can’t I stay?’

‘Because this world isn’t as fair as I thought it was,’ he said sadly, but lifted his stone amulet to his lips and kissed it. ‘But perhaps together, we can change that somehow so that nothing as ridiculous as that bible can ever be written again!’

So I returned to Eden with a broken heart full of hope, and a fistful of frangipanis.

THE CREATION STORY

BOOK VI.

THIS TEXT IS NOT TO BE EDITED, ALTERED, SUMMARISED OR TRANSLATED INTO ANY LANGUAGE. OFFENDERS WHO ATTEMPT TO WILL BE CHARGED WITH TREASON AGAINST CALLIEL AND PUT TO DEATH.

God’s heart twisted with a million emotions as Satan threw herself headfirst into the stream of furious energy that he’d released, assuming in shock that the fight would end then and there. And yet, the light hit her upraised hand and ricocheted off the large diamond on her finger to strike the tree above their heads instead. There was a brilliant crack followed by a dozen screams of fright, before a sizeable, flaming branch fell to the ground with a thud behind Satan, putting a wall of fire and smoke between her and God, and Miguel and his people. She yelped when a small branch full of leaves glanced off her wings, and some of her black feathers immediately charred and fell to the ground, which hurt God as much as it hurt her. But she was not dead- far from it, and was on her feet again a moment later, glaring at him and flapping her wings to blow the linger embers clinging to her feathers free.

‘You can’t do this!’ Satan cried. ‘You can’t hurt him! It is me you really want to punish, so I’ll leave! Let him stay, and I will leave!’

God’s hand dropped limply and suddenly, he heard soft flutters in the wind behind him over the crackle and pop of the burning branch. He turned and saw that three of his Soul Mates had arrived- the last three unaccounted for, and they looked as weary and heartsick as he felt.

‘We heard your threat father,’ Rabia said sadly, closing her stained and ragged wings. ‘And it is with heavy hearts that we come to plead with you to retract it.’

‘We understand your anguish,’ Tariel said, and he had only the cartilage of his feathers left. ‘But we’ve come to make ours plain, and appeal on behalf of the surviving humans as well father! Let us stay, please? Let us love them, and heal this earth as best we can and in your name!’

‘We have bested her most devoted followers!’ Selafiel informed him, his eyes bright lavender with excitement. ‘So if you best Satan, now, there is no need for you to finish off the earth! The world could go on under only the influence of the divine!’

But God’s heart sank- he could not fight or defeat Satan- she’d already proved that by intercepting his thunderbolt. He was running out of time, and energy! If he didn’t leave soon, heaven would suffer his loss and the entire universe would be hers!

‘You have people too?’ Miguel asked his counterparts, bringing his family around the branch.

‘Dozens,’ Tariel said. ‘On the other side of this continent.’

‘Hundreds in the southern hemisphere,’ Rabia said, with a proud smile. ‘And they are worth saving- as is the earth that they cling to!’

‘See!?’ Satan cried, her wings flapping hard enough to blow the smoke from the burning branch toward the cliff face behind her. ‘Maybe you can ignore Miguel’s pleas and mine- but all of your most righteous Soul Mates too?’

‘They do not know what they are asking for!’ God turned back to Satan and spread his wings between himself and his Soul Mates, afraid that she would try and corrupt them too. ‘But I know what you want, and you will not have it! I cannot leave this earth turning as a toy for you to play with, and I will not leave Miguel unattended so that you may exact vengeance upon him! Do you think I’ve forgotten that you once hated him enough to poison his child?’

‘I do not hate him more for forgetting me, than I hate myself for killing Heaven!’ Satan exclaimed. ‘And I will hate myself more if he loses everything for me again! You have no reason to trust me, I know, and I admit that only minutes ago, I wanted nothing more than to hurt him. But… the feathers… the feathers around his neck…’ she slumped to her knees and wept. ‘They are mine, aren’t they Miguel?’

Miguel looked down at his feathered necklace, and then nodded sombrely. ‘Yes,’ he whispered. ‘I have not taken them off in over a millennia.’

‘It is you then,’ she pressed her forehead to her hands on the grass, her tiny, perfect figure shaking. ‘You are the reason why I never faded away. You kept me close to your perfect heart and…’

Every one turned to look at Miguel, and saw that his eyes were wet and his expression forlorn. ‘I’ve been waiting…’ he said, in a choked voice. ‘I’ve been waiting for the chance to make it right. To tell you that I loved you, but you never came, or called to me. You were too busy destroying to…’ he looked back at Gabriella and smiled sadly, pulling her under his arm. ‘But someone needed me the way you once did, so I have been trying to win her heart for God’s instead, and she has stolen mine.’

‘And now it’s too late,’ Satan agreed, her voice sounding strangled as she nodded slowly. To the ground she whispered: ‘It’s too late for me to ever know love again.’

God looked from his brightest angel to his most fallen, and understood; Miguel had loved Satan more than him and Heaven all of this time. God wanted to feel broken by this and yet… he felt only moved. In fact, he felt empowered by it.

Then Satan sniffled and raised one bloody-smeared hand to God’s gaze without looking up. ‘I will leave, God. I will leave him here to find happiness with his new love. At least one of us should know how it feels... even if we’ll never know it together.’

God was confused by the sight of her bloody palm, and very confused by her spontaneous surrender. Needing to look into her face before he believed that she was even speaking such things aloud, he stepped forward and knelt before Satan, then lifted her face to his- and gasped, for scarlet rivulets were streaming down her ivory cheeks. ‘You weep blood,’ he whispered, entranced, but when he extended his fingers to touch one of her tears and see if he could heal it, she turned away and sobbed.

‘Humans speak of broken hearts,’ she croaked, ‘but only angels can know the true meaning of the term, for only angels hearts are without flaw to begin with, like yours was and still is.’ She touched one of her own tears and grimaced, then flicked it away. ‘I’ll leave,’ she repeated. ‘Clearly, I have no reason to stay, and nothing to hope for on earth now anyway- not even vengeance.’

God stepped back. ‘Are you saying that you will surrender your love to me, to save him and this earth?’

‘No,’ Satan sniffled, pulling a brilliant solitaire off her ring finger. ‘I can’t pledge love that I do not have.’ She got to her feet. ‘But I can see him clearly all the same Lord and one thing is certain- not only has he strived to live up to your piousness, but he has surpassed you, because he will not abandon something or someone because they are flawed.’ She turned to Gabriella, and pressed the solitaire into the limp palm of her hand and closed her fingers around it. Gabriella stiffened, clearly frightened to encounter Satan for a second time and to now be touched by her, but she stared back at her lover’s former flame steadily, trying not to let her fear or envy toward the dark goddess show. ‘In this world, as it stands, a whore like yourself would never be given something so precious in the name of love, and is considered worthless when compared to a virgin or a martyr in the eyes of God, isn’t that right?’

‘Si,’ Gabriella said coldly.

‘That is due to religion, not my saying so!’ God proclaimed.

‘I know,’ Satan said, not looking away from Gabriella. ‘But although she has lived a tortured existence due to her status and years of abuse, I approached her many years ago and offered her everything she could want, and she turned me down, and found her own way into the light with a heart heavy with hate.’ She smiled tightly at the young mother. ‘For that, I respect you and give this, if you promise to hold your head high and his hand tightly in my wake- to be joined with him forever more, and to protect his son the way Heaven’s mother did not protect her.’

‘In your wake?’ God asked, hopeful, as Gabriella nodded stiffly.

‘I have already made that vow, dark angel,’ Gabriella said icily. ‘Without trinkets from you to motivate me to do so. But I will accept this for I’ve seen that your dark underlings have raped the earth of almost all the others, and something made of light belongs in the light.’ She smiled down at her son. ‘With him. Perhaps one day he can give it to his love.’

‘See?’ Satan turned back to God. ‘Even in this chaos, mortals can find something worth living for. Gabriella and Miguel should be the influence on others like them- not us, for they are unified in both sides of the human condition in a way that you and I can never be.’ She stepped closer to God. ‘And if you allow that, I will give up my life for the chance to see it play out.’ Her eyes shifted to the peaceful, glorious infant. ‘That, and for this child’s chance to grow old with a family who loves him- the chance that Heaven and Hell never had.’

Behind him, Gabriel and Rabia gasped, but God was too paranoid to be shocked by such a selfless exclamation from an entity that had already admitted to being devoid of anything good on the inside. It had to be fraudulent, so he eyed her warily, wondering what true angle she was coming from. ‘When you say that you will give up your life…?’

‘I will use what energy I have to reverse what you have destroyed before your eyes. I cannot create an earth from scratch like this one, but I can heal much of it- and I know you cannot, not now.’ She gestured to the blackened and gnarled forest behind them, which was covered with sludgy snow, to the barren valley slowing down from beneath their feet. ‘I will fix what you have done, and it will exhaust me. And when I am almost completely drained, I will have no choice but to return to energy, and then I will have no choice but to wait in hell to be summoned back. And because this time, I will not be here to influence it directly, I will be as incapable of influencing the mortals after, as you have always been.’ She wiped the heels of her hands under her eyes. ‘It will be a clean slate for the humans, and an untouchable one for us. And if you would destroy the world before you let him be corrupted by me, then you would save the world for him to win back his love, wouldn’t you?’

‘I would,’ God said, surprising himself by actually agreeing.

‘Then don’t destroy it! Let him have it, and then let us both retire to rest. If he is as good and pious as you believe he is, and as in control of his selfish traits as I believe- then love will come to you and I will fade. But if he is corrupt and selfish and loses sight of the meaning of life despite being so like your image- I will be revived enough to take Corporeal form again, and the earth will be mine for the taking first. If it comes to that, I imagine we will fight again- if you have not lost interest in it- but that should not happen this day,’ she motioned back to the people. ‘Not when you still have something left fighting for.’

God thought this over. He would still sooner end earth then see it in Satan’s hands, but then again, she had made a fair point. Miguel was good and had already learned from the worst mistakes a man could make- he was like God in every way. And if God rested enough, he wouldn’t have to worry about surrendering the earth to Satan, because he could just return eventually to destroy it and rip it from her clutches anyway. So what did he have to lose, but time, which he had in spades?

Actually you have one thing to lose, and you cannot leave this world until you have secured that!

God turned to Miguel. ‘Would you take responsibility for the new world, for the love of your family, Miguel?’

Miguel looked a little dazed, but he nodded. ‘I would.’

‘Would you be a fair leader who served your people before yourself?’ he went on. ‘Would you live as I did, and love and go out of your way to prevent the same disastrous histories from repeating?’

Miguel’s eyes flashed with concern. ‘I... I would try.’

‘Would you stop people taking vows in my name, only to break hearts and inspire hate from such holy matrimony after? Would you protect the weak, and corral the strong so that they do not overwhelm the others? Would you see that children are raised in complete families, and that everyone is accepted for their skin colour? That hard work is equal to value to scheming? That murder is not punished with murder? That varying tales of my life and my love are not twisted against me?’ God stepped closer to him. ‘Will you strive to win every heart in the world for me with your actions, my son, and cast out only those who serve her purpose intentionally?’

‘I…’ Miguel was pale when glanced back at his followers, and his indecision was clear.

‘Would you wear the earth’s crown?’ God asked. ‘Instead of Heaven’s halo?’

Silence fell, and Miguel looked at him, confused. ‘What?’

‘If I leave you four here, then I will not send any more angels down as I did before to watch over the earth.’ God said. ‘I will lose my eyes and ears and that perplexes me, but if I lose any of your hearts to her, I will surrender your divine power to her and that I cannot abide.’ God cupped his hands and a brilliant, warm light shone from within them. When the light faded, in its place was a golden crown. He held it out to Miguel. ‘If you take this to wear on Earth as their King and leader, you agree to surrender your wings to me in death from the moment you put it on, as an unbreakable promise to me,’ God said, and he saw Satan inhale sharply. He wanted to smile to know that he had blocked one of her schemes, but his depression over never seeing Miguel’s brilliant wings in Heaven again was too thick for a smile to penetrate through. Even as he held the crown out, he silently begged Miguel to refuse it.

‘But without my feathers… I won’t be able to return after, will I?’ Miguel asked, looked vexed. ‘Not alive?’

‘No,’ God said sadly. ‘You say you are willing to refuse Heaven for this life, and so I will hold you to that forever. I cannot risk your strength ending up in Satan’s clutches, so if you stay, you will serve your people until every last feather falls out. And when they are gone, you will be mortal, and die as one. Your soul will return to me if you love me still, but your power will return to me as it fades from you to keep it safe with your daughter’s spirit.’ He sighed. ‘You will be Soul Mate no more.’

Miguel stared at the crown, and the other angels moved closer.

‘Does this apply to all of us, lord?’ Tariel asked.

‘No,’ God said, staring hard at Miguel. ‘Only him. The rest of you may return as you see fit if your feathers heal adequately to do so, or you can choose to stay and use the reserves of your strength to help him in his image.’ He stepped closer to Miguel. ‘But there will be no divine intervention this time- only free will. When your last feather has fallen out, your mortal life begins to end, and your spirit will go where your love resides.’

‘This is too much of a sacrifice to ask him to make,’ Satan said, her voice shaky. ‘Can’t I just promise not to covet his wings? I have made this offer to benefit him, not to attempt to overpower you, and I will not even be here to try!’

‘You may vanish from sight, but I don’t know where your minions are, or how many of them have lingered to corrupt in your absence so no, I will not gamble his soul on your word.’

‘You can see how many of my Soul Mates are left,’ Satan said sourly, ‘by counting the twelve new angels that you now have in Heaven, for they are certainly not here or in Hell!’

‘There was evil before there was hell,’ God said, still staring hard at Miguel and willing him to turn away from the crown. ‘And there will be dark Nephilim lingering in the wake of your fallen soldiers. Besides, your word is worth nothing to me Satan, so if you want his wish granted, keep your wicked opinions away from the terms, or I will rescind my offer completely!’

‘You can do it, Miguel,’ Amalie whispered, creeping close to gawk at the crown. ‘I have faith in you.’

‘You know where we went wrong,’ Rabia encouraged him. ‘We all do! You may wear the crown alone but we will help carry the load of responsibility and make sure that things are different this time.’

‘I think we should just leave,’ Tariel said sadly, though he couldn’t take his eyes off the golden, thorny crown either. ‘Heaven is lovely, and we could be happy there if we can let go of our earthly desires.’

‘How do we even know that she means what she says? We know that there are some dark Nephilim lingering- we feel their shadows, even in the night!’ Selafiel cried. ‘And what if she is tricking us? Perhaps she will only appear to vanish- but will linger as a ghost to torment us every way she can!’

God had already anticipated such treachery, and the quick flash in Satan’s eye confirmed that that was exactly what she intended to do. She’d been regretful a few minutes ago, but she hadn’t given up on her love- she’d still had hopes of capturing Miguel’s soul and his wings and dragging him to hell with her. Well, maybe she’d get his spirit- the fact that he still wore her feathers proved that she had not lost her grip on him- but never his feathers! Never his power!

‘I don’t know…’ Miguel croaked, looking close to tears. ‘This will be so hard. I do not know if I am up it. I…’

‘I believe that you can do it,’ Gabriella whispered, putting her hand on Miguel’s back and smiling at him, and the light shone off her solitaire in a dazzling prism. ‘I believe that you could do anything, for love. And maybe you will not be their Soul Mate anymore, but you will always be mine, Miguel.’ She looked at him with desperate eyes. ‘That’s enough for you, isn’t it?’

Miguel bit his lip and stared at the crown, but he still did not reach for it and God knew that he was remembering how easily he’d been overwhelmed by temptation in the past. Could the lacklustre and sharp-eyed young whore be enough for him? God doubted that, even though he wished it could be so.

Say no, Miguel. Choose Heaven! Mortal desires will never eclipse heavenly ones!

Satan sighed and shook her head, turning away from them. ‘If he is too scared to accept the responsibility, then perhaps Rabia will.’ She indicated to the healthiest of all of the lingering Soul Mates, whose eyes flashed with the thrill of the offered promise. ‘Perhaps with a female spirit guiding things, everything will flow more smoothly anyway-’

‘I am not scared! And Rabia is not up for this challenge the way I am!’ Miguel snapped, snatching the crown from God’s hands and putting it on his head. God went to cry out a warning that Miguel was being baited into making a rash decision with his pride, but it was too late. He watched in shock and horror as the first of Miguel’s remaining feathers fell from his wings. It was tiny and went unnoticed by everyone as they stepped forward to admire the crown on Miguel’s head- all but the little girl at her mother’s side. She bent and picked the feather up, studying it curiously, and God’s heart broke, for it had turned black as it fell.

‘That was a brave decision to make,’ Satan said, her voice oozing smugness. ‘Already, you are setting a wonderful example.’

‘You have your wish granted, Miguel and have saved the earth.’ God said gravely. ‘But keep in mind that you have been manipulated this day by your vanity, and if you continue to succumb to such things, not only will you strengthen her demonic heart, but you will fail all of the human race in a way that I never would have!’ God turned to Satan. ‘And you- don’t think that I haven’t seen how you’ve manipulated him with temptation, or deceive yourself into believing that I think you have done any of this for anyone but yourself!’

‘Don’t deceive yourself into believing that I couldn’t have taken you down where we stand!’ Satan erupted back, raising her hands above her head and causing a bright glow to emanate from her fingertips and caress everything that the light reached. Fall leaves turned green again, and the sky shifted from stained ochre with swirls of lavender, to the purest blue. Clouds parted and brightened, and birdsong filled the air. ‘I have given YOU a chance to redeem yourself God, instead of striking as I could have, and without my influence, this place will be nothing but a reflection of your spirit from within his heart! So if Miguel fails, you fail and the earth will be mine and there won’t be a GODDAMNED thing you will be able to do about it!’ The magic Satan was conjuring did nothing but make things shine and sparkle and clear- everything from dissipating the haze in the air to calming the ocean that had been smashing against the cliff face in the aftershock of some distant earth tremor, and yet everybody curled in together in terror to see her demonstrate just how powerful she had become, even though her feathers were beginning to smoke and char and fall out. She was healing three years worth of God’s carnage in seconds! Even the air smelled better, and the atmosphere lost its chill and warmed notably. ‘A man’s character is his destiny, and we all have facets of yours, so pray mortals- pray not that I will leave and hastily, but that you are not so weak as to find a way to follow me without my provocation!’

‘You threaten them and I with my character,’ God said, smiling sorrowfully at her, clasping his hands together and then opening them to reveal a single, shimmering star, which was pretty as it was unimpressive, and identical to the one that he had left them in the sky back in the beginning. ‘And yet you are forgetting one vital thing…’

‘And what is that?’ Satan sneered, her eyes blackening, her skin becoming translucent as she began to fade away. Everyone continued to watch her, afraid that she had deceived them all- afraid that she was going to take some other form and trick them by lingering, but God felt no fear.

‘Love is more powerful than hate, and a single vow of devotion whispered into an ear can overcome the hearts of those screaming the most hateful things.’ He smiled at her and brightened the tiny light in his hand. ‘When you influenced that man to push the button and start the final war, you did it with a kiss didn’t you- not an insult?’ Satan stared at him, confused, but he only smiled more widely. ‘Yes, you hear the truth in that, don’t you? Love conquers, and hate fades- as will your influence once you are gone!’

‘I don’t know about that,’ she griped. ‘It is in my character to be sceptical, and after what I have survived, I cannot be held accountable for that.’ She pointed at Miguel. ‘I have forgiven you, but only for the love in Gabriella’s heart. If another woman is so broken again as to bleed tears like I have-’

‘They will not,’ Miguel said quickly. ‘I vow that to you.’

‘And I vow that so long as you continue to make threats, you guarantee only my suspicion!’ God snapped.

‘And what is that supposed to mean?’ Satan asked haughtily.

‘Forgiveness does not come with conditions,’ God chastised her. ‘And until you understand such things, you must understand that I cannot allow such negative energy to haunt the earth. So please forgive my child for doing this again, but just in case you have a trick up your lovely sleeve- I will use the energy I have left to send you back to your son, and hold you to your word, for I cannot trust you to do it on your own accord!’ God raised the star to his lips, kissed it and then blew that kiss at Satan. Like a tiny meteorite, it shot through the air, hitting her straight in the chest, and though her scream was so loud and tortured that it made every human bleed from the ears, Satan vanished in a burst of light, and God fell to his knees, exhausted.

‘I forgive you and love you unconditionally, Satan,’ he whispered to her feathers as they fell on the earth that she had stained with her bloody tears. ‘And I hope to see you in Heaven next time, where we all belong.’

The angels and mortals rushed forward to help him to his feet, but he held up a hand and coughed blood as his now fragile body began to break down.

‘I’m sorry!’ Miguel cried. ‘I only wanted a life for my son!’

‘There can only be equality,’ God gasped, not wasting the last of his breath on pleasantries. ‘The earth must be cared for, the population must be kept in balance with it, everyone is entitled to be loved and to return to me… no religion…’ he coughed. ‘No shame for what were seen as sins of the flesh…’ the bloody tears were disappearing as green grass continued to shoot up form the parched earth. ‘No neglected children! No starvation or greed… and her name must not be spoken or called to! Nor mine used as a weapon!’

‘Yes, father,’ Miguel whispered, sinking to his knees in front of his creator with his winged son gurgling happily in his arms. ‘I know you, and I know what you want from us and I will die mortal with love in my heart for you, for this chance.’

God kissed Elijah’s little fingers, then smiled at the little girl standing behind them and whispered: ‘I know. Because despite mankind’s lack of faith in me, I have never loved any of you one little bit less.’

And then he was gone, and the angels wept.

But, God took the faith and love within every surviving mortal soul with him, and so Heaven had never shone as brightly or been as warm as it was in the moment when Life received its second chance on earth, under the golden Barachiel crown.

END OF BOOK VI

PART THREE

21.

August 2nd AA644

It took eight days for us to sail home, and although I had ample time to converse with the duchess over our prospective arrangement, there was little to no privacy on the ship and as pleasant as she was acting toward me, it would have aroused suspicions if we’d been caught engaged in a deep and meaningful conversation, so neither of us tried. We could have attempted a plotting session again upon our arrival as well, but the last few days of the voyage home took us across rough coastal seas, so by the time I got back into my own, non-moving bed, I was quite content to stay there and sleep without thinking and dream of nothing but sleeping through the night in Kohl’s arms. I’d said she had until the end of the year to liberate me, but I wasn’t going ANYWHERE until the castle stopped swaying!

I had such strange dreams- of the golden man giving me away while I was being married to Kohl but then stealing off with the groom and taking him over into the Wildwoods after, of Emmerly marrying both men, and of Kelia learning to play a trumpet naked to win Karol’s hand. They were all creepy enough to be disturbing, but odd enough for me to be able to laugh them off soon after waking, but in every dream, the golden man made an appearance in some way… he was always in the periphery- a flash of blonde hair and that charming smile that reminded me of something oozing, and I’d wake with a start every time our eyes locked, suddenly fearful of leaving Eden and all of the security that I had known since I’d turned five, to enter a world where I would be within HIS reach again.

Then I’d remember the way I’d felt when Kohén had inspected me, and the mortification of Karol’s glazed smile beside him, and that was enough to jolt me back into reality- security was a broad term for a Companion in Eden! And I’d take off fighting an evil Nephilim like my father, over a good Nephilim like Karol now that I’d seen what the angelic duchess was capable of doing! Add lust to that sort of obligation to guard an asset and… my skin crawled, and I immediately got out of bed, showered, and then went looking for the duchess.

‘Hello, Larkin! Long time, eh?’ Karol said to me when I bumped into him in the cross-section of the hallway. I had to admit to myself that he looked even better than before I’d left. His hair had been cut in a new, shorter style and he had a slight shadow of stubble around his jaw. The Pacifican style of men’s attire had been sexy in a revealing way, but Karol didn’t need to reveal an inch of his physique to look alluring. In leather pants, a white ruffled-shirt, a sheathed sword at his hip and black boots, he looked like a dark prince from times past, or more like his pirate of a brother.

And every inch the rake still! He’s like a wolf… don’t let him see you staring or the canines will sink into your flesh!

I raised an eyebrow. ‘Didn’t I see you at the dock like, three days ago?’ I scratched my head. ‘Or was that a nightmare…?’

‘You certainly looked nightmarish when you disembarked,’ he teased, not taking any obvious offence to a very obvious insult, and I shrugged and turned to walk away, not feeling energetic enough yet to battle him. He caught my skirt and said: ‘But you look lovely now.’

I’d yanked my hair into a limp ponytail and hadn’t done more than wash my face with soap. ‘Um, thanks- you know how I try!’ The door behind him opened and I saw Adeline step out and smile at me, wriggling her fingers. Her red hair was styled into lovely waves which complimented her thick hourglass shape, and I thought for the millionth time that she was the most sensuous woman in Arcadia, and felt as though the girls from my year looked like gangly children compared to her, which I supposed we still were. Lord, what did Karol see in me to make him so like a dog with a bone? ‘Anyway, I see that you have an obligation to uphold so… I’ll just-’

‘Hang on, smart arse…’ Karol said as Adeline tittered. ‘I need to ask you something about the plantations you saw… Kohén hasn’t come out of bed either yet, and I’m most curious-’

‘He’s probably reliving the highlights of his trip in bed alone...’ I muttered under my breath, but then said more loudly. ‘Oh?’

‘Yes. Adeline, this will be boring so just wait inside for me, okay?’ he tapped his hip. ‘And go warm up for the fight of your life!’

‘Certainly, your highness. And hello Larkin! Aren’t you tanned!’

‘Hello Adeline,’ I said as she went back into her room and closed the door. ‘You really do look as lovely as always.’

‘Thank you!’

‘Yes thank you,’ Karol said, waving her off. ‘And get stretching!’

‘Yes sire!’

The door shut. I threw up in my brain at the sword-fighting façade he was trying to evoke- knowing that his blade would likely be pressed to her neck in his duelling, pillaging fantasy while she remained unarmed and flexible, and then Karol was coming around in front of me and taking my hands.

‘So…?’

I blinked at him. ‘Um... what do you want to know? The crops are-’

‘I don’t care about the crops,’ Karol said, waving his hand. ‘I already talked to dad about all of that.’ He swung my arms a little, grinning. ‘How was it? It must have been pretty thrilling, yeah?’ he leaned closer and whispered, conspiratorially. ‘The sun, the sand, the fields…? I’ve been dying to see you again, and to hear how you enjoyed it.’

I stared at him for a long moment and then cleared my throat and said: ‘Um, are you making chit chat with me?’

Karol looked confused. ‘Well, that’s a pretty traditional thing to do when you haven’t seen someone in five weeks…. and then only sporadically for almost six months before that... And I heard about how you finally managed to win over mother and I am most impressed and eager to hear your side of the heroic story...’ his voice faded and he frowned at my bewildered expression. ‘What?’

I pointed down the hallway. ‘You want to talk to me about winning over your mother while there’s a woman probably stripping for you in there? Because I really, really don’t.’

Karol followed my eyes, then back to me and the furrow between his brows deepened. ‘You’re still convinced that this is a den for perverts to pass time in? Larkin, grow up. You’ll be eighteen in about ten months-’

‘You know when I’m turning eighteen?’ I asked, surprised. ‘What an odd thing to keep track of!’

He shrugged. ‘It’s not so strange.’

‘But I just turned seventeen-’ and then I realised why he’d monitor such a thing as my ageing, and I experienced an internal shuttering of consciousness against vile thoughts. ‘Oh God…’ I stepped into him. ‘You have a countdown?’ I hissed.

How am I going to get off this hook when he’s already baited it and submerged it?!

Karol’s expression didn’t register a single emotion that I could identify. ‘It’s not so strange…’

‘It’s more than strange. It’s weird, and very desperate for a beautiful man with your charisma to need to stoop-’ I squeaked as Karol leaned in and kissed me, shoving him off me with so much force that he thunked into the wall behind him hard enough for the sound to reverberate along the corridor, and still I lifted my fist and sent it straight into his solar plexus. His eyes widened then narrowed viciously, and I dropped my hands like they were weapons and stepped back, blinking rapidly and realising that I’d probably just jumped the banishment gun a little prematurely! And even though he’d hurdled the proprietary one and scared me to do so, I was sure to be the only one pay for it!

I had a furtive, silent conference with my brain and my pride and my fear for about four seconds before my brain overruled the rest of the triumvirate. ‘Your highness!’ I whispered, bowing my head. ‘I am so-’

‘Don’t apologise,’ Karol wheezed, then moved back and lifted my face to his. His eyes were emerald fire but as he pressed his hand to his stomach, I saw the redness of breathlessness immediately began to leave his complexion. He really could heal quickly, and when he spoke again, his tone was almost normal. ‘I like that mouth so much more when it’s sneering at me, and what I just did was wrong. But I…’ his eyes dropped to my mouth and every muscle in my body locked. ‘I missed you,’ he whispered. ‘And hearing you toot my horn for once instead of me having to do it to gain your notice overcame me…’

‘I didn’t toot your anything,’ I said, pushing his hand away again as my pride shoved my brain our of the driver’s seat and changed gears. ‘I stated a fact: you’re not a mutant, and you’re good at bull-shitting.’

‘You said beautiful and charismatic.’

‘Then perhaps the Given girls need to be given a thesaurus that will allow them to understate things so their masters can keep up!’

But Karol only smiled more brightly. ‘You said beautiful and charismatic,’ he repeated, ‘and you’re a walking thesaurus.’

‘I meant the other things more!’

‘That I do not doubt. But Larkin… you’d better watch that tongue of yours, or find yourself the recipient of my birthday wish.’

‘You’d have to be turning three hundred to have enough fucking candles to blow out-’ but he pressed me up against the wall and that silenced me pretty quickly with a single, heated look that told me what he wanted to do with me with much more clarity than the guidelines ever had!

Heel pride; fear’s got this one!

‘I get a thirtieth birthday wish, which must be granted, so long as it’s within reason and that it is only a positive change, and not a selfish one,’ he said. ‘My father wished for the city of Janiel to become a Kingdom, and my grandfather wished for the Artisan caste to be expanded by a further five percent to allow more people in, in memory of his mother, who had failed to qualify as a dancer by two points.’ He pressed me closer to the wall. ‘And if you’re not careful, my wish will be to have you transferred into my harem.’

I sucked in a breath, certain that I’d gone purple. ‘You said it couldn’t be a selfish request!’ But Karol only leered more and responded:

‘Once you experienced what I’d do to you, you’d agree that it was a blessing bestowed upon you- and I could have Adeline come out here and back me up on that!’ he wriggled his eyebrows. ‘She likes you, you know: says you’re a firecracker.’

‘Gee, that’s swell, but you are out of your mind if you think that I’d go to you by FORCE without a fucking noose around my neck!’ I spit out, and he pulled back quickly, losing all of his colour. ‘And if you kiss me again, I’m telling Kohén-’

‘I don’t care,’ he said, shrugging but still looking wounded. ‘Ekita Tariel has already married, and I don’t have to raise funds for a locust panacea anymore so his threat of muddying my name for the Tariel crown is redundant!’

‘Well the other things will piss him off plenty, and you won’t live to see your thirtieth birthday!’ I turned to stalk away, but his voice followed me.

‘Why only if I do it again?’ he asked quietly. ‘Why not now?’ I didn’t answer, only kept walking long the corridor. ‘Larkin?’ I heard his footfalls rush after me, and then his hand was on my wrist and pulling me back. ‘Larkin, what’s wrong?’ I almost laughed, but I clapped my hand to my mouth and bowed my head before a hysterical giggle-sob could slip out. ‘Larkin...’ his voice was harder. ‘You said you’d trust me so trust me now and tell me what’s going on, why you turned down your field, why you and Kohén haven’t come out of your rooms for three days, and why I heard a ridiculous rumour that he had group sex with-’

I sucked in a breath, for his words hit me right in the solar plexus this time. It had been hard to deal with in Pacifica, but remembering Kohén’s betrayal while back within Eden’s walls was too much. We’d grown here together, and now we were nothing to each other and it was going to be so much harder to face this new, awful reality without a kinder, gentler version of Kohén’s eyes on standby to remind me that I was worth something to somebody, or that Kelia was worth a reprieve because she meant something to me.

‘It wasn’t a rumour,’ I whispered. ‘So Congratulations, because your sweet baby brother has grown up to be just like YOU. In fact, he’s surpassed you and your father in the rotten way, because he didn’t even like Kelia- and YET- he fucked her to get even with me!’ I yanked my elbow out of his grip and stared at him, letting him see the hate in my eyes. ‘Yes, be proud, Karol, you’ve set an even harder example to follow than your father has, and your mother is practically overflowing with tears over it. Joyful ones I’m sure…’ I dropped the fake smile. ‘But because we both know that they’re not, as mine are not- you and Kohén can go fuck yourselves until you find a suitable, legal opportunity to take turns raping me!’

Karol’s face went white. ‘It’s not rape!’

‘It’s not consensual either,’ I pointed out. ‘You ask five year-old girls to sign a contract that forces them to become sex slaves, and threaten to kick them out to face off with worse predators if they buck against it later!’

‘That’s not-’ Karol raked his hands through his dark hair, looking agitated and averting his eyes and I knew I was on dangerous grounds but I pressed on while he was speechless, enjoying that element of our interaction very much!

‘I don’t care if they end up calling to you, I don’t care if you wait until they’re of age to penetrate them and I don’t care how hard they come after- we are not Companions to you, we are things! Stolen little girls trained to be princesses only to become sticky with your seed, abused, brainwashed little dolls that YOU punish for marital sins committed in the time before! And the ones you deceive into believing that they are loved better here than they could be anywhere else are the most abused of all!’ Karol opened his mouth but I raised my voice and screamed: ‘And if God is okay with it, then he can go fuck himself TOO because I will give my heart to SATAN before I give my body to a Barachiel against my will, especially one who would wish for a lustful encounter on his birthday- instead of something positive for his people!’

Doors opened around me, and with those damning words expelled from me, I began to shake with fear and exhaustion. Karol staggered back as though I had struck him and satisfied by that, I turned on my heel and fled.

‘Bolt your doors everybody!’ I cried as I ran past the pool, where Kelia was sitting with her radio on beside her, humming while painting her nails. ‘There is a wolf in the halls ready to huff and puff and blow your pride down in his anger with me- possibly with three of you at once!’

‘Larkin calm yourself!’ Karol bellowed after me. ‘I do not want to have to punish you for this conduct, but I will report your foul language to Shep if you frighten your friends!’

I pivoted, my ponytail whipping around my shoulders, my breathing haggard. Adeline was right on Karol’s heels and her eyes were so bright with anxiety, and so like Martya's in that moment that I couldn’t keep the next words in: ‘I don’t believe it was an accident,’ I said, my throat tightening around the words. ‘And when I die, don’t YOU believe it was a coincidence, no matter what your lover whispers to convince you otherwise!’ And then I turned again and bolted.

‘Oh, God…’ Adeline whispered, and for the first time ever- she actually sounded troubled. ‘Lark…’

‘Larkin!’ the wolf howled my name and, feeling genuine fear for my life, I doubled my strides and slammed through the north wing door and straight out the back, ready to hurtle myself into the electric fence before I allowed Karol to place even one fingertip on me.

Banishment it is!

22.

I spied the duchess sitting by Martya’s old pumpkin garden as I galloped by, which served to further enhance my paranoia that she’d had something to do with my friend’s death, because she was the only person other than me who went there. I stampeded towards her, breathless, then reached down and picked up a handful of leaves. With a trembling open palm, I scattered them to the wind.

‘This is my future,’ I croaked, watching the ochre and golden leaves whip past and out to the rear stone fence. ‘Martya foresaw it! If I don’t get out of here while I am still a sapling, then one of them will see that I grow roots and die behind this fence. And after the scene I just caused in the harem, I’ll be lucky to have that sort of fate, and not Martya’s sort!’

‘What do you know of Martya’s fate?’ she asked me quietly.

‘What do YOU know?’ I demanded.

‘Nothing,’ she smoothed out her skirt and sighed, not looking up at me. ‘Always nothing.’

‘Then why are you here? It reeks of a guilty conscience!’

Constance shrugged. She looked as beautiful and fresh and as crisp as the air, in an ice-blue gown that was fitted tightly around her torso, cleavage and wrists, but then flared out in multiple layers of a soft fabric in various shades of pale blue which seemed to deepen with every layer, then pooled around her like a downy cloud where she sat. Her hair was swept up in the sort of top knot that would have looked too severe on anyone else, but it took years off her, as did the delicate blue ribbon-bow perched at the base of it, which matched the elegant sash fastened around her tiny waist. ‘I do have a guilty conscience, because I wished her dead when I learned that she’d found a cure for the damage I planned on continuing to do for many years to come.’ She picked up a shrivelled cherry tomato. ‘But I did not kill her, Larkin, and neither did my husband. I was going to Pacifica that night and that was all I cared about and as soon as I’d set sail, it was the last thing I wanted to talk about, and all that he did. But we were at sea, so we were not involved in her accident.’

‘But you don’t believe that it was an accident, do you?’

‘I don’t know.’ She lifted those pale topaz eyes to me and held up her hands. ‘I really don’t.’

‘But you don’t feel badly about it, and neither did Elijah when he learned, right?’

‘He was more dismayed than anything else- about the cure, and I did hear Karol and him discussing it privately one night: Elijah said that he felt bad for threatening her and my son told him he ought to because if anyone found out...’ she glanced over at the garden, her lips turning down into a frown. ‘I feel worse about it now, and am sorry for having wished her ill-will as she was the only girl in here who I’d never seen as a threat to my son’s future wife. And, truth be told, I am glad that I have been weakened by her cure; too many good turns for the sake of an ideal lead to, well- religion, and I was becoming a devoted follower of causing mayhem, until her cure forced me to stop.’ She glanced at me. ‘What was the ingredient, by the way? The missing one? I know you managed to give Karol a list of things that she had tried in the past to find the missing ingredient. And that one of those things was the last piece of the puzzle but...’

‘You don’t know?’ I said, surprised that she didn’t even know that two were missing, not just one.

‘No, Karol guards that formula jealously. Or, that one ingredient anyway.’

She was being vague, and so I would extend the same courtesy to her, I shrugged, even though I knew damn well what had been missing, and how ironic it was. ‘I wrote down dozens of things, and I don’t understand what half of them are. He found it by a very long process of elimination, I believe but I couldn’t possibly recall so many things a year later: I gave him my only list.’ I paused. ‘Why do you want to know?’

She threw the tomato back into the withering garden. ‘It would be nice to know what I’m allergic to.’

That made me blink. ‘Nephilim get allergies? I thought you were supposed to be super-human in that way?’ I snickered. ‘It’s not garlic is it, or a crucifix?’

‘Not allergies that affect us personally,’ she said, plucking a fresh cherry tomato and handing it to me. It was the only thing she’d ever given to me so I took it, but I didn’t dare bite into it until she took one for herself and popped it into her mouth. ‘Just ones that can repel our powers. Elijah and Kohén’s is rubber, obviously because it blocks electric current, and as you’re probably well aware, Kohl weakens on large bodies of water that he can’t control, or in very dry heat. There are certain things that make it hard for me to do what I do, but they make sense from nature’s prospective- it’s difficult for me to channel insects when it’s raining or boiling hot or during fierce winds, and I thought maybe that was my only limitation. But no, she found something to spray that completely repels them- they turn to dust if they get close.’

‘How did you do it?’ I asked her, settling down. ‘Those plagues were everywhere when you were-’

‘Ekita,’ she said, smiling a small smile at me, and I felt my eyes widen. The princess of Tariel!

‘Her too?!’

‘She has been travelling for years, which made it handy. She is much weaker than I, but yes, her father is my father’s cousin, and that’s where my power comes from, but it skipped the king and went straight to her.’

‘That’s why you wanted her to marry Karol? To keep one like you in power here?’

‘Yes- if you could call my position here powerful, which I do not. But she’s also very sweet and very lovely.’ The duchess licked tomato juice off her fingers. ‘She’s retired now though, and happily. With the spray there’s no need for her to continue, or for me to push her to Karol and I’m glad… they really didn’t hit it off as I’d have liked.’

‘Only person who’s ever going to hit it off with Karol is going to be a deaf mute…’ I muttered. She shot me a look so I rolled my eyes and asked: ‘Can you only do locusts?’

She leaned over and pressed her hand to my arm. ‘No, duckling.’ She pulled back, smiling secretly. ‘I can do many insects-’

‘OW!’ I slapped my arm, and then looked down as a giant mosquito rolled off it. ‘Hey!’ She started laughing and, snarling because there was already a welt on my arm, I leaned over, and enjoyed the disgusted downturn of her mouth which accompanied the gentle ‘Slosh’ sound of the cherry tomato in my hand popping against her skin.

‘Oh!’ She began to wipe her arm free of the juicy red flesh. ‘Larkin! How dare you? I am your-’

‘No we’re equal,’ I told her, rubbing my palm on her pretty dress. ‘Remember? Not because of our castes, but because you owe me one. And like I said, I’m running out of time… as of five minutes ago, in fact.’

‘What scene did you cause?’ she asked, looking irritated as she wiped her arm on the grass.

‘I renounced God,’ I said, sighing and wiping my hand on the grass too, ‘and basically pledged my allegiance with Satan. Oh, and I called Karol a rapist… Kohén too.’

She looked up sharply. ‘You should not do that!’

‘They are,’ I said stubbornly. ‘The fact that Karol just broke a law to lay one on me is proof of that. Some Prince!’

Her lips quirked. ‘I meant the other thing.’

‘I didn’t mean it, so it doesn’t count,’ I said, rolling my eyes. ‘I just wanted to see if there was anything I could say that would shut Karol up.’

She raised an eyebrow. ‘Did it work?’

‘Quite well.’

‘Then I will keep that in mind.’

‘No, you need to keep ME in mind,’ I said, taking her hand and not allowing myself to be distracted by the solitaire on her finger. ‘I need to leave here and soon. Karol is losing his control around me now, as Kohén began to, and I’m scared. If Karol gets joined soon and not married, he’ll be eligible for the crown, right? And if gets that kind of power- and sway over the harem- while I’m still there...’ I shuddered. Elijah was protecting me now because he wanted me for Kohén, but Karol wanted me for himself and what was worse, he thought that made him a hero.

‘Karol will not do that, Larkin,’ she said, sounding snippy. ‘He is a good boy, and one who is full of God’s light.’

‘Are you a deaf mute?’ I asked her, wrinkling my nose. ‘Because the Karol I just saw in the hallway threatened to birthday wish me into sexual bliss.’

She sighed again. ‘I am well aware that you inspire grotesque thoughts in his being but he is only jesting-’

‘Stop saying things like that!’ I complained. ‘You speak of me as though I bewitch them on purpose!’

‘I cannot help it,’ her eyes shifted to mine, and I saw fear within them. ‘There is darkness in you Larkin, and it has been a stronger influence on the men within this castle than my divinity ever has.’

‘No there’s not!’ I protested, shocked that she’d think such a thing. ‘You hated me from the moment you saw me but I was just an innocent little girl, and if you help me now, I could leave here and be one still! And I want to be innocent and light for Kohl, I swear it! If you try to block my escape with your divine being because you believe that I’m the bad seed, YOU will BE the shadow that darkens me!’

The duchess pulled her hand from mine and clutched hers together on her lap. ‘I agree that I need to get you out of here, and I would bless you and Kohl coming together if it has inspired more of a thirst for love than for power within his soul... but I will not be blamed for the way my sons have acted to win your favour-’

‘I only tried to win Kohén’s friendship!’ I protested. ‘Like I was told to do!’

‘But he wants more because you solicit more with every thing you do and say. In fact, I do not doubt that if you gave him one of those vulnerable, but sensual smiles of yours, my own spouse would-’

‘Stop!’ I pressed my hands to my ears and squeezed my eyes shut. ‘I don’t want to hear this.’

She took my hands off my ears. ‘There is Nephilim in you,’ she whispered. ‘Fallen in origin. It’s only a trace-’

‘How could you possibly know such a thing?’ I demanded, heart racing as though she’d read every thought in my mind concerning my biological parents. ‘Only the Soul mates with feathers can sense godlessness in people!’

She shrugged. ‘You don’t need to have absolute powers to have instincts, Larkin. I’m good at reading people, and your aura sparkles like stars in an inky sky and it tempts a man’s soul- as extremely as Shep’s presence invokes feelings of warmth and sunlight. And I believe that power has something to do with how well you make things grow, and always have been able to, according to your mother...’ she nodded to the garden, and my throat tightened around a scream of outrage, suppressing it. What the fuck did giant pumpkins have to do with dark juju? It wasn’t like they grew so big- no one had tried to carve a carriage out of one for me yet! ‘With your blonde hair and golden skin, you radiate a sunny glow- an angelic one on the surface- but I think we both know that you are anything but. I saw it the first moment that I happened upon Kohén playing with those cards and breaking our rules-’

‘We were children!’ I cried. ‘I was bored and heartsick.’

‘He was five and you taught him how to play a forbidden gambling game,’ she corrected me. ‘And he’s told me that you were his first kiss, as you were Kohl’s. You were the first girl to orgasm during that heinous ritual, the only one who makes Kohl lose control of his temper-’

‘Shut up!’ I hissed, jumping to my feet. ‘And how do you know all of these things?’

She shrugged. ‘I overheard some, saw others and a few months ago, before we left, Karol came to my room to confess that he’d had thoughts of betraying Kohén for you- which is why I’m not surprised to learn that he threatened you so today.’

‘He DID?’

‘Yes. Karol has always sought my advice when he finds himself tempted, because he wants to please me. Why do you think he’s considering looking for a wife and not a spouse?’ She sighed. ‘But he will only marry someone that he is certain that he can be faithful to, and now that I know that he’s stolen a kiss from such a young little temptress, I do not have much faith that he will-’

‘Stolen!’ I repeated. ‘Stolen, not given or accepted!’

‘I know. But can you not see how every slip of judgement within Eden’s walls has you as the common denominator as cause?’ Her eyes were too clear- so clear that I could see her version of me in them. ‘Larkin I am not saying that you are a fallen woman or that you are destined to be, and I know that the situation you’ve found yourself in here does nothing to encourage holy thoughts or actions for I hate it as you do- to the point of conjuring up the darkest thoughts imaginable. In fact, I know that I’ve probably pushed you as close to the brink of darkness over time with some of my actions, and I am sorry for that. But I did it intentionally, waiting to see if you’d reveal yourself to be more than what we all supposed you were: a scared, lost little girl. I can see now that you have no power and genuinely strive to be good and loving, because lord knows that you’ve been pushed beyond any human’s ability to cope without lashing out as a Nephilim would, but you are still a temptress by nature, and a rebel and an agitator! You curse, you speak inappropriately, you constantly go over the lines of conduct and then you make everyone who is drawn to you feel inadequate by comparison. And though I can see that you hate the effect that you have on people, you cannot look me in the eye and deny that evil runs in your blood, can you?’

I stared at her, at a loss. ‘Where is all of this coming from?’ I asked, on the brink of tears again. ‘Why didn’t you mention any of this on Caldera when you had the chance? Of all the things you screamed at me, ‘evil blood’ was not one of them!’

‘I did not know for sure, I have only ever suspected it. But I’ve been out here for about two hours now, thinking everything over, and that man has not budged an inch since your name came to my mind.’

I frowned at her. ‘Who? Karol?’

‘No,’ she lifted her eyes and gazed over my shoulder. ‘The Nephilim man standing behind you at the fence. I do not question that he bears me ill will, and now that I’ve seen him for myself- I do not doubt that he is your father either. Like you, he glows golden and yet the warmth he radiates is hatred-hot.’

I spun around and there he was, up against the metal fence, sandwiched between it and the fields beyond Martya’s garden, staring at us. Staring and saying nothing- just smiling, and it was the creepiest thing I’d ever seen. My heart tripped over. ‘Oh my God! It’s him!’ I turned back to her. ‘The security tapes! We have to show them-’

‘He won’t register on them, Larkin, and is probably very selective about who he shows himself to.’

‘What is he then?’ I demanded, looking back and feeling so chilled by his wide smile that my teeth could have chattered together.

‘A ghost,’ she whispered, and I hugged myself, feeling ill. Everybody knew what ghosts were: spirits who were too strong to follow Satan to hell to atone, and hated God too much to make it to Heaven and so they lingered, waiting for their soul to pick a fate. And though some ghosts were harmless, weak and lost, some were powerful and angry enough to give themselves form and either way- good Nephilim did NOT become ghosts once they had passed, because they always loved God too much to miss their chance to join him in heaven. So if that man truly was my father, than I was undisputedly the descendant of a very dark and very powerful Nephilim, and accepting that- even a little- made me feel as though a cloud had just passed over my soul.

But only if he is your father! You don’t know ANYTHING for sure! And how could you be a dark Nephilim child of someone so powerful, and yet possess no power of your own?

‘What do you think he wants?’ I whispered, and she shrugged.

‘Form, probably. Just like God and Satan, enough love, or power or thought can give disgruntled, powerful spirits the energy to flicker back and forth between this plane and the afterlife, and being forgotten could fade them out of it. But your mother didn’t forget him, nor did that other woman that he impregnated, and neither will you or I- and so he probably lingers near to the child he has fathered, who is old enough to think of him, waiting for you to give him power enough to restore him completely.’

‘Can that happen?’ I asked, wide-eyed.

‘If the Nephilim is powerful enough, most definitely.’ She laced her fingers together and said: ‘remember the story of the dark Nephilim man who burned his village to the ground?’ When I nodded, she went on, whispering: ‘He had no fingerprints, no records and no one knew whom he had descended from. And after reading the story once, Kohén told me that he theorised that the criminal had not had a life because this was not his first life- that he had been a ghost who’d found a way to return and infiltrate our society. Now that I’ve had some time to ponder that, I think that I agree. And though I can’t place your father’s face, I do feel as though I have seen him before somewhere or somehow before today…’ she wrinkled up her nose. ‘Just where, I don’t know.’

I shivered, remembering stories of poltergeists that could move and hurl objects, and others who found a way to possess people - the way he must have possessed the nurse who my mother and the banished woman had lain with.

Oh well, better that he be a dark Nephilim possessing women’s bodies, then your own theory that he was Satan possessing a man’s!

I wrenched my eyes from him. ‘If that’s possible, then I will give him nothing to feed off,’ I whispered. ‘And I do not wish to, despite how little you think of me.’

‘Because you love God still,’ the duchess said, touching my hand again. ‘But look me in the eye and tell me that you’ve never called to Satan in a moment of despair or weakness before this day- and have meant it?’

My nose was tingling as tears threatened. ‘Have you?’

She smiled at me, and she was golden despite her black hair. ‘Never.’

I glanced back at the man, feeling like I was being torn apart on the inside now that someone else had supported my mother’s theory. Was he dark, and I a recipient of that darkness? Had I called myself a tomboy when really, I’d been a little hellion? It explained a lot of things, but not the fear racing through my heart at the sight of him or the genuine love that I felt for Kohl. She was right- the circumstances of my life had made me dark, but was that because I had a corruptible soul, or because, as I’d always believed, the Given laws were corrupt? It was so unfair that I was supposed to accept that everything that had ever happened to me was my own fault! They were all weak too and they were supposed to be closer to divine than any human could be!

‘What do I do?’ I asked her.

‘Go inside, and pay him no mind and I will follow. Trust in me to get you of here and soon- and as far away as possible, perhaps Pacifica again-’

‘How?’ I asked, looking at the man again.

‘I cannot say that anything is for certain yet, but I have a sketch of a plan in mind.’ She smiled nervously. ‘They have built a small prototype aeroplane in Tariel, and Elijah is considering purchasing the first one produced, so that he can attempt to fly over the north and see if there is any way to access the oil fields in the old Alaska by boat, or a way to start clearing a road through- somewhere where the Wildwoods are thinner.’ She smoothed her skirt again and I struggled to process that. Aeroplanes, at last! It would change the world! ‘He leaves for Tariel in early December, and will be gone for at least two weeks to investigate the aircraft, and possibly longer if he flies a test mission from there, north, which is where he will have to depart from, because Tariel has the only operating airstrip and control tower in Calliel. He has already arranged to take Karol, Adeline, Kohén, Kelia, Emmerly, Rosina and Resonah with him on the journey south by road, and the boys on the flight- but you and I are going to be left behind.’ I flinched at that, seeing for the first time how far I’d fallen off my pedestal, and she did not miss it. In fact, she touched my hand again and regarded me with softer eyes. ‘I know… it hurts. It just never occurred to me to care that it hurt from your end of things before.’

‘Why did you agree to it?’ I asked softly. ‘I know you love to leave the kingdom with him and travel… without his ‘friends’.’

She smiled demurely. ‘Because with both sons gone- I will be acting regent in their stead. Not only have I been waiting a very long time for that, but I’ll have the power to dismiss anyone who pisses me off without Elijah or Kohén here to overrule it.’

My eyebrows shot up, and I felt a thrill sweep through me. ‘I can piss you off!’

She smiled again. ‘Of that I am well aware. And because we’re getting along now, they won’t see it coming.’

‘What will I have to do?’

She picked up her necklace, and the canary-yellow stone blinked at me. ‘Steal a heart,’ she said softly, and mine sank. ‘Fitting, don’t you think?’

‘I’d be banished and branded as a thief?’ I asked, dismayed. ‘Everyone will despise me!’

‘Only the men in the family and Shep will know of the charge, and you’ll want them to think so little of you, won’t you? As in… to not trust you to be around jewels, or inside the harem again?’ She smiled, continuing. ‘But you won’t be branded and banished- for one, that’s something that must be made a public fact, and we cannot let it be known that one of our trained, angelic whores has been raised so poorly, and secondly- the necklace will go missing while you are around but it won’t be found on you- so I’ll dismiss you on suspicion of theft, but without proof that theft has occurred. So instead of having the grounds to banish you, you’d be sent off with the next convict Corps… the one heading to Pacifica on a new mission to Isthmus Island that very week.’ She grinned at my obvious delight. ‘And then a few years later, just after you are released from your service, I will find it amongst my own things, apologise- and bless your union with Kohl.’

I clapped my hands to my boiling hot face, impressed beyond measure. ‘You would do that for us?’ I asked, my eyes growing wet, my insides expanding to make room for this new surge of… ownership? Responsibility? God, if she did that for me, Kohl would replace Kohén as the boy who I saw every day, and as exciting a notion as that should have been, it was a heady prospect all the same. Kohl was so certain of us- as certain as Kohén had once been- but as deeply as I cared for him in return, my tummy rolled a little at the idea of jumping out of the fire and into a matching frying pan. Letter writing and occasional visits were one thing… but was I ready to see Kohl every day?

And would I see Kohl every day? Or would I see Kohén in his eyes and smile?

Okay breathe… she’s talking about December… that gives you four months yet to distance yourself further from Kohén and bury your feelings. Besides, Isthmus and Caldera are a day’s sail away from one another, so you won’t be seeing him that often, only sporadically, so you can handle that! In fact, the time between visits will probably be torturous!

The duchess smiled softly. ‘I was not yet completely sure, but seeing as you said ‘us,’ and not ‘we,’ Yes, Larkin, I will.’ She patted my hand then leaned back, as though she’d already hit her sentimental quota for the year in those few seconds. ‘But you must protect yourself until then, and help me keep things calm and that man from interfering.’ Her expression was insistent. ‘Avoid sin, Larkin, and do not present yourself as a temptation in any way. Do not call to her, do not be impatient and paranoid and do not antagonise Karol and Kohén further, or dwell in your misery… in fact, be kind to Karol, not sharp-tongued, so you don’t stir up his need to assert any sort of authority over you... try to look wounded rather than out for blood- and I will get you out of here.’

I raised an eyebrow. ‘You’re basically asking me to hide my personality as best as I can?’

‘Yes,’ she got to her feet and extended her hand to me. ‘Can you do that?’

I took her hand.

23.

I passed the early August days away by doing as I was told and laying low. I wrote to Lindy and Kohl, keeping the tone of the letters light so they wouldn’t sense my loneliness and so it wouldn’t cause a ripple of distress to tremble through my heart, across Calliel and to theirs. And I stopped counting jewellery on the girls- pretending like my eyes were as allergic to the sight of it as my skin was to the touch, and that little mind trick helped keep me calm in Kelia’s company- that and the fact that I kept my fist curled around the most valuable piece of jewellery in the kingdom- my wooden wave ring.

Four months, and I could be free, and with the version of Kohén who was not spoiled by indulgence...

As though he’d taken on his mother’s advice to me as well, Kohén became a ghost who could only occasionally be glimpsed on the grounds. He started running a lot along the perimeter fence, and surfing often in the freezing cold water, and the only time I saw him inside was if he was going down to the study to have a meeting with his father and other important nobles (which he’d started doing a LOT) or to the training room. I knew that he was preparing himself to kick my ass in the next examinations, but I refused to compete with anyone but myself and practiced my dancing in my room instead of seeking out a tutor with my curtains drawn, so that no one would sniff out my ambition.

Besides, according to the test results, I didn’t have nearly as much room to improve as he did, so why exhaust myself? Hadn’t I worked hard enough for no reason already? Didn’t I deserve the chance to relax and sulk and be a heartbroken seventeen-year-old for once?

It was a week before Karol had the nerve to approach me again, and even after he’d come to sit at my side in a bench seat in the courtyard and said: ‘Good afternoon, Larkin,’ it took me a full minute to work up a response.

‘Thank you for not filing a complaint against me with a Shepherd,’ I said softly, closing my book but keeping my eyes trained on the cover. It was hard not to spit on him, but the book I was reading was the biography of Arcadia’s most notorious criminal- a Shepherd who had once fought for the abolition of the drafted Companion caste. He’d made good progress, and could have very well have become a hero... except for the fact that the girl whose cause he was championing (a sweet, gentle soul who like Kelia, who had apparently withered into herself with fear at the idea of turning sixteen) was only thirteen years old when she admitted to being pregnant with the same Shepherd’s child.

Shepherd Birch was the only corrupt Shepherd that Calliel had ever known, but he had also been the most popular before he’d been caught, and apparently incredibly handsome to boot- which meant that he’d had far to fall, and he’d sadly taken the good Companion name down with him. Instead of winning hearts for God and freeing Elijah’s father’s underage courtesans-in-training, he’d been accused of approaching several of the girls, found guilty of impregnating the one, and branded with the glyph for sexual assault. Then, as a warning to others, the girl had been evicted from Elijah’s father’s harem and shipped off to New Rome with a prisoner Corps, and her ‘protector’ had been castrated and sent out into the Wildwoods.

It was a woeful tale and one that reminded me of how damn seriously my ‘position’ within Eden’s walls was taken, and of how much trouble I could get in if I didn’t learn to tow the line. I swallowed hard as I closed the book, knowing that I had to play this moment with Karol well. In fact, I had to play every moment until I got out of Eden like a hand of twos that I had to turn into a royal flush. Kohl and I could not be discovered. Actually no- we couldn’t even be suspected.

‘I am sorry that I shoved you… and punched you…’ I swallowed down the bile, which accompanied the next lie: ‘And I did not mean what I said.’

‘Yes you did.’ He tapped on the book. ‘You think I’m as evil as Bastien Birch.’

‘No I don’t.’ I sighed gently. ‘I did not mean that you have taken advantage of your girls with ill-intentions,’ I said softly. ‘I just mean… you are destroying things the way plucking a flower destroys a garden: innocently but self-indulgently.’

‘But people pick flowers on purpose,’ he said. ‘We don’t know that’s what we’re doing when we select you, but you do know what you’re doing when you come to us, and I’m yet to have anyone scream in fright when they do, and you’re the only person who believes that anyone ought to. So I can’t help but feel if you’d lain with Kohén by now, you too would feel differently, and understand that you’re more to us, than a mere flower in a vase.’

No, I’m one of many flowers in a vase, and that’s the problem. I am Kohén’s companion, but who is mine? Nobody. They’ve either been taken from me, or have turned against me.

‘Just like I believe that if you were in my position, you’d feel trapped by the glass walls that you cannot see. They do not stifle you, they do not press you, they…’ I swallowed and shook my head, remembering the duchess’s caution. ‘Never mind. It’s pointless, us trying to see eye to eye here Karol, for you are too far above my viewpoint for that to be feasible.’ I glanced at him. ‘That’s my problem though; the inequality between us, and how that contradicts God’s wishes.’

‘But God asked Miguel Barachiel to-’

‘To guide us,’ I said softly, deciding that throwing God in his face a little wasn’t something that could be misconstrued as flirting or provocation. ‘But I’ve never read anything in the Books of Creation, which translates that to using any of us for your own benefit or as punishment. In fact, I don’t remember the words heir or hereditary, or monopoly over the human race being used either…’ I stared down at the book, thinking about the nameless Companion who had been impregnated by Bastien Birch. What had become of her and her baby? If all of this had happened in AA563, then that baby had to be at least eighty-one years old by now but very possibly, still alive. In fact, now that the average life-expectancy of a Callielian citizen was ninety-two and a lot of people were lucky enough to make it to one hundred and ten years-old, there was a good chance that even the mother was still alive and living somewhere in New Rome still.

I felt the heat of Karol’s gaze on my profile. ‘God didn’t quote our kingdom’s laws in his own tongue, no- he didn’t have the time to. But we do know that he was against shaming women like Gabriella, and that he understood Miguel’s urges… and you should know better than anyone that the laws were set down in the hopes of creating a eudaemonist system, and that they restrict men almost as much-’

‘Almost as much as they restrict women,’ I said, more softly still. ‘Yet not equally.’ I looked at him at last, and my lip curled slightly in a rueful smile. I didn’t want to fight with him, but I still couldn’t let go of the hope of making him understand. The duchess swore that he was good or at least strove to be, and I myself had seen evidence of his logical thinking and good humour in the past… so was it impossible for me to convince him that what he was doing was wrong? ‘The male companion caste is voluntary, Karol- ours is forced. Women are ordered to take birth control, and yet nothing is offered to men until they are considered to be too old to father children and are moved to Rachiel. The Barachiel’s have had nine generations of kings, but not a single queen, and for a Barachiel marriage or Joining to take place, the female must be a virgin, but the male is expected to have experienced a harem’s worth of sexual exploration first.’ I raised an eyebrow. ‘Tell me that’s equal.’ I hugged the book to my chest. ‘Tell me that if by some chance you have a powerful Nephilim daughter, she will be guaranteed a seraglio full of third-born sons of her own rather than married off young and virginal and most likely against her will.’

He frowned at me. ‘It’s assumed that a Barachiel princess would have a harem of her own- it just hasn’t happened yet.’

I leaned closer to him, locking my eyes on his. ‘I’m not asking about what’s assumed,’ I said pointedly. ‘I’m asking you to convince me that it will happen, and that the law won’t conveniently be changed in the name of protecting her before her fifth birthday arrives. Or that she won’t be forced to overcome her own urges, as Kohl has, in order to guard her royal womb.’

Karol stared back at me, and I saw a flicker of uncertainty behind his eyes and I knew that he didn’t see himself forcing birth control down his daughter’s throat so that she could have sex with multiple partners either. Hope brightened inside me, rising like a flame lifted by a fresh burst of oxygen- hope that I might get through to one of the perfect Barachiel creatures before it was too late for the next generation of Given girls.

Come on, come on… open your mind and the harem door!

But then Karol dropped his gaze to my lips and the heat of his stare- his prevalent, glowing green need was so bright in the facets of his emerald eyes that I sucked in a breath, snapping him out of his stupor just as he began to lean in.

‘Hell…’ I bemoaned under my breath, turning my face away just as his shimmering fingertips lifted to stroke my cheek- to rake me forward. I heard him groan in exasperation- what I prayed was exasperation with himself and not with me. ‘You’re not listening to a word I’m saying-’

‘Larkin, I’m sorry,’ he caught my hand as I rose, and I felt his soothing energy throb though my palm, seeking entrance into my heart and mind, but I broke the contact and shook my head, not deigning to look back at him.

Stupid, stupid! I promised the duchess that I could avoid these kinds of encounters and yet, here I am, baiting a shark and having him distend his jaws for my trouble!

‘No, you just proved my point,’ I said woodenly, wanting to cry. ‘Kissing you could get me whipped and yet… yet you keep…’ I looked up at the sky above Eden’s awnings, blinking back the tears. ‘I’m not a person to you, your highness; I’m someone you’d like to snack on until the time comes for you to sink your teeth into a worthy, first-born, three course bride. It’s a biased way of thinking and an archaic one, and yet our kingdom’s laws support it, so how can someone as educated as you wonder why it’s upsetting to a girl like me?’ I tugged my hand free and hugged the book closer to my chest, knowing that my grip on it was the only thing preventing me from clawing his blind eyes out. ‘How can it surprise you at all, that I’ve come to hate the God who you claim supports my despair?’

I heard Karol breathe in sharply. ‘You can’t mean-’

‘And yet, I do,’ I said coldly, and began to walk away, shaking a little. Every time I said out loud that I was losing love for God, I began to believe it a little more, and grew that little bit more afraid of myself- of the potential evil that was lying dormant in my bloodstream.

‘You’re not going to fall, Larkin!’ Karol called after me but to my relief, did not give chase. ‘Our family won’t allow that to happen! You are too clever and ambitious, and mean too much to us-’

‘And the others?’ I whirled back and faced him across the courtyard, Miguel Barachiel’s cottage providing a scenic backdrop to our unhappy exchange. Idly, I wondered when that cabin- once so dear to Miguel- had become inadequate, for I knew they’d broken ground on it long before his death. Had he built himself palace because his family had expanded? Or because his sense of self-importance had? And most importantly, when had they put up walls to keep the ones deemed unequal out?

Karol’s brows pulled together. ‘What?’

I sighed and gestured inside. ‘The other girls? My equals?’ I was thinking of course, about the duchess’s escape plan, and the fact that it would help only me. ‘They’ve already fallen, Karol. Where was your family then?’ Tears formed in my eyes, blurring him. ‘Where was God when they were in need of assistance? Where is God right now, while kids as smart as I am are toiling away in mines, or sifting through wreckage?’ I held up my fingers and wriggled them. ‘Their brains are shrivelling up as their hands are, and yet here I am, getting expensive manicures that I don’t want while they live on rations! How is that right?’

Karol looked perplexed, even through my unfocused gaze. ‘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 and my-’

‘No, you don’t have to save anything, or anyone,’ I said honestly, holding up my book. ‘I’ve been reading books for happy endings and heroes, your highness, and they have softened the blow of reality for me enough for me to endure it and the manicures too. All I ask of you, is that you not try and convince me that my reality could feel like a fairy tale if I’d only succumb to your charms and turn a blind-eye to the equality lie.’

Karol took a step closer. ‘But that book doesn’t have a happy ending, little swan, and it’s a biography- not a fairy tale.’

‘I know,’ I smiled sadly. ‘Like you said: I’ll be eighteen soon, and it’s time that I grew up and faced facts…’ I tapped the book. ‘This is an Eden whore’s fairy tale... and you wanna know why?’

He didn’t look like he did, but with a pinched expression he said: ‘Why?’

I smiled and threw the book to the ground. ‘Because at least she got to know what it was like to have life growing inside her, if only for a minute. At least for one second- she got to be someone’s everything, which is a fate that no other Companion will ever know.’ I turned and began to walk away, but I’d only taken two steps before I remembered that the way I was lifting my chin was proud, and that I wasn’t supposed to antagonise him, so I dropped my chin back to my chest and settled for looking pathetic, rather than like I’d had the last word. It was fortunate that I did too, for I caught the scent of Kohén’s aftershave the moment I walked through the courtyard doors.

‘Larkin,’ he said coldly as he passed me by.

‘It’s duckling,’ I whispered in response, and then hurried on with my head bowed so low that my toga would catch my tears. I ran towards that harem; towards servitude, compliance and good behaviour, and away from Kohén’s cold stare and the undeniable proof that though he’d once convinced me otherwise, I’d never be everything to him.

Not like he still was to me, regardless of how hard I was trying to convince myself that a more angelic version of him that was his twin, would ever be good enough for a wicked girl like me.

*

I received a letter from Kohl two weeks after my return from Pacifica wrapped up inside a book called The Count Of Monte Cristo. It was long- seven pages long and so thick that I was glad that the palace staff had stopped opening my parcels from him years ago, for this book had a telling gap from the way he’d wedged it in, and the contents of the letter were damning for us both.

I read my letter again and again, certain that my eyes had deceived me the first few times through but no, his announcement was real: in less than a week, Kohl would be returning for his brother’s birthday, as Prime Minister Hartley’s travel companion! And going off the dating of the letter, he was probably on The Tempest already and sailing our way!

Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh- he’ll be here in just a few days! Oh…!

Taking so much of his annual leave in August meant that he wouldn’t get to come back at the end of the year, but according to the duchess’s plans, I could be in Pacifica with him by then anyway, and so I was first moved to tears with happiness, and then instantly relieved that I was feeling anything at all. In Pacifica, our connection had been intense, and yet since I’d returned, I’d been so distracted by the ghost of Kohén and Larkin past and worried about my father’s lingering spirit, that I’d been struggling to picture a future that included any joy at all. In fact, I’d been second-guessing my connection with Kohl, and wondering if perhaps I’d just exaggerated my feelings for him.

But having a fresh letter brought it all back. Okay so yes, he was a more accessible, less threatening version of the twin that I’d fallen in love with so there had definitely been a slight transference of affection… but it was his heart that that made the two stand apart and allowed him to stand taller in my eyes; it was his goodness that could resurrect mine.

But the second half of the letter was a little disheartening, and reminded me that I needed to save Kohl as much as I needed him to save me:

I don’t know how he’s done it, but I think Kohén has found a way to talk my father and Atticus Hartley out of letting me be crowned King of Pacifica for good. It’s all very secretive, but Kohén has apparently come up with a vision for this new little nation that has captured Atticus’s interest, only I have no way of knowing what it is until I get back there for neither father, nor Kohén have written to me to keep me in on the loop, and Atticus says he can’t really discuss anything yet because nothing’s in stone... But he gave me a sad look, you know? And it said: ‘Sorry kid, but I’m backing the horse with the highest odds, not the dark one.’

And as excited as I am for this voyage (or want to be), Atticus was grumbling that the crown would only permit me to attend the ball, and not his assistant Jovi... and that hurts! God, he and I were so close before father started coming out to Caldera all the time and singing Kohén’s praises! Now, thanks to Elijah the second, my general has obviously decided that I’m nought but a slave and would sooner have a jolly one along for company, over a noble one! Either that, or he’s just afraid that I’ll get into a mood and besiege The Tempest with an actual tempest!

But I can’t help the fact that it’s been raining around here a lot more, you know? I’m depressed, Larkin, and I don’t want you to think it’s because I put any serious hopes in ruling this place because as you know- my greatest wish is to be at your side and everything else is white noise in my soul meant to keep me distracted from going crazy missing you until we meet again. But… I sort of wish that Atticus had fought harder for me. Or Kohén- or father or mother… for just one person to declare proudly: ‘I choose him and you should too!’ and mean it, even if nothing eventuated of it. Because it’s terrifying to hit my age and realise that no one loves you or has complete faith in you- not enough to go out on a limb for you anyway- just because you were born eleven minutes later than someone else, and slightly flawed.

You and I have worried about who I would have become if I’d stayed, and… well, this may sound egotistical and sinful Larkin, but sometimes, I calculate the differences between my father and I, and think that maybe, if I’d stayed, I could have surpassed all of them. Kohén beat me by just a point and a half, after all- with all of his education and training! So what score would I have earned in his royal boots? Who could I have been, if I’d been born first?

I know that I have a temper and no I have not been educated half as thoroughly as Kohén has- but I’ve been here! I built most of the homes by hand, and I could establish guidelines to rule by not based on castes, but based on the fact that I know every person here by name! Why should a noble who has done nothing but attend a bunch of meetings rule what a noble with Blue Collar experience has built?

And it’s not just being overlooked that hurts, but left out of things completely! While you were in your bungalow recovering here, Kohén and Atticus went for a two-day sail without even telling me first to visit the other islands, and Atticus always asks me to go on those trips, for I speak the native tongue better than anyone! And though I didn’t mention it at the time, it wounded me deeply. I felt like I was the closest thing that Atticus had to a son, you know? Obviously not, if he can switch out one Barachiel for his matching bookend or a Hawaiian worker without a beat being lost!

In the end, I’m relieved that I won’t have to abdicate anything or piss my parents off or let the General down due to my ingratitude, but to be brutally honest, I never gave up on that dream of giving you everything, you know? I wanted to be your Rhett or your knight in shining armour. I wanted to have the power to abolish the Given caste for you, and to make you a queen, and the funding to find the best Nephilim healer alive to restore your fertility, and I am sorry, but it looks like I will fail you in those ways.

But I know that you love me anyway, and I cannot sleep at night for memories of what it was like to make love to my beautiful little flower… well, not for a while anyway. Then I stroke myself, remembering how it felt when you brushed your sweet petals against me, and I sleep deeply after, dreaming of the day when the queen of my heart will make me her king...’

I’m through with trying to please people or prove myself Kohén’s equal: You are all I need, and from now on, winning your hand will be my only goal.

It was late at night but I felt too expanded with emotion to stay in my elegant cell another second longer. I was flushed from Kohl’s sensual phrasing, guilt-stricken over the fact that he would never be able to claim his birthright when I had the power to announce the truth of his birth status publicly and change things, excited to see him- and terrified that I would be overcome when I did.

Oh God… How am I going to be around him without reaching for him? How am I going to look him in the eyes and convince him that he is safe in my love when I am not so sure that I have heart to give yet? And how am I going to be able to allow the duchess to free me with her power when we both know that the ‘right’ thing for me to do, is to confess the truth to Kohl about the fact that he’s the rightful heir, and let HIM determine what’s best for him? What if he DOES want to be King of Pacifica, more than he wants me? How can he know otherwise? And who are she or I to decide on his behalf? How can I just stand idly by while he throws his ambitions out the window and waits patiently to catch me? I mean… would I give up my dreams of farming and freedom for him…?

I was in my satin negligee, but it was the modest sort with a straight neckline that reached my shins, so I threw on the matching robe, stuffed my letter under my pillow and let myself out the window, padding my way across the frosty-wet lawn in slippers, which absorbed more moisture with every step. But I welcomed the cold against my overheated skin, so I ran until I got to Lady Liberty to generate more of a breeze, and sank down on the (new) marble steps beneath her feet, resting my head against the one above me, and looking up at her face from sixty feet below. Once upon a time, I knew that she’d thrust her torch over three hundred feet into the air, but her new foundation was considerably wider and stouter than the last, so that people could actually touch her feet if permitted to without having to scale her old, fractured pedestal.

‘Do you know that you’re the closest thing I have to a mother figure now?’ I asked her wryly, my eyes skating over the scratched and chaffed patina coating her once coppery surface, and silently acknowledging the fact that her very presence in Eden was a miracle of sorts, because had it not been for a few care-taking Nephilim over the centuries, she would have collapsed hundreds of years ago- if not during Armageddon, then after due to natural causes.

The Nephilim can do so much good! And yet, God was the reason why she suffered for so long and needed such help… how am I to have faith that life will work out for Kohl and I, when it took magic and several miracles to preserve an existence as important to the world, as Liberty’s is? I am insignificant in comparison!

‘Since Lindy left I’ve been so lonely…’ I closed my eyes. ‘I don’t mean to feel sorry for myself. I mean, I know that there are many girls in this world who have to live without maternal affection too… but they probably have girlfriends, or fathers or husbands to fill the void, you know? But I don’t even have a best friend anymore, not since Kohén and Kelia betrayed me together...’ I wiped a tear from the corner of my eye. ‘I need someone to talk to, and you’re the only person that I can trust to not repeat what I say. I know, I know... the duchess has been nicer lately so I’m not completely an island, but she honestly believes that I am wicked, so talking to her can make me feel worse… and the fact that I can’t sleep at night for my guilty consciences isn’t exactly an argument to her contrary, is it?’ I sniffled. ‘But I don’t mean to be wicked, Liberty! I don’t want to be beautiful or tempting, and right now, I’d give anything to be stupid and unremarkable so I wouldn’t feel all of this, or had ever hoped for more...’ I slumped onto my elbows and blinked up at her. ‘Oh… how I wish Kohl had never sent me those romance novels! I was fine before I read those, you know? I had all that I needed of Kohén to myself, and did not need anything more! But then… then I had to go fall in love with him and hope for things... and now- now I’m so conflicted, and I don’t know what to do!’ I dropped my face and wept onto my forearms for a few minutes, picturing what it would feel to tell Kohl the truth now that the temptation to do that had reared its ugly head yet again, and to watch Kohén fall through a third-born crack as he ought to have done in the beginning. True to Stockholm-syndrome form, my lungs constricted with fright.

He’d be disinherited, probably… sent off to Caldera, dressed in commoners clothes, be deprived of the rest of his education until he turns twenty-one… God, how could he endure such a blunt existence, with a mind that has been sharpened to a point like a pencil lead? No more training. No more travelling. No purpose… no fallback plan...

But... he’d be forbidden from interacting with girls privately for the next four years, just like Kohl will be if he remains the off-cut, which is deserved, and could be character-building for him, I guess... But what about Kohl? Will they give him a new harem full of girls? Oh, hell no I couldn’t watch that happen... not that I would have to though- because I’d be sent packing too and would very likely never see him again...

Though I should have welcomed some of those for instances after what Kohén had put me through, and how desperately I longed for freedom for me and justice for Kohl- the very idea of hurting my former best friend, even to help his kind-hearted twin, made me feel cold all over- so cold that my tears felt like boiling water in comparison as they slid down my icy cheeks.

God, it’s hopeless, isn’t it? There’s nothing I can do to help one cause, that won’t hurt another!

I looked up at Liberty again and shook my head, thinking of how much simpler the world would be if I’d never made that damning deal with Karol, or if I at least had some guarantee that Kohén would keep his hands off me and his promise until I was released. ‘I never needed to be his swan, you know? I was the happiest girl in the world when I was his duckling. Now I’m nothing to him and though I know that shouldn’t matter… even though I know I should be doing nought but praying to escape this place, I’ll never be able to shake the fact that it’s all my fault.’ I sniffled. ‘How can I hate him, or act hatefully towards him, when I know that if I’d had faith in us or him or even me, I could be living a fairy tale right now? Not a conventional one of course, but why did I care about how it looked from the outside so much, when I knew how right it felt when it was just he and I?’ I sniffled again. ‘And even if I’m released a virgin, how am I going to ever love anyone else, or kiss them or be taken to bed… with the ghost of what could have been with Kohén haunting me like this? I mean… I can’t, can I? I’m… I’m still his.’ I closed my eyes and clawed at my chest, thinking of Kohl’s sweetness. ‘Oh… I want so much to be happy and to feel safe, but Kohén is… he’s… I miss him so much, Liberty! And I don’t know if I’m hurting this much because I miss my friend, or if it’s because he’s my everything.’

The sharp inhalation made my head snap up and twist to the right and in the direction that the sound had come from, and when I saw Kohén step out from behind Liberty’s left side with his head bowed and his hand pressed to his chest, every cell in my body pulsed with alarm. I’d not made my confession to the earthly representation of freedom- but to the boy holding me captive!

‘Oh God…’ I murmured, panic kicking in before I could sift through any of my thoughts and separate what I’d just said out loud, to what I’d only thought. ‘I-’

‘Not another word…’ Kohén rasped before I could form a sentence. ‘I can’t bear it.’

Alarm was rapping at my brain like a woodpecker against a frosted pine. What couldn’t he bear to hear? Oh no! Had I said Kohl’s name aloud? Had I spoken of my unfaithfulness? ‘Oh... your highness!’ A million questions came to mind, but the most obvious one escaped: ‘What are you doing out here?!’

‘Your highness?’ Kohén wheezed the word, bowing slightly more, and curled his fingers into the black silk cloth over his heart. ‘Is that who I am to you now…?’ He shook his head, staring down at his boots. ‘Larkin…’ he bent on one knee and squeezed his eyes shut. ‘You wound me.’

I stared at him, bewildered, not knowing what I could say without incriminating myself further. And... I wounded HIM? He wasn’t the one talking to a statue because he had nobody else to turn to!

Keep calm and THINK. What did you say, and what did you only think?

‘I come out here every night, hoping that you will find me here…’ he began in a fractured monotone, and I exhaled in relief to realise that he was going to steer this conversation and save me from having to do it blind. ‘After all that transpired in Pacifica, I can’t ethically command you to seek me out, but I have hoped…’ he leaned against Liberty and opened his eyes, staring in the direction of my knees with a glazed, unfocused look. ‘I hoped you’d come. I’d hoped you’d sense me here and be unable to resist doing so. Which was what I thought had happened until you started to talk to your…mother.’ His voice cracked, and he pressed his thumb to his forehead. ‘You have no mother…God. You’re alone, and I left you there- I am a monster.’

I filled my lungs with a surprised breath, and felt my dormant adoration for my playmate shift and warm. But I remained as I was, waiting for him to scream or storm off or burst into tears or call me a traitor. ‘I… I don’t know what to say,’ I admitted feebly. ‘Or if I should say anything further at all…?’

Kohén shook his head. ‘There is nothing to say, not now. Nothing I can stand to hear from you. I…’ he cupped his forehead again and shook his head. ‘I will not ask you to forgive me for what you saw in Pacifica, Larkin, because I have not forgiven myself yet so I cannot expect you to...’

‘No,’ I said icily, to cover my relief and because well, his reminder of his orgy left me cold. I slowly unwound and straightened. ‘You cannot.’

‘I know,’ Kohén’s voice was rough. ‘And, I am still very, very angry with you for sabotaging what I thought was true love with your doubt... But…’

‘But…?’ I asked, feeling as though he were speaking in riddles.

But... who cares? You obviously didn’t confess to your feelings for Kohl out loud, and that’s all that matters! And as a bonus, you now know that Kohén’s been more miserable then he’s let on, so take the moral high ground and get the hell inside with it before he does something to-

Kohén rushed forward and closed his arms around me, bending to rest his forehead on my shoulder while tightening his arms so much that I could barely breathe, though I desperately wanted to gulp him in the moment I caught his scent. He’d gotten both taller and broader too!

Oh… this boy makes me so weak! Why? I should be slapping him! I should be screaming! I should be… be...

‘I said I’d never look at you with love or lust in my eyes again, so long as you remained a prisoner here,’ my prince whispered, and his hand clawed down the back of my scalp, pressing his fingers into me. He was trembling like mad and glowing so brightly that my white silk was stained Robin’s Egg blue by his emotions. ‘So don’t make me a liar now who has broken another promise to you, by looking into my eyes and seeing what I will never, ever be able to hide from you if you do!’ He twisted as he released me roughly and then strode away, and I hugged myself and watched him go, crying and hating myself for my stupid, foolish heart.

I loved him still, and I always would, and as hard as I’d tried to hide it from myself, I could not any longer. I was Miguel now, except instead of sharing my body, I was sharing my heart and that was worse and meant, I knew, that I couldn’t truly be in love with either twin. Sobbing, I slipped the ring off my left hand and back onto my right.

I am wicked, and the only way to stop being wicked, is to stop doing wicked things… like leading boys on with hopes of a future that cannot be banked on...

It was decided. I couldn’t betray Kohén for Kohl, or give in to my feelings for Kohén for my sake or Kohl’s- so I would have to find a way to be friends with both again, and enemy and lover to neither. Maybe if I could pull that off, both boys would have what they truly needed by the end of the year: a brother who supported them, and a female best friend that they could share, who’d earned herself a handful of white feathers to counteract her darkness and very possibly her freedom.

When I got back to my room, I collected all of my letters from Kohl and stuffed them into the shoebox with my deflated soccer ball, and the letter from my brother.

That was where all of my dreams belonged- in a coffin until liberty could resurrect them.

24.

AUGUST 16th AA644

The week of Karol’s thirtieth celebrations came upon us quickly and though my heart soared at the sight of watching Kohl disembark The Tempest beneath us on the dock, I kept my word to myself to end our romance before it could ruin him, and did not attempt to get him alone, knowing it would be harder to disentangle myself if I felt his arms around me first.

But he looked incredible enough to make my hormones sizzle for him, and when our eyes met across the throne room the first night he arrived, I saw the longing in my heart reflected in his eyes. He kissed his necklace to express his affection, but I touched my ring and bit my lip without kissing it, making the fact that I was distressed over our bond clear. He looked confused as his gaze swept from my left hand to my right, but the staff came out to seat us for dinner then and his uncle, Ewan, came over to talk to him while I was led to my seat, so there was no chance to get into it any further than that, for which I was grateful- and then again when he was seated a few chairs away from me and across the table. I could look at him, but because there were so many people around us, we would be forced to keep those looks furtive.

And we did- all five hundred looks we shot each other were brief, but every time the breeze blew his scent my way, my heart constricted in my chest. Coconuts, salt, vanilla and warmth. How was I going to eat a bite, while I was already engorged with his delicious scent?

It’s just hormones… it’s lust, not love. Affection, not devotion. You’re a confused, lonely teenage girl, and he’s a lonely teenage boy. If what you have is real, then acting on your urges will ruin it, and resisting them cannot do anything but strengthen your bond! True love cannot be lost! And it cannot exist within a conflicted heart like yours either, so remember that and rise above!

‘How are you this evening, Larkin?’ Kohén asked at one point, without looking up at me from his steak. It had been only a few days since we’d spoken last and since he’d made the fact that he still cared for me clear, but we hadn’t interacted since, so having all of the other Companions and Kohl present now, made it feel like Caldera, and his betrayal, had only just happened,

‘I am very good, your highness,’ I said softly, taking a sip of my champagne to soothe my nerves. ‘Thank you for asking.’

He wiped his mouth with a napkin. ‘I have been meaning to ask something else …’ he swallowed and then glanced at my wrist- not my eyes. ‘Would you like to play a game of Basket-Racket with me sometime this week?’

Basket-Racket? Where had that come from? I struggled to keep my expression flat. ‘You have a very busy week ahead of you, your highness,’ I reminded him. ‘We all do. I imagine that you’ll find it difficult, trying to fit a game of Basket-Racket into your schedule, along with the parade, the flower show, the ball, the sunset sail the-’ his hand came down on mine, and his charge made my nerve endings shiver.

‘I’ll make time,’ he said softly, and I did not doubt it. ‘I want something to feel… normal, again.’

Normal. Oh God, how I miss when playing with Kohén was normal and not dangerous or painful!

I turned my face and smiled gently. ‘Then I would like that very much,’ I said, though my stomach was already knotting up at the idea of being alone with him. But when Kohén’s head dipped and his lashes lowered in a clear show of relief, my heart warmed so I added: ‘Thank you.’

‘No, thank you,’ he patted my hand and lifted his eyes to mine, and I felt my tummy tighten. ‘Wow, that was more nerve-wracking than facing down Regan with-’

‘Hey Kohén…?’ Kelia leaned around him and smiled scornfully at me, and I felt my own dissolve. ‘Have I thanked you yet for my new bracelet?’ she held up her tiny wrist and jangled charms in front of Emmerly’s nose, and I swore that I could hear Kohén groan under his breath. ‘It’s so beautiful! Do you know that Amelia-Rose Choir has one just like it? That Janelian countess told me so herself!’

My eyes swept back to my plate and I moved my hand from Kohén’s, and it was odd, but I actually felt a shift in the energy between us, as though Kelia’s blatant reminder of his wrong-doings had thrown up an invisible wall between us again- not one of charge, but of static. Shame on his side, anger on mine.

Ugh… his smile melts me, but his actions make my blood boil! How am I ever going to feel ‘normal’ around this guy again, while Kelia’s around, reminding me of why I should despise him and while Kohl’s sitting there, looking all perfect and pure and sexy?

‘Which she’ll take off as soon as she learn that a Companion has one similar,’ Emmerly muttered from across from me, ‘stuck up bitch that she is…’ She looked up at Karol. ‘Where is she, anyway? I thought she was going to be a VIP this week?’

‘She and her father were delayed by the rain down south… we can still expect them by Thursday but, I think…’ Karol said, sounding unenthusiastic, and I wondered if either of his parents were pushing for him to marry young Amelia-Rose, who both he and Kohén despised. According to both men, the Choir girl managed to be both a prude and a terrible flirt.

‘Batten the hatches,’ Adeline muttered. ‘Cyclone pious is about to strike!’

I looked up at Adeline and smirked- I’d heard many things about Amelia-Rose Choir, and none of them were good. But I wasn’t dreading her arrival, like the others. In fact, I was kind of excited for it. Not so much because of her though, but because her father, Shepherd Choir, was one of the most celebrated men in Arcadian history, and I was looking forward to that Thursday night, when he was slotted to host a special service in Karol’s honour. He’d risen from the Blue Collars to nobility and then to Sheperdom, and he’d adopted to boot after his wife had passed before giving him a child of his own, so that was inspirational to me. The world has said to him: ‘You can’t be a father’ but he’d come up with a rebuttal. So if a man could do that, was it such a stretch to hope that a woman could do the same?

‘You girls don’t have to worry about her giving you a hard time,’ Kohén said, nudging his fingertip against mine again. ‘There are too many of you here in Eden- she won’t launch into one of her sexual ethics sermons among such diverse company, or bother with approaching any of you to minister her useless advice.’ He hooked his pinkie around mine and whispered: ‘You she’ll avoid especially, given your lack of adornments…’

My lack of adornments doesn’t count for anything good, so long as the other four have them, and don’t YOU forget that...

‘Huh.’ I tossed my champagne back hard and closed my eyes, wondering how we were going to make it through a game of Basket-Racket when just sitting beside him for a meal was making me more of a basket case than sitting next to Karol, who was at the head of the table to my right- was.

It was a strange seating arrangement but as I gazed around the faces of the important guests, I realised that the Companions had been arranged like white, nubile, flirtatious roses in a VIP vase; purposefully placed near the more liberal-minded nobles and away from the married types up the furthest end. We weren’t dining- we were being showcased and it was beyond creepy. Poor Lette was stuck on the other side of Elbert Yael, which was even worse than being stuck next to Karol like I was.

Adeline and I had been sat to flank the crowned prince on either side, with Kohén next to me, and Kohl next to Adeline. Emmerly was to Kohén’s left, and Kelia beside her, and though she was clearly annoyed to be seated one seat away from him, she continued to steer the conversation back towards her, and her jewels, by holding out everything to Kohén to remind him of how much she adored them. Obviously, this was done to remind me of how much he adored her as well, and to make sure that Emmerly didn’t escape the fact that she would soon be eclipsed as Kohén’s ‘favourite,’ Kelia made it a point to thrust her scrawny little arm between Emmerly and her meal every single time she brought everyone’s attention back to her adornments.

‘I have almost as many pieces of gold as you already,’ Kelia purred at one point when Kohén got up to use the bathroom. ‘Nine to your ten! Isn’t that something?’

Emmerly held up her golden fork and said: ‘Put your elbow in my food one more time, Kelia, and you will have a tenth imbedded in your arm and be on par with me,’ which made everybody laugh and Kelia roll her eyes.

‘Jealousy’s a curse…’ she whispered in a singsong way.

‘Noble girls have more manners than jewels,’ Emmerly sang back. ‘Once upon a time you knew that…’ she moved her napkin to her lips and whispered: ‘Before you were fucked senseless- and classless- that is...’

I almost spat out my wine and across from her, Elfin (the only other person to have heard it) got up to use the bathroom as well with a hand clapped over her mouth.

At least she’s got a work ethic… nine times in five weeks! Ouch! Um.. I think… ugh, don’t think about it, little bird!

Kelia’s antics were aggravating and sitting beside Kohén and across from Kohl was nerve-wracking, but it was oddly the guest of honour who kept me the most distracted during the meal. Karol had been in a quiet mood all week and though he’d tried to hide it, it was pretty clear that he was nervous about something, and when I saw him reading a very wrinkled piece of paper under the table, I leaned over to get a better look at it and saw the words: ‘Salutations, people of Arcadia, it is with great honour and a humbled heart that I…’ I realised what had him so flummoxed.

‘Is that your speech for tomorrow afternoon?’ I asked him, needing to talk to someone so I wouldn’t have to listen to Kelia and Emmerly’s attempts to out-flirt one another for a red-faced Kohén’s pleasure. Okay so Karol and I weren’t exactly on great terms, but he seemed nervous and that pleased me, so I pried.

Karol glanced up at me with two bright splashes of colour in his cheeks, and folded in quickly and pocketed it. ‘Yes, erm… just going over…’

‘It looks like you have gone over it often,’ I said with a knowing smile as I placed my desert spoon into the clean bowl and pushed it away from me, before resting my hands on top of my crossed knees. While dining, Companions were expected to sit tall and when we were finished eating, had to create a little bowl out of our upturned palms precisely halfway down our thigh. Once upon a time it had felt completely unnatural but now, I did it without thinking in mixed company and hated myself for it. ‘Surely you can take a break from it to enjoy your own party?’

Karol nodded with a half-smile and then turned to answer something that Adeline had asked of him, and I realised that they were discussing Bastien Birch because evidently, Karol had taken the book I’d thrown at him in the courtyard to his ‘fencing’ match with Adeline after, and she’d taken an interest and had read it since- proving that her mind was as active as her niece’s had been, even though her nails and hair were as highly maintained as Emmerly’s. Right then, Adeline and Karol and a few others seemed to be debating whether or not Birch had been a dark Nephilim, who had seduced his young companion against her will, and whether or not he was still out there, more than eighty years later.

‘The girl never said that he did it against her will- she said that she loved him,’ Karol said, though without his usual enthusiasm for a good debate. ‘And I remember how amorous you were at thirteen, Miss Adeline… were I as handsome as Bastien you probably would have broken the rules and jumped me pre-emptively-’

‘You are twice as handsome as the paintings that I have seen of Bastien Birch!’ Adeline scoffed.

‘Really?’ I couldn’t help but take the bait. ‘I read he was angelic looking, and there’s nothing even remotely angelic about Karol.’

‘Gee… thanks…’ Karol deadpanned, but shot me a quick sideways smile as though agreeing that yes, he was a scoundrel- and damn proud of it!

‘No, Karol’s definitely the dark-prince sort,’ Adeline mused. ‘But I much prefer brunet men to the northern ones.’ She squeezed his hand on the tabletop and smiled. ‘Still, I managed to restrain myself until we were sixteen, didn’t I?’

‘Sixteen and one hour,’ he muttered, and she giggled while my champagne threatened to repeat on me.

‘Still, I say that he was a Nephilim,’ she insisted, and I smiled wryly to think of how Martya, her blood-kin, would have stood up and pounded on the table in her need to make a counter-point about how the dark Nephilim were probably extinct.

Yeah but then again, this was eighty years ago… maybe they weren’t so extinct then...

‘Wasn’t Bastien Birch castrated?’ Kohl asked, raising an eyebrow and drawing my gaze once more.

‘He was,’ Karol said. ‘Why?’

Kohl made a pained face. ‘Well, dark Nephilim or not, I very much doubt that he made it through the night on the other side of the fence, let alone eighty years!’

‘Because it would hurt that much?’ Emmerly asked, looking intrigued.

‘No.’ Kohl winked at Kohén. ‘Because a Nephilim who couldn’t fuck would probably kill himself, right? From what I’ve heard, you two can’t make it a week!’

It was a shocking joke, but we all laughed- all except for Kohén, who gave his brother a Look. I’d only just finished reading the Birch biography, and wanted to weigh in on it and ask if they believed that Bastien truly had come from the north as the rumours said, and if he’d gone there after and was still haunting the north in a dark Nephilim ghostly way- but the conversation swerved at the mention of the north, and suddenly, they were discussing the possibility of flying over it that coming December and so, I tuned out, not wanting anyone to see how the segue rankled me. Not only because I was still annoyed that Kohén had excluded me from what promised to be an exciting trip, but because I planned on escaping while they were gone, and didn’t want a tell-tale flush to grace my cheeks in front of them all. God, what if Kohén tried to make things right by me, by asking me to go along after all?

Oh no! He might do exactly that if we get back to ‘normal’ as he hopes! Ugh! I’ll have to pretend to be afraid of flying or something, won’t I?

But before I could allow myself to panic over one more for-instance, I saw Karol’s hand move into his pocket again to pull the paper out, and I leaned over and put my hand on his knee beneath the table cloth. He was so in his own head that his knee bounced and smacked the underside of the table, almost squashing my hand, and I laughed and withdrew it as he stuttered an apology.

‘Stop it,’ I said to him, keeping my voice low. ‘No one wants to hear a memorised speech, okay?’

He frowned at me. ‘What do you know about giving speeches?’

‘Nothing. But I know a lot about hearing them and there is nothing worse than someone droning on and on as though he’s reading from his own mind like a textbook rather than speaking it.’

He leaned toward me, propping his chin up on his hand. ‘I know,’ he said, sounding weary. ‘I hate that too. But I have some really important things to say and I don’t know how they’ll go over, and I don’t want to look like an idiot or forget anything.’

‘In front of all of your potential brides?’ I teased. Even if he’d written off the idea of marrying Amelia-Rose Choir years ago, there were still going to be plenty of women arriving in Arcadia that week, hoping to woo him out of a crown!

‘Well, knowing there are a bunch of women in the crowd who are expecting me to live up to fantasies that I have no interest in living up to adds to the overall pressure of course, but it’s not just that.’ Karol smiled good-naturedly. ‘I mean, aside from Kohén’s birthday party, I’ve never given a public address before, you know? And it’s such an instrumental factor in proving oneself to be a good potential leader.’ He frowned suddenly, leaning closer. ‘I know you’ll speak candidly: What did you think of my birthday toast?’

I smirked at him. ‘I didn’t hear it- I’d been sent to my room by this one-’ I inclined my head toward Kohén. ‘But I heard that it was funny and moving from a few people, if that counts.’

Karol looked back down at his lap, then scratched his new permanent ten o’clock shadow. ‘I’m nervous, Larkin. Really nervous. I’m afraid I’ll have to be drunk to even walk up to the podium.’

‘There’s a podium involved?’ I feigned a yawn and covered my mouth. ‘Sounds thrilling.’

He cocked his head. ‘What would you have me do? Frolic across the common?

‘No,’ I said, chuckling. ‘But you should ditch the podium. When you’re telling a story at service, you move around a bit, and because you’re usually so excited about what you’re telling us, you keep us engaged- and everyone turns their head to follow you.’

He blinked greenly at me. ‘I do that?’

‘You do,’ I smiled, remembering all of the times that Karol had put his two cents worth into the services and had ended up stealing Shep’s thunder. ‘I think you learned it from watching Shep because he does the same thing only he sort of sits and uses his arms a lot.’ I cleared my throat. ‘Anyway, the point is that if you stand still, you’re going to feel stiff and wrong off the bat, and if you move around, you’ll know how well you’re doing by seeing if the heads are turning to track your movements.’ I wagged an idle finger as an idea occurred to me. ‘In fact, you should ask for a cordless microphone to be arranged for you tonight, so you don’t get stuck at a stand anyway and maybe then you’ll just move naturally.’ I reached over and snatched the paper from his lap. ‘And get rid of this.’

‘Hey!’ he tried to snatch it back, and genuine panic crossed his face. ‘That’s private until it’s public!’

I rolled my eyes. ‘Fine,’ I folded the paper in two then tore it, then tore it again and then, I stuffed it into his untouched champagne flute, watching the inky black scrawl dilate. His mouth fell open, but I bumped my foot against his under the table and smiled at him. ‘Cheers, and get over it. And know that if I see you pull another out tomorrow, you can forget about being embarrassed by giving a poor speech, because people won’t be talking about anything but the Companion who crash tackled you in public to spare herself a fifteen-minute long snore-fest.’

Karol grabbed his glass and stared forlornly into it. ‘I can’t believe you did that! I’ve been working on that for two weeks!’

‘Then you should thank me then for stopping it from taking two weeks and one day.’ But he still looked mad so I sighed and rested my hand on his wrist. ‘Karol? Stop it. I’m not trying to sabotage you here, okay? You are a wonderful natural speaker. It comes to you like surfing to Kohl, and singing to Kohén.’ I squeezed his hand. ‘Go out there and be your funny, eloquent self, and speak half from your head and half from your heart because no one wants to hear too much from either, leave out the disgusting innuendo- and your people will adore you.’

‘You don’t adore me,’ he groused, looking down at my hand sullenly. ‘Every word that comes out of my mouth seems to piss you off.’

‘That’s because your flirtations disgust me.’ I patted his hand when I saw this thumb twitch to rub against my skin, reclined back in my seat and smiled brightly. ‘So like I said: don’t flirt and you’ll ace this.’ Across from me, Adeline tittered and though Karol rolled his eyes, there was a pleased curve to his lips. ‘Oh and please leave your clothes on. After all, it’s going to be chilly and you’d hate to underwhelm everyone the way you did me that time.’

He gave me a scathing look, but I narrowed my eyes back in imitation and eventually, he chuckled. ‘Thanks for the advice. But for the record…’ he leaned forward and rested his hand on my knee which was a very different experience from when I’d touched his, because my knee was bare and his fingers squeezed slowly but gently before he finished with: ‘That’s six.’

‘What’s six?’ Kohén asked from beside me in a casual tone, and I felt the hand on my knee freeze just as Karol’s green, and suddenly glowing eyes locked on mine.

I almost swallowed my tongue in fear. Not because Kohén was very likely about to cause a scene if he realised that Karol was flirting with me, but because when Karol had rested his hand on my leg, I’d felt it somewhere else- and by the look of pleased surprise that had just fluttered behind Karol Barachiel’s eyes, I knew that he knew it too.

Smiling, he slipped his hand up my leg and caressed my sensitive flesh with a suddenly overheated hand, and I felt a sweat break out along my spine as my lips parted around a startled, aroused gasp. The lust rolled over me like a tsunami of tingling sensations, and though I wanted to push his manipulative, magical hand away, I didn’t. I couldn’t have anyway, without drawing more attention to the fact hat he was privately copping a feel while delivering an unsolicited thrill.

Did he just use his fucking voodoo on me in public? I’ll KILL him!

I could barely think to do anything, but I did manage one smart move- I put down my champagne and swore off it for life, just as Karol’s hand retreated from beneath the white cloth and took up his ruined champagne glass.

‘Oh nothing… he said demurely to his brother. ‘Larkin’s just given me some advice for my speech, and it’s not the first time that she’s helped me out so, which makes it the sixth good turn I’m going to have to do her in gratitude for her candour.’

‘The best good turn you can do her, is to remind Maryah that you two aren’t supposed to be seated beside one another while dining,’ Kohén said, sounding annoyed and moving his chair closer to mine.

Karol raised an eyebrow. ‘Why? Larkin and I get along just fine now, don’t we little swan?’ he leaned on the table, closer to me, and I felt my cheeks heat. ‘In fact, we’ve had quite a few chats lately- since you’ve been, erm, distracted- and now that we’ve gotten to the core of her issues with me, I have high hopes that someday soon, I’ll be able to win both her trust and her companionship.’

Huh? We got to the core of what now?! All I remember is rubbing God in your face and slithering away with my tail between my legs!

‘Companionship?’ Kohén asked through gritted teeth before I could articulate my own question, and Karol chuckled.

‘By the dictionary’s definition of the word, little brother- not Arcadia’s, and it troubles me that you’d suspect otherwise.’ He winked at me. ‘Paranoid, isn’t he?’

I stared at him, open-mouthed. With performances like THIS, what did he expect? I wanted to throttle him for putting a spotlight on me at all!

‘So long as paranoia is all it is, and not accuracy…’ Kohén grumbled, and I realised that Kohl was now looking our way and listening intently with a frown on his perfect face to match Kohén’s.

Oh god… I’d duck under the table to hide, but that would only make things worse!

‘Well, it is. I have no intention of collaring your little swan.’ Karol sought out Adeline’s hand and pressed a kiss to it. ‘I like my women willing and excitable.’

‘And pliable and dishonest,’ Adeline agreed, reaching for the champagne bottle and pouring him another glass. ‘Prone to flattery, not tough love.’

‘Precisely,’ Karol said, winking at me. ‘If you’d been gifted to me, I’d be huddled in your empty room and rocking myself in the foetal position by now.’

I arched an eyebrow, not certain if he was lying through his teeth, or making it clear that he only wanted me the one, willing time.

Kohén rested his arm across the back of my chair and snickered, and I stiffened. ‘I guess that’s what separates the boys from the seventeen-year-olds, huh?’ he drawled, tickling my shoulder and I stiffened. Across from me, Kohl’s eyes flashed a brilliant, unmistakable blue and locked on Kohén’s, and I was overcome with seasickness again, just like that!

‘And what would that be?’ Kohl asked dryly.

‘The ability to handle a strong woman.’

I didn’t know why he’d imply that he had any sort of control over me, but it was such a ridiculous and blatantly untrue declaration, that I snorted without meaning to and next to me, Karol practically swallowed his lips to keep in a guffaw or a sarcastic counterpoint. Kohl’s eyes brightened again, but with glee.

‘What’s the matter with you?’ Kohén demanded of me, sounding indignant and embarrassed, and the very squeak in his voice pushed me over the edge because it was too boyish to follow such a masculine statement and I’d had far too much to drink.

I slapped for my napkin and pressed it to my face mumbling: ‘Allergies, sorry,’ but then Adeline let a half-giggle gasp into her champagne glass and I actually felt Kohén’s body temperature heat exponentially as he looked around, doing the math on how many people were looking away and trying not to laugh.

‘You don’t have any allergies!’ he snapped.

‘Yes she does, remember Big Kahuna?’ Kohl asked, and then nodded to my shoulder. ‘Your golden watch is against her neck, and she’s clearly having a reaction, so you should probably move your arm… before someone removes it for you.’ He glanced over at Emmerly and Kelia and mused: ‘or maybe it’s just how close she’s sitting next to the girls who you do have control of… and often, by the looks of it.’ He frowned quizzically at Kohén. ‘Actually that’s a good point- you’ve clearly been having a lot of sex- so why are you still so tense? Are you sure that you’re doing it right?’

There should have been stunned silence in response to Kohl’s blatant disrespect and Karol should have been the one to pull him up on it- but Emmerly was one of the ones who ought to have taken the most offence, so when she clapped her hand to her mouth to conceal a giggle, and Karol dropped his head onto the tabletop hard and almost howled with laughter- everybody cracked up while I gaped at my grinning secret paramour in shock.

‘It’s not fucking funny,’ Kohén groused, standing up, but that just made everyone laugh harder. He looked down at me and demanded: ‘Are you happy to see them laughing at my expense?’

‘At his expense!’ Elfin hooted, covering her mouth too late and pointing at the girls across from her. ‘That’s you two! We’ll name you ‘Cha,’ and ‘Ching!’

Emmerly howled with laughter and almost bowed into her mousse, and it occurred to me that I was not the only one who had had far too much to drink, and a giggle escaped from my lips. Kohén glared at me, hearing that tiny sound over the din, and that made me snort-giggle again and look away. Honestly! He was entitled to feel nothing but confident, and yet he was the most insecure boy I’d ever met!

‘I don’t get it…’ Kelia said, looking around dubiously, and that made everyone laugh harder, me especially. I was trying to wipe at my tears but then Adeline leaned over and hissed:

‘We’ll call that one ba-boom-boom ching!’ and I actually threw my head back so hard that I hit my neck on the back of my chair.

‘Ow!’ I hooted, and Karol rubbed my neck, healing me with a hit of warmth. ‘Thanks.’

‘It’s how I handle strong women,’ he teased, ‘healing them after they hurt themselves while mocking me!’ and we all cracked up again.

‘Enough!’ Kohén protested, looking around in terror. ‘Everyone is staring!’

‘Then sit down, and don’t be such a wet blanket,’ I gasped out, taking his hand and yanking him back down- remembering suddenly that as his Companion and the only one with my wits about me, it was my job to handle my flummoxed prince. ‘Finish your delicious chocolate mousse and learn to laugh at yourself so no one else has to do it for you.’

Kohén sighed, but lifted his spoon and wagged it at me. ‘Fine, but we’re having words later concerning your allergies, young lady.’

‘When she gives you the command to speak, you mean?’ Kohl asked, and when Karol actually fell off his chair after swinging around to deflect his guffaw to the wall behind him, Kohén made an annoyed sound, pushed back his seat again and marched off, and we all fell about laughing so hard that the tablecloth shifted, spilling Karol’s fresh wine onto it, which was just the next most hilarious thing ever.

Everyone at the opposite end of the table was staring at us as though we were a pack of wild hyenas ruining their dignified meal, but where most of them looked baffled or half-amused, the duchess was giving me a: ‘Now you’ve done it!’ look that made me want to roll my eyes. Karol and Kohén had clearly started this, and if Kohén’s inability to take a joke made me wicked, then I was in good and matching company because even Shep and Elijah’s brother, Ewan Barachiel, was laughing by then!

‘Well done, your royal smart-arse!’ Adeline teased the boy behind her. ‘He’ll not ‘speak’ to any of us for a week now!’

‘Nah...’ Emmerly drawled, glancing over her shoulder and then to me, giving me a wink. ‘Odds are that he’s coming back with a pair of Larkin’s slippers or a rolled-up newspaper, if not both.’

We were goners after that, and Adeline and I collapsed onto the tabletop and laughed, clinging to each other’s arms like the drowning women we were who had been offered one precious gasp of oxygen. I lifted my face to hers, and her eyes were so like Martya’s that my heart seized up. I whispered:

‘I miss her.’

‘So do I.’ Adeline’s dancing eyes sobered. ‘But she’s free of this life, which would be a victory in itself for a girl like her…like you.’ She took my fingers in hers and kissed them briefly. Her nails were painted with spirals of colours, her skin was milky and soft, her red hair was perfectly coiffed and decorated with a white feather clasp, and she was a vision. But the most beautiful thing about her was the fact that she was perfectly okay with who she was: a Companion, and a damned good one. She glowed from within.

I sighed, not knowing what to say. Adeline was my polar opposite, living the life I feared like a nightmare, and yet- she was five times happier than I was. My heart twisted- could that have been me, if I’d accepted the fact that I needed Kohén more than I needed anything else, instead of fighting what may have been my true fate? Was it really Martya that I was more like, not her aunt?

‘I’ve never asked what happened to her, because I’ve always known somehow that you would work it out and tell me if there was anything portentous to know.’ Adeline glanced at Karol fondly before looking back at me with that same, sad smile. ‘But I do not believe that Karol was involved Larkin- in my heart, I know that he is a good man.’

I darted my gaze to Karol, who was still getting off the floor, and it was hard not to giggle in response to his adorable indignity, even while his mother’s caution about how the Barachiel’s could charm us brainless rolled about inside my head. ‘And if he was involved in her death?’ I couldn’t help but ask as my inner Martya rose to the surface once again. It didn’t matter which companion I was more like- it mattered that out of the three of us, one had very possibly been assassinated, and I couldn’t allow myself to forget that. Especially not if Adeline was counting on me to get to the bottom of it all!

‘Well, I got a ninety-nine in combat my last time around, and Rosa Barachiel is just one of my many hard-assed ancestors,’ Adeline smiled prettily at me then winked as she pulled back to help her lover off the floor. ‘So I will kill him while he sleeps.’

My heart skipped a beat, and when I looked up and caught Kohl’s watchful eye, it skipped another. Had he heard the exchange? But Kohl smiled, touched his necklace again and then pointed to the twelve on his steel watch. I nodded, touched my ring, and felt it on my heart.

Tick-tock. Soon enough, the party would be over and I didn’t know if there would be a coach waiting for me after, or a rotting pumpkin.

25.

After dinner, the men started to move upstairs for drinks and cigars, but the women all wanted to go to bed early and embark upon the fabled beauty sleep. We’d had a special luncheon earlier that day as well, so we were all tired from having eaten so much and so well, and the next day was going to be exhausting; a parade was going to pass through the streets of Arcadia in Karol’s honour and afterwards, he would give his important (and hopefully inspired!) address to the town on the Eden common. We would be standing in the sunlight and autumn winds for at least three hours, with more drinking, eating and dancing to be done afterwards, and every woman in Arcadia wanted to look her best for it, so the lights of the city below us blinked out like stars while I watched from the dining hall window, where I’d been hiding since Kohén had come back down to re-join us. He was clearly still angry, but he’d gotten over the tantrum part quick enough to act like a prince again and schmooze away, so I gave him space to do so and watched Lette and Elfin give their first public performances as Companions, feeling as though they needed someone there watching them to admire their skill, and not just the way they looked while displaying them.

Elfin was playing the piano, which she’d gotten fairly good at, but Lette’s beautiful scarf dance was eclipsing her accompanist’s skills. Elfin was fairly good at most things, but Lette was a natural dancer and I saw that even a few women looked impressed when she bent at the spine and doubled back slowly until her short hair swished against the floor. As she folded back, Lette cycled her pearlescent, feather-trimmed scarves above her- one in each hand- and when the tips of each touched the floor for the first time, she began to slowly raise her right leg, defying gravity by keeping her balance until one foot was flat on the floor supporting her and the other extended high above her head and pointed. We all broke into applause then and when that leg began to tilt back too, there were a few murmurs of astonishment- mine being one of them. Agonisingly slowly, she began to bend back further, and I held my breath as her foot came over her head. Her arms cycled furiously at her sides and then- she flipped in one blink with using her hands at all- ending upright again, and making my jaw drop in awe. She’d whipped her body in a perfect loop, just like one of her scarves!

The people in the room broke out into wild applause and she smiled a lovely, smug smile and curtsied the Companion way- right fingers fanned to her chin in front of her neck, left arm over her head, wrist bent, fingers fanned to her right temple. It was the performance bow- and one more of the many things I’d yet to practice doing. And of course, because it was movement, Lette had it perfect.

I clapped the loudest, then turned to Emmerly and cringed, rubbing my back. She nodded and whistled for her friend using her fingers (something she must have learned from her father, for Maryah would never teach anything so masculine!) and I began to move toward Lette to congratulate her, hanging back so that the men of the nobility could approach her first. I glanced around, wondering if Kohl and the duchess had come back yet (she’d taken him out the door immediately after dinner to introduce him to some long-lost cousin), and that was when I saw Kohén engaged in a serious conversation with Atticus Hartley and Elbert Yael in the corner, and not looking Lette’s way at all. I frowned, bothered by the fact that he had his back turned to his Companion’s awe-inspiring display, for it seemed very rude. She’d learned that dance to impress him! Couldn’t he have spared two minutes to watch her contort with her clothes on for once?

Or maybe he’s seen that routine with her clothes off too many times for it to impress him anymore...

I brushed the ‘wicked’ and jealous thought away and concentrated on trying to be self-righteous, but the longer I stared daggers at him without him noticing, the more I realised that he was beyond absorbed by whatever Elbert was saying. In fact, he was frowning deeply as though perplexed- as was Atticus. It was strange to see those two looking so out of sorts, but in comparison, Elbert seemed to be in an incredibly good mood. He was talking a mile a minute and waving his hands around, and something he said even made him laugh heartily but when he did, Atticus and Kohén only shared a look of consternation. As though suddenly aware that his anecdote wasn’t going over well, Elbert wrapped his arms around Kohén’s shoulders and smacked him in an encouraging way.

Then it happened- Kohén felt my eyes on him and lifted his head and as soon as he did, Atticus and Elbert did too. My tummy clenched up, but before I could begin to worry that they were discussing me, Elbert made it clear by grinning broadly and going:

‘Ahh! There’s my girl now!’ He handed his champagne flute to Kohén and turned, widening his arms. ‘Larkin! I’ve been waiting all night to-’

‘Excuse me for one second, I’ve been waiting to tell her how lovely she looks all night, so before you bore her with business stuff…’ Atticus stepped under Elbert’s widening arm and then strode toward me, his face fixed in a polite but obviously forced smile.

Business stuff?

Elbert frowned in confusion, but Atticus did not give him the chance to say a word before he swept me up into a hug and whispered into my ear: ‘You haven’t agreed to sign a contract with him yet, have you Larkin?’ And I was so shocked that my ears popped so that for a moment all I could hear was the far-off sound of the piano playing, and the sudden pounding of my heart.

‘What?’ I squeaked, pulling back from the general and staring at him. ‘Signed a contract for what?’

‘To obtain land from him once you’ve been released.’ Atticus spoke quickly and fervently, keeping his voice low and his grey-blue eyes focused on me and bright with warning. ‘You do know that you’re not allowed to sign anything while you’re Kohén’s companion, right?’

‘Of course I know that! Why would you think otherwise?’ I glanced over at Kohén, who was now talking heatedly to Elbert and felt my paranoia flare up like the battle injury that it was. Oh my god, was I in trouble? Had Elbert said something to get me in trouble? I felt weak.

‘Yael just seems so damned certain that he has you in the bag,’ Atticus said, looking more relaxed now that he’d offloaded his anxiety -onto me. ‘He went as far as to say that as precious as the gems in Pacifica’s treasure chest are, he has the true jewel of the crown in his hands: you.’ He contorted his rigid features to demonstrate distaste. ‘And we are old rivals, Yael and I, so those were not glad tidings at all!’

My brows shot up. ‘I’ve not spoken to him since last June! And we discussed raising cotton there yes, but there were no deals made...’

‘Well, whatever you said to him has made a lasting impression, and he sees you as cohorts for Yael’s future. I didn’t think you’d agree to such a deal, but seeing as how you turned down the land in Pacifica-’

‘I didn’t turn down land,’ I said sharply. ‘Kohén didn’t tell me that he was intending to give me land, until after he’d changed his royal mind about doing so.’ Lace’s salt and pepper eyebrows lifted in surprise. ‘And what does my defunct birthday present have to do with signing contracts with Elbert Yael? I am in no one’s bag until Kohén let’s me out of his sack of whores. So now that THAT’S all cleared up-’ I turned to move away, but Atticus cupped my elbow and moved me back.

‘Kohén took the land back? He said you didn’t want it yet!’

‘I don’t want it,’ I said sourly. ‘Not now.’

Atticus frowned again. ‘So you really are seriously considering farming in Yael, not in Pacifica with Kohén?’

‘There is not enough arable land cleared in Pacifica, Mr Hartley,’ I said wearily. ‘I have explained this to Kohén but, like with most things, he refuses to-’

‘There’s a whole island,’ Atticus shuffled closer. ‘And by the time you are free, it will be arable- and all yours if you agree to sign a contract with me.’

‘A whole…?’ my voice trailed off as I developed an instant headache. I didn’t know what Kohén was up to, but he’d left me out of plans that apparently revolved around me and that was so frustrating and confusing that I wanted to cry. ‘Prime Minister, it is lovely to see you again but I’m afraid that I was already a little inebriated and completely exhausted before you started speaking in riddles so, can we perhaps pick up this conversation in the morning?’ I was growing hot from the fireplace and lifted my ironed hair off my neck to fan myself. ‘From the beginning this time?’

‘I’m sorry Larkin, I guess I have confused you. I didn’t mean to I just…’ he rubbed his square chin and then turned back to me. ‘Don’t make any agreements with Yael until we’ve spoken about the matter in detail, okay? How does tomorrow night sound, after Karol’s address?’

‘Spoken about what matter?’ I asked, my concentration lapsing when I saw Karol help a beautiful blonde up from her seat by an old couple. The girl was tall and slender- so tall that she was a match for Karol in heels and when he kissed her hand, his green eyes lifted to hers and sparkled in that ‘woo’ way the Barachiel’s had down, and I felt a shiver of excitement. Karol had been going out of his way not to make eye-contact with a single woman in Arcadia for months for fear that they’d misinterpret it as encouragement, so to see him pulling out his toothiest smile and most ardent eyes was thrilling. Could this be a potential wife?

She turned to the side, allowing him to guide her out of her seat, and the sight of her profile screamed: ‘Wife!’ all right. She was elegant looking, with patrician features, dark golden hair, like a cross between Elfin’s, and mine and deeply bronzed skin- only slightly fairer than mine had been since I’d returned from Pacifica. Her hair had been smoothed into a chignon without a single strand out of place, and her dress was very similar to the one that Kelia had worn to the ball- a sweetheart neckline, sleeveless, with a cinched waist and a full-length skirt that had been puffed up with frothy petticoats from beneath. The design of her gown was becoming common, but what set it apart from the others I’d seen on the common, was the fact that the fabric did not ooze like oil, but looked soft and slightly creased. I sucked in a breath as I understood- her dress was cotton with stamped lace trim! Black was the colour warn by Rabian dignitaries to signify their national resource of coal, and her fair colouring suggested that she lived in a country that saw more summer than winter, and that was Rabia! She had to be the president’s daughter, Ora Camden!

‘Wow!’ I whispered, pulling on Atticus’s sleeve. ‘I’ve been lying low for a few weeks and trying not to hear gossip- but tell me now! That’s Ora Camden, yes?’

Atticus stared at me, confused, then turned and nodded. ‘Yes that’s her- lovely girl, I’m told. It’s her first time abroad of course, because she just turned eighteen… But what do you mean you’ve been laying low? Larkin, what on earth has come over you since I saw you last? I just offered you an entire island, and you’re more distracted by President Camden’s daughter and the prince’s love life?’

I looked Ora up and down with greedy eyes as she and Karol drew nearer. Yes, I’d heard that she was lovely too and yes she was the most beautiful girl in the room and yes- I was going to throttle Karol if he blew this by hanging out with Adeline all week! What had the duchess been thinking by seating him at the opposite end of the table to such a beautiful creature? Karol HAD to marry Ora! Surely a woman from a republican country would have the stones to sort out a monarchical man like Karol, right?

‘…I’d love to go for a walk with you,’ Ora said, taking Karol’s arm and smiling gently- but not at him. Nothing about her countenance suggested that she was going to stare blindly into his eyes all night and batt her lashes, and the next thing she said made me adore her more: ‘But I’ll be taking my shoes off the moment we’re out of sight of all the stuffed shirts, okay?’ She grimaced and pointed her toe. ‘Tall as I am, I’ve never gotten used to high heels.’

I grinned. She wasn’t a prissy princess, and that made her immediate front-runner for queen in my eyes! And her accent and casual way of talking made me beam even more brightly, because it reminded me of Kohl’s demeanour: laid back and un-pretentious. Unspoiled. I fanned my neck and said to Atticus without turning to him: ‘Gotten into me?’ I echoed. ‘Nothing’s gotten into me, aside from champagne and stress, that is. I’m just-’

Karol glanced down at Ora’s feet and chuckled and looked up to say something, but when his eyes locked on mine, his expression changed. His smile died, but his eyes darkened to emerald velvet, making me feel as though he’d pinned me to the wall. I stopped fanning my neck and dropped my hair, but Ora’s gaze followed his quickly and when her over-sized eyes latched on mine, her smile glittered like polished crystal.

‘You! Oh, you’re Larkin, right?’ she hurried over to me and shook my hand with both of hers. ‘I’m so glad to meet you at last! Calliel’s own Helen Of Troy!’

‘Buh?’ I asked, sliding a look at Karol and relaxing when I saw that he’d gotten his odd hiccup in composure back under control. What had that look been about? Why were the hairs on my arm lifting?

She kissed my hand. ‘Don’t tell me you don’t know about that little nickname getting around? Only instead of launching a thousand ships, you got a statue on the move after a seven hundred year nap.’ The lissome girl stepped back to Karol and linked her arm with his again. ‘I got a ninety-one point-seven on my exams, and I was pretty impressed with myself. But you!’ she shook her head and sighed, turning to Karol and asking: ‘Just so you know that if we get hitched- I’m kicking her out. Not only can she serve a far better purpose than on her knees to your baby brother, but I don’t want her anywhere near you.’ She extended her hand to me and touched the tip of my nose. ‘Divine! That’s real, isn’t it?’

I touched my nose. ‘Uh…’

‘Mine isn’t,’ she winked at me. ‘Larkin we have to catch up while I’m here, okay? My little sister will be so jealous when she hears that I got to meet you. In fact- sit next to me at the parade tomorrow?’ She jerked her thumb to Karol. ‘If his speech is as deadly dull as they all are, you can use the opportunity to tell me all of the goriest gossip concerning him.’

‘I don’t think so!’ Karol expelled quickly, then tried to cover his panic with a laugh.

‘Sure!’ I said quickly and almost too eagerly. She had a sister?  Two girls from one bloodline? The good news just kept coming! And if she was eager to hang out with a Companion, then she was nothing like the snotty Amelia-Rose and that was beyond encouraging. ‘That would be lovely. I’ve been dying to meet you too!’

‘Then we’ll be the best of friends!’ she declared brightly then shielded her mouth to whisper: ‘Ugh, once you’re no longer in this scoundrel’s reach, anyhow- I’m awfully threatened by the size of your bust.’ She motioned to her pancake flat front, which was lovely in a ballerina- like way. ‘Don’t be shocked, but these are real!’ and I laughed. What an effervescent girl!

‘Okay! Someone’s had too many fizzy drinks,’ Karol was beet red as he started to pull Ora away. ‘Atticus, Larkin, good evening- and good night!’

Ora turned back to me and stage-whispered: ‘We have to go sniff each other out like dogs,’ she wriggled her fingers at me. ‘Tomorrow?’

‘Absolutely,’ I said, turning to watch her go and feeling a little star struck. ‘Bye!’

‘Bye!’

I watched them leave the room, and wasn’t aware of anything except for how much I liked her until Atticus jogged my arm again. ‘Uh… Lark?’

I turned back to him, blinking heavily. ‘Yes? Oh, right. We were talking about…?’ I frowned, then glanced after Ora again. What had we been talking about?

‘Your future,’ he said, sounding none too impressed with my lack of focus. ‘In Pacifica and not in Yael- hopefully. If Kohén releases you from his service after your twenty-first, I would very much like it if you would consider transferring there to work with the Pacifican government, and if you come with Kohén as his, well, I’m not quite certain-’

‘Let me stop you right there, because I’m feeling sort of drunk and inclined to be very honest. So if you listen carefully, you’ll need not book a time with me tomorrow but comprehend my plan fully right now.’ I put down my champagne glass and took his face in my hands, struck for the first time by how much taller and broader the silver fox looked in his formal Corps uniform. ‘I have no future beyond tomorrow Atticus, or the day after that or the day after that.’ I released his face and pulled on my skirt. ‘That’s part of the deal. I’m here to be Kohén’s Companion and not a businesswoman. IF I make it out of here I would be thrilled to talk plantations with you- and with Elbert Yael and with anybody who wants to see if I’m good for anything besides standing around looking vacant and laughing at bad jokes.’ I smiled tightly. ‘I’ll be a supreme business woman and a masterful advocate for agriculture, and I will wheel deals until one of you hands over exactly what I want and makes a lot of money from me for it.’ I patted his shoulder. ‘You will be dazzled, sir. Dazzled and wearing cotton trousers if you play your cards right, and smartly.’ I swayed a little when I saw Kohl poke his head in through the door, and then beckon to me to follow him out of the room. Suddenly feeling very vulnerable, I balanced myself on Atticus’s shoulders and locked my eyes on his. ‘But if I don’t… if Kohén…’ tears came to my eyes and I looked down, knowing that I had to leave the room, and fast.

Atticus should be talking to Kohl about Pacifica’s plans for the future, not me! I don’t have one! Not yet, and if I cant shake Kohl loose, he’ll keep fighting for the wrong thing! He should be standing here, not I!

‘Larkin...’ the general’s voice was soft. ‘Please don’t get upset. I had no idea that this would be an emotional subject and I would never have pounced you so if I’d thought otherwise. I mean, Kohén is determined-’

‘Yes, apparently he still is though I’ve heard nothing of this island or these plans from him! And such continued determination without a friendship still in place to justify it is a terrifying thing for a girl like me.’ I pushed off his shoulders, looking around to make sure that no one was overhearing us and luckily, there were only a dozen people left milling about and Elfin’s gentle piano playing was making it hard to hear anything beyond one’s immediate area. ‘In fact, your island sounds like as much of a trap as this dress is.’

I have to get out of here!

‘The island could be a treasure trove for all of us with a girl like you in charge of the farming aspects of it!’ Atticus insisted. ‘And Kohén treasures you-’

‘Not in a way that counts,’ I whispered, shaking my head. And that was when Kelia appeared out of the anteroom and rested her head on Kohén’s shoulder. The sight of her glittering gold undid me, as did the way she whispered into his ear and attempted to tug him away from Yael, and toward the door. He furrowed his brow and did not go, but that didn’t make me feel any better, because as she took his hand, her bangles slid down her arm to clang against his wristwatch in a golden symphony of betrayal. My stomach swirled as my brain did- I felt as though every emotion I’d ever had concerning Kohén Barachiel had been put into a bowl and blended with sharp blades. The hurt, the longing, the lust, the hate, the judgement, the contempt, the gratitude, the confusion… it was too much.

I faced the general come prime minister once more. ‘Look, I’m just a girl, okay? Just a stupid, lost…’ my neck ached with emotional tension and my lower lip wobbled. I wiped at my eyes to clear my watery vision and whispered through an aching throat: ‘I’m seventeen, sir and though I’ve been forbidden to cry, the tears always make it through, because being third-born doesn’t make me less human, you know? Even if they-’ I swept my hand around the room ‘-believe otherwise.’

‘The people in this room respect and admire you Larkin, regardless of how you came to be here- they are thrilled that you are here!’

‘Because I have glorified the Companion image for them,’ I said, motioning to myself. ‘I shoot for the stars, I speak my mind and I study hard- and I just happen to be chesty which according to Ora, is some sort of accomplishment. But I am still not a person to them who counts as a third-born. They dress me like I’m a goddess, but they collar me like I’m a dog, and then reward me when I perform tricks. They threaten to brand me like a cow when I please them too much, or to fuck me until I’m brainless when I do not, and that is okay for now… because I am no one until that contract is torn up- just an unfortunate, irrelevant girl born from irresponsible parents to the kingdom’s demise who ought to be grateful for what she’s been given.’ I sniffled. ‘But if Kohén thinks that he can ruin me, but then still count on me to help the crown garner more power and wealth after-’

‘Larkin, Kohén Barachiel loves you,’ the general said softly. ‘He wants to make his dreams come true with you, and there’s not much that he isn’t willing to do to-’

‘Fuck me, then hand me his version of my dreams after as a consolation prize, if it benefits the kingdom?’ I asked coldly- pointing over at Kohén and Kelia. Atticus followed my gaze, and cringed. ‘Like that noble girl he’s already brainwashed into pursuing wealth instead of esteem, which is supposed to be the POINT of being noble?’

‘It appears that he has made some bad judgement calls,’ Atticus agreed. ‘And I know that must hurt you, but he is only seventeen too-’

‘It kills me. Not just for my sake, but for hers. And if he does that to me, he will prove that he does not love me and I will be done with him. So, until he proves that he will not, becoming a plantation owner is just one more skeleton of a dream to add to the coffin that I’ve put all of my other hopes in to rest in peace- along with motherhood, marriage and true love- and it will remain there until resurrected by my freedom! So speak not of islands, because they don’t exist to me right now, all right? I don’t believe in them! I can’t afford to!’

‘Lark-’

I held up a finger. ‘I don’t want to live my life being haunted by what could be, anymore Atticus, so I don’t want to have a political power pow-wow with you, or Elbert Yael, because it’s just rattling chains.’ I didn’t add that there was a chance that my freedom could come early, and deliver me to Pacifica, but that was a wish too dear to me to risk by speaking aloud. ‘And I’ll not put stock in another man’s word again- only his signature- and none of you can sign anything to me until I’m twenty-one, so you are wasting your time when you should be enjoying the party...’ I gestured to a Companion I did not recognise as she sidled by in a platinum Janiel-coloured toga. ‘And all the pretty party favours on offer!’

‘Lark-’ Atticus moved in to embrace me but I held up my arms, caging him out.

‘Don’t,’ I said, my voice hitching as I remembered the way that Yael’s persona had shifted from kindly grandfather figure, to predator. ‘Every time a man calls me Lark and touches me, he ends up killing something inside me after and right now, I still like you so don’t become another murderer, all right?’

‘I’m sorry,’ Atticus said, holding up his hands and looking contrite. ‘But hear me out, please? For starters, I’m gay and have no interest in the pretty party favours on offer here, secondly, I don’t support the Companion system at all, and thirdly- I care about you and support Kohén’s need to change the marriage laws for the nobility, because I would very much like to marry Jovi, all right? So I’m on your side here.’

‘Really?’ I stared at him, mind reeling. He wanted to marry Jovi? Was that why he had sulked over the crown making him accompany Kohl across the ocean? If it was, then Kohl had one less reason to feel slighted, and I had one more reason to like Atticus.

‘Really,’ the Prime Minister said, eyes shining though he still looked more than a little alarmed. ‘Though I don’t blame you for assuming otherwise, given the circumstances.’

‘Thank you,’ I whispered, instantly abashed. ‘And I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions. I had no idea that I was this person, you know? So emotional...’ I sniffled, then wiped a tear from my eye. ‘I was trying to be hard and smart like Martya, but…I don’t know if I was ever that hard or smart. Some days, I don’t even know who I am anymore.’

‘I know who you are, Larkin,’ Atticus said, lowering his arms and clasping his hands together. ‘You’re brave, intelligent, stubborn-’

‘Stubborn is right,’ I looked him in the eye. ‘So here’s one thing I can tell you and know for certain; if I go to Pacifica as Kohén’s favourite instead of Kohén’s true love, as he has declared me to be, I will be going as a whore, and not as a farmer.’

Atticus’s eyes flared with alarm. ‘You’ll just give up?’

‘No, I’ll give IN- to their true training,’ I said flatly. ‘I’ll drink, I’ll dance- rather poorly- I’ll drape myself in jewels and I’ll loll about on the beach and work on my tan just like all the others… and just like all the others, I’ll invest in pretty underwear not land, and I’ll not lift a finger to help this kingdom beyond tickling his balls, if he so commands.’ I looked back at Kohén as I wiped away another tear, and his perplexed expression turned into one of fear and then, something else- something determined and intense and beautiful.

That look- that look he’d promised not to give me, was like pounding on my heart and activating a little kick pedal to drum against my sickened stomach. And when he turned and put down both of the drinks that he was holding on the fireplace mantel as though to pursue me, I panicked. I couldn’t have a scene with him too, not now!

‘No Larkin, I won’t hear of such a waste!’ Atticus insisted. ‘There must be something I can do or say to imbue good feelings within you regarding your future, please. Tomorrow night-’

‘How bad do you want me farming for you?’ I hissed more quietly, keeping one eye on Kohén as he attempted to wrangle himself out of Kelia’s embrace and then, Yael’s, who caught his sleeve and tugged him back to whisper something into Kohén’s ear. ‘Drunken tears and all?’

‘Frankly? Now that I’ve heard what Elbert Yael is prepared to offer you based on the discussion you two have had prior to this night...’ he smoothed down the front of his jacket, making his little metals tinkle and stood taller. ‘There’s not much I wouldn’t do to get you on side Larkin.’

‘Good. Then here are two jumping off points to start negotiations… and imbue good feelings within me, regarding you,’ I said gripping his wrists and speaking quietly. ‘Firstly, I won’t be going anywhere near Pacifica unless Kohl Barachiel is acknowledged by you with a title the SECOND that he is freed from his contract.’ Atticus’s eyes widened, but I hurried on. ‘He deserves it, and you know it, and if you are opposed to the Given cast, then prove it to me, by making him an exception to the messed up rules.’

Atticus bit his lip. ‘I like the idea Larkin, and I have a lot of respect for young Kohl, but there are issues-’

‘I don’t care. You are a powerful man until Kohén turns thirty, unless elected out of the seat before then, and you know Kohl well. Despite the unfortunate timing of his birth or his so-called temper which for an aspiring farmer-’ I pointed to myself. ‘Well, manageable rainfall is a Godsend, okay? So not only is Kohl deserving of this, but he’s handy to me for the reasons that make him a loose canon to others, and I want him to be utilised in a way that will make him proud of himself! So- make him duke of this new island of yours or premier or whatever is within your power to make happen, and you will win my favour.’

The general groaned and rubbed at his face. ‘That’s quite a request, and one that will get me in a lot of trouble with Elijah and Kohén!’ he looked up at me. ‘What will you give me in exchange for such a thing, if you will not promise to come to the island too?’

‘My word that I won’t go to Yael,’ I said to him, enjoying the instant gleam in his grey-blue eyes. ‘Regardless of what happens to me and what Yael offers or where I end up- if Kohl is given a title when he is freed, I will refuse to assist your rival.’

‘Done!’ Atticus exclaimed, lightning quick, and my soul lifted. ‘Is that it?’

‘No.’ I released his hand and flicked one of his medals. ‘As far as everyone is concerned, this is YOUR request, not mine, got it? You’re the closest thing he has to a father- so act like it towards not just one poor third-born with potential but two- and you’ll win my trust as well which is not something I grant lightly.’

Atticus frowned again. ‘But why-’

‘If Kohén thinks I want Kohl in a position of power because I fancy his brother, and not just because it is the fair thing to do- you’ll start a pissing contest unlike no other and electricity and rain do NOT go well together.’ Atticus’s eyebrows shot up into one flat line, but I saw Kohén glare at Yael and then shake Kelia free- and then stride toward me and my heart began to stutter. ‘And the second thing is that I’m leaving- right now.’ I backed up as Kohén began to hurry toward me. ‘And if he follows me out of this room, while I am in this state because you can’t stop him, I won’t respect you as a leader, a senior OR a general, and you can consider me property of Yael- pending the will of a certain royal penis, that is!’ With that, I turned and fled from the royal penis.

‘Larkin! Where is she going?’ I heard Kohén hiss. ‘Atticus, let me pass!’

‘No Kohén,’ I heard Atticus say. ‘The lady is tired and wishes to go to sleep, and a gentleman respects a lady’s wishes.’

I flew out the door, my heart pounding, wiping the tears off my face and smiling when the last thing I heard from Kohén was a grunt of annoyance. I know it was un-ladylike of me, but I kind of hoped that Atticus had punched him, or at least stomped on his foot.

26.

Kohl was leaning against one of the far walls in the throne room when I ran out, half listening to Shep who was surrounded by a small congregation of drunken admirers, and though he looked concerned when I flew past him, he did not shout out to me or follow immediately.

His mother couldn’t contain her reaction though- her eyes went from me, to him and back again, and a gentle smile curved her lips; one of approval, at last, and it killed me to know that I had won some of her esteem only now that I was going to dash her and Kohl’s hopes both- for the next four years, at least.

I crossed the room and turned into the corridor leading to the north wing, slowing my steps only when I knew that I was out of sight. There was a small alcove across from our door under the staircase leading up to the royal quarters, which held a bust of Miguel Barachiel and a small chair. So when I heard Kohl’s footfalls enter the corridor behind me, I sidestepped into the shadows beneath it and waited, my heart pounding faster and faster with every step, which brought him nearer. How was I going to do this? What was I going to say?

‘Larkin…’ Kohl’s velveteen voice was little but a whisper but it filled the alcove and suddenly, he was wrapped around me and burrowing us further into the shadows. I gasped in his scent and crushed him to me in my arms, pressing my face into his neck and gently kissing the skin there. I moaned, feeling like one of those people with an insane craving for chocolate having their first nibble in months.

Starve yourself, and your sacrifice will provide him with sustenance that will last a lot longer than a kiss ever could!

‘You’re boiling hot,’ he whispered, lifting my hair off my neck. ‘And flushed red. What’s the matter? Are you sick? God you’re beautiful! You should wear your hair out like this all the time...’ He smiled ruefully. ‘Sorry- there are a lot of things that I’ve been wanting to say to you all day and now, they’re just bubbling out.’ He kissed my forehead and whispered. ‘I’ve missed you.’

‘I’ve missed you too.’ I accepted the chaste kiss with a guiltily bowed head. ‘And I’m not sick, just intoxicated and anxious, and scared...’ I looked up at him. ‘We have to be quick and circumspect, all right? There are still Companions in there and they’ll be headed this way shortly. And Kohén’s probably going to try and corner me anyway so…’

‘I noticed that. What’s going on? That scene at dinner was something else! Mother told me that he hasn’t spoken to you since we left and yet tonight he was all over you like-’

‘He had another change of heart last week,’ I whispered, looking up into Kohl’s shadowy features. ‘Not like usual- we’re not all palsy again or anything, and he’s still keeping his distance but… but…’

‘But what, Lark?’ Kohl asked, frowning down at me. ‘You’re unwillingness to let me hold you following his change of heart is scaring me into believing that perhaps your heart has also changed.’

It hadn’t- not one little bit since Kohén had first hugged me, and that was the problem; I’d never know if what I felt for him was true love, or true loathing, until I was able to distance myself from the situation and examine my feelings closely and without bias. I curved my fingers around Kohl’s shoulders and squeezed him hard. ‘We have to stop, okay? All of it. The letter writing, the books, the embraces…’ I sniffled and stepped back. ‘Tonight- now.’

Kohl looked thunderstruck. ‘You don’t want me anymore?’

I shook my head and stroked his hair back, smoothing the strands which had slipped free of his tie. ‘That’s not it. But I can’t have you, not yet- not in any way that he doesn’t get to have me... and that includes in my hopes and dreams, Kohl.’

‘What?’ his complexion had paled in contrast to the shadows. ‘No!’

‘I’m sorry,’ I whispered. ‘But we can’t go on like this. We can’t keep hoping for a life that we may not get!’

‘But we could get it!’ he insisted. ‘And physically, I haven’t gotten anything from you that is his-’

‘Yes you have, because you’re taking me over!’ I hissed. ‘My heart beats for you, my lips burn for yours, my body…’ I pressed my hand to my heart. ‘I can’t make love to you, but I breathe you in so that I can feel you inside me, and that’s wrong, okay? Maybe not by the rules but ethically, it’s cheating on him.’ His lower lip began to pooch but I shook my head. ‘No, don’t be hurt, please! I want you so much that I can barely stand it… but that’s why we have to stop! I’m being tempted by the very devil who hovers by the fence, Kohl, and I won’t see what we have become something illicit that we are punished for- which is exactly what’s going to happen if we stay on this road!’

‘What road?’

‘This hopeful one! This secret one! We’ll be overcome by temptation if we keep regarding him as a villain and ourselves as an ‘us’ behind his back, and you know it!’

‘I can stop myself from veering off the road and into temptation,’ he insisted, eyes bright. ‘But I can’t NOT touch you at all! I can’t stop myself from dreaming and praying and wanting, Lark, and neither can you!’

But I shook my head, because I had a new hope for him now- of seeing him elevated from his caste and I wouldn’t risk a single chip of his future by gambling it against my ever-changing hand. His life had to come before our life, just as I wanted Kohén to put my future ahead of the one that he dreamed of for us.

‘I can’t resist the temptation, Kohl,’ I whispered, and his eyes flared with heat, proving just how easily the conversation could end up becoming an exchange of lustful grunts rather than words, despite how determined he was to play by the rules. ‘The more forbidden something is…’ I hugged myself so that I wouldn’t start tearing my clothes off. ‘You men aren’t the only one with urges, you know, and mine are getting stronger and stronger, as are my feelings- and as is my fear! Right now…the need to kiss you is...’ I pressed my fingers to my lips and cringed, looking away. He looked so gorgeous in his crisp white shirt, grey slacks and silver silk sash that my fingers tingled to tear off his buttons and run my hands around the slab of warm muscle beneath, and my chest constricted with every breath inhaled laced with his delicious aroma. ‘God…’

‘Oh, Larkin me too…’ he moved toward me, but I yelped and backed around Miguel’s marble head.

‘Don’t touch me, please,’ my voice broke, and he stopped. ‘I’m weakening, Kohl, and I’m scared. Your mother thinks that I am the product of an affair between my mother and a dark Nephilim, and though I don’t want to believe it- I think that she’s right.’

Kohl’s eyes widened. ‘Why would you think that? Why would you believe a word that that witch says?’

I cringed to hear him refer to his mother in such a way. ‘Because that’s what my own mother told me, just before she tried to kill me-’

‘Say WHAT?!’

‘The man I said I saw that day at the fence… he wasn’t a hallucination. He was there, Kohl, and he was my father and I know this, because I’ve seen him since- several times, and so has your mother!’

‘Christ, Larkin! This is an astounding revelation- and an awful one! We have to find him and-’

‘We can’t. He’s a ghost, I think, and chooses whom to show himself to. He has to be dark in origin to linger with so much malevolence after death, but he must have been weakened by his mortal life, because not only is he not strong enough to will himself back to corporeal form, but he was not strong enough to pass any of his power onto me... not even so much as a spark of electricity to defend myself with, or whatever remnant I might have inherited of whatever power he did have.’ I wet my lips. ‘But he’s there, so the only way that I can keep him out of our lives and out of this reality, is to keep him out of my head and heart, by turning to the light and away from his influence!’ I pulled on his collar. ‘Telling you all of this is going to make that even harder because the less people who allow their thoughts to dwell on him, or their eyes to search for him the better- but I am doing so, so you understand that I was born with a soul that can be easily corrupted! And if we’re ever to know love together, or at all, I need my conscience to be clear and my heart with God, Kohl!’ I cupped his jaw and stared deeply into his eyes, pleading with him to understand. ‘And wanting you… missing you, resenting Kohén on your behalf and despising Karol for the deal I made that may not even come to pass if Kohén keeps me or he is married off first… it’s darkening me- I can feel it.’ I released him and stepped back. ‘Besides, even if I didn’t care about any of that stuff, I do still have feelings for Kohén, so resisting temptation aside- uniting behind his back in any way is unkind.’ I swallowed. ‘I could allow myself to be raked over the coals for sleeping with Karol out of obligation, but I will not be caught out with you and make Kohén feel the double-edged blade of betrayal by the two people who he loves the most!’

‘He deserves to be betrayed by you,’ Kohl pointed out, his expression grieved, but more sober now. ‘By both of us.’

‘Perhaps he does, but I cannot be the one to inflict such a punishment upon him, and I will only hurt myself more if I do. And I don’t think you want to be in that position either, do you?’ I searched his gaze. ‘You must still love him!’

‘Of course I do,’ he said to the floor, then looked up at me: ‘But I love you more.’

‘Then help win my heart for God, by encouraging me to keep my thoughts as pure as our actions have been,’ I said, and his face twisted in anguish. ‘I love you too, Kohl, but he has always been the centre of my universe, and I don’t think I could survive a life without his friendship at least, and I know I would hate myself if I was the reason why you two were ripped apart permanently- and that will happen if he finds out about us!’ I pulled on my hair, dismayed when his beautiful blue eyes filled with tears. ‘Please, God, don’t cry! I need you and your white feathers guiding me here Kohl, for I am not strong enough to do it myself!’

‘How can I not break down, while you are breaking me?’ he asked in a gravelly voice. ‘When it is clear that you still love him as much as you love me if not more despite all he has done?’

‘Because you are an angel,’ I sniffled. ‘Please understand- I’m not making this decision because I plan to run straight into his arms. I’m making it so it’s the LAST decision that I have to make for four years- until it is my right to decide what I truly want. Yes he has hurt me, but I am running from him as a jilted lover- forgetting the fact that our friendship is a separate entity to our contractual agreement because HE was kind enough to treat me like a friend- and that has not changed.’ I sniffled again. ‘I have called out to Satan so many times in my grief over him and yet it stands- nothing he has done to me as a lover can ever negate all the good he has done for me as a friend!’ I grasped Miguel’s marble head tightly so I wouldn’t scalp myself. ‘So by promising my future to his twin and forbidding him from discussing one with me, I’m not only being a bad friend and a poor employee… but a manipulative woman, even if that’s only in my eyes, and I can’t live with that either! And what’s worse is that you’re so hell-bent on fighting for me that you’ve rolled over to your own future, and that isn’t right either! You need to leave yourself with options and chase your own dreams!’

‘Why? You’re the only thing that I want!’

‘Because it’s dangerous to count on what we feel for one another amounting to anything real!’ I cried. ‘It’s putting all of your eggs in one basket, and that basket is in other people’s hands and completely out of ours! What if Kohén brands me in gold on my twenty-first, and keeps me here forever, huh? What if he gets wasted at the ball on Saturday night and seduces me then? It could happen at any point between now and the time I am slated to be released, and if that does happen, you’ll be left with nothing! ’

‘I won’t want anything without you anyway!’

‘But your people will still need you, Kohl! Especially if your twin proves himself to be a man who cannot keep his word, and a scoundrel like Karol! Will you let him have the Pacifican crown and me too, when you know, deep down, that you could do just as good or better with either or?’

‘No one wants me to rule!’

‘I do!’ his eyes glowed fiercely, and I bit my lip and knotted my fingers, wishing that I could tell him about what Atticus and I had just agreed on. ‘Not more than I want you for myself, I must admit, but you don’t have to be a king to be a leader! If you study hard- harder than you ever have before and best Kohén’s score in the exit exam, well, that will change something, won’t it?’

‘Christ…’ Kohl turned away and tore his fingers through his hair, but I knew he was hearing me and like me- trying to shut the hope out, only his future only had to be as bleak as mine so long as he tethered it to mine, and if he would not cut the rope lashing us together, then I had to. ‘Lark-’

‘No Kohl, I’m right and you know it. Maybe you’ll end up as a mayor with a city of your own, like your uncle’s son, Paider, in Rabia, and you could make a difference for kids like us that way, because you’re a fighter- a champion for the third-borns! Or maybe your dad will drop dead and there will be a third crown up for grabs again, or maybe Karol and Kohén will get hit by a flying trunk of gold pieces tomorrow and lapse into a twenty-year coma on the harem floor-’

Kohl snorted and glanced back at me to smirk. ‘You think that’s possible?’

‘I think that I may be the one to do it!’ I joked, and he laughed but looked away again. ‘Look…’ I sighed softly once more. ‘We are young, and passionate and have conviction- but we are not capable of telling the future,’ I said softly. ‘Anything could change, and until I am free of this place and his grip on me, waiting to start a future with me is like treading water in quicksand and I cannot let you go on this way for another day, when you have the potential to be so much more, than my love! And especially not at the risk of my soul!’

Kohl looked up at the ceiling and blinked back tears. ‘I hear what you are saying yes, but Christ…’ he scratched at his head. ‘I’m afraid, Lark. I’m afraid that you will fall in love with him again if I pull back further than I already have.’

‘So am I,’ I confessed, and his eyes spilled over. ‘But can you conceive of what he’s going to go through, if I do not?’

Kohl stared at me. ‘Are you insinuating that his feelings should be made a priority over mine?’ he asked, looking pained. ‘Or that he loves you more than I do?’

‘Can you tell me that he does not?’ I stepped forward and took his hand. ‘I bounce back and forward between believing that he might, and believing that he hates me so violently, that my vision is too blurred to see anything with clarity now, least of all him. But you- you are his other half, and you are removed from the situation so tell me, please… when you look into his eyes, what do you see? A horny, power-drunk teenage boy who wants only what he cannot have, or the little boy who wrote letters to you about his soul-mate, still?’

Kohl shook his head. ‘You can’t ask me to answer that! That’s not fair! I barely know him anymore and of course I want to say no to win your heart-’

‘Your feathers are too white to lie,’ I whispered, ‘so tell me the best truth you know, and I will believe it. You are good and kind and honest and you are his match, so if you can look me in the eye and swear that you love me more than he does, then I will believe you.’

‘What?’ he looked distraught. ‘That’s not a fair thing to ask of me, Larkin. I’ve already thrown you to him once for the greater good- do not ask me to do it again now that I’ve become so disillusioned regarding his character!’

‘But you’re my guardian angel, and I need your guidance!’

Kohl gave me a sour look. ‘Well… there’s that manipulative streak you hinted toward having…’ and I laughed, then sniffled, wiping away more tears.

‘Guilty as charged,’ I whispered. ‘But you don’t have a manipulative streak, Kohl so please… advise me fairly and true.’ I clasped his face in my hands and turned it down to mine, and he closed his eyes and trembled. ‘Kohén’s feelings for me have possessed me since I was a little girl- in a way that that contract could not. I have had chances to leave, and I have turned them down, believing in the good in him, and he has had multiple chances to use me and he has not. So I am hesitant to sabotage this flawed thing that he and I have- even for something as perfect as what you and I could have- out of loyalty and gratitude alone.’ I rubbed his eyelids with my thumbs so that he would open them, and he complied. ‘But if I am completely wrong in believing that he is a good man, then I need you to set me straight. And not just for my sake, but his too! Because if you truly believe that he will ruin me, then he will be ruined as well, and so if you can stop that now by meeting my gaze and telling me to give up on him and get the hell out, I will do it, for him, for you AND for me.’ I sniffled as he groaned. ‘Please, okay? Just tell me if I could be his soul mate still. Are they not enough for him? Has he ruined all of them, even Kelia, only to succumb to me anyway? Is his word easily broken? Does he look at me with more contempt, than love?’

‘No.’ Kohl shook his head. ‘No, I don’t believe so.’ He opened his eyes and gripped my elbows. ‘But I can’t say that he loves you more than I do, either!’

‘Then tell me you would have loved me more in his place,’ I said. ‘Tell me truly, that if your positions had been reversed, and you kept on as second in line, you would not have made his mistakes, because your love for me would have overcome your temptation to have me in your bed.’ Kohl's eyes fluttered shut again, and he moaned softly. ‘Tell me that I owe him nothing, least of all a chance for redemption!’ I pressed. ‘Tell me that you would not only have left me unmolested, but all of the others too! Tell me that you would have been strong enough at thirteen to make the promise that he made me, and to have kept it for these last four years.’ I kissed the tip of his nose. ‘Tell me that stroking me with a flower would be enough, if I gave you permission now, to explore me with your hands.’ My heart was pounding, my skin burning. ‘Look at me, and tell me that you want me to have my freedom more than you want me.’

Kohl’s eyes opened and they were neon blue. Breathing through parted lips, his fingers traced along my shoulders and an agonised expression contorted his handsome features. ‘Larkin…’ he whispered. ‘Please…’

‘Shall I offer you a peek of what he has resisted?’ I whispered, moving my own fingers toward my shoulder strap and pushing it to the side. ‘Will that offer you clarity?’ I slid the fabric down further, and his breath seemed to catch in his chest and swell him.

‘No!’ Kohl spun away in a whir of blue light, and I stumbled back, almost knocking over the squat statue. ‘No, I would have ruined you first!’ he gasped, bowing to one knee, and outside, thunder rumbled. ‘I am not as strong as he! I am more like Karol when it comes to temptations of the flesh…I cannot even promise to make it through the next few minutes without taking you to keep you, now that I fear losing you, if I don’t!’ he turned back to me, looking tortured and beaten, and I felt it inside my chest because part of me had been praying that he’d denounce Kohén and free me of his twin’s thrall.

What if no one can love me with a pure heart? What if the ghost of romance that I’m chasing, is as incorporeal as my father?

‘Really? ‘I could barely get the word over my lips.

‘Really,’ he whispered. ‘But I can promise you, that you would have been the only one, and that I would have spent the rest of my life making it up to you.’ He swallowed hard, and my eyes misted. ‘You and your golden brand.’

I sobbed. ‘You would have…?’

‘On the night of my sixteenth?’ he shook his head, looking guilt-stricken. ‘The way you looked under those lights darling… I would have trapped you like the firefly that you are, and would never have let you go, even after just that one kiss.’ He sagged back against the wall. ‘I’m sorry, but it’s true.’

‘Don’t be sorry,’ I sniffled, wiping at my tears and trying to smile at him. ‘That was sort of romantic.’

‘But mostly psychotic,’ he corrected me, wearing a wry, watery smile. ‘And it speaks volumes about a Barachiel man’s sense of entitlement.’ He waved me away. ‘So go, Larkin… before I change my mind and decide to fight for us again.’

‘See?’ I whispered, adjusting my dress once more. ‘You are an angel.’

Nodding, Kohl dragged his hands down his face and appraised me morosely between his fingers. ‘Four years,’ he whispered. He sighed and shook his head and I agreed- it felt like forever away. ‘If he doesn’t make it, send me word and I will come for you. And I don’t mean when you are twenty-one, either- but the moment that you suspect that he is reaching for the brand to steal what no man is entitled to- write me and I will break every bond I have to this forsaken place and liberate you.’

I pressed my hand to my heart. ‘That I can promise you.’

Kohl smiled. ‘Then go,’ he said. ‘I believe that there is a meeting of leaders upstairs… and if I cannot walk through that door with my head high, then how can I ever hope to break it down?’ he bit his lip. ‘You really think I could be a ruler-’

‘It’s the only thing I’m certain of,’ I whispered, and his answering smile was brilliant. ‘Go now, and tell me all about it tomorrow... my dear friend.’ I kissed my ring, and he his talisman, and then I opened the door to the north wing and slipped inside.

‘Aloha, princess.’

The click of the door shutting between us triggered a cramp inside my chest, but when I looked down at the floor to wipe tears from my cheeks- I saw it: a single, tiny white feather lying there. It could have come from Adeline’s hairpiece, or Lette’s scarf but I did not care how it had come to be- only that it was mine for the taking. I bent down and picked it up and kissed it before walking down to my room, smiling to know that my father would not be drawn to Eden’s walls this night- not by my wicked thoughts anyway, and certainly not by my joyful tears of surrender to my destiny!

27.

I awoke to find a beautiful new gown hanging from the hook behind my door, and because I was safely alone with no one within earshot to judge me, I let out a rare girlish squeal and made a beeline for it, taking it off the hanger, holding it to myself and waltzing around the room.

‘Toga free day!’ I rejoiced, bowing to my reflection in the mirror before bolting to the bathroom. ‘See? Do the right thing and God smiles on you!’ And then I laughed, because I’d known this day was coming for weeks so my act of releasing the bonds between Kohl and I the night before had had absolutely nothing to do with my turn of fortune.

But I was in a good mood for once and despite all of the trouble I’d caused, was fairly certain that I’d earned at least one day to be silly, and this was going to be it. The parade! The speech! The picnic on the common… and a new dress! I was getting out of Eden and that was exciting enough, and even though the new dress was as white and almost as revealing as everything else I’d ever been forced to wear there, it was different and I would feel different in it so, waving it above my head like a flag, I ran to the shower. ‘This is going to be the best day ever!’

I showered quickly, taking time to wash and then dry my hair carefully and after I’d blown the dampness out of it, decided to go out on a very skinny, fragile limb by attempting to curl my hair. I had a whole bunch of gadgets to help me do so in my drawers (I never used anything in the drawers except for the topmost one which held my toothbrush, moisturiser and soap) but the only things I trusted myself to use were the fat hot rollers. I plugged them in and applied some light make up while I waited for them to heat; a light base, some peachy blush, a few generous coats of mascara and finally a coral lip-gloss. I glanced at myself from every angle after, stressing both that I’d look overdone for me, and underdone compared to how the other girls were bound to look- but I was far too intimidated by the strange girl peering back at me to look for long, so when the light came on the curlers (it took a very long time, telling me that the solar power generator in our wing was being tapped dry that day!) I welcomed the distraction and decided that I didn’t give a fig how I looked, so long as I looked like I’d tried a little.

I hated my reflection. To me, I was one person and the girl in the looking glass was another entirely. She was the one who got me into strife and led me to temptation, and because I’d taken to avoiding her as much as possible, she never failed to surprise me with some new development, and that day, it was my eyes that were bugging the hell out of me. Once upon a time, they’d been a washed out blue- like the colour of thin clouds in a darkening sky, but they weren’t so much blue anymore as periwinkle, and not so much washed-out as they were almost startlingly bright. Not neon, like the Barachiel twins were, but… well, the hue seemed to shout for a colour that was rightfully a pastel, and because my skin was still more of a golden shade than pearl as it had once been, they stood out all the more.

And they weren’t one solid colour either. They reminded me of what a new can of paint had looked like when my father had pried off the lid to paint my sister’s bedroom walls, so many years before. The base had been off-white but as he stirred it, blues and hints of lilac and even a slight green had begun to swirl across the surface, and when he’d finished he’d been left with flat lavender. Similarly, my eyes were uneven in tone- like they required further stirring to be ‘done.’ They weren’t unattractive, per se, but they were distractingly odd and for me, off-putting. After all, ugly Larkin had never had a problem meeting her own gaze. Pretty Larkin, on the other hand, had been raising hell, and now the guilt-ridden girl beneath the facade couldn’t stand to look at who she’d become.

After about twenty minutes and forty furtive glances, claustrophobia from being plastered to the sink and stared at began to overwhelm me, so by the time I got the final roller in, I practically ran out of the bathroom and away from the wicked girl with the weird eyes. Humming softly to cheer myself up, I shook the ill-feelings off and slipped into the dress, and when the time came for me to look in the full-length mirror, I was grateful that I had such a large bedroom because that allowed me the chance to stand on the other side of the room to my reflection and squint out my face easily enough to check that everything was everywhere that it ought to be without having to get to close to the emerging swan who had killed off Kohén’s duckling.

The dress was too sexy for my taste, but lovely all the same and I felt a bit of a thrill when I got a look at how it complimented me. Instead of the usual one shoulder deal, it had a silk halter, which was attached to a faux golden choker-collar of golden pyrite flowers, (identical to the shoulder catch and belts we wore on our togas), which latched behind my neck, leaving my back bare to almost my hips, but concealing my cleavage completely. That should have been a fair trade, except the satin was cut like an hourglass- skirting along the edge of my breasts, then scooping in to gather narrowly at my navel, leaving my obliques bare, before flaring out gently low on my hips and closing around me in line with my tailbone. The only thing that held the skimpy silk in place on my torso at all was yet another golden clasp which fit like a belt and it too had textured flowers carved more thickly at the front, creating a very pretty effect that thankfully, would not cause me to break out in hives because it was just gold-painted steel, like I was used to.

The waist clasp was attached to the fabric of the dress in the front, but encircled the bare skin of my back like a slender cuff, leaving a few inches of bare skin beneath it as well to my tailbone. It was daring- far more daring than our toga and I had to laugh when I remembered that this was the ‘autumn’ Companion dress worn by Eden’s harem dwellers in the name of warmth. Ha! Yes the skirt felt all the way to the ground, and the fabric was gathered enough to conceal the fact that this dress had a split just like the others, but my arms were barer than usual without a hint of a sleeve and from behind, I looked naked save for the gold band!

But there was nothing to be done for it- for better or worse, I had a new dress and it covered what it usually didn’t so I just had to pray that my breasts stayed within the silk boundaries. Besides, Maryah had sworn to us that the gowns had cloaks to match and if that was true, then I wouldn’t have to worry about getting a chest cold from behind.

I had golden boots to wear with the dress and they were by far the most striking shoes I had ever worn without being torturously high, so I got into them eagerly. They were made like Roman sandals- created by a series of leather bands which clung to my calves in rings attached to a crossbar which went straight up my shin, but each band was lined with sheepskin on the inside which really did make me feel warmer from the moment that I’d slipped just one on. How cozy those boots were! It made me wish that I’d grown up in the north, like Asiana or New Rome, where I would have been able to wear sheepskin year-round instead of silk, silk, silk.

Maybe that’s what you need to consider? Living in the icy part of this country isn’t possible because it’s perennially frozen up there, but why not move to Asiana or New Rome, if you ever get the chance? You never feel the cold like others… it could be nice! You could raise sheep instead of cotton, and wear such things every day!

Oh dear, you’re not making plans again are you, little bird? Have you learned nothing at all?

When both boots were in place and I’d pulled the golden thong provided to us all on beneath, I was almost done. Someone knocked on my door and hollered that it was time to go, and I squealed a little, ducked in front of the mirror again, and- ignoring the eyes and the odd look of the curlers in my hair- I assessed myself to be presentable and slightly more Egyptian-looking than usual (we usually emoted a Roman style), and nothing further- not even wicked.

I turned away from the mirror straight away and, feeling anxious for being late to get ready for anything for the first time since the ball, I began to bat the curlers out of my hair like an impatient cat. They clunked to the floor one by one, making a huge mess and because that was not something that I ever did, I forwent doing anything further with my hair in favour of scooping up every loose belonging strewn about the room, and then dumped the lot in the laundry hamper in my bathroom before swiping all of the make-up back into the make-up drawer. My room still felt untidy to me, but someone knocked again so I yelled out that I was coming and began to finger-comb the curls around my waist, which were far too coiled for my liking, and then picked up a single pin from my bathroom counter, and the feather I’d slept with in my hand, and pinned the feather behind my ear.

No one was in the hall waiting for me so I went straight through the harem and out the north wing door, pausing in the alcove again and flipping my hair over to shake the curls out a little more, while holding the feather and pin in place.

‘We meet again,’ I said to Miguel’s stone-cold head, regarding him upside down as I tousled the coils loose. ‘I know it’s probably a long shot trying to get a bit of flattery out of you, with your skin as smooth and clear as marble- but tell me honestly, how do I look?’

‘Stop flirting with my ancestors, and then stand up so I can see- and maybe you’ll get lucky with a bit of flattery out of me.’

I almost jumped out of my skin, but Kohén’s voice got me upright and when I was, the look on his face told me a lot more than the girl in the mirror had revealed. Like lightning in a midnight sky, his navy eyes flashed neon, stealing my breath, and then suddenly, I was up against the cold marble wall and his mouth was slanting across mine, hot soft, desperate and just… perfect.

I should have fought the kiss off but I could not- not just because I was legally not allowed to (and for once actually scared that I would be held accountable for turning down my new, unpredictable master) but because it was Kohén and our stolen kisses had become a fixture in my existence that I’d come to depend on, regardless of how sporadically they came- a release for my pent up and policed hormones. My internal temperature spiked so sharply that I needed that cold wall against my back to keep me from melting on the inside and I panted into his mouth, recycling his sweet, minty breath as my own and when he moaned and stepped into me further, my heart faltered.

Then he was pulling away and storming off. ‘You look fine,’ he said coldly, and only the slightest crack in his voice implied that he meant anything other than just that. ‘But you’re late, so come on.’

My temperature dropped at the click of his fingers and I stayed right where I was, defiantly staring him down from behind as he sauntered off with an arrogant gait. I respected his desire to be taken more seriously by his underlings, but if I allowed him to treat me like a dog, I would become his pet and I could not allow that to happen. So I blew out a breath, put my hands on my hips like I was preparing myself to run a marathon and waited for enough time to lapse for him to understand that I was coming on my terms, not his.

The sound of his footfalls suddenly grew louder again and I withered on the inside, staring straight ahead at the harem door and bracing myself to feel a cuff behind my head, or to have an eardrum ruptured by a screaming fit. But then I was in his arms with his face buried in my neck.

‘I’m sorry…’ he whispered, and I melted into him this time. ‘The way I feel when I look at you always knocks me for a six, and I have been keeping my eyes to the floor, hoping to avoid that, so to see you today- so radiant!’ He squeezed me tighter and moaned, then released me, caught my hand and yanked me after him. ‘For the record, I kissed you because your static charge drew me in like clinging lint, and officially- I have not looked at you with love or lust in my eyes, understood? That was just… confusion, okay? I’ve never seen you with curls before, and so I thought you were an angel for a moment there.’

‘Wow,’ I said, squeezing his hand and smiling, ‘we really have lost touch, for you to be so deceived!’ I shook my finger at him. ‘And for the record- if you ever do cross paths with a pure angel, it’s polite to keep your tongue out of her mouth until after introductions have been made.’

‘I’ll keep that in mind.’ Kohén looked back at me and grinned, and I was struck by the fact that my lost little boy had truly become a man. He was wearing a black shirt with the cuffs rolled up to just above his elbows, black leather pants which hugged his backside and long legs, and though the fact that he was wearing a sword in a scabbard as Karol had taken to doing should have turned me off, he wore it well. And he clearly knew it too, because his youthful, eager gait had become a sensual swagger. My eyes must have strayed in one place for too long, because he chuckled and said: ‘Lilac...this is going to be a wonderful day!’

‘What?’ I asked, blinking.

‘Your eyes... when they go lilac… I get kisses.’

‘My eyes change like yours?’ I asked, surprised.

‘More like a mood ring,’ he nodded as he walked on. ‘Mine are bright blue when I am me, flash neon when my power overwhelms me and fade when I’m calm and go black when I am lost to myself… but yours shift through hues according to every mood, and because you’re such a moody little thing, the shade is almost constantly in motion.’ He pulled me closer to him and slung his arm over my shoulder, smiling down at me. ‘When they’re a pale lavender, you are content, but want to be alone with your thoughts. When they’re a dark twilight blue, I get tears, and when they’re violet, I get the hell out of your way.’ I laughed and he touched my nose. ‘When they’re periwinkle, you’re excitable and I could get kissed, cussed at, thrown out the door and then begged for forgiveness, all in the space of a few minutes, and that’s the colour they usually are- and it’s my favourite…’ he touched my lower lip and smiled. ‘But I know you are mine when they are lilac, because they only ever change to that colour for me, and usually because we have just kissed or because we are about to.’

‘Oh.’ I looked down, moved that he had taken the time to catalogue something about myself that I hadn’t even known. I cleared my throat. ‘Well… that’s…’

Kohén kissed the top of my head and whispered: ‘Why do you think I fight for you, even when you are screaming at me to give up?’ I shook my head. ‘Because when you are at your angriest with me, they’re bright lilac, Larkin- and I know that you are begging me to prove that I will love you, no matter what.’

I hugged myself, wondering what colour they were when I looked at Kohl, and wondering if he’d noticed.

‘Blue,’ Kohén whispered, and I looked up, startled.

‘What?’

‘Last night, they were dark blue, so I let you run away.’ He released me and squeezed my hand. ‘I’m sorry that the sight of her and I together upset you Larkin, and I wish you had stayed to hear Atticus out despite that. We have big plans for you, including the island that has recently been declared habitable aga-’

‘You cannot have plans for me, your highness,’ I said softly, hugging myself still. ‘The colour of my eyes may change constantly, but I meant what I said in that room in Pacifica, or at least- I mean it after what I saw you doing with them. And as my eyes are always some shade of purple- my future will remain some shade of black until it is mine to paint otherwise.’ He narrowed his eyes at me to communicate his exasperation but I did not intend to hold in a truth ever again. What was good for one Barachiel twin, was good for the other! ‘It may sound boring or sad to you but black is safe. Black can’t be ruined. Black is already nothing and cannot be darkened further.’ I looked at him. ‘If you love me, as you claim, let me keep that blackness, and stop trying to stain my future gold, or you will never again see me look at you from eyes that are any colour, but violet or blue.’

Kohén exhaled heavily as we walked into the throne room, but he nodded and took my hand again. ‘I heard what you said in Pacifica, Larkin, and I understand why you said it.’ He squeezed my hand. ‘Just as I understand that we cannot hope to right the wrongs between us for years.’ He looked down at me. ‘But as I can’t stain your future gold, you cannot prevent me from staining mine white gold for you, understood?’

‘You may end up with blackness if you do,’ I whispered.

‘That is the risk I am willing to take,’ he said seriously. ‘And I feel safe in doing so.’

‘How could possibly feel safe in investing anything in me?’ I asked him, looking up at him and wondering if he was unhinged. ‘I am unpredictable, moody, a dreamer a-’

‘Because your eyes are still lilac,’ he leaned down and stroked my lips with his once more before tugging me along to meet the rest of the group. ‘And I plan on keeping them that way- even if I have to wear this outfit every day for the next four years!’

I laughed, rolled my eyes- but followed. We were crossing the floor under the glass Eden sky, and not even Kohl’s brief and wistful glance our way, could change the fact that despite how wrong I had always felt inside my body or how conflicted I was within my heart- I’d never felt more right than with Kohén’s hand in mine.

28.

The streets of Arcadia were full even at such an early hour, and I felt the excitement in the air infiltrate my system with each popcorn-scented breath that I inhaled, as we rolled out of Eden’s gates and toward the central Common. Kohl had seemed distant since I’d first walked into the throne room clasping Kohén’s hand, but he managed to chat pleasantly enough with Emmerly since then, despite his obvious dismay. When he said something to tease her about something docile she had said the night before, she responded by whipping off his dustman cap and suddenly, I couldn’t breathe. He’d cut his hair exactly like Kohén’s since I’d seen him the evening before.

‘Barachiel see, Barachiel do?’ I asked, trying to hide my shock because for the first time in my life they truly looked identical. I glanced from one to the other, waiting for Kohén to give his brother hell, but Kohén reached over and slapped his brother’s knee.

‘Barachiel command, actually,’ Kohén said, and then smiled at me. ‘It was mother’s idea. We have to pose for a family portrait this afternoon and she wants one where Kohl and I look alike for once now that half of his face doesn’t have to be painted on.’

‘Do I look prissy?’ Kohl asked me, making a self-conscious expression as he patted his hair. ‘I feel like I look more like the princess that my mother always wanted, than the prince.’

‘Because your long hair was so masculine?’ Emmerly teased, and I laughed, though it had been uber-masculine and we both knew it.

‘You look incredibly dashing and tough,’ Kohén assured him and Kohl laughed. ‘And almost as good as me.’

‘Almost? Pfft…husk a coconut with your bare hands, and then tell me how tough fencing makes you feel.’

‘Oh get over it you guys- you’re identical. Honestly…’ Emmerly rolled her eyes at me. ‘Aren’t we supposed to be the shallow ones?’

‘It was mentioned in the guidelines…’ I said, and everyone laughed. Then I smiled at Kohl and twisted the ring on my finger, unable to help but let a little flirtation escape. ‘And no, you don’t look prissy. You look every bit as handsome- and royally pampered as this one does.’

‘Thank you Larkin,’ he said, his cheeks red. ‘You look…well, there are no words... not the sort that won’t get me banished, anyway.’

I blushed right back.

‘Speaking of the royal treatment…’ Kohén nodded out the window of the carriage as it slowed to a stop at the edge of the central common. ‘There are a lot of fine looking young girls out there today who would die to be invited to the ball as your date, you know... so you don’t spend the night hanging off the only poor girl in Arcadia who you can form a sentence around?’ Kohén nudged me. ‘Right, Lark?’

‘He’s allowed to have an escort for the ball?’ Emmerly asked, surprised. ‘I thought you weren’t permitted to date yet?’

‘We’re not allowed to court anybody seriously until we’re twenty-five,’ Kohén said. ‘And not expected to take anyone seriously until we’ve courted a few. But we are allowed to invite dates to important functions in the palace, or attend one as someone else’s escort in another kingdom- if we’re around for it anyway- and Karol’s been an escort to quite a few debutante’s over the years, as was father before him. That’s usually where most future unions stem from.’ He smiled. ‘But, if we have a date, we’re not allowed to dance with our Companions at all, and because you girls are so important to us, we tend to err on your side of things until we’re old enough for there to be a point to it all.’

‘As in, you can’t have sex with them, so you keep in the good books with the ones that you can defile?’

‘Exactly,’ Kohén chuckled as he said it, and I wanted to slap him. He smiled at Emmerly. ‘Didn’t you notice that father didn’t dance with Resonah at my sixteenth?’

‘I was pretty distracted by the exploding ceiling,’ Emmerly pointed out, and Kohén laughed. Kohl and my eyes met and he smiled, his pride clear as we both remembered how he had saved me, Kelia and that other woman.

‘Fair enough. But it’s true- he’s never danced with a Companion of his at one of our balls here in Eden, for mother’s sake. But when he travels without her, he takes Resonah along so that they can dance without feelings getting hurt.’

I pretended to swoon against the seat. ‘Oh! So romantic!’ and Kohén tickled me until I sprung up again. I met Kohl’s eyes and he rolled them, then made a gagging motion over his father’s ‘respect.’

‘Shut up you,’ he growled, and then turned back to Emmerly. ‘So anyway, yes we can take dates to these things and have been allowed to since we were thirteen, only Kohl is more restricted where he lives- there are no balls in Pacifica yet- and because he’s in the Corps, he’s not allowed to have a romance at all. Which is why I’m encouraging him to strike while he is on holiday.’

Emmerly cocked her head at Kohén. ‘Why haven’t you ever taken a real girl to a ball before though? I mean, I get you trying to be considerate of us all this year but let’s face it- we were only, erm, activated a year and a half ago! But there were plenty of New Year’s Eve balls and whatnot before then for you to attend, and we weren’t allowed to be there until you turned sixteen, let alone be in a position to claim hurt feelings!’

Kohén smiled. ‘Well, I usually spent ten minutes of those New Year’s Eve Balls inside deciding that every single girl in the ballroom was rubbish- and the rest of the night sneaking out cake and treats to Larkin, who I hid in the bushes like a garden gnome.’ He turned and pulled on one of my golden coils. ‘Who for all intents and purposes has always been my ‘real’ girl.’

I blinked at him, as though rapid movement of my lashes could keep his eyes from penetrating into mine but they could not. I ducked my head when I felt my cheeks heat, and Emmerly expelled a long: ‘Awwwwww!’ Followed by a dry-retch. I felt awful for her and Kohl having to endure this, but my heart felt like a butterfly ready to flutter away and land in Kohén’s lap.

‘Honestly, you two were a lot more tolerable together when you were not on speaking terms or kicking around a ball,’ Emmerly said, adjusting the belt around her thicker waist and wincing. ‘Can’t you go back to soccer?’

‘Agreed,’ Kohl said, and Kohén rolled his eyes.

‘I’d love to go back to kicking around my soccer ball with Kohén,’ I pointed out stonily, feeling my happy bubble busted by the prick of sharp memories. ‘But that was hard to do after you stabbed it to death.’

Emmerly’s golden-leafed eyebrows shot up. ‘I did what?’

I waved my hand at her. ‘You don’t remember borrowing my shoes and then replacing them in the box with my brother’s wrecked ball? How much did you have to drink that night?’

‘Oh my god!’ Kohl said, looking shocked. ‘Emmerly, what an awful thing to do!’

‘I’m not awful. Well, not THAT awful!’ Emmerly sat up taller, her cheeks pink. ‘I didn’t stab any ball AT any ball!’ she cried. ‘I’ll admit that I borrowed the shoes- I loved those shoes and you weren’t even supposed to be going! But I put them back on your bed because I didn’t want to get in trouble after, and would never have touched your filthy old ball.’

I stared at her. ‘Well, who else would have done it?’

‘Probably the same little darling who stabbed my favourite pillow the week she blossomed for the first time,’ Emmerly said, giving me a menacing look. ‘Your other rival, remember? The one who you called your best friend until a few weeks ago?’

‘That sounds like the mark of poor-training indeed, Kohén,’ Kohl said as Emmerly and I stared one another down. ‘I think you need to have a chat with little Kelia… and possibly hide all sharp objects from her.’

‘I absolutely will,’ Kohén said, kissing my hand but looking very uncomfortable now that Kelia’s name had been raised, and so he should! ‘And I’m sorry. I should have said something months ago when you first made the complaint.’

I smiled tightly at him. ‘Do not apologise, your highness. I can only imagine how hard it is to juggle so many girls in such a small space while they’re in ecstatic moods, let alone when they’re not playing nice.’

Kohén winced, but Emmerly giggled. I lifted my eyes to her and smiled faintly. ‘I’m sorry for accusing you of something without proof.’

‘I’m sorry about your ball.’ She bit her lip but her grin slipped free. ‘But not for stealing the shoes. I still have dreams about those shoes…’ and I smirked, because I’d never actually worn them. How differently, we valued things- all of us.

The carriage came to a stop then, and we dutifully filed out. ‘Sit with me today, Larkin?’ Kohén asked, pulling me along by my hand. The duchess was waiting beside her carriage, and her eyes went straight to mine and Kohén’s interlaced fingers, to Kohl as he came out behind us, and then back to me. Her eyes hardened, but I did not let anything inside me harden in response. I had made her a promise to do the right thing by Kohl- to love him- and I was doing that to the best of my capability without Kohén having to pay for it. If she were any mother at all, she’d want not only what was best for one twin, but happiness for the twin that she wrongfully assumed to have enough by default.

‘She’s going to sit beside me, actually,’ Kohl said, jumping down to the ground beside me and grinning at me. ‘She has such good taste and judgement- perhaps she can help me select a girl to promise all of my dances to, so father stops nagging me to ask Amelia-Rose Choir when she finally arrives?’

I lowered my lashes as though that could shield off the discomfort brewing inside me. Kohl and Amelia-Rose? Ick! I’d had a chance to read up on her a little more the evening before when I’d been trying to distract myself from thoughts of ending things with Kohl, and I hadn’t liked what I’d read one little bit. I’d always known, thanks to Kohén’s various anecdotes from when he’d met her over the years, that she was a goody-two shoes who thought that being a shepherd’s daughter (not biologically, though, for Shepherd Choir had adopted her after saving her from a band of pirates) automatically made her some sort of saint/martyr, and I’d known that she was an awful flirt too who tried to cover up her behaviour with demure necklines… but according to her own interviews, Amelia-Rose not only wanted to do away with the Companion Caste (not just the drafting process but believed that sex outside of an actual marriage: joined or not, was sinful), but she wanted third-born laws tightened and made uniform, Calliel-wide regardless of the population of each kingdom! Would she really sniff around Kohl, just because he was the only Barachiel who’d not yet had the chance to turn her down? What a vulgar notion, given that he was a THIRD-BORN and all.

‘Then she can sit between both of us, and I’ll help,’ Kohén said, reaching around me to clap his brother on the shoulder. ‘After all, I know most of them.’

‘Sounds like a plan,’ Kohl said, while I decided that it sounded like a sweaty nightmare. ‘Thanks.’

‘Larkin!’ Ora Camden trotted out of her carriage and grinned at me, and the fact that she was wearing a pretty sundress in differing shades of purple, like my eyes, made me giggle. We were alike! ‘Hey!’

‘Actually guys, I’ve already promised Ora that I will sit with her,’ I stepped out from under Kohén’s arm, leaving him and his identical twin in a Companion-less embrace. ‘And my good judgement begs me to honour that! Perhaps with my help, I’ll be able to ensure that Karol dances with only her this weekend, and that Arcadia gets a queen at last!’ I blew them a kiss- with two hands- and Kohl’s eyes twinkled in understanding and, to my relief- acceptance. He pulled his disappointed-looking brother into his side, and I reached for Emmerly’s hand.

‘Come with me?’ I asked her. ‘If you help me manipulate things so that Ora ends up as Karol’s official date this weekend- the crystal shoes are yours.’

‘Ooh! Really? Deal!’ Emmerly exclaimed and together, we ran off to be girls for a change, and not enemies.

*

The royal party was given a special viewing platform in the centre of the spiral that was Central Arcadia, which afforded us a slightly higher view of the beginning of the parade. It had three rows of chairs, buckets of champagne on ice and was cordoned off from the people lining the sidewalks by golden rope, and yet Emmerly, Ora and I were too excited to actually sit after the first float went by, and ended up getting permission to go stand at the front so we could gawk and jump up and down without getting in anyone’s way.

‘What a funny little country you have here!’ Ora exclaimed, waiting to a bunch of Pilgrim-inspired marchers go past with the Janiel float. ‘Such odd customs! It’s positively medieval.’

‘You don’t have parades in Rabia?’ I asked her.

‘We do. But it’s so different… the music is louder and faster and more synthesised, the floats are motorised and not horse-drawn, and the things you Callielian's wear!’ she motioned to a little girl who was running past in a ruffled dress and apron, and giggled. ‘I don’t know if I’m in a city, or a storybook!’

Ora had donned a jacket five minutes after getting out of her carriage, while complaining of the bitter chill that I could not feel, and as I assessed her now, I realised that as ‘normal’ as her dress looked next to mine with its revealing, light and sheath-like design- it really was nothing like anything that the Arcadian commoners or members of the nobility wore at all. In fact, almost every woman out and about that day was wearing a full-length dress with a full skirts and long sleeves.

‘No one wears aprons in Rabia?’ I asked her. ‘Ruffles?’

‘None!’ she said, shaking her head as though that were a crazy notion. ‘Though I suppose the weather makes a difference but still… even in the south back home, men wear jeans, not…’ she glanced over her shoulder at Karol, grinned and then leaned in to me and whispered: ‘Let’s just say that when I tell my friends that I am considering marrying a man who wears a cape and has a harem- they will die laughing.’

I glanced back at Karol, assessed him- swooned despite my better judgement when he caught me looking and jogged his eyebrows for me- and then turned back. ‘Really?’

Ora looked back again, grinned and then turned to face the front. ‘Okay they’ll die laughing at the anecdote, then drop dead from over-exposure to sexy once they meet him for themselves.’ She giggled, and then slid her twinkling green eyes to me. ‘But the harem thing is a lot to adjust to, and no, no one wears a cape back home. We did once, but things have changed since we became a republic. This place is another, much older world entirely.’

I leaned on the golden pole, imaging what Rabia must be like. ‘It sounds fascinating,’ I admitted.

‘Oh, no it’s really not. Compared to here, it’s boring and unromantic.’ She linked her arm through mine. ‘Well… the harem thing isn’t romantic.’ She sighed. ‘But I suppose it’s something that I could deal with. You know… until I marry him and force him to burn it to the ground.’

‘Please,’ I rested my head on her shoulder. ‘Marry him today then, and save me from growing old inside it!’

The Arcadian float was the third to pass us by and when it did so, Ora went silent so that she could gawk. It was the most spectacular of all, of course: a mountainous hill covered in real flowers, with a castle on top, rolling past us like a fairy tale in motion. It featured Gabriella and Miguel look-a-likes frolicking in an interpretive dance over it, demonstrating their love, and every time they dipped they came up with a white rose, which they threw to the crowd.

‘Beautiful,’ Ora whispered, taking a delicate sniff of the one that she caught. ‘So strongly scented!’

‘They are,’ I agreed, thinking of Martya.

‘Would you like one Larkin?’ Kohén reached down and tapped my shoulder. ‘I could probably follow the float along to try and catch another.’

‘That’s okay, thank you,’ I said, smiling at him, and turning away before Kohl could see my blush. ‘Frangipani’s have spoiled me for other blooms.’

‘Then a frangipani it shall be,’ Kohén said, and I imagined Kohl’s face instead of turning, and sighed.

The Tariel float was the most obvious and gaudy- a depiction of a golden land covered in people sprayed with gold, from their teeth to their eyelashes. On it, Artisans danced in golden costumed versions of their ‘regular’ clothes: miners, kings, nobles, children and elderly all covered in gold as they waltzed together in a perfect synchronised dance, changing partners without losing a step to show that every one there was happy, equal and above all- rich. And that was true- though personally, I wouldn’t have traded all of the pristine streets and battery-powered motor scooters in Tariel, for all of the trees and grass in Arcadia.

The Rabian float passed us last and Ora laughed at Elfin and my confused expressions, for it was nothing like the other ones- inasmuch that it depicted chaos rather than a scene. The float was covered in Artisans wearing three different sorts of costumes in the three shades of their flag: glittery black to represent coal, silvery white to represent the icy southern tip of the once arid continent, and glittery gold to stand for the sun, the deserts and the sands of the coastline. The platform was a flat black base with a handful of stars cut into it, and the stars were covered in Plexiglas and from beneath, brilliant beams of light shone through brightly enough to stand out and make the dancers on it shimmer, even in the daylight.

The Artisans on the Rabian float flipped and swung and twirled with streamers in their hands at a breakneck place which implied that a collision was imminent, but nobody ran into anybody; only their ribbons entangled and swirled together, demonstrating the underlying theme, which Ora explained away, was one of controlled chaos.

And yes, chaos was something that the Rabian Republic was often accused of creating because they were the kingdom most removed from all others and the only one that was not a monarchy anymore. They gave people the right to grapple for political power regardless of what their lineage might be, and there were no major cities aside from the first one that had been built while the monarchy had still been in place. Once upon a time, everyone in Rabia had lived in the city of Miner, but since the president had been elected, people had been granted the freedom to scatter. Miner was still the capital of course and according to Ora, was every bit as picturesque and organised and other-worldly as Arcadia was, but it was no longer the hub of their new world- just the command tower for a dozen or so nobility-funded towns that were itty-bitty kingdoms unto themselves.

‘I know that constellation…’ I said to Ora, pointing. ‘It’s the Southern Cross, right? The same one that is on your flag?’

‘Clever girl.’ Ora said. ‘You’d be amazed how many people think it’s just a handful of stars.’

‘Kohén’s explained the constellations to me over the years,’ I said, remembering how we’d use to lie beneath the fake starry sky in the poolroom for hours. ‘In fact, he’s taught me everything I know, that I haven’t learned from books.’

‘And yet you beat his score?’ she asked, nudging me with her elbow.

I smiled at her. ‘I’ve read a lot of books.’

‘So I’ve heard. I was rather surprised last night when Karol told me that he has become a fan of Gone With The Wind, after seeing you carry it around like a pet for a few years.’

‘I saw it in his study once,’ I admitted. ‘But he’s never mentioned reading it to me, aside from hinting to Kohén that he gift me a bonnet for my birthday back in the summer.’ I chuckled. ‘I’m not surprised that he likes it, though, given how much of a scoundrel the male hero is!’

‘Hmm…interesting- and troubling- theory,’ Ora said, and I looked at her.

‘Why is that?’

She glanced down at me, and smiled sadly. ‘Last night he said that he’s not surprised that you like it so, given how like Scarlet you are.’

I made a face. ‘I’m not like Scarlet. She’s a flirt, and a vain one who does what she does to make herself important. And if Karol compared me to her, then he can go to hell…’ I looked away and muttered: ‘Damned Yankee…’

Ora giggled. ‘I agree that those traits do not describe what I’ve seen of you at all, and yet, I’ve read Gone With The Wind a few times, and I don’t think they are Scarlet’s defining characteristics, do you? She’s gutsy, and strong and manipulates men for the good of the underdog, only because her wiles were the only powers available to women back then.’ She smoothed her pretty black and white flowered day dress. ‘As they are now, for girls like us in a place like this.’

‘Those are the things that I like the most about her…’ I agreed carefully, wondering where she was going with this.

‘And the very things that Karol named while describing you.’ Ora stood taller, rested her hands on her hips and sighed while her eyes watched the Rabian float clang by. ‘Now I can’t help but feel like a Wilkes in comparison which is a shame, because I rather like our dear Karol Butler.’

My stomach turned. ‘It doesn’t matter if Karol describes me as a Scarlet,’ I said to her softly. ‘In the end he sees me- and treats me- like Belle, the helpful whore. And you can rest assured that I see him as a carpet-bagger, and nothing else.’

Ora raised an eyebrow and gave me a sidelong look. ‘You don’t find him attractive at all?’

I faced forward and said stonily: ‘There is a big difference between someone being handsome, and attractive to me, and he has caused me distress for his own amusement too many times for me to count, or for him to count to me.’ Ora gave me a somewhat horrified look and I flushed, remembering that I was supposed to be talking her into courting Karol, not out of it! ‘That being said, he has an excess of charm and a wicked sense of humour, and I know that I could come to like him one day... but only as a brother, and only if he proves that he is as good and kind and clever as some people say he is, by marrying someone like you.’

Ora hugged me with one arm. ‘I am glad to hear that, and confess that I hope you can find a way to become like a sister to me with young Kohén’s help.’

I smiled up at her. ‘Then it’s settled- we both want the same things, but from different men. My dream is unlikely to come true and I am well aware of that, as you surely must be- so grant me another wish, and get that ring on your finger so that I might live under a queen’s thumb someday instead of under the shadow of a king’s penis!’

She chuckled. ‘Well, now that I know that he doesn’t have a true love buried away in the harem and in his brother’s mate, I’ll get on it.’ She leaned down and whispered: ‘You know the Barachiel family well... what should I wear to the ball to win his eye, and his family’s approval? I know that Karol doesn’t like Amelia-Rose Choir anymore than I do, but her father has a lot on money and influence you know? And she has that damned pristine reputation…’ she blew out her bangs. ‘I can’t risk her showing up into the ball in something that will steal focus from me.’

I thought that over, but it did not take long for me to come up with an answer. Off the top of my head, I considered outlining the dress that Karol had once requested that Lindy sew for me, but I changed my mind once I realised that that would appeal to Karol for the wrong reasons.

‘Something grand and royal,’ I eventually said. ‘A full skirt- fuller than anybody else’s, with classic lines to appease the duchess, but with a modern flare- either a very bright colour that no one else is likely to pick, and definitely with a hint of skin at your neck and back.’ I smiled. ‘And it’s a masquerade, right? So go with only a half mask, and one with spaces wide enough for your lovely eyes to shine through so people comment on how they match his.’ I clapped my hands together: ‘Oh! Go with something green, I think, for it’s his eye colour as well as yours AND his favourite colour, and maybe with a leafy, vine-like motif to represent Eden? You will be modern, traditional, standout and sexy… and if your skirt is full enough, you’ll definitely be the ‘belle’ of the ball.’ I smirked. ‘Oh, and when you’re getting about in your leisure this week… opt to wear your hair in piggy-tails at some point.’

Ora raised her eyebrow. ‘Huh?’

‘Feed the deviant with an open palm and an innocent smile, and he’ll no longer have a reason to go into that trap of a harem.’

‘I like the way you think.’

‘I like you for acknowledging that I can,’ I held out my dress. ‘Despite evidence to the contrary.’

Together we laughed and then leaned against one another to watch the Rabian float grind by, and my skin tingled with the warmth and excitement of a new friendship, though I knew there was every chance that she was just flattering her way into my confidences, I also knew that she was only doing so because as she’d said, our wiles were the only power we had, and someone so down to earth would surely wield such power fairly- and with women in mind- and that was all I needed to know about her.

29.

When the Rabian float disappeared from sight and the marching band followed it, the parade was considered ‘over’ from our vantage point, and so we were herded back into our carriages. I saw Kohl and Kohén each try and catch my eye, while Kelia pulled them both toward her carriage, and in a moment of treachery, I launched myself into a carriage with Elbert Yael and his wife, and Elfin. I saw Kohén’s eyes widen with surprise when I did so, but I was not trying to provoke him; only trying to remind a pissed-off looking General Hartley that if he wanted to fight for me, he had to fight for Kohl, and that failing to do so would guarantee that I found a way to make Elbert Yael offer Kohl what his own crown would not.

I suffered Elbert tooting his own horn and mine so loudly all the way back to the common that he drowned out the marching band in front of us and gave me a headache, but luckily for both of us, he kept his hands to himself and his comments above my golden belt. Still, by the time we were back within Eden’s gates again, I truly felt as though he’d stuffed my brain with his grand plans and cotton bolls, but I was satisfied to see Atticus throw an arm around Kohl and whisper something quietly into his ear when they disembarked their own carriage back on Eden’s common. Kohl looked surprised by whatever Atticus had said, but he nodded eagerly and grinned at the man’s retreating figure as the duchess pulled him toward the monarchic platform in the centre of the crowd. Both sights made my heart swell, and when Atticus turned back and gave me a little bow- proving that he’d been very aware that I had witnessed the exchange- I knew that riding with Elbert had been worth the ear bashing.

Finally, I was getting somewhere!

Once Elbert had helped me out of the carriage, I saw that Karol was already on the gazebo, conferring quietly with his father, and that Kohén was gazing after me from the only row of VIP seats on a small platform, some fifty feet back from the stage. I waved to him, and he waved back, and then I felt a strange little tug inside my chest to be so separated from him, but I turned away, reminding myself that in a few month’s time, it might be a permanent solution to what ailed us, and that I had to get used to being separated from him, without having to argue first to justify it.

Close friends, then distant friends…. then who knows?

The space between the platform and the gazebo was chock-full of people on picnic blankets chatting excitedly about the feast to come (the scent of pork roasting on open rotisseries was both mouth-watering and hard to ignore) and though I was glad that only the royals were to be cordoned off this time, I was at a loss as to where to sit, for there were thousands of people present, and after years of being segregated from crowds and given no choice as to where to go or who to sit beside, I felt overwhelmed by the array of options suddenly available to me. On reflex, my eyes lifted to scan the perimeter fence but there was no-one there- not a single person peeking in from the Wildwoods, and I wagered that that had something to do with the guards lined up along the fence at intervals with rifles.

Your father is not here- no one here will try to hurt you today. Just sit already, or make an excuse to go to the bathroom until one of the other girls sits first!

But then I saw Maryah waving me over from the edge of the crowd right near the front, and I shrugged and beckoned to the other girls over my shoulder, who were just standing there beside the carriage they had travelled back in, looking awkward and blushing like mad as people turned their heads to gawk at them in their pretty dresses- as they had been gawking at me since I’d arrived. I pointed to Maryah and looking relieved, they scampered toward me, with only Emmerly remembering herself enough to come slowly with her hips swinging just as Resonah, Adeline and co were doing as they crossed to the assemblage from their carriage.

I smiled as I walked to Maryah my way, admitting to myself that the more experienced Companions looked nothing but dignified, and nothing like whores. In fact, when done right and in a small group, they looked exactly like Artisans imitating beauty for some enchanting performance. Inspired by their grace, I sat at the front of the blanket the ‘right’ way with my knees folded beneath me and to the side, and cupped my palms while sitting tall, and then completed the ‘perfect’ picture of elegance and manners- by punching my fist into my palm in a silent threat when Karol stepped behind the podium and looked my way.

‘Is that a speech I see in your palm, your highness?’ I asked him silently, and blushing, he stuffed it into his pants in response, making me giggle. I then lifted my hand again and jerked my finger to the right, reminding him about the whole ‘roaming’ idea and though he rolled his eyes, he inched out from behind the podium as his father patted his shoulder and walked away. Satisfied by the sight of a cordless microphone in his right hand, I cupped my palms again and smiled approvingly, though I wasn’t much comforted that he’d follow or even recall any of my advice when his time to speak came, because he was still gripping the podium with the fingertips of his left hand, and his knuckles were white.

Please be good enough to knock Ora’s sandals off!

‘I don’t believe it!’ Emmerly whispered softly. ‘The grand Karol Barachiel seems to have lost his face this morning, and has borrowed a tragedy mask instead!’ The other girls giggled, but I heard Adeline speak next:

‘He is absolutely terrified, ladies so please do not laugh and look his way at the same time,’ Adeline’s voice was soft, but firm. ‘Or I fear that he will faint from fright.’

‘We can’t have that,’ Lette agreed. ‘This speech is bound to drone on forever as it is, so heaven help us if he takes a nap in the middle of it as well!’

There were a few more snickers following that, but not as loudly. ‘Why is he so nervous?’ Resonah asked, her more mature voice distinct against the other youthful ones. ‘Speaking with flair is what he does.’

‘He’s not afraid of the talking part,’ Adeline said back. ‘He’s afraid that what he wants to say will go over better with his father if mumbled.’

Curious, I turned around. ‘He’s not planning on declaring us a republic and then demanding our vote, is he?’ I teased. ‘As lofty an idea as it is, I’m pro-monarchy again now that he’s showing so much interest in Ora Camden.’ The words were out of my mouth before I could think them through, and though Adeline’s eyes brightened with a brief flash of hurt and jealousy, she swallowed and shook her head.

Oh I’m such a fool! How would I feel if Kohén were the one courting somebody this week?

‘No. He is afraid that his birthday wish will upset his family,’ she cringed and I felt it inside my chest, remembering his threat to me. That had been a joke, right? He wasn’t about to punish me publicly for humiliating him in the harem by making me join his?! Suddenly, the cool air felt frosted.

No! No he SAID that he’d never collar you! Relax, he wouldn’t dare!

‘And not just his father, either,’ Caprice agreed.

‘Oh my gosh, what is he going to wish for?’ Emmerly asked, but Adeline shrugged.

‘I have theories but really, no idea- and no one is supposed to know until it is declared. Obviously, the king and duchess have preparing themselves to be caught off-guard, as every royal parent has been before... and that’s part of the whole process, you know? They have to trust that they’ve raised him right and then demonstrate that trust by giving him absolute power for his thirtieth, and then he has to declare it to the public and give them the power to grant it or not, by booing if it is a preposterous suggestion, or applauding if they have his support. So he wouldn’t ask to become a republic Lark, because he knows that he would be booed off the stage for betraying Miguel Barachiel’s memory without any warning.’

‘Does he think he will be booed?’ I asked, praying she’d say something to make the sick feeling in my gut go away.

Adeline shook her head. ‘He knows that he won’t be, or is at least ninety-nine percent certain that he will be commended for it. And that’s the source of his dilemma- what he wants will be granted and he thinks his family will despise him for it.’ She bit her lip. ‘And his parents trust him so much that they are just working themselves up for a bigger letdown. I mean, Elijah is certain that he knows what Karol’s going to say and according to Karol, he’s not even close to guessing correctly. So now, Karol can barely sleep at night for the stress of dropping this particular bombshell on his father, who is sleeping easily with confidence in his son.’ She tossed her flaming curls over her shoulder and her eyes roamed back to the stage, bright with anxiety. ‘So regardless of how well the speech goes, he knows that there’s no way that he’s going to get his father’s approval along with the applause, and that hurts him.’

I let out a little breath. I was off his hook! Because there was no way he could hope to wish for his brother’s whore, and earn himself a round of applause for it! In fact, he’d become a laughingstock.

‘Wow,’ Elfin whispered, including Caprice in on her look. ‘And you have no idea what he wants?’

‘None. But whatever it is… when he’s not dreading it, he’s excited beyond measure,’ Caprice chuckled. ‘It’s quite the crisis of conscience for him, and I suspect that it may be his first ever.’

‘Poor baby…’ Lette drawled, and a few of us laughed. After all, we’d been dealing with emotional crises since the year we’d turned thirteen! How nice it would have been, to wait until reaching the age of thirty to fear suffering a consequence of our own creation!

‘But why is he worried about that today?’ Resonah asked. ‘His wish can’t be granted until Sunday after the ball, when he actually turns thirty.’

‘I know, but many of the dignitaries are leaving first thing Sunday morning, and whatever Karol wants to say- he wants them to hear it now and have the next four days to converse with him about it.’ She sighed. ‘So he’s sweating EXTRA bullets because his father isn’t going to be expecting any sort of upset this week at all, let alone today!’

We all turned back to the stage to study Karol and when he saw us and our own masks of blatant curiosity, he cringed and looked away, making Elfin and Rosina giggle. Karol was clearly petrified- more than he’d let on the night before- and though it was rare for me to empathise with him for any reason, I couldn’t help but send positive thoughts his way. His eyes were so green that their colour was startlingly obvious, despite the fact that he was twenty-feet away from me, and his forehead looked damp from sweat.

It was a shame too, because the rest of him looked utterly divine! He’d worn black leather pants as Kohén had, and they were tucked into black polished knee-high boots. A bright green ruffled shirt clung to his sharp shape and gave his eyes that extra glow, and to finish painting the perfect medieval picture of the ultimate dashing prince, there was that damned golden cloak fastened around his perfect throat. How admired he’d be, if he didn’t keep almost dropping the microphone or tripping over his shuffling feet!

‘I’ll bet he’s going to wish for a telecommunication industry to be established,’ Rosina said in her more mature but still melodic voice. Her talent was singing, while accompanying herself on a harp. ‘He wants that White Collar caste in place, and soon, and his father doesn’t support him in that yet, nor does his mother. So if he announces it before they can talk him out of it, he’ll be in for a ten-year scolding.’

‘Why?’

‘They-’ The microphone screeched, cutting Rosina off, and we all winced and curled into ourselves before shooting dirty looks towards the stage. A lot of people laughed- the children in front especially and Karol’s face went red.

‘Uh… sorry…’ he mumbled to the now silent and expectant crowd, stepping behind the podium and making me huff with annoyance. Then, he began to unfold his paper awkwardly with one shaking hand, while attempting to get the microphone in front of his face with the other shaking hand, and he looked so flustered and comical that more than a few people sniggered.

‘He looks like someone trying to eat an ice cream cone while freezing cold already in a blizzard,’ Emmerly whispered and Lette giggled. I couldn’t help but laugh too, and Karol’s face went redder as though he recognised the sound of my derision, which he probably did. He smoothed the paper out with the microphone hand and then said into it after a clearing of his throat:

‘Ladies and gentlemen, it is with great honour and… erm, pride that I…’

‘Pride? Where?’ Elfin simpered.

‘Girls!’ Maryah hissed. ‘Enough! It is your job to support him.’

‘Actually, it’s my job to support Kohén,’ Lette pointed out and then smacked Adeline on the shoulder. ‘Go- now. Do something supportive.’

‘Yeah, one of you can fit behind that podium and support him in the way that counts with these guys until he calms down, right?’ Elfin asked, and I clapped a hand over my mouth to hold in a guffaw.

‘Actually, no I can’t,’ Adeline said quietly without a trace of humour in her voice. ‘He hasn’t come to me for weeks to do anything but pace a scorch mark into my carpet.’

‘He hasn’t come to either of us,’ Caprice agreed and then added: ‘Not since Larkin called him a rapist, anyway.’

Silence fell behind me, and I stiffened. I felt them staring at my back, and I transferred that intensity toward the stage, amazed to realise why Karol was coming apart- he’d stopped allowing his Companions to hold him together, and it was apparently all my fault!

No! Not your fault, your influence! And if he’s going to win Ora’s heart, he needs to get rid of them all together! Don’t feel guilty Larkin, raise your head high!

As though he were well aware of every word that was being said between us, Karol raised a glowing green hand to his face and smoothed his hair back, and when I saw the tremble in it, then heard it in his voice as he waffled on, I knew that something had to be done. I’d made him a promise- and now, I was going to keep it and damn my freedom.

‘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 with 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 Given 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.

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 liberated 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 rejoice 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.’

The crowd behind us hushed as he crushed me to him again. ‘It would gladden me if you went there,’ he said. ‘But you do know that if you go across the ocean, I will find a way to follow immediately, right?’

I did know that, and I knew it was going to cause both Kohl and Kohén a lot of distress, which was why part of me was thinking that the best thing I could do- for everybody- was to sign a contract with Atticus agreeing to accept Pacifica from him when I was twenty-one, but to serve out an apprenticeship on the mainland, somewhere close to Kohén but without being literally in his lap and assuredly on Kohl’s mind until then. Possibly even St Miguel, for it was still just a march under Arcadia’s jurisdiction, which meant that Elijah would profit indirectly by keeping me within Arcadian borders. Sugar cane wasn’t cotton, but it was a crop that they grew on Caldera Island already, so I could learn a lot that would benefit a Pacifican future. And who knew? Maybe Elijah would offer me land there, with Hamlet McPhee’s blessing, to try my hand at cotton on?

Besides- that was where Martya had been intending to go. Shouldn’t I honour her, by following in her footsteps, but making it across her finish line?

‘You talk to a man about a crown,’ I repeated, releasing his hands. ‘And I will talk to the same man about an island, and we will talk about what that means for our future when both are in our possession- and the ability to change rules, in yours.’

Kohén frowned. ‘Wait… what about what you said in Pacifica? About seeing other men? Surely you know that I won’t court anybody-’

‘Larkin?’ Kohl’s voice closed in on us, and when I turned, I saw that he was holding his mother’s hand and her, trying to get a grip on my gaze. He looked from his twin, to me, and then smiled curiously, though the worry in his eyes was clear. ‘When you get a minute, Atticus wants to talk to you.’ He held out his free hand. ‘And I would like to squeeze you until your head pops like a champagne cork!’ I grinned and turned to him, accepting his offer, and Kohl picked me up and bellowed out a: ‘Who’s the guardian angel now?!’ while spinning me in a whip of a circle.

‘Karol, actually!’ I giggled and he put me down as the duchess moved to Kohén and held him tightly. I wanted so badly to tell him about the fine print, which would see me gift my virginity to Karol by the end of the week, but I couldn’t. And who knew? If Karol intended to keep what we did behind his locked door, then maybe no one would ever have to know, and the repercussions for me would be minimal. Well, internal, at least- probably not minimal. The very thought of disrobing for his greedy gaze made me feel light-headed and ill, so I could only imagine how cheap and wrecked I would feel after. ‘Who would have thought it, huh?’

‘I did.’ Constance said, and when I glanced over to honour her smug smile with a nod of acknowledgement, I saw her pull Kohén into her arms. ‘Thank you,’ she whispered to him.

‘For what?’ he asked, still wiping the damp tear tracks from his face.

‘For giving me a daughter at last, by treating her like a princess, instead of a whore.’

I turned around in shock, and Kohl’s arms went limp, letting me go. I raced to the duchess and she wrapped her slender, soft arms around me and when I pulled back, a butterfly escaped from the palm of her hand. My breathing hitched in fear, but only I noticed how it had appeared out of thin air, and she smiled in a reassuring way.

‘You never know what someone’s capable of, hmm?’ she asked, and I laughed and hugged my mother again, hoping that she would love me as a mother, even if Karol’s plans for me quashed both Kohl and Kohén’s alternate plans for me.

Hoping that a princess didn’t need a prince charming, in order to have a happy ending.

31.

The feast began immediately following Karol’s speech, and the people shifted from one mass to form lines along the common, while I accepted congratulations from total strangers and chatted with Atticus.

As it turned out, one of the Islands that had been virtually destroyed by God’s wrath, Isthmus Isle, had recently been declared habitable again, and it was there that Kohén and the prime minister had sailed together that day in Pacifica, leaving Kohl behind, and the general had done that because there had been no natives there for Kohl to have to translate for.

‘It used to be called-’

‘Maui,’ I said, winking, and he blinked at me and then grinned and shook his head.

‘I should have assumed you knew already, hmm? With your test scores and all?’

‘Actually, I knew that because Kohén was so invested in the subject growing up. Always so eager to know his brother’s life as best as he could. We’d go through old encyclopaedias and spin his globe…’ I smiled a sentimental smile and took a sip from my glass of champagne. ‘I owe so much to him.’

‘And now the little brother owes his very own title of Lieutenant-General to you.’ He saw me blink and held up his hand. ‘Relax, it will become a duchy in addition eventually, I do not doubt that. But Duke is a royal title, and can be granted by the king only. I am certain that Elbert will come to see Kohl’s potential, but we still need to make that potential shine brightly so that he looks at all. So I have asked Kohl to become my new Lieutenant General, and to spearhead the settlement of Isthmus Isle using half of the Corps we have stationed on Caldera, and the prisoner Corps that are coming to us at the end of the year - most of which will eventually become your workers.’

‘Prisoners?!’ I squeaked, but he held up his hand again and laughed.

‘It’s not going to be a boatload of miscreants, sweetheart. This crop will be made up of people who have begged to be re-accepted into a society after having being evicted for committing a series of minor crimes- meaning that they’ll have more than three glyphs each, but for petty crimes like getting pregnant out of wedlock, insignificant but recurrent thievery, or prostituting to make money, etc etc.’

The boat I would have been on according to the duchess’s plans!

I twisted my pursed lips to the side, but nodded, accepting that. ‘So… people who fell through the cracks, like me, but didn’t have a guardian angel to pull them back out?’ I smiled wryly. ‘Huh. That’s kind of perfect.’

‘I thought so. Not only will this position give him the chance to shine while bearing quite a burden of responsibility, but he will be acting mayor of the village that will be established there over the next four years and-’ his eyes shone proudly, ‘he confessed to me, that being my second-in-command is his wildest dream, so relax, Larkin…’ he patted my shoulder. ‘It is my footsteps that he wants to follow in, for now, not his actual father’s. That will probably change, for I speak from experience when I say that it’s hard to stop climbing the ladder of success once you’ve overcome the fear of heights. But it will suffice for now, and instead of having to wait until he is eighteen to have any at all, Kohl will bear that title proudly on Sunday. And because it is a military issue, not feudal- I cannot be overruled.’ He wriggled his eyebrows. ‘Nor will Kohl be able to be overruled by Kohén- for lieutenant general will outrank prince on Pacifican soil, at least until Kohén is crowned King of it.’ He held up his glass. ‘So, do I get a thank-you?’

‘I have told Elbert no, so that is my thanks,’ I clinked my glass against his and grinned. ‘But this is a toast for hope for things to come in addition to that! From the bottom of my heart- and glass!’ I giggled, seeing that I only had a splash of liquid left. ‘Gosh, this is my third in an hour, I better slow down, hmm?’

‘Not at all! This is your day, and it must be celebrated until we are singing and having to pour ourselves into bed.’ He chuckled. ‘After we have discussed some loose arrangements regarding your future of course.’

‘Neither is very ladylike behaviour,’ I said, finishing my drink. ‘But to hell with manners!’

‘To hell with castes!’

‘To hell with champagne!’ I clacked my glass against his again. ‘Where’s the ale? Cigars? I ought to celebrate my feminine victory, in a masculine way.’

Atticus laughed and I finished what champagne I had, and looked around for somewhere to set it down but a servant appeared out of nowhere and handed me a glass of beer.

‘I couldn’t help but overhear, and this is supposed to be going to the Earl of Janiel, but here you go miss!’ she said, then turned around again. ‘I’ll see if I can’t swipe one of his cigars too!’

‘Thanks!’ I called, but turned with her, pulling on her blue apron strings. ‘Hey!’ I said assessed her dark hair, bountiful curves and olive skin. ‘Don’t I know you?’

She glanced back at me over her shoulder and smiled briefly. ‘Well, I have worked in the palace a few times over the years as a caterer-’

‘Not from here. Not…’ I followed her and turned her around, and then recognition hit me. ‘Oh my gosh! Siria, isn’t it? Weren’t you a Companion?’

The maid’s brown eyes widened and yes, they bore a trace of gold, just as Siria’s had. ‘N-no miss,’ she stammered. ‘You are confusing me with my sister.’

I pressed my hand to my chest. ‘I thought she was from Tariel?’

‘She was- I mean- we both were. I was born first and she, a few minutes later.’ The girl lowered her lashes. ‘We are identical but like the prince and his twin, not equal. Hector of Tariel took her in on his fifth birthday. And I…’ she lifted her eyes to me, and she was so beautiful that it stopped my heart. Beautiful, and sad! ‘My parents couldn’t stay and watch her life unfold like that. They requested a transfer for them and my older brother and I here, so they would not have to see her go through that life, and I qualified as a waitress just as she was released from her contract.’ She sighed. ‘I tried to transfer to re-join her in Tariel, but it was denied.’

My heart ached for her. ‘So you do not see her?’

‘I do now that we are grown, but only I do, and it is not often.’

I looked around, trying not to look like I pitied her too much, but how could I help it? She was a lot older than me- at least twenty-eight, going off the Prince of Tariel’s birthday, and she was unmarried and working and missing a twin. ‘Is she here today?’

‘No, but she may be here on Saturday, weather permitting, for the roads north have suffered a bit of rain damage last night and are all muddy.’

‘I hope she makes it,’ I said. ‘I never got to see her after the incident at the ball last year! I was taken outside too quickly and then sent off to bed.’

‘She was unharmed,’ the girl assured me, then shook my hand. ‘I saw her after myself, and a few times since. I’m Gabby-’ she held her hand out to me, balancing her tray on the other, and her skin was as warm as her eyes. ‘It is a pleasure to meet you for real, Larkin. I knew Lindy and her husband rather well, so I was grateful to hear you passing along her name to my sister- who had her make a pretty gown for me too!’

‘Really?’ I was beside myself with excitement, and the girl nodded, her eyes darkening.

‘I knew your mother as well. She used to do clothing alterations on our uniforms…’ she smoothed out her Blue Collar apron and smiled sadly at me as my heart sank. ‘Her funeral was pretty, Larkin- all of the nurses who knew her from the hospital came, and the seamstresses from where she worked…’ her voice trailed off. ‘I’ve said too much, I’m sorry.’

‘No,’ I shook my head. ‘It’s fine. I’m glad to hear whatever pleasant things I can, for I was still unconscious when the funeral took place.’

‘Well, that’s good. Anyway…’ her eyes drifted across the green. ‘I better get back to my duties. I ought to say that I hope to see you again soon, but I will not- just in case I jinx your escape.’

I laughed. ‘Thank you, Gabby.’ I stepped back to Atticus and grinned, thinking that I’d have to find a way to get her transfer approved. Surely Kohén would back me on that, because she was a twin as well? ‘Small world.’

‘I have no idea what you two were on about…’ he said, finishing his own champagne then turning it upside down. ‘But I do know that she forgot to offer me another beverage.’

‘Here, take mine,’ I thrust the beer into his hand. ‘I’ve just realised that I’ve had too many without a bathroom break, so to save me from doing something hopelessly masculine- like peeing behind a tree- I better duck inside.’

‘So long as you don’t pee on the wrong throne!’ he called after me, and I laughed, excited to get the bathroom business out of the way with so I could return and grill him on the nitty gritty details of his relationship with Jovi. What a match! What a DELIGHTFUL match!

It took forever to get up the green slope of the common with a sloshing bladder, and I was stopped so many times that by the time I made it through the front courtyard, I was in agony. I tried to go to the public restroom by the pool just inside the west wing doors, but there was a line of women already waiting and so I huffed and puffed and made my way toward the north wing instead. It was silent and dark inside the harem’s corridors, and because I wasn’t certain that I would make it past the bubbling fountain of the spring, I used the toilet in the spa and then practically danced toward my bedroom after, realising that I was actually drunk and ought to at least check my hair and make-up and re-apply some perfume spray so it wouldn’t be too obvious.

And I should probably try and find Kelia… we could get drunk together! It’s not like anyone is ever going to mistake us for born-nobility again!

Swaying, I opened my bedroom door and then stepped inside, but then gasped when I was greeted by utter destruction. My things were everywhere! Absolutely everywhere! Vases smashed against the carpet, curtains ripped from the rods, my duvet was on the floor and when I stepped forward, something crackled under my boot. I looked down and saw a sheath of paper and my heart stopped when I recognised Kohl’s handwriting. Instantly terrified, I slammed my door behind me and locked it, and bent to gather up the three pages of the letter lying there, and my eyes followed the trail of destruction all the way to the over-stuffed chair in the corner where Kelia was huddled, hugging my bible to her chest.

‘Oh my god…’ I gaped at the girl, whose hair was a mess, and whose mascara was running down her face. Her feet were bare, and her tiny frame was shaking. ‘What…?’

‘There’s nothing comforting in here…’ she croaked, and I wasn’t certain if she was talking about the bible, or the harem, until she tapped the mouldy, warped cover. ‘It’s all damnation for a whore… unless you’re the prodigal son’s favourite, like Mary.’ She made a face at me. ‘Like you.’

‘Kelia, what’s the matter?’ I picked up my letter and hurried to kneel at her feet. ‘What have you done? Why would you do this?’

‘He released me,’ she whispered, and my chest tightened. She didn’t look at me, but kept her haunted gaze locked on the old book in her hands. ‘Not just me- all of us.’

I blinked rapidly. ‘When?’

‘Twenty minutes ago,’ she whispered. ‘He summoned us all inside, and released us. His father was with him, and he tore every contract in two and told us to enjoy our last days in Eden at our leisure.’

‘Oh, oh no!’ I tried to take her hands, but she wouldn’t relinquish her hold on the bible. ‘That’s terrible!’

Kelia’s eyes flashed. ‘Kohén said it was an honour. That we were already wealthy, and that we would be the youngest companions in Calliel, and would make a killing. Not just that, but we could afford to be selective.’ She began to cry. ‘And Elijah said that he would find placements for us all- that he’d even hit up the dignitaries here and ask if any of us were to his liking… but… but… I can’t be a whore!’

‘You’re not a whore,’ I assured her. ‘You’re a Companion.’

‘No, I’m not.’ She shifted her eyes to me. ‘I am nothing, Larkin with the potential to choose between two fates- resign myself to be a common man’s whore, or join the Corps.’

I furrowed my brow at her. ‘What?’

‘I am a virgin,’ she whispered. ‘But I got a sixty-four overall. So if I admit that this…’ she held up a limp, gold-encrusted wrist, ‘is a lie, I will be put into the Corps to earn a wage, with a savings bond of golden trinkets waiting for me when I get out- as a favour from the prince.’ She swallowed, and my eyes widened. ‘But if I… if I want… I can…’ she sniffled and raised the book to cover her face. ‘I am nothing! Either way, I am nothing, and you get EVERYTHING!’

I scurried back a few paces when she lifted the Bible and threw it, shattering my mirror. ‘What are you talking about?’ I demanded. ‘You’re not a virgin! I SAW you-’

‘There are ways that a woman can be taken by a man and left intact!’ she screamed at me, and I honestly thought I was going to throw up when I realised what she was saying. ‘Oh, yes, look disgusted with me! But it was what he wanted from me, okay?!’

I pressed my hand to my stomach and stared at her in horror. My feelings for Kohén were like sands in an hourglass, constantly filtering from one extreme to the next, and Kelia’s confession flipped my sentiments towards the boy I had held in my arms only an hour before and saw them trickle down to the depths of depravity once more. ‘Why would you ALLOW him-’

‘I needed his protection!’ She pushed out of her seat and stomped past me. ‘I saw him, running out of the prime minister’s house and I just knew- I just KNEW by the look on his face, and the way Kohl ran in after you, that you’d finally screwed things up! You were his favourite, but he not yours, and now that he knew it, he would want to forget about you! So I threw myself at the chance to be more than just another, and I told him that if he branded me in gold, I would ask him to do so. I would lose my airs and graces, and beg at his royal feet to be defiled… to be his perfect little Companion if ONLY he’d make me his favourite and keep me in the palace forever!’

I got to my feet, and the room was now spinning rather than twirling. ‘But-’

‘But he said no!’ she cried, wiping her tears away. ‘He said the only thing I’d had going for me was my reluctance, and now that I was begging for what I had not inspired within him to beg for, he wanted me gone! He said that when we got back, he’d throw my snobbish little backside into the Corps for having called you a slut-’

‘A WHAT?’

‘You don’t think I saw the way you eye-fucked Kohl? Or the way he lingered near to your bungalow window at night?’ she sneered, stepping closer to me and pointing to the letters. ‘And now that I’ve seen those I know that I was right: you are a slut!’ her face broke and she spun away. ‘I was scared, okay Larkin? Don’t you get it? I was scared! I’d made him so angry, the only chance I had to smooth things over, was to take advantage of the fact that YOU had made him angrier!’

She was making me dizzy with the way she was steering about her moods, like the drunken captain with a sharp prow of a ship. ‘Kelia-’

‘So I offered him the one thing that I knew he would not be able to resist,’ she twisted back and smirked at me, and I saw her disgust toward men written all over her pretty, smudged features. ‘A way to have me, and my snobbish little backside, in a way that would ensure that the next time he took me- I’d be a virgin to sully again.’ I pressed my hand to my gut and she smiled knowingly. ‘THAT sparked his interest, and he was dragging me to the beach in a heartbeat, hell bent on pounding his frustration with you into me. So yes, you saw us together, and yet- I am still technically a virgin.’

I covered my mouth with my hands, deciding then and there that Kohl was the ONLY Barachiel option for me! How many times had Kohén… while angry with ME...? ‘Oh my god… Kelia… I’m so sorry!’

‘Don’t be,’ she shrugged. ‘I rather enjoyed our time together. Why do you think I’m upset at the idea of leaving him and that charge of his?’ She grinned evilly. ‘He had me orgasming within seconds.’

I turned away from her, not enjoying this interaction at all. How could someone go from weeping to bragging about being sodomised in the space of a few seconds?

An insane person- one who has a thing for stabbing people, and one that you have your back to!

I spun back. ‘So…?’

‘So after he spoke with us all just now, he took me aside and told me it was my call. Everyone has to be inspected when they leave here, and because I would pass the purity test, I would fail to qualify for a brothel of my own, but get to keep my gold. Then he said that if I still wanted to work in this sort of role instead of doing hard labour… I had until Saturday to find someone to gift my purity to.’ She narrowed her eyes to slits. ‘But then he told me that it would not be him, and that if I wanted to become a Companion, then I should try his twin or his older brother or failing that- one of the guards!’ She jerked around suddenly and smacked her tiny fist into my leather bedpost. ‘One of the GUARDS, Larkin!’

I pressed my fingers to my forehead. ‘I can’t believe I’m hearing this! How DARE he take you so many times and then-’

‘He didn’t, Larkin…’ she sighed, deflating immediately. ‘He was still trying to get inside me properly, when you apparently showed up and made him go soft. He fought us all off, threw an electric storm in a fit of frustration then went after you when it started to rain and he hasn’t come to ANY of us since, as far as they know anyway.’

I felt my face screw up as blood spiked at my brain like acid. ‘What? But your gold-’

‘He comes to my door,’ Kelia conceded, ‘but only to slip another trinket under it to keep up appearances as his way of apologising...but he barely looks at me and in case you haven’t noticed, the others are wearing the same amount of gold that they had before we left for Pacifica, because he’s been ignoring them too and acting infatuated with me.’ She wiped at her eyes while I pressed my hand to my chest, feeling the hourglass upend itself once more. So Kohén HADN”T actually had her? What I’d witnessed had been only an attempt? ugh, this was so confusing! ‘So I am a whore by nature, not nurture, and if I don’t want to live my life as a Blue Collar servant, then I have to find someone to defile me enough to put a roof over my head before I turn into a fucking rotten pumpkin at midnight on Saturday, because he’s refusing to be ‘unfaithful’ to you, now that being faithful to you is apparently possible.’ She picked up one of the letters from the bed and studied it thoughtfully. ‘I probably would have gone to Kohl, and I figured that he wouldn’t turn down sex if he knew he wouldn’t get in trouble for it- but I saw him charge outside in tears last night after following you and...’ She turned and held up the piece of paper and dangled it in front of my eyes. ‘He’s selected his favourite too, hasn’t he? And from what I hear, you two are now planning to set sail together- and leave your bestest friend at permanent half mast behind forever!’ She smirked and flicked the paper at me. ‘Or at least, you were.’

The hourglass shattered and the sands scattered. ‘What does that mean?!’

She smiled. ‘Kohén’s off ensuring that that will not happen at this very moment.’

My blood turned to ice, going from whooshing in my ears to freezing over and numbing me to everything. I pressed both hands over my mouth and reeled back from her, tripping over my original copy of Romeo and Juliet as I did. ‘What have you DONE?!’

Kelia gestured to the room. ‘I pulled him in here a few minutes ago, and told him to take me on your bed. The real way, you know? I begged for it. He fought me off, of course, and that was when I saw the shoebox through the cupboard door. He went to storm out, and I threw it at him. He started screaming at me over that stupid old thing-’ she pointed to the ruined soccer ball. ‘But then he saw the Bible, then the inscription and then- the letters… so many letters!’ she smirked at me, balling one up and tossing it over her shoulder. ‘And once I managed to read a few lines, I understood everything and illuminated him to the emotional little scene between you and his twin, which I was fortunate enough to catch the end of last night. Now YOU’RE the one who’s fucked! And believe me when I say, he won’t be satisfied in taking you where you’ve already been had, either!’

I fell back against my cupboard doors. ‘How could you? You don’t know! You don’t understand-’

‘I understand that you take everything from everybody, even the things you don’t want!’ she hissed. ‘You took his favour, then Kohl’s, then I see you sliming all over Karol and Ora, trying to wreck that too and it makes me sick to my stomach!’

‘You’re wrong!’ I cried, ripping a pillowcase off one of the pillows and immediately beginning to stash Kohl’s letters and the bible into it. ‘You’re so wrong!’ Fear gripped me like a fist and crushed my lungs, heart- all of me. ‘I’m not trying to take anything from anyone! I’m trying to get out of here before something gets wrecked because of me, me included, but the brothers…’ I shook my head and my hot tears flickered free and made Kohl’s lovely writing smear. ‘I haven’t been had! Kohl and I have not even kissed! If Kohén attacks him over you, it will be you who are the destructive one, not I!’

‘Bullshit.’ Kelia sat down on my bed primly, looking like a lunatic in a ruined asylum, and the calm in the eye of a horrific storm. ‘You’re the biggest whore out of all of us, duckling, and as soon as Kohén hears it from his twin, you can kiss your freedom goodbye!’

No! No, no, NO!

I gaped at her. ‘He’s gone to Kohl? Now?!’

‘Yes. Well, officially he has gone to have his royal family portrait taken, though I don’t imagine that he’ll be able to muster up much of a smile. But despite evidence to the contrary-’ she motioned to the mess on my floor. ‘He still has faith in you both and will not take my word or Kohl’s printed ones, over both of your spoken ones. He told me to get out of sight and speak of this to no one because if I am wrong, he will charge me with treason against Prince Kohl. But if I am right- he will return for me with a golden brand as a thank you for opening his eyes.’ She twirled a gnarled strand of hair and smiled smugly at me while I sobbed into my hands: violent, wracking sobs. I had been so close and now… now I would pay for the fact that Kohén had never loved me enough to win my devotion in return. ‘And I will get to live in Eden untouched forever,’ she finished, ‘like the princess that I was supposed to be.’

I wanted to throttle her, but I knew that if I put my hands on her, I’d kill her. ‘This is not fair…’ I spluttered. ‘No one deserves how hurt and angry he must be feeling-’ I lifted my gaze to hers. ‘No one but YOU.’

‘Nothing in Calliel is fair for girls like us, and this time I’ve decided that you DON’T get to be the only exception,’ she hissed, rising from my bed. ‘But you’re a fighter Larkin, one who has a way of getting more than her share of what she deserves, so to make sure that we don’t get stuck together for eternity- I suggest that you run while you still can. Leave me both brothers, and hide yourself away before you can be made into a hated Companion, or cast over into the Wildwoods as a ruined whore! But the only chance you have left to walk out of here with freedom in your grasp, is to steal it as you have everything else!’

I wiped my tears from my eyes, and my muscles were so locked up with fear that they barely managed that movement alone. I was in so much trouble! Even if Kohl and I had kept our feelings for one another contained, it had been an affair of sorts, and the only shot in hell that I had of saving him from getting raked over the coals for it, was if the duchess intervened on our behalf. She said she loved me like a mother, and she said she understood my feelings for Kohl- and even encouraged them! But could that be enough to save me Elijah’s wrath? Would I be forced to stay in the castle? Or just forced to sign away my life to Elijah on some godforsaken farm in the middle of nowhere?

‘I love Kohl and Kohén in a way you could never understand,’ I said frostily. ‘I will not run from Kohén and allow him to think the worst, and I will not leave Kohl alone to deal with the fallout of what we are guilty of doing, all alone!’ I pushed off the cupboard and turned to the mirror, relieved to see that although I was pale and my eyes a freakish shade of bright purple, I had composure enough still to get close enough to Kohén without affirming his worst fears with a single, damning glance.

‘You’re not going to be able to charm your way out of this one, Larkin!’ Kelia cried, sounding exasperated as though she honestly cared about my well being. ‘You’re a fool if you stay!’

‘They could kill each other!’ I snarled, turning and shoving her backwards while the loaded pillowcase swung in my hand. ‘They could kill other people!’

‘So what if they do? Everyone in this kingdom is an asshole!’ she cried, getting back on her feet and picking up another book- pelting it at me. I saw it coming and dodged it, but it hit the mirror and knocked the frame over. I scurried forward and picked up Gone With The Wind and Romeo and Juliet, my mind whirring- wondering if I should be packing a bag- or a weapon.

Oh my god… oh my god… what do I do? How can I even imagine smoothing this over?!

But I let my tears fall onto the books, and then reached for Memoirs Of A Geisha as well as something glass flew past my head and shattered the glass in a framed photo of Martya and I. If they were taking portraits, Kohén was probably trying to keep his poker face in place well enough to buy me time to explain. But I had to speak to him before he spoke of this to anyone! I had to tell him how things really were, and that it was him I loved with the word more, because it was true!

‘You know what?’ Kelia raged on. ‘I hope they fight! I hope they fight hard and they kill every one of us, especially ME! In fact, I might even throw myself between them and go down as the true hero, hey? Like Satan threw herself in front of Miguel!’ She sank to her knees and sobbed. ‘Will I be a hero if I do that?!’ she demanded. ‘Will I get a statue, Larkin? Will I get everything, as you have?’

I stared down at the weathered old covers through blurry eyes, before sliding them back into my wardrobe. So many romances! So many dreams! But the stories had been so enthralling, that I’d given up on real, flawed love.

But I had learned one thing from the books that had nothing to do with romance, but about severing sentimentality before you could be hung by it.

‘Do as thou will...’ I walked toward the door. ‘For I am done with thee.’

I slammed the door behind us, and broke into a run, immediately dropping my composure so that I’d have strength enough to carry my fear directly to Kohén’s feet.

Given Contract

I name: MARIAH VASQUEZ, employee of the Arcadian monarchy, do solemnly swear that name: LARKIN WHITTAKER aged: 5 is of sound body and mind at the time of the signing of this document on date: June 11th AA632 I understand that as one of her legal guardians, failing to reveal that the signatory is ill, mentally challenged or under the influence of intoxicating substances or a third party at the time of the signing will be seen as negligence against the signatory and the crown, and that I will be held accountable for concealing any information that could impede the relevance of this document.

Signed:  Mariah Vasquez        Dated: June 11th, AA632

given contract and specified obligations

The signatory agrees to the following conditions:

1. That upon signing this, I am agreeing to be emancipated from my parents, preventing them or I, for being held accountable for the circumstances of my illegal conception from hereon out.

2. That the Arcadian government has generously agreed to raise me as a member of the kingdom, and will cover all costs regarding my personal needs, education and healthcare until the moon of my twenty-first birthday, and that they will do so fairly, while adhering to a duty of care which will be monitored by several legal guardians, including, but not limited to- at least one Shepherd.

3. That I have been selected, according to my year of birth and its correlation with the crowned prince’s fifth birthday, to belong to a separate, exemplary caste to the other Given children reaped during standard circumstances. However, I understand that if my behaviour does not please my guardians or my crowned prince, I could be transferred into another sect of Given children, outside of Eden’s walls, at any time by order of the king until my twenty-first year, unless of course, other factors impede his claim on me- including, but not limited to brandings, the ruling of an acting regent, or other similar circumstances, which will be revealed to me after my thirteenth moon.

4. I understand that though my responsibility, first and foremost, is to act as a *Companion to Prince_KOHÉN_ Barachiel, the responsibilities that will fall to me in this position are subject to change according to age, development and behavioural standards- and that by signing this document now, I am agreeing to all future terms and conditions as well, as they have been deemed fair and acceptable by my guardian _Mariah Vasquez_ and because I will be compensated generously for all that I am asked to do, once I have turned sixteen and am able to earn a personal wage.

5. I understand that though I will be prepared for the role that I will play in palace life in due course, full disclosure of all that will be expected of me will not be awarded to me until my thirteenth moon, after I have been deemed mature enough to understand my role and obligations to the crown, completely.

6. I understand that according to the duty of care, my upbringing will be monitored for signs that I am being distressed, abused or coerced against my will in any way. However, to protect the interests of the other Companions, I agree to keep questions, speculations and accusations regarding our future responsibilities to a minimum, and understand that I will be punished if I scare, threaten or intimidate any of the other members of my caste, or my guardians.

7. I agree that although my biological parents are allowed to visit me with me for precisely four weeks of a calendar year, they are in no way obligated to adhere to this, and reserve the right to waive any lingering parental claims on me, until my twenty-first year when I will be considered an independent adult.

8. I understand that my behaviour will be monitored on a daily basis, and that any severe misdemeanours will be punished accordingly- including, but not restricted to: displaying poor manners, using foul language, making Godless exclamations or practicing religion. Though I will be regarded as a minor and an innocent until my thirteenth moon, any gross misconduct after involving the breaking of this contract, theft, physical abuse, sexual abuse, murder, religious practice and attempts to escape will be considered adult crimes, and may warrant canings, whippings, imprisonment or banishment, according to the severity of the crime committed and the ruling of the King and Shepherd in charge at the time of my arrest.

9. I understand that my role is a privileged one, and that I will benefit from my elevated position in many ways. However, any intimate revelations awarded to me by Prince _Kohén_ Barachiel, or any other member of the royal family are to be considered strictly confidential, and so revealing any private information to others gleaned in this manner, will be punished by a whipping.

10. I agree that although responsibility for me falls to King_Elijah_ Barachiel II_, my obligations are to Prince _Kohén_ Barachiel, first and foremost. I understand that I am now considered legal property of the Arcadian monarchy until my twenty-first year ( *subject to pre-emptive release or a requested, legally binding extension via branding) so any wilful, insolent, ungrateful or uncooperative behaviour towards my prince will be regarded as a legal infraction of this sealed document.

11. I agree that I have accepted copies of The 6 Books Of Creation, Arcadia’s legal code and Arcadia’s ethical code. I also understand that a separate handbook, that will cover the guidelines of my allocated caste, will be given to me on my thirteenth moon, and that I will have three years to familiarise myself with it before I am expected to adhere to my obligations.

12. I understand that although this contract is unbreakable on my part, it will be rendered null and void in the event of my Prince’s death, the collapse of the monarchy, God’s Armageddon or by the crown’s intentional destruction.

Signed: Larkin     Date: June 11th AA632

PART FOUR

32.

I’d expected that the pictures were going to be taken in the throne room, but when I went out there, I saw only a Shepherd service in full swing. I looked around, wondering where else the royal family would have such a picture taken and then realised that there was only one place; the cottage. My legs moved easily enough in the loose skirt thanks to the slit, but it was still long and I had to lift my hem from the floor so that I wouldn’t trip on it as I flew over the marble tiles.

I have to find him now! Oh God, I hope he hasn’t found Kohl already!

The glass leaves of Eden’s ceiling had been stained an ochre-shade of autumn by the impending sunset, and I stepped on their silhouettes as I crossed the room, gathering up so much speed so quickly that by the time I was closing in on the courtyard door, I was moving too fast to avoid a direct collision with Kohl, who was storming along it toward me.

‘Ugh!’ I slammed into him hard enough to knock the wind out of me, and he let out a raspy grunt and staggered back a foot or so. Winded, I clutched at my stomach and panted for breath as I took in his countenance- his face was as mottled red as his burgundy shirt, his lips were drawn into a tight line and when he lowered his gaze to me, I sobbed in despair, for I had not seen them so black with rage before.

‘I’m sorry Kohl!’ I managed to wheeze out as I rose unsteadily. I looked around the room, but only a few strangers were looking down the corridor and our way with concern from the throne room, so I turned back to him and did a brief assessment, which left me feeling even more breathless for he had his eye-patch in one balled fist- and a piece of paper crumpled up in the other. I stepped closer, squinting at it, and then touched my fingers to my throat when I recognised Kohl’s own cursive. ‘Oh God...’ I looked up at him once more. ‘Kohén has already confronted you about the letters that Kelia found, hasn’t he?’

Kohl squeezed his eyes shut and nodded tightly, and I could tell he was struggling to keep his emotions under control, because the objects in his hand were stained with a subtle blue glow and trembling. In addition to that, his Adam’s apple was bobbing in his throat, and above us, thunder was rumbling loudly enough to threaten the festivities outside.

‘What did he say?’ I whispered.

Kohl lifted his letter listlessly. ‘That he hopes that we’ve both gotten better at hide and seek,’ he rasped, ‘because if he catches either of us alone before our freedom is granted…’ he looked away, his forehead pinching up like the sides of an accordion. ‘I will end up in the tidal fall, and you with end up with a golden brand on your arm and your rightful owner buried deep inside you- to remind you of your place.’

As I processed those words and heard Kelia’s threats confirmed- that Kohén planned to have me before he discarded me- my hand slid from my throat to my mouth to hold in my cry of alarm.

No! Oh God… Kohén, how could such ugly words leave your beautiful mouth?

Kohl’s lip twitched when he looked back at me and saw my obvious horror. ‘I know, right?’ He shrugged, and I noticed that he was being careful to keep his glowing hand away from me- scratching his arm when he would have usually reached for me. ‘Naturally I didn’t take that threat as easily- or as quietly- as he would have liked me to, so when I threatened to kill him if he laid a hand on you in vengeance, he drew his sword and the next thing you know, Karol was shoving me into the corridor, and commanding me to wait right here for the lecture to follow, while father calmed Kohén down.’ He glanced back down the corridor, sneering slightly. ‘Which is probably for the best. Much as I would have liked to rip him limb from limb, I’m glad that we were separated before either of us were forced to admit that we were fighting over you.’

I swallowed hard and said into the palm of my hand. ‘So they don’t know about us?’ Kohl shook his head as I slid my fingers away from my lips. ‘But what if Kohén’s telling them now?’

But Kohl shook his head, looking back at me with a slightly accusatory look. ‘He would if it was only my ass on the line, Larkin… but he won’t risk losing you by revealing us- not if he can find a way to punish us privately, like he said he would.’

I looked down at the pillowcase hanging like a sack of hunted kill in my left hand. As surreal as it was to me to be having this conversation in this hall on this day, it seemed fitting somehow. After all, this had been the best day of my life- so how could I have expected it to end without blood being shed, or bonds being broken forever? I was many things- but lucky was not one of them.

Still, I found it hard to believe that my Kohén would actually follow through on his threats. He was most certainly devastated and furious beyond measure, yes- but he wasn’t a murderer or a rapist, and even if he felt like changing that, his Nephilim blood would most certainly prevent him from seeing it through.

‘No Kohl, he can’t mean to do those things to either of us,’ I said looking up and stepping forward again- needing to be close to him to be able to hear him over the rush of blood in my ears. ‘He just can’t!’

But Kohl’s eyes slid down me, and then to the letter in his hand. ‘He does, Larkin,’ he whispered softly and morosely, and I could see that his regret had aged him in just a few minutes. ‘He’s wrecked in every way. He probably would have beaten me within an inch of my life right then, but there were witnesses. Mother, father, the photographer... Karol…’ he rubbed his creased forehead wearily. ‘And I think he’s still in shock, if I’m being honest…’

I bit my lip foolishly as rankled at the idea of Kohén being ‘wrecked in every way’ as I was over the idea of him exacting revenge. ‘So… so what do we do now?’

Kohl pushed his hair back, still not looking up at me. ‘I guess that he and I will fight it out, man to man, and see what happens…’ he glanced up at me from beneath his lowered brows, and a hint of blue peeked through his dilated pupils. ‘But you have to leave, okay? That’s why I was coming to find you- to warn you…’ he shook his head. ‘You can’t be here when he walks out, Larkin.’

‘You think I’d leave you here to take the fall for both of us?’ I demanded, incredulous. ‘No way.’

‘You have to!’ Kohl insisted. ‘He’s mad enough as it is to know that we went behind his back, but if he walks out here and finds you shielding me rather than begging for forgiveness-’

‘Then go,’ I said abruptly. ‘Go and destroy the evidence, so he finds only me waiting for him,’ I pressed the pillowcase into his hand, causing the letter to crackle in his fist, ‘then I can try the beg for forgiveness thing.’

Kohl frowned and looked down at the pillowcase. ‘What-’

‘All of your letters are in there, and the bible too,’ I said. ‘I picked them all up, and was going to show them to him- so he could see what we had instead of jumping to the worst conclusions, as Kelia did.’ I sighed. ‘But that was when I thought that he still had the ability to think and act rationally.’ I shook my head. ‘Now that I know he’s lost the plot though, I see that begging, not reasoning, is the only hope that either of us have left.’

Kohl looked up at me, and his eyes were black again- incensed at the idea of being saved by a woman, no doubt. ‘You don’t actually think that erasing the evidence will make all of this go away, do you?’

‘No,’ I said honestly, my words coming as quickly and sharply as my heartbeat. ‘But I know that they’re proof enough to see you banished or whipped once this goes public, and I won’t give a madman documented justification for punishing either of us. So destroy them, and then it will be his word against ours.’

Kohl started shaking his head before I was finished talking. ‘That  would only work if you had all of the letters on you,’ he said. ‘But he still has the last half of my latest one, which Kelia also saw, and will probably have one of the guards on Caldera raid my stuff to find your letters to me if we try to challenge him in any way, anyway!’

I stared at Kohl, lost. ‘So... that’s it?’ I demanded. ‘You just give up and take a beating, or worse?’

He held out his hands. ‘I don’t know what else to do! It’s not like I can wipe his memory, you know. Regardless of how we handle this or what we say- he’s not going to feel better about it until he’s kicked my ass for going after his girl, and I’m sure as hell not letting him corner you before the worst of it’s out of his system!’

I stamped my foot, knowing damn well that a punch up between two angry, jealous powerful Nephilim wouldn’t end with them sharing a beer like with mortal men- it would end with a catastrophe, and not only could I not envision an outcome that would see water best electricity, but I didn’t want to! I didn’t want either of them hurt because they’d both been stupid enough to fall for me. ‘No, Kohl, okay? No! What we did was wrong, but it wasn’t so wrong to warrant us losing our liberty over it, and certainly not your life!’

‘That’s not how he sees it, Larkin!’

‘Yeah well, he’s a spoiled prick with an overblown sense of entitlement, just like his big, grotesque brother!’ I snapped, taking Kohl by the arm and trying to lead him down the hall. ‘And you know what? I’ve kept that information to myself for far too long, and that ends now. So go, and let me handle this with the truth for once!’

But Kohl spun around. ‘Name-calling isn’t going to erase his hurt, only make it worse! He’s suffering, Larkin, and-’

‘I’ll tell him about Karol,’ I said quickly, and my fingers went numb with fear at the idea of exposing Lindy like that. But Lindy was far enough away for me to be able to get a warning to her to get her family out of Calliel- whereas Kohl was right here in Eden and inexplicably vulnerable. ‘I’ll tell him about the deal I made about sleeping with him if he helped me get her and her family out of Arcadia before her third pregnancy was discovered, and I’ll tell him that I would have gone to him for help with that, and with the locust cure that Martya left me- but that I was so heartbroken by him sleeping with Emmerly the night before, that I could barely look at him, let alone trust him to help me,’ I said, chest tightening at the very idea of it, while Kohl’s face tightened up. ‘I was rash and stupid, and it’s my actions that have gotten us here- not yours- so I’ll take responsibility as I ought to. I’ll tell him that I regretted making the deal with Karol almost immediately after, but that it was already too late to take it back: that I’d given my word in exchange for the Trevasse family’s freedom, and as wretched as I feel, I stand by that decision, even now.’ I continued to propel Kohl backwards down the corridor as I spoke, gaining speed. ‘He’ll get even angrier with me after, and I don’t doubt that, but at least once he knows the whole truth, he’ll understand that Karol is the brother who has been standing between Kohén and I all of this time, not you- that Karol was going to deflower me and ruin me for marriage, even if Kohén managed to abstain, and so our love, as he calls it, has been damned since that day.’ I sighed. ‘Perhaps then, Kohén will put the blame on the brother who treats me like prey, and not the one who has done nothing but offer me comfort and guidance since I confided in him!’

Kohl came to a dead halt and dropped everything he was holding to wrap his cool hands around my wrists. ‘Larkin!’ He shook his head, looking shocked. ‘Wait! Slow down and -’

‘No!’ I snapped, shaking my head and a few tears free. ‘I’m scared, I’m drunk and I am not going to stand idly by and watch you pay for all of our mistakes, okay?’ I released him, shoving him toward the throne room, which we were now only a few feet away from. ‘You either let me go out there and handle this Kohl, or I go out there, grab Shep’s mike and make a stream of public service announcements! In fact, I think I might do just that!’ I stepped around him, moving for the exit. ‘Attention Arcadia!’ I cried as he towed me backwards. ‘Think Karol Barachiel is a saint? Yeah well, while you were applauding us onstage earlier, he was feeling me up and reminding me that I have to fuck my way out of my contract on Sunday- oomph!’ I grunted, as Kohl caught me around the waist and flattened me back against the wall, moving one hand to cover my mouth while holding my hands clenched together at my hips.

‘Stop it!’ he cried, looking panicked. His eyes were neon blue once more. ‘Larkin I’ve had a bit too much to drink too, and I understand ager and despair- but if you follow through on either of these courses of action, you will damn yourself all the same!’

I jerked my head- and mouth- free of his sweaty palm. ‘So I’ll damn myself!’ I protested. ‘I don’t care! But I won’t see you-’

‘I’ll still get punished for pursuing you!’ he hissed. ‘Maybe not killed and tossed into the tidal fall, no, but I’ll be whipped in the very least, or have my freedom revoked. And once this stuff is made public knowledge, dad will have no choice but to follow up on all of the accusations made, okay? My room in Caldera will be ransacked for your letters, the Trevasse family will be investigated and you…’ his brows pulled together, and he shook his head. ‘You’ll be inspected for sexual misconduct before you’re banished to prove that the allegations are true, little bird, only this time- it will be father and Shep doing the probing, probably while mother bears witness-’ my sob of horror silenced him, and he moved his hands to my shoulders, grimacing ‘Exactly,’ he whispered. ‘I know how much you hated that- how much all of the girls hate that- and I won’t see you endure it again, not when I can take the fall instead.’ He stepped back, raking his hands through his hair and looking agitated. ‘Besides, there’s no way they’ll be able to keep Kohén away from you until your trial. And he’s so obsessed with you…’ he shook his head, looking bereft. ‘He’ll find a way to take you hard enough to make you bleed and cry: ‘‘the accusations are false! I just deflowered her myself!” after. That way, I’ll still get punished for attempting to seduce his Companion via correspondence, but he’ll get to keep you under his thumb, don’t you see?’

I pushed him away. ‘I don’t want this to become public knowledge, I don’t want Lindy and Coaxley to suffer, I don’t want to see you punished and I sure as hell don’t want to be banished. But if the alternative to all of the above is me getting branded in gold while you get killed, then I’ll have nothing to live for anyway, okay? No soul left to feel remorse for that third-born baby’s sake…’ tears began to leak out of my eyes, and they were scalding hot. ‘No reason to go on living.’

Kohl cupped my face, steering it up and forcing me to look into his bright blue eyes. ‘What are you saying?’ he demanded.

I pushed his hands off me. ‘Your compassion prevented me from throwing myself over the edge of the tidal fall on the night that I turned sixteen,’ I croaked, moving away again. ‘But it’ll be what drives me over the edge of it now, so please, just understand that nothing that you have to say will change the fact that I am drowning in guilt and dead inside anyway!’

‘What?’ he asked, paling. ‘What do you mean- about the night of your sixteenth? You’ve never mentioned having suicidal tendencies before!’

I began to tremble all over. ‘Well I have them, okay? I suffer them constantly. But I always found some reason to push on… some separate strand of guilt that would eclipse whatever guilt had me wanting to die in the first place.’ I sniffled. ‘But there was nothing that night- nothing at all. He cut the ties between us when he wrapped himself around her, and I wanted to die.’ I met his alarmed eyes. ‘I was going out the window- I wanted to say goodbye to my Liberty, and then go to the falls….’ I swallowed but my throat was too stiff for me to work up any lubrication. ‘But there you were, with your jar of fireflies, offering up hope…’ my voice trailed off, and I shook my head and then twisted out of his grasp, taking advantage of his stupefaction and slackened fingers. ‘But I have nothing left to wish for now, Kohl, so if you want to help me make a dream come true for real- then just let me go!’ With a burst of energy, anger and hurt, I shot down the hall like a bullet out of a pistol.

‘Larkin, wait!’ he cried my name as though it were an astonishing thing in itself, and caught my wrist with one of his hands, jerking me back. ‘Are you saying that you’d take death over a life without me?’

I looked into his eyes, wanting to say yes, but that wasn’t the truth. ‘No,’ I said honestly. ‘I’ll take death over a golden brand, because that was the one promise that I believed that he would keep, and evidence to the contrary will prove him utterly worthless, and end me. I’ll take death over having one more ruined life on my conscience, along with Kelia’s, my father’s and my mother’s…’ I lifted my chin. ‘And I’ll take death over living with the knowledge that good will never overcome evil... that love will lose to lust... that hopes exist only to be dashed.’ I pulled my hand out of his grip and took his ring off my finger, holding it out to him. ‘To living with the knowledge that I lead you on- and to certain death- for nothing!’

Kohl stared down at the ring in his palm. ‘What do you mean by saying that you led me on?’ he demanded, looking up at me again. ‘You love me! You said so! That last night in Caldera, when we-’

‘I do love you!’ I whispered. ‘And that night was magical. But the way I feel for him…’ I tried to squirm out of his grip as my insides squirmed. ‘When I… when I ended things with you last night, I tried to tell myself that I was just doing what was right… distancing myself from the both of you in the name of maturity and kindness…’ I felt my features squish together as my face crumpled. ‘But he kissed me this morning Kohl, and that was all it took for me to realise that it’s always been him, okay?’ Kohl’s face contracted in anguish but I kept talking, hoping to hurt him so much that he’d push me over the edge of the fall himself before he attempted to stop me again. ‘I let the contract, our castes, his obligations and urges, Karol’s power… I let it all come between us because I never believed that what he and I had could be real. I used every excuse I could to sabotage it, because I wasn’t brave enough to hope that his wishes would come true. That I, a third-born whore in training, could be enough for a Nephilim prince.’ I wiped at my eyes. ‘For fear that holding onto such a dream would lead to nought but my undoing, and would crush me the way that losing my family’s love had already crushed me once before...’ I closed his fingers around the ring and squeezed his fist tightly shut. ‘And I was right- I see that now. The love he thinks that we have is the stuff of fairy tales, and couldn’t ever exist in a world like this… it’s a dream that only those born into privilege have the optimism to sustain.’ I swallowed. ‘But it felt real when he held me, and now that I know that he’ll never hold me again so tenderly, I know that I have nothing to live for- just as you should see that you have no reason to die for me! Because I’m just not worth it!’

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 me, 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!

And she’d do that, because she’s just so good at coming through for Kohl when it counts? Because her wants and needs and wishes and pleas hold so much weight with Kohén and her husband? Pfft! If anything, running out to her and making it known that she has prior knowledge of this will see her kicked out the second that Kohén turns twenty-one, not propelled into a position where she will be able to intervene!

I didn’t know what to make of any of it, and Kohl’s roving lips and high hopes was only making it harder for me to focus. All I’d wanted my whole life, was to have options for my future, and now that I had several, I didn’t know what to do! And thanks to the champagne I’d had, I knew that I wasn’t weighing the options the way that I ought to, before choosing between several such drastic courses of action.

“What would Martya do?” was the question that I usually asked myself before making a decision, but that wasn’t going to help me now, because Martya would never have found herself in such a compromising position in the first place!

‘If you go public with this, and out Karol… he’ll probably rescind his birthday wish to spite us both,’ Kohl whispered, and something inside me flared hotly- furiously. Had he sensed that Martya was on mind? Was he psychic, on top of everything else? ‘Then, not only will we lose our freedom- but those other thirteen kids will as well.’

His point hit the desired target and sank deep into my gut, where my anxiety lived. Kohl was right- going public would not only screw us, but it would screw those kids out of a future as well, and that wasn’t fair- just as announcing Kohl’s rightful claim on the throne would see more Given girls thrown into this existence, and that wasn’t fair either. So that left me with three options: Pray for the good in Kohén to overcome the evil in me and let Kohl and I off the hook scot-free (which seemed highly unlikely), die and let everybody else clean up my mess- or get a brand, my freedom… and Kohl too.

I hated to admit it, but Kohl was probably onto something. It irritated me- the idea of keeping all of the royal family’s awful secrets for them while Kohl and I publicly played the roles of the wicked sinners, but so long as I kept what I knew to myself, I’d retain a little bit of the upper hand, wouldn’t I? If I kept her secret, maybe the duchess would find a way to help Kohl and I, either by smuggling us weapons or something to trade and maybe, just maybe, if I left him with his impeccable reputation, Karol would let Lindy and Coaxley be and rush to marry Ora as soon as he realised that I was off-limits, and always would be.

I took Kohl by the hair and met his gaze. ‘You… are you sure that this is what you want?’ I whispered, fearful now that I was seriously considering throwing everything that I had worked for away with both hands, and clinging to Kohl instead.

‘A fresh slate with you? A chance to win your heart in its entirety?’ Kohl was radiant. ‘It’s all I want. And if you go over those falls…’ he shook his head, his eyes growing wet. ‘I will follow you anyway- to hell, according to even the most progressive shepherds.’

A sob escaped my throat at the idea of being evil enough to convince such a sweet Nephilim soul that suicide was his only option too. ‘But... but the crown… your family…?’

‘I only ever wanted to be king, because it could have given me the power to make you my queen,’ Kohl whispered, his voice breaking. ‘So without you, it’s meaningless to me… can’t you see that?’ he swallowed, and a tear trickled out of the corner of his eye. ‘Can’t you look into my eyes, and see that the love I have for you will never go away, even if you do?’ he traced his thumb over my lower lip. ‘That I won’t rest, until I’ve won your heart?’

But I didn’t need to look into his eyes to know that I should choose him- he’d just said the very thing that I’d been praying that Kohén would say for years: that I was enough. That I was all that he wanted of tomorrow. That I was worth dying for, and his admission made him priceless to me. Not a diamond, no, but something rarer: a shooting star- something forged from God’s light, and not compacted dirt.

Someone who could win my heart for God.

I sniffled and traced both of my thumbs over my his brown bone, and he closed his eyes blissfully. ‘You don’t need the chance to win my heart,’ I croaked, and when his eyes opened slowly and lazily, they were an azure blue. ‘I- I think you just did.’

Kohl sucked in a breath. ‘You’ll…?’

I nodded, wrapping my arms around his neck. ‘Yes, Kohl- I want my Happily Ever After to be with you.’

We both heard the door open then- the one from the courtyard,  letting in the strands of music being played by the band out on the common. Panic washed through me, but adoration numbed me to almost everything but Kohl’s arms around me. I was kissing him before I felt his lips against mine, and we were crossing into the throne room, me cradled in his arms, before I realised that he’d lifted me off my feet. I heard the murmurs and whispers and giggles before I was aware that we had an audience, and I felt the sunlight filter through the skylights and penetrate my eyelids while warming my skin, before I opened them. I heard a thump and a gasp or two, and then the shadows were back and I opened my eyes, curiosity overwhelming me for the millionth time in my short, wearying life. I looked around, and when I sighted the row of flags lifting away from the wall and billowing in an unseen draught, I knew that Kohl had carried us from the southern wing to the western, and now, we were alone in the west corridor with the world’s existing and shadowed flags as our only witnesses.

Oh my god… we’re alone! This means we’re going to… oh but what about the witnesses? Oh my god, what am I doing? Am I actually  stressing, that there won’t be enough people watching while I lose my virginity? This is insanity!

‘Don’t worry…’ Kohl whispered against my neck, and I heard a metallic click. ‘This will give them a viewing window, but allow us to retain a bit of modesty.’

I craned my neck, and found myself staring through the glass windows embedded in the West Wing doors- and right at a shocked-looking noblewomen who was staring back from her position in the long bathroom queue. She whipped a fan out of her purse and began fanning herself while speaking rapidly to a younger girl in line ahead of her, and a giggle escaped my lips as I looked back at Kohl.

‘I think that one’s a member of the pious Amelia-Rose Choir fan club,’ I said as his hand pulled away from the door look. ‘And about to be in need of some smelling salts!’

‘Oh, she’s going to want a hell of a lot more than smelling salts once I’m through with you!’ Kohl joked, kneeling and running his hands down my sides, from my ribs to my hips as his eyes held mine. ‘But now I have a serious problem…’

‘What?’ I asked, feeling my nerves kick in as one of his hands slid back up my legs- but inside the slit in my dress this time, so that he was caressing my bare skin. My breathing hitched as that hand slid higher and higher. ‘Don’t tell me it’s a shy erection? Because that’s not really going to- ohhhh!’ I practically purred while he made a snarling noise and leaned in, raking his lips up the flesh on the inside of my knee. I began to sink as my knees gave out, but then his lips drifted up my thigh and nuzzled my sex through my lacy thong and suddenly I rising on my tiptoes, as though I could escape the pleasure and float away.

But Kohl clearly didn’t intend for me to escape anything. ‘No…’ Groaning, he worked his mouth against the lace and slid his hands up the back of my thighs, catching my thong at the hips and tugging it down a little, making me feel so exposed that I began to pant again. One of his thumbs began to tug my panties down over my mound in the front agonisingly-slowly, while his lips ventured upward and along the valley where my abdomen met my pubic bone, causing the muscles and nerve endings beneath to twitch and sing in euphoric response. ‘Just... I have no fucking clue where to start exploring you, that’s all!’

I didn’t know where I wanted him to start either, but I was certainly enjoying the way he was mapping me out for exploration! I writhed against the door, threading my fingers through his tousled dark hair as his thumb began to circle my clit through the lace, making me throb.

‘Maybe here…? he breathed, and I nodded slowly and without grace or rhythm. ‘Or here…?’ he reached both hands around me and cupped my buttocks- squeezing them greedily and making me cry out. ‘Or…?’ he straightened, bit my lip and then slipped his hands into the sides of my dress, cupping my suddenly leaden breasts and moaning as he tentatively weighted them. ‘Oh God… or here?’ he made an agonised sound and leaned in, using his nose to gently move the fabric away from the side of my breast and then suddenly, his lips were trapping one of my nipples and suckling, and I was sure that I was going to pass out. ‘Mmm!’ he grunted the hum and then moved his face across my chest, caught the edge of my dress with his teeth and roughly yanked it back before capturing the other nipple in the way that he had the first.

‘OH!’ I still had his hair, but I released then and grasped his shoulders, making access easier for him as he continued to maul my pebbling peaks sensually. ‘Oh…Your highness… yes! That feels so good!’

Kohl made a sonorous sound, and slanted his mouth against mine, cupping my breasts once more and using them to pull me up against him. It was too rough, and yet not rough enough and my nerve endings were firing haphazardly in response to all of these new, exciting and utterly confusing sensations. ‘Fuck! That sounds so fucking hot when you say it!’ he suckled on my lower lip and then slid his fingers into my curls, holding my head still. ‘Say it again!’

I opened my eyes, and knew that I was giving him my most wicked smile when I responded innocently: ‘Say what, your highness?’ I teased. “Yes, your highness- that feels so good?” I slid my hands down his shoulders to his collar, and tore open his top two buttons before smoothing my hands over his hard, muscular chest. Leaning in and kissing it, I looked up at him through my lashes and whispered: ‘Or should I just fast-forward to: “Fuck me, Your Highness… please?’

Kohl’s eyes went from blue to black and then we were kissing again, but it wasn’t like before. There was nothing slow or deep or languid about these kisses; our teeth clinked together, our breath came unevenly and shallowly, and our tongues twisted frantically around one another’s, each of us demanding and then ceding control while our hands tore at one another’s clothing. We stumbled from the door to the opposite wall, and this time we ended up with his back against the wall while I sank, working his leather belt out of his loops while my lips travelled messily down his chest and abdomen.

‘Oh… oh holy shit!’ Kohl’s fingers worked through my hair as I knelt and tossed his belt to the floor with a clank. ‘Do you have any idea how hot you look right now?’

I did or rather- I had an inkling. I hadn’t spent all of my Companion classes napping, after all, and understood that the sight of a woman on her knees almost always brought a man to his own, and when I looked up at him, the ecstatic expression on his face was enough to assure me that I had education enough to get through this nerve-wracking rite of passage.

Still, I’d never been one who was content to pass an exam- I liked to ace them, and so I sat on my haunches, reached behind my neck and unclasped my golden collar, my breath hitching when the weight of it immediately caused my dress to slip down to my waist and out of sight- exposing me both to his dilated eyes and the draught drifting down the hall. My nipples pebbled even more, and my face was instantly hot with a self-conscious but proud flush when Kohl groaned and cupped his mouth with his hands, gaping down at me.

‘No…’ I lied, kneeling again and reaching behind me, for the clasp on the belt. ‘Care to enlighten me… your highness?’

35.

Kohl blinked slowly, but his limerant gaze wasn’t trained on my face anymore- he was staring at my breasts and dragging his fingers down his lips. He shook his head slowly, and my sex clenched with some sort of instinctive awareness- I was going to be penetrated and soon, right here on the west wing floor- and I didn’t have the slightest inclination of stopping it. And what was more- I was going to like it. In fact, I sort of needed it! There was a heat blooming inside me, and I had a feeling that there was only one thing in the world that was going to be able to put it out and suddenly, I wanted that so much that the throb in my sex was all over me- my nipples, my pulse, my lips… I needed to be touched and I wasn’t being touched, so I unclasped the dress, letting it pool around my knees and then reached forward, tugged on Kohl’s fly and slid my fingers inside.

‘Wh-what are you doing?’ he demanded. ‘Larkin… wait! we don’t have time for that!’

‘Then we’ll make time,’ I whispered. ‘And be patient with me okay? After all, I’ve never done this before...’ He gasped as I did when my fingers fumbled to grip the silken, hot and hard erection straining within, and though I’d intended to pull him all the way out so that I could toy with him, the sight of it: pink and perfect and swollen for me pushed me through several long-standing boundary issues that I had. I moaned and bowed forward, suckling on the dewy tip of his untouched cock, and moaned again when something sweet and salty leaked from the tip, coating my lips and tongue but not gushing as I’d been told it would. This was just a taste of his ecstasy to come, and it was heavenly and most importantly- all mine!

‘Holy shit!’ Kohl’s voice didn’t sound like Kohl’s voice at all. It was something rough and breathless and primeval. I lifted my lashes and regarded him as I took him more deeply into my mouth- drawing him toward the back of my throat and watching with delight as he doubled over, catching himself on my shoulders and panting. ‘Oh! Oh… Lark! Fuck! Oh… I didn’t know it could be like THIS!’ His fist knotted in the silk of the Yael flag behind him and suddenly, the entire thing was falling to the ground with a snap and a twang. ‘I’m going to explode!’

‘Neither did I,’ I whispered honestly, slipping my hand around him and swallowing nervously as his entire length was revealed to my suddenly anxious gaze. I’d only gotten an idea of his size through his pants in Pacifica, and obviously he’d been more restricted by them that evening than I’d realised, because he was almost as long as Karol now, if not longer! ‘And… have you had a growth spurt in the last month or what? I don’t see how this is going to fit-’ I gasped when Kohl growled and yanked me to my feet, turning and spinning me so that I was up against the wall again. My dress got tangled around my sheepskin boots, but he slid a finger into my panties then and my knee lifted in ecstatic reflex, freeing one leg instantly while my hips bucked against his hand. ‘Oh! Oh… yes!’

‘You wanna know how it’s going to fit?’ he demanded roughly, sliding his finger into me and making my eyes fly open in shock. He groaned and rested his weight against me, retracting the finger before sliding it in again, and I was transfixed with the way his jaw was knotted with need. ‘Well, it starts with me getting you wet…’ his eyes lifted to mine, and they were still black. ‘And ends with you crying out: ‘More!’

I moaned and he leaned forward and began to kiss me passionately again while he fucked me gently with one silken, lubricated finger, and now that I was naked, the feel of his cock grinding against my pelvic mound while he penetrated my sex was startlingly erotic and almost too intimate to bear. I couldn’t believe that this was happening- that a boy I’d only met on seven or eight occasions was overriding all of my bonds to a boy I’d loved for years!

But there was a connection between Kohl and I- a sort of chemistry, which drew us together like magnets that not even my meanest, most candid streak could dissolve. There was no pressure, no obligations, no ownership issues- only mutual desire, raging hormones and most importantly- a common goal. Excited by his little moans and his erotic assault on my virgin and dripping wet sex, I began to tear his sleeves down his shoulders. But I couldn’t get them over his biceps, and when he paused to shear it off his body for me, I didn’t know what was worse: the loss I felt when he stopped kissing me, or the burning ache I felt in my clenched stomach at the sight of his rippling torso and bulging arms as he stripped for me.

But then he was naked, save for his pants that were bunched around his thighs, and when his hands gripped my waist and lifted me, I thought for sure that this was it- that he was going to bring me down on his erection with no further preparation, and I bit down on the inside of my cheek to suppress a nervous cry.

You’re doing this for freedom! You’re doing this for YOU! You’re doing this for every third-born-

‘Oh!’ I expelled the sound in a whoosh when I felt Kohl’s tongue dart into my sex, and my eyes few open again, bringing my attention to the fact that I’d closed them in fear. Kohl had lifted me off the floor, but instead of bringing me down on his manhood, he’d looped my knees over his shoulders and now his face was buried in my sex while his hands grasped my breasts and caressed them- all of his actions so fervent and manically charged that he was crushing me against the wall- pinning me in place so that there was no escaping the blissful debasement. I writhed and squealed and begged for mercy, but his tongue began to lap at me more ardently and a shudder went through me. I looked towards the door- horrified to know that people were witnessing such a raw, intimate moment, but fortunately the windows had misted over. They knew what we were doing, but no one was going to be able to sketch the scene after or anything, which made it a little easier for me to breathe.

‘Mine!’ he hissed against my clit before circling it with the tip of his tongue, and pinching my nipples between his fingers. ‘So hot! So sweet! Damn… oh DAMN you’re glorious!’ he began to fuck me with his tongue and I thought I was dying and what was more- I welcomed it. I tugged at his hair in a way that had to hurt but he responded with a grunt and began to suckle on my clit- plumping it with his perfect lips- milking it for every pulse he could beckon forth until all there was, was that pulsing. I cried out and lifted my arms, pressing my fingers to the wall behind me as my hips bucked wildly.

‘Oh… oh… oh….!’ The release came before I’d even realised that it was imminent and the world flipped upside down, as though we were in one of those glittery, shaken snow globes. ‘Oh...your highness!’ I crowed, raking my nails down the wall as my abdomen contracted again and again with the kind or climax I knew that I would never have been able to bring about myself. Kohl let out a slight roar of triumph and then he was lapping at my secretions- drinking deeply of me and I pressed my hands to my overheated face and gasped for breath. It was too much now- unbearable almost, but before I could cry out that he was killing me, I felt his grip shift and suddenly, I was falling and instead of feeling his mouth against my sex, it was his chest, then his abdomen and then, oh then…

‘Was that good screaming, or bad screaming?’ Kohl whispered, with neon blue eyes and a flushed, proud expression telling me that he already knew the answer. ‘I’ve never… well, you know… that was a first for me.’

I chuckled breathily. ‘I can’t feel my legs,’ I said, and I knew that I was blushing like crazy. ‘So don’t put me down yet, okay? I’ll probably collapse.’

Kohl’s eyes flashed and he hitched my legs around his hips, pressing me into the wall again and drawing my attention to the fact that something hot and silky was nuzzling my sex and straining for entry. ‘Well, I wasn’t intending to,’ he kissed me, and though I could taste myself on his lips, I was relieved that it wasn’t too bad, or as strong as his particular flavour had been. ‘In fact…’ he lifted is eyebrows in a silent question, and I swallowed hard, knowing that there was only one possible answer.

But suddenly, there was a pounding on the door- loud enough to make me jump, and hard enough to rattle the oak in the frame. Both Kohl and I twisted to look at it, and though I couldn’t say for sure that the silhouette beyond the misted glass was Kohén’s, when he spoke, it left no doubt:

‘Larkin?’ Bang bang bang. ‘Larkin! Are you in there? What’s going on?’

Oh no! How did he find us so quickly?

‘Oh my god!’ I turned back to Kohl, and suddenly, the ebbing aftershocks of my orgasm became an electric hiss of fear. ‘Kohl- his ring! The lock!’

‘Not to worry…’ Kohl released me, bent and retrieved the Yael flag from the floor. Unsuccessfully hitching his pants up a little higher, he dropped, rolled and came up against the door in one sexily fluid movement, before thrusting the pole and flag between both handles, wedging it shut. Grinning, he trotted back to me and kissed me roughly. ‘That ought to hold him!’

I was both terrified and aroused, so though my lips trembled as I kissed him back, my fingers found the waist of his pants and began to tug them down. ‘That was pretty hot…’ I whispered. ‘If we were still going to get the chance to take the release exam- you would have kicked our asses in the athletic department!’

‘I know, right?’ Kohl moaned when I caressed his firm backside, tilting his face to the ceiling. ‘Mmm… I’ve been training with the intention of doing exactly that… oh god… your hands-’

‘So I can see…’ I ran my fingers up his back, and felt my excitement overcome my fear once more as I encountered slab after slab of solid muscle. ‘Have I ever mentioned that you’re hands down, the best-looking man on the face of the planet?’

Kohl smirked at me. ‘Pretty big call for someone with an identical twin…’ But I shook my head.

‘No, I always thought you were on par too, but…’ my eyes drifted down his chest and I leaned down and kissed his golden pectoral, just above his heart before whispering: ‘There’s no competition, not now. I don’t know what it is that’s changed but…’ I tilted his face down and stroked his brow again, my eyes searching his. ‘You’ve not only got the better body, but before today- I thought that no one could look at me the way that Kohén did. Now…’ I swallowed. ‘You’re the glorious one, Kohl- there’s a light shining inside you now, and it’s going to blind me to every other man I’ll ever lay eyes on again, even him.’

Kohl’s breathing was heavy, as were his eyelids. ‘Really?’ he whispered, and I was shocked to hear his voice catch on emotion.

‘Really,’ I leaned up and kissed him, and he moaned and hitched one of my knees around his hip again. ‘No one’s ever made me feel the way you’ve made me feel, since you locked the world out and took me in your arms.’

Kohl moaned: ‘I love you so much!’ and then we were kissing again and the world was falling away. But-

Bang, bang bang! ‘Larkin, answer me already! Is my brother in there with you? If he is, he’s a dead man, you hear me mate? DEAD!’

My heart was going to fracture my ribs, but Kohl turned my face back to him and cupped my profile, shielding my peripheral vision and demanding my attention with his eyes. ‘Tell me that this is definitely what you want,’ he whispered fiercely, and I saw the uncertainty in his eyes- the fear that I was going to hate him for this tomorrow. ‘I’ll do anything to win your heart Larkin- and getting in trouble doesn’t phase me at all, okay? But this is your future that we’re talking about too, and your decision to make.’ He leaned in and kissed me. ‘I know that you’ve had moments of doubt concerning your feelings for us both, and I know that you feel guilty over the way you have strayed- but tell me now, in this moment that this connection between us is enough for you- that you’re ready to be bound to my side, regardless of where that leads us- and I swear on my life that you’ll never know a day of feeling neglected or unloved or as anything less than a diamond again-’

Bang, bang, bang! ‘Open this door if you can hear me Larkin, NOW!’

I sobbed and this time, I was the one who steered Kohl’s face back to mine. ‘Make love to me, and seal our fate,’ I whispered, swallowing hard as the guilt of betraying Kohén while he was right there threatened to undo me. I brushed my lips against Kohl’s. ‘Show him what happens, when you leave a woman no choice! And when you come…?’ I parted his lips with the tip of my tongue and then nibbled on his lush lower lip: ‘Come hard, and loud and inside me, please!’

Kohl’s nostrils flared in tandem with his eyes, and then he lunged at me while emitting a noise that was more animalistic than angelic. He caught a fistful of my hair and then yanked my mouth to his for a deep kiss and I shivered again. We both groaned and then he reached between us with his other hand, and taunted my dripping, impatient sex by nudging the soft tip of his erection between my folds. A full-body shudder rocked me as I felt him part me and then press into me just enough so that I could feel his foreskin roll back.

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy…

‘You’re so wet- and hot!’ he gasped. ‘And your submission… you’re killing me, Larkin!’ He rested his forehead against mine, looking mournful. ‘I won’t last long inside you…’

‘We don’t have long!’ I was hyperventilating with trepidation and excitement. ‘Besides, you’ve been inside me since you slipped your perfect tongue into my mouth- and if you make me go more than a few heartbeats without pumping your hot, royal seed inside me, I will surely die anyway!’

I only meant to tease him in an attempt to make light of my own all-consuming panic, but his eyes went black at my words, and I realised that I’d poured fuel onto some fireworks a heartbeat before he lit the match- and thrust forward into me with one violently hard strike.

Ahhhhh!!!

‘I love you!’ Kohl slid up and into me with shocking force- enough to lift my supporting foot off the ground, and had a brief glimpse of the ecstasy on his face before my vision blurred with blackness. ‘God, yes!’ he roared to the ceiling in exultation, but despite all of my years of coaching, I couldn’t have swallowed back my blood-curling scream if I’d tried. He was so thick and long and I was so aroused, that instead of him having to work his way into me- he’d slid in and slammed into my hymen hard enough for me to feel exactly where it was inside me as it perforated. Kohl jerked at the sound that I’d made but that only made him bounce forward with his startle reflex and then throb inside me- expanding.

‘Larkin?’ There was more banging, but everything sounded like it was underwater. ‘Did you just scream? What is he doing to you?!’

I attempted to twist away from Kohl before I could scream again, but there was no escaping my impalement and I thrust my fist into my mouth and bit down hard, trying to cause more pain somewhere else in the hope of being distracted by it, but that was an impossible feat.

Oh heaven help me I’m DYING aren’t I? How could anyone survive this?!

‘Argh!’ Kohl grunted, and I felt him catch on something inside me and then smash through it and I could have thrown up from the pain. A second later, my brain shut down in an attempt to disassociate itself from the agony, and when I realised that I could not, I immediately went into shock, then straight from there to despair when I heard Kohl moan then felt him pull back in an attempt to retreat from my body- which betrayed me by constricting around him and refusing to release the source of my agony.

Oh no! This is supposed to be a special, sensual moment and I just ruined it for him!

I couldn’t help my reaction though, and I couldn’t hide the fact that I was dying from my murderer. And that was exactly what I’d just endured- the complete execution of my innocence.

‘Oh my God… oh my God!’ Kohl sounded anguished and my heart crumpled like balled paper in a guilty fist. ‘You’re in agony!’

‘I’m sorry- it’ll be okay though!’ I panted, lying through my teeth, hair follicles and eyelashes. ‘Just… go on!’ I tossed my head to the other side and sobbed, curling my fingers into the hard flesh of his back so he knew that I meant for him to do exactly that. ‘I’ll adjust! The guidelines said-’

‘Forget the guidelines!’ Kohl stilled inside me and cupped my face, looking anguished. ‘Larkin! You were still a virgin?!’

I half-sobbed, half-laughed. ‘Don’t you think I would have mentioned it if I weren’t?’ there was more breath in my tone than pitch, so I gulped in more air. ‘Or that I’d be wearing your brother’s gold…?’

But Kohl’s face crumpled, and my brain popped like a burst vessel as a swift, obscenely- hideous thought occurred to me- and then I saw his suddenly bright blue eyes well, and I immediately understood that the world was a more hideous place than I’d ever considered before.

No! No, no, no, NO!

In one heartbeat, I realised that his skin was a few shades lighter then it ought to have been, and his scent more lux- more like a midnight garden in full bloom in spring, than the sea. In the next, I moved my hand to brush his hair away from his ear and withered on the inside when I saw confirmation of my idiocy- in the form of a small golden stud blinking where my golden belly ring should have been.

On the third beat, my heart failed me- leaving me dead in his arms; dead to the world… dead to everything I’d ever thought I’d known about my evil, conniving best friend.

36.

‘No…’ I gulped, I curled my fingers into the prince’s shoulders, hard enough to break the skin, then gripped him and shook him with one hard, angry thrash. ‘NO! Oh my GOD!’

‘I’m sorry!’ Kohén was Kohén that quickly, and the fact that he’d deceived me for even a second into believing that he was anyone else was so ridiculous that if there’d been a gun nearby, I would have pressed it to my temple and pulled the trigger to spare the world one more fool. ‘You have to know that I didn’t plan any of this-’

‘You switched clothes to deceive me!’ I wailed. ‘How is that not a plan?!’

But Kohén shook his head, looking mournful. ‘No, I switched clothes with him while in a fraternal spirit, to give him a chance to wear the crown for once- to deceive my parents and do him a good turn.’ He looked anguished. ‘But then Kelia threw those letters at me, and so I came after him in a panic, and got kicked out of the family portrait… and I knew that I needed a minute to think things through before I committed regicide anyway, so I waited there. But-’

‘LARKIN? KOHÉN?!’ The glass in the door rattled as the entire thing was shaken furiously. ‘Open this NOW or-’

‘Or what?!’ Kohén pulled me off him, bundled me up in his arms and bent over, retrieving my dress and the pillowcase from the floor. A small black velvet bag fell out of his pocket so he cursed, ducked and collected that too, and then suddenly, we were on the move again and I was crying too hard into my hands to fight it. ‘Get out of here, you third-born sack of shit and let me finish making love to my girl, or I’ll show you the true meaning of: “Or else!”

I sobbed, twisting back to look towards the door, but I only caught a fleeting glimpse of Kohl’s silhouette shrinking back from the still misted glass before another door swung open in front of my face and then closed again. The smell of coconuts, chlorine and the peach pool scent filled my head on my next inhalation, and though I wanted to do nothing more than dive out of Kohén’s arms and make a run for it, I heard the lock click again and knew that he was willing to go to far greater lengths to keep me in his grip than I was willing to go to, to escape him. I sagged, beaten, and he kissed my forehead and moved forward, resuming his soliloquy while I half-listened and half wondered what I’d have to endure before the chance to kill myself arose again.

I’m done for! I am over! I was not hatching an escape plan with my dear friend Kohl, I was talking to myself exactly like a bird in a cage being fooled by a reflection!

‘... But then you came along, and you assumed that I was him just as my parents had, and… I’m sorry,’ he whispered again, adjusting my weight in his arms. ‘But… it was the only way I had of hearing your side of the story, without having to question if you were being honest or not after. And when you said that you belonged to Kohén and handed back that ring, I could have died from happiness!’

‘And yet you robbed me of my freedom anyway?’ I wept. ‘I haven’t even KISSED him, Kohén!’ I lifted my head from behind my hands and stared daggers into his eyes. ‘We ‘made love’ by touching a flower to one another’s mouths and chests, and that’s it! It was an inside joke!’

‘B-but, you said I was bigger than the last time!’ he pointed out, not even slightly winded from the task of running with an armful of whore and personal belongings. ‘And when I asked to make love to you again, you didn’t correct me! What the fuck was I supposed to think?’

‘I don’t care what you thought- it’s what you didn’t say that is killing me!’ I sobbed, pounding my fist against his chest. ‘I hate you! I have always, ALWAYS been faithful to you and yet, you scared me out of confronting you openly or running and now-’

‘I thought you had slept with him!’ Kohén retorted hotly. ‘And when I believed that, I very well would have punished you by taking what was mine back by force! In fact, it took every ounce of self-control I had not to turn around and knock you out for being a whore when I saw you in that hall Larkin!’ he raged, shaking me a little. ‘I could have killed you- and it sure felt like you’d ripped my heart out of my chest!’

I remembered then- that hard, hateful look on his face when I’d run into him in the corridor and suddenly understood- I thought he’d been trying to hold in anger with his brother, but that anger had been for me! How he must have laughed on the inside, to hear me address him as Kohl- to reveal my hand and thrust the evidence of our affair right into his!

‘But I didn’t! I am innocent of breaking any laws and ended things with him when I realised that I was being untrue to myself, not just you! What do you THINK I wanted to explain to you today?’ I dropped my face into my hands again and sobbed, and I heard Kohén clear what sounded like a lump of dismay from his own throat. ‘I didn’t cheat on you. I loved you too much…’ I gulped back a sob and choked on it. ‘And so did he.’

‘I already said that I’m sorry!’ Kohén whispered huskily. ‘Please, don’t use the word ‘love’ in the past tense again! You cannot possibly hate me more than I hate myself right now!’

‘Don’t fucking count on it-’

‘No! I won’t hear of that!’ he bent and suddenly I was tumbling out of his arms and onto something soft while he was working his pants- Kohl’s pants- down his muscular thighs. I twisted my neck to look around, my heart skipping a beat when I realised that he’d taken me to the day bed that we used to lie on as kids. He intended on finishing this! Though I shouldn’t have been shocked, I was, but before I could move, he was tossing our things to the side and grasping my shoulders. ‘Love isn’t something you fall in and out of Larkin, it is a part of you that you surrender to someone else that you never get back!’ he sounded broken but I only wanted to shatter him more for it. How DARE he try and get poetic and wise now? ‘I know that what I did was wrong and yet, I don’t hear you apologising for writing love letters to him in the first place!’

I glowered hatefully up into his perfect face. ‘Is the blood on your cock and the end of my freedom not PENANCE ENOUGH FOR YOU YOUR HIGHNESS?!’ I slapped him hard and then tried to pry his hands off my shoulders. ‘Let me go, now!’

‘No! You are mine!’ Kohén rested one knee on the edge of the bed, and pressed his hand to his heart. ‘I am sorry that I deceived you but I have saved you from an inspection and public humiliation all the same, and I did it because I know that I can save you! Because I know that I can make right all that we have done wrong! Because I love you- and because you love me!’ I tried to wriggle back, but he caught my ankles and dragged me toward him, until my backside was on the edge of the chaise and then pushed me down again, so that I was looking up at the constellations painted on the ceiling through the gauzy net over the day bed with a sinking heart. ‘You said that I was the most beautiful…’ he pressed kisses to the throbbing pulse in my throat, and though I writhed to escape his lips, he merely kissed whatever part of me was presented after- my shoulder, my hip, my elbow- the palm of my hand when I tried to push his face away. ‘The most athletic… that our connection in those few minutes overshadowed-’

‘I thought I was talking to Kohl!’ I whimpered, panicking when I felt his weight settle between my knees, which he lifted and began to part. Something cold and sick travelled up my spine and when I looked at him and saw that his cock was still swollen with need, and that his eyes were staring down at my open sex, I lost my breath again. How could he do this here, in one of our most special places? Had he no empathy at all?

And when did he get so fucking big all over? And I thought that Kohl had had a growth spurt, ha! Obviously he’s been training even more than I realised, and becoming a man while I was shrinking in every way!

‘But you were talking to me...’ Kohén caught my hands and extended them above my head with just one of his, and then leaned down to brush his lips across mine. ‘No matter how hard you try to run from me, you always end up in my arms, little bird. And no matter how many times you’ve sought solace and pleasure in his- you’ve never found it, have you? It’s only when you’re with me, or believing that you are, that you relinquish control- that you lose yourself, isn’t it?’ I swallowed hard, not wanting to hear the ugly truth, but it hung over me like a funeral shroud all the same. Kohén was right: I’d kissed Kohl on two separate occasions, and yet, I’d never actually kissed Kohl intentionally. Was that a coincidence, or was Kohén right to suggest that he was the only man in the world who had the ability to tear down my chaste and protective walls?

I swallowed and whispered tearfully: ‘Maybe you’re right…’ but then shook my head when he blinked, caught off-guard by my concession. ‘But it doesn’t matter anymore, Kohén. Whatever it was that we had- it’s gone if you see this through.’

Kohén’s eyes flashed. ‘You think me stopping now will make a difference?’ he whispered, shaking his head, ‘I’m sorry Larkin, but it won’t. You stay here as my Companion, or you’re released as a-’

‘I’ll be a common man’s whore by caste, but a corpse by the time you realise that I’ve gone,’ I whispered, and my words had the desired effect- his eyes blackened. ‘So see this through if you will, but you’re not securing my affection- you’re ending my life.’

I saw Kohén’s Adam’s apple bob, but instead of releasing me or screaming at me, he leaned down and worked his lips against my nipple, keeping his eyes on mine when he asked too casually: ‘Kohl’s too?’

My stomach contracted. ‘What?’

Kohén shrugged and drifted across my chest, kissing that nipple as well, and it tingled against my will. ‘If he hadn’t made a move on you, I know you never would have strayed. It was never him you wanted- it was a more accessible version of me.’ His eyes lifted to mine as he tickled my nipple with the tip of his tongue, then sealed the debasement with another kiss. ‘So if you run, or die or confess any of this after forcing me to do what I did due to your distrust and his interference…’ Kohén kissed my belly ring, and then said: ‘He’ll die.’

‘No!’ I tried to sit up, but Kohén was ready for me, and the pressure of his hand against my wrists saw that all I managed to do was thrust my chest into his face. He moaned and began to nuzzle it with his lips, and my heart began to hammer at my ribs in terror.

‘Fight me if you will,’ he whispered, and his lips went lower, lower, lower until suddenly, his tongue was circling my clit again and I was thrashing as he evoked another aftershock from my prior climax.  ‘Die if you can’t conceive of mutual forgiveness between us- but I’ll have my pleasure first and milk you for more of yours, and I’ll have his head after if you refuse to fulfil your obligation to go on as my Companion.’

Shamed not only by the way that my body was heating again, and by the sight of the blood on my inner thigh, I looked away and squeezed my eyes shut to hold in my tears. ‘You can’t hurt him because of my actions!’ I whispered, breaking up on the inside when I heard him moan and tentatively stroke my sex. ‘Neither of us meant for this to happen!’

‘And yet…’ Kohén growled and reared up over me, directing my face back to his so that I could see the hurt in his eyes. ‘You ended up writing love letters to him, and dreaming of what could be once you escaped me!’ he hissed the word escaped, and I sobbed, knowing that yes he was right, and what I’d done was wrong. ‘I tried to give you everything that you wanted! I’ve thought of nothing but you, and fulfilling your needs, and seeing your dreams realised since I was five years old, and this is how you repay me?’ he shook his head, and tears fell out of his eyes. ‘No, it’s not fair! I know you take the word equality pretty fucking seriously Larkin, but it should NEVER apply when it comes to matters of the heart! How could you think for even one second, that you could share your affections between two twins, and not see one end up dead at the hands of the other?’

‘Because I’m a seventeen year old girl!’ I cried. ‘One who didn’t think she’d ever hold either of your interests for more than a few months at a time! That’s what I’ve been trained to believe, remember? That I’m nothing, and that sooner or later, I must step aside and allow the actual love of my lover’s life to give you all of the things that I cannot! And you want to talk about sharing affections, your highness?’ I narrowed my eyes at him. ‘Are you forgetting that I know exactly how you feel right now? That I’ve been living with it since last June?’

But Kohén pounded both of his fists into the chaise beside my head, his eyes blackening again. ‘No you haven’t! You’ve been dealing with me being physically unfaithful to you, but you don’t have an inkling of what it’s like to know that the person you have built your hopes and dreams around might be…’ his voice cracked and his head bowed, and I felt one of his tears fall onto my chest. ‘Might be building their dreams around someone else...’

My heart twisted as though he’d run me through with a knife, and even though I’d thought that I’d prepared myself for how Kohén would react when he found out about Kohl and I- even though I’d warned Kohl that it would be devastating- nothing brought the severity of the damage that we’d caused to light quite the way that that solitary tear did.

‘I’m sorry…’ I whispered brokenly, and I meant it. ‘But Kohén… this isn’t going to fix anything, okay?’ I caught his tear-streaked face and lifted it so that I could regard him from my supine position. ‘If you hold me to this- I’ll hate you forever.’

‘No…’ Kohén wrapped one hand around the back of my head, pulling my face to his, and used the other to pull himself up further, so that he was hovering above me. ‘No, you won’t Larkin- I won’t allow it.’ He kissed me, catching my sob with his lips, and then he was reaching between our bodies and steering himself into my still-aching sex. ‘I meant it when I said that you matter more to me than the crown does…’ he groaned the end of that sentence as he penetrated me shallowly, and my gasp of pain was once again muffled by his mouth. ‘And that you’d never know another day of loneliness or sorrow again, and I meant it.’ He rocked, breeching me further and I sucked in a breath and twisted my face away but he only ducked his head and began caressing my breasts with his lips again- lips that were now tingling in an unnatural way that my body could not ignore.

Oh hell no! Not the Nephilim thing! Is this what Kelia was talking about when she said that he can hum? Bastard!

‘Ahh! You’re so tight!’ he gasped, and when his cock echoed the humming of his mouth, my eyes flew open in shock. It didn’t hurt any less, but the subtle vibration was distracting me from the pain. ‘Tight, wet- and mine!’ Kohén chased my mouth again, suckling on my lower lip as he arched his hips and sank more deeply into me, and my cry of surprise allowed him access. Suddenly, his tongue was caressing mine, and I was too stunned to do anything about it but thrash my mouth and hips away from his, which only served to enhance his experience from all that I could tell.

‘Stop!’ I wheedled when he began to quicken his rhythm. ‘Kohén… oh!’ I threw back my head when he withdrew from me and then gently pressed in again, sending a rush of warmth through my still-slick sex. ‘You can’t do this!’

But Kohén wrapped my hair around his fist and then jerked on it, lifting me off the velvet until we were face to face- holding me bent like that while he pulled out again tauntingly-slowly. ‘Actually, I’m the crowned prince of Arcadia, and my brother is a treasonous, duplicitous and manipulative piece of filth-’ He released my hair and looped his arm around my back, supporting my weight while keeping me bent to his will. ‘I’ll do what I want! And if you want him to live- to go free this Sunday and accept Atticus’s generous offer- you’ll not only allow me to do this- but you’ll beg me to, and convince him that you’re here because you love me, and not because you have to be!’

My eyes widened, gobsmacked that he honestly intended to hold Kohl’s life hostage with mine. And not just my life, but my truth too! I shook my head. ‘No, Kohén! Do what you will to me- I’m the one with the contract. But leave him out of this! I already told you- I ended things with him last night, and he accepted that! He loves you, okay? He never intended to touch me while I belonged to you! Neither of us did!’

Kohén’s eyebrows drew together. ‘And if his intentions alone were all that was bothering me, I’d feel a hell of a lot better, baby,’ he whispered- and then rocked his hips- impaling me with one sudden movement that first made me cry out, and then made the walls of my sex clench around him. ‘But I’ve got other issues too…’ Kohén breathed, though he was breathing much more heavily now than before. ‘He could have told me that he’d developed feelings for you, and I would have understood and been on guard, but no- he had to hide it from me, which not only put up a wall between you and I, but he and I. Then, you obviously confessed to him that you’d made that sickening deal with Karol, and instead of coming to me like he ought to have, he kept that secret from me too!’

I gaped at him, though it was getting harder to concentrate now that Kohén was sliding in and out of me with more ease and less resistance. ‘That wasn’t his secret to share!’ I panted.

‘Nor was it his secret to keep!’ Kohén snapped, driving into me harder this time, and to my complete horror- something inside me pulsed again, squeezing his shaft in reflex. ‘What Karol planned was also treason!’ he cried. ‘It was underhanded too, and morally- fuck, you’re getting so wet!’ I moaned, well aware of that fact, and suddenly we were falling back and his knees were forcing my thighs to bend up while his hands reached beneath me and cupped my shoulders, jerking me down to meet every roll of his hips.

I can’t be enjoying this! I just can’t!  No, I’m not ! This isn’t me- this is that girl from the mirror again!

‘All he had to do-’ Kohén gasped, sitting taller so that he towered over me, ‘was confess it to me, and I could have intervened! And if I’d known how much you cared for Lindy and her family, I would have found a way to keep them safe too!’ He shifted his hands again, cupping my breasts and supporting them while he rhythmically began to fuck me, and heaven help me, but I was finding it harder and harder to hang onto the pain and fend off the ecstasy. Not only was he beginning to feel incredible inside me and stoking some unseen fire low in my belly, but I hadn’t been lying when I’d said that he was the most beautiful of the two, and watching his abdominals flex and roll while he rocked into me and out again was a poetic sight, if ever I’d seen one. He moved with the grace of a dancer- with the confidence of a man who knew exactly what he was doing, and the visual stimuli of his tawny skin and glowing gaze and the way that he kept dragging his perfect teeth over his lush, red lower lip was stuffing even more kindling into the coals that his cock was repeatedly striking- and sparking. ‘You would never have had to lie to me, and we would never have drifted apart as we have!’ he swallowed. ‘But he betrayed me just so that he could take advantage of the fact that you’d be ineligible for me in every way once Karol had had you, and today when I confronted him about all of this- not only did he refuse to apologise, but he drew a sword on me- my sword! One I loaned him, trying to be…’ he grunted, reached around me and jerked me up so that I was suddenly straddling his hips. ‘Fuck wasting another second talking about him! This is OUR moment Larkin- this is our destiny! He’s challenged me once regarding your virtue, and now that he’s been freed and is probably convinced that you were going to choose him, he’ll challenge me again!’ Kohén grasped my hips and lifted me off him so that he could rock up into me and everything inside me began to quicken and throb. I wanted to be tough or untouchable- to fight him off or scream him down, but like a marionette on a string, I submitted to his movements, knowing only that until we’d both found satisfaction, there would be no reasoning with one another- no hope for logic to best over passion. ‘So you either agree to dissuade him by convincing him that you’re mine and always have been- or I’ll accept the challenge and I think we both know that his cockiness is going to get him kill- oh fuck! Fuck Larkin, you’re so beautiful! You feel exactly like I thought you would, only better!’ he caught my hair again and dragged my face down to his, mauling my mouth while he relentlessly brought me to the precipice of yet another climax. I was partly horrified by the way my body was adjusting to him, but mostly awestruck to finally understand what Kohén had wanted from me- to feel what a man and woman in love and lust were supposed to feel. I’d always been so different to other girls, and I suppose I’d assumed that when it came to sex, I’d despise that too, and yet… well, I’d heard most of the girls’ virginity stories, and not one of them had said that it had been anything like this. They’d said it was painful, messy, confusing and a little shocking, and I’d certainly experienced all of that- but none of them had said that their eyes had rolled back into their head and that their insides had liquefied, the way that mine were! ‘Say you’re mine!’ he begged, dazzling me with his strength by holding me up like that while pulling me down and still managed to move freely and perfectly inside me. ‘Say you’ll live… or know that he’ll die!’

I clutched at his jaw, but I wasn’t sure if I was fighting him off, or trying to get closer. ‘Kohén… please…’ but my words were barely audible. I wanted to say that I needed time- that I wanted to discuss this- or kill him myself- once he’d gotten what he needed from me, but something warm and wanton was unravelling inside me and I found it damn near impossible to do anything with my mouth, but caress his. ‘I-’

‘He’s watching!’ Kohén hissed, and I stiffened immediately. I tried to wrench my face to look toward the poolroom door, but Kohén’s grip was like a vice and his eyes were burning with a neon blue warning. ‘You scare him off, or I do, my love,’ he whispered, and I swallowed when I felt his grip relent. ‘I don’t want to give you a golden brand, now that I know it’ll drive you over the tidal falls even at the expense of Kohl’s life, so I swear that I won’t if you give me reason to believe here and now, that you’ll fight as hard for us from hereon out, as I will.’ He sighed. ‘But if you fail, and if I can’t trust that anything- short of a golden brand will keep you safe from him, or from running to Karol, then, well… I guess I’ll just have to kill them both, hmm?’

My sinuses were stinging, warning me that I was about to cry again, and yet it wasn’t all misery that had my eyes welling like that- but release. Resignation. Regret and, well… relief. The fight was over- the war was lost and now I had nothing to fear, because the worst had already happened. It was both gut-wrenchingly horrific, and liberating- never again would I have to worry about going to Karol, because Kohén was never going to release me. Never again would the ‘What ifs’ plague me, because my life was officially out of my hands. Never again would I have to worry about being a wicked influence on the Barachiel family, because Kohén was going to make sure that I was accessible to him and him alone.

And never again would I have to think of what could be with Kohl- because if Kohl was seriously standing there, watching this instead of decapitating my attacker the way that I KNEW, without a doubt, that Kohén would have avenged me- then it was plain that I had the right prince in my arms. Not a fairytale prince- no not by any means- but I wasn’t a princess either… I was a wicked whore, and this was exactly where I belonged- with an equally wicked master.

With my Rhett. Well… until I found a way to die and make it look like an accident, anyway.

I twisted to look at Kohl, and sure enough there he was- not breaking through the doors, but standing, (in Kohén’s now sodden clothes) at the side of the pool and staring at me, open mouthed and wide-eyed.

‘Larkin…?’ he whispered, disbelief colouring his tone to discover me not under Kohén or strapped down- but mounting him. His face was pale, his eyes were anguished- but his pants were clinging to the proof that he was as much of a deviant as his other two brothers were, and that the sight of me like this had excited him.

My lip curled, partially because I did so on purpose, but also because I couldn’t help but wonder if he was going to touch himself over my undoing the moment that he was alone. ‘Do you mind?’ I snapped, throwing my arms around Kohén’s shoulders and rocking against him intentionally for the first time. The boy beneath me grunted, and the boy before me pressed his hand to his forehead in stupefaction. ‘This is sort of a private moment, you know?’

‘Wh-what?’ Kohl had his sword in one hand, and Kohén’s crown in the other. ‘Oh my God, Larkin! What’s come over you? How much have you had to-’

‘She said leave!’ Kohén snarled, reclining back on his hands and thrusting up into me. I gasped, and the prince beneath me grinned up at me with that wicked grin of his. ‘Well, either leave or pull up a seat and shut the hell up- because Larkin here is about to come, and I won’t have your ruining one more second of our life together now that it’s finally begun!’

Oh Kohl, I’m so sorry! But he’s right- you don’t belong in this horror story, but with an angel, and I’m not her!

I leaned forward and pressed my face into the curve of Kohén’s neck to hide my grimace, but then there was a slushing sound followed by a clang. Kohén flinched, and when I jerked up again, I saw his crown rolling across the floor.

‘To the devil with you!’ Kohl snapped and turned away, but not before I saw his tears spill over. ‘Both of you!’ Then there was a splash, and I knew that Kohl was swimming out of the poolroom the way he’d come- through the northernmost courtyard, between us and the now  practically abandoned harem.

And it would feel like a ghost town for me. Emmerly was gone, Lette was gone, Elfin was gone and soon enough, Kelia would be gone too, leaving me with Elijah and Karol’s whores for company. Tears welled in my eyes again but then something cold was sliding around my neck and my fingers flew to it, half-expecting to find some sort of medieval cuff being fixed into place, but discovering something colder, and far more valuable latched there instead.

Oh… no!

In Kohén’s hand, was the black velvet bag that he’d dropped earlier, and around my throat, I knew, was Pacifica’s treasure- and my new collar. ‘A gift, for my darling,’ he whispered, wrapping his arms around me and rolling me onto my back before lifting my knee once more. ‘And a reminder that I can, and will-’ he pause to kiss the inside of my knee as he caressed my rump, ‘-make all of your dreams come true.’

And then he was making love to me again, and after only a few beats, there was nothing that I could do to stop him, discourage him or keep my own visceral responses under control. He didn’t thrust into me as he had before though, but rolled his hips, first feeding me his length and then grinding his pelvis against mine, hitting a special place inside me and then at the apex of my sex over and over again, generating the kind of friction that made me float higher and higher out of my body until my muscles seized up around him, and refused to relax.

‘Oh…!’  I dug my heel into his ass, and he gripped the bed-head with his other hand and bellowed out a: ‘Yes!’ as he thrust into me hard enough to make the bed legs scrape against the floors- detonating my clit with one perfect smack of his flesh against mine.

‘Oh! Oh...OH!’ my hips began to shake as the ineffable pleasure washed over me in waves that I had to ride to the end. ‘Oh, Kohén… OH!’

‘Yes! Oh, you look so… you feel so… MINE!’ Kohén cried, dropping his weight onto me heavily and wrapping his arms around my neck and shoulders in order to lift me up to his kisses as he forced my hips down with his suddenly relentless thrusting. ‘I love you!’ he gasped. Not an inch separated my body from his: our legs were looped around one another’s and his tongue was tangled around mine as my fingers pulled at his hair and dug into the firm rise of his ass, urging him closer and closer still, and when I started convulsing again, only this time from the inside out with a quickening of muscle flexes around him, I heard him let out a bellow and suddenly, an incandescent blue light flashed, coming from every point where he was inside me and staining the mist around us periwinkle.

‘Mine!’ he cried to the ceiling, before dropping his chin to show me how his eyes has transformed from merely blue, to glacier-blue- to jewels. ‘My girl! My love! My beautiful, angelic little temptress- give me your ecstasy!’

‘Oh, Kohén YES!’ I couldn’t have kept that exclamation in if I’d tried either, and a shudder went through him and then suddenly he was fucking me with abandon, pumping load after load of hot, thick and silken semen into my palpitating core and crying out as though he were being pummelled, not I. ‘Oh!’

My climax was so intense that it rattled my bones but he clamped his body around mine and drove on and on until we heard the thunder crack outside. I knew it was Kohl, and Kohén did too, but then my knee was over his sweaty shoulder and he was snarling like a rabid animal as he pushed into me again, deeper and deeper, barely retreating, only straining to stuff every inch of himself inside me. He kissed me ardently as he sobbed his gratitude to god for me and I cried too, and our kisses tasted as salty as they had that night in Pacifica when he’d taken me in the Caldera- when my free will truly had bent to his.

I don’t know how long we went on like that- rolling in a sweaty tangle of limbs and devouring one another with every sense that we had as we and the fog and the music became one entity, but eventually, a stampede of feet broke through our lustful haze. Kohén pushed off me, trembling all over and flushed and together, we listened to the sound of hundreds of Eden’s guests scrambling through the corridors from every entry point of the castle, as they ran inside to seek shelter from the rain that was suddenly pounding onto the roof. They ran by our door too, coming from one of the staff access entryways down near the boiler room, no doubt, and I turned away, trying to hide my overheated and humiliated face- willing the need to pass out to overwhelm my other senses. I wanted to black out, and I could feel the shadowy fingers of shock rake through my mind in an attempt to comply.

I am nothing but his. There is no need for me to actively participate in this life anymore, because he will do my thinking and feeling for me...

‘Go with God, darling,’ my mother had said when she’d left me, but it was Satan who I wept to for assistance when I felt him enter me again. Not because I wanted him to stop- but because I didn’t.

‘My princess,’ he whispered, but that was a lie and we both knew it.

I was a Companion now, and would never rule over anything but the harem again; least of all myself.

Epilogue

Kohén found a way to transport me back to the harem while I was unconscious and when I came to, I was soaking wet, wrapped in the golden throw from the end of my bed and shivering violently in front of the fire that had been lit within my unused hearth. I heard the sound of my bath running over the crackle and pop of the fire and the blood pounding in my ears and I moaned softly, lifting my hands to grasp at my head, feeling as thought it would split apart. I wasn’t sure where the headache had originated from or how long I’d been out for but clearly, champagne, distress and too much sunlight was a bad combination and now, I was paying for it with pain along with everything else.

‘I have a healer on the way, darling,’ Kohén’s voice was low, and I felt his lips brush my cheek before he moved away. I turned slightly and watched him through narrowed eyes, rubbing my head and wondering what time it was, and what was going on. Obviously not much time could have passed since we’d been in the poolroom because I was still saturated from being brought to the harem through the pool and then the rain, but my mind felt as clouded as though a storm had been settled over it for years. Kohén was scrambling around the room picking things up and humming to himself, and I hated myself for noticing how good he looked… not just physically, but how contented he seemed spiritually- enough to make him positively luminous. He had a golden towel wrapped around his waist, and though there was a slight dent between his brows to indicate that his mind was focused on some important task, he was humming under his breath and it sounded lovely.

‘Can’t I just take some sort of medication?’ I groused, pushing up and moaning when I felt my skull contract in protest. ‘Ohh…’

‘For the headache you could, but I need you to be uh, soothed in other ways,’ Kohén had the grace to blush before sliding a book neatly into position on my shelf. ‘And don’t worry, it won’t be Karol coming to heal you. Not this time and never again.’

‘You’re having me healed for my comfort?’ I asked acidly, and he smirked knowingly and held up the wooden ring before putting it on top of the shelf next to the pillowcase by my door. ‘How thoughtful.’

‘And for mine. I’ve just read a few more lines of Kohl’s uncensored passion, and the urge to hear you cry out my name again is most overwhelming.’ He nodded toward the bathroom while my gut jerked in discomfort and guilt. ‘We’ll get cleaned up in a moment, then I’ll have you healed, then I’ll give you a chance to eat something while I go and calm my parents down and silence that infernal Kelia girl so she stops trying to beat down the harem door to demand an update- but after that…’ He stood above me and gazed down at me with black eyes. ‘Yeah, I’m pretty much going to fuck you until you forget his name.’ He shrugged. ‘Sorry, but I’m not as good a writer so I’ll just have to make you feel my devotion in the physical sense.’

My insides cramped up, bringing my attention to the raw pain still burning inside me now that Kohén’s magic thrall had worn off. ‘As you wish, master,’ I lifted my hand to the choker around my neck. ‘I better start working this off now, hmm? One down- ten million nine hundred ninety-nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine to go!’

Kohén’s face creased in a more pronounced way. ‘Okay for starters, that is NOT payment for services rendered, my love. That is a gift from Atticus Hartley in Pacifica’s name.’ I blinked at him and he leaned in and kissed me. ‘He said that if I could win your love and get you farming Pacifica, that was mine to gift to you, and the fact that you will now wear it publicly- when I can trust you to go out in public and sparkle as brightly, that is- will help rationalize your reasons for waving off your freedom and appease what would be a lot of confused people otherwise. I get you, but you still get to realise your cotton dreams in a tropical paradise- so no sacrifice was made by either party.’

I turned my face away, recalling the conversation I’d had with Atticus the night before and wondering if he’d handed this to Kohl after then or that afternoon when I’d been released. I’d said that I wouldn’t work for him as Kohén’s whore but now I realised that I had no choice, for as long as Kohl was alive, I had to do whatever I could to keep Kohén mollified which included working off his debt with a smile on my face to placate the prime minister as well. I wanted to cry but that would not work in Kohl’s favour either, so I trapped my emotions behind rapid blinks and nodded, conceding acceptance.

Oh well, I’ll get to farm…. that’s something...

‘Secondly...’ he traced my jawline with his fingertip, ‘we pay the girls in the harem a lot more than a dollar’s worth of gold each time so your calculations are ludicrously inflated,’ he moved my face back to his, and his eyes were blue again. ‘Thirdly, for the heaven that I just felt between your legs, I would need to give you five or six of those for you to be duly compensated and finally-’ he paused while I ducked my heated face to break the opia, ‘-you and I just made love three or four times, not once. Though I could tell you were lost to yourself, you were more than eager to-

‘What?!’ I looked back at him, horrified, and he nodded.

‘It’s two in the morning, you know,’ he tightened the knot on the towel around his hips and wriggled his eyebrows. ‘We’ve been locked in that poolroom while the party went on without us and inside- all night.’

I stared at him, bewildered and wondering if he was lying, but then I saw the clock on the wall above my bed and saw that he was telling the truth about the time at least, for it was two a.m. I bit my lip in embarrassment and Kohén smiled triumphantly and tickled the underside of my jaw before whispering: ‘I told you that we were destined to be together.’ He blessed me with one deep, wry dimple. ‘How can you argue that now that you’ve seen for yourself, that time literally has no meaning when I’m inside you?’

He was making the air feel foggy around us again, but I still had plenty of arguments to the contrary. ‘What about the rest of your family?’ I asked coolly, seeing his eyes heat as they travelled down to my chest and feeling desperate to put those coals out. ‘Do you think you’ll mother will agree that this was destiny, considering how proud she was of you for abstaining earlier?’

Kohén’s dark brows drew together, and his jaw flexed. ‘My mother is a cold, moody woman Larkin, and I’m used to disappointing her while doing my best to make her proud- so I’ll feel no remorse for invoking her wrath while being true to myself- for once.’ He tugged on my choker. ‘Besides, her delight today stemmed mostly from Kohl’s release- not yours, and I thought you knew her better than that, by now.’ He kissed me a little harder, like a gentle punch of his mouth against mine. ‘I thought that you were on my side when it came to her, and too clever to believe that she wants any happiness for anyone that doesn’t serve some selfish purpose of her own.’ He looked menacingly down into my eyes, but his anger could not mask his hurt. ‘But clearly, I thought wrong- and often- about your state of mind and the strength of our bond.’

My heart stalled. ‘Kohén-’

‘Don’t even attempt an apology now,’ he released my necklace and reclined back, hooking his arms around his knees to balance himself. ‘What’s been done cannot be undone, but once my mother reverts to treating you like a whore again because you had sex with someone you love to save your ass and Kohl’s- you’ll feel sorry enough for yourself, and I- vindicated.’

I released a breath that I hadn’t been aware that I was holding. Was he right? Would Constance revert to treating me like a whore now that I was a Companion? Or worse- would she treat me even more poorly than before, because the sacrifice had come at Kohl’s expense? I felt ill for a moment and then remembered; her secret. Maybe mine was out, but I still had hers and so, she would have to tread carefully, even if she felt like stomping my skull in. ‘Have you seen them? Did they say anything-’

‘No,’ he gave me a slightly mirthful smile. ‘They’re too busy trying to divert attention from our penumbric relationship to send any our way themselves. In fact, I believe that they cracked open several crates of the new marshmallow champagne from New Rome just after all hell broke loose. You know- to get everyone drunk enough to distract them from the unseasonable rain… and the missing princes.’

I bit my lip harder. ‘Kohl is missing?’

Kohén’s hand sparked as he cracked his knuckles. He tried to pass off the gesture as casual, but I could see the intensity of the anger dwelling just beneath the surface off his eyes in light of my concern. ‘He’s not at the party or in his room, according to Kelia, so I guess so.’ I moaned softly to hear her name mentioned and to be reminded that Kohl was still in danger. I’d agreed to keep the secret yet- but Kelia was determined to see me suffer, so who knew what she would do, or whom she would run to, when she realised that she was out and I was locked in? Kohén kissed me again- a little more softly. ‘I know, I know... she’s a problem, but a problem who is not adverse to taking bribes, so she’ll be handled quickly and quietly.’ He released his knees and moved to rise. ‘Now, let me finish cleaning up this mess so I can take you into the bath and continue working off MY debt of gratitude-’

I caught his chin with my fingertips and held his gaze to mine, dragging up all of my old Companion training as I did and trying to make myself look vulnerable and needy. If we’d already lost at least ten hours, then I had to fix the Kohl situation, and fast! ‘Can’t we deal with Kelia first? And find Kohl?’ I asked, pouting my lower lip and invoking my inner Scarlet O’Hara. ‘I won’t be able to relax enough to take your beautiful cock inside me again, until I know that she isn’t out there putting all of our reputations in jeopardy.’ Kohén’s lips parted around a shallow breath, and I smoothed my hand down his bare, warm chest. ‘And I want you inside me again soon, Kohén… you’re such a wonderful lover.’ I drew him down so that I could kiss him gently, and felt his heart racing. It was so strong! How had I never noticed before that his pounded twice as hard as any human’s who I’d ever embraced? ‘Wouldn’t it be lovely if we could get all of the nasty stuff out of the way with, so that we could stay in bed for hours at our leisure?’

Kohén caught my hand and held it to his chest, then hunched over a little more to kiss me back. ‘Kelia knows that she will be banished if she repeats a word of this until I have confirmed it with her. So relax…’ he ran his lips down to my neck and suckled on my pulse and suddenly, I remembered a fragment of a moment in which he’d done that while taking me from behind and shuddered, scared to realise that he was telling the truth- we must have made love for the better part of eight hours which meant that I’d been completely absorbed by his passion. ‘I will work my way into your heavenly little pussy with relative ease when you are well enough to accommodate me again-’ I sucked in a hot breath of shock, and felt the muscles inside me clench around both need and lingering agony. ‘...Only I plan on staying buried inside you for years without respite, not hours, my love.’ I whimpered again, and he pulled on my hair, tilting my face back to meet his so that I could see the bright flash of his eyes. ‘By the way, I know you’re trying on the coquettish thing to make my male ego more malleable, but don’t waste your time with the pouts and the wide eyes, little bird.’ He bit my lower lip and mumbled: ‘Remembering the way that your soaked little cunt clenched around me guarantees that I KNOW you don’t want to run, not deep down anyway.’ He slapped my backside playfully and got up, and my stomach clenched again to see the way the front of his towel was jutting out now. ‘Besides, by the time Kohl’s ship back to Caldera Island departs on Sunday, you won’t be able to walk- much less climb an electric fence to run after him.’

‘How romantic you are,’ I muttered, dropping the act and sagging back down as he loped off and picked up a handful of smashed china from one of my many ornaments that Kelia had pitched about. “And how DARE you be in a good mood!” I wanted to scream, but bit my tongue.

But Kohén only chuckled. ‘You know that I am.’ He glanced back at me and rolled his eyes at the sight of my genuine- and pissed off- pout. ‘I was forced to do something drastic and unethical today,  Larkin and I feel awful about that. But the reasons why I had to have not changed, nor has the fact that if you’d only been forthright and loyal, as you are contractually obligated to be in all matters concerning us- this wouldn’t have happened. I mean, I’ll suffer my share of the guilt, little bird, but only mine.’ He shrugged. ‘Besides- the fact that I felt nothing short of euphoria inside you after so many years of frustration has healed most of my hurt, so I know that I’ll be able to be everything that you need me to be, once you give me the chance, and that will help me sleep at night as well.’ His beautiful eyes flashed, but not in anger- only passion. ‘And I swear on my life Larkin… I will find a way to heal you in return, and you will come to see me as your Prince Charming again... even if you don’t believe that now.’

‘Your life mustn’t be worth much to you to gamble it on such a weak hand,’ I whispered, lying down and staring at the fire and wondering why I couldn’t feel any heat from it at all.

‘Without you it would be meaningless, so yes, I’m all in.’

I lifted my face to his and glared at him, even though he had just made my heart skip a tiny little faded and dulled beat. ‘You’re a fool,’ I whispered. ‘I will stay here forever because I want to keep him safe. But as for me loving you goes…’ I shook my head. ‘You should just throw me out into the Wildwoods now and save yourself the expense and effort of winning me back.’

But Kohén smiled sadly. ‘That would have crushed me- had you not said it with a sweeter, lighter shade of purple in your eyes.’ He lifted one shoulder as though the situation were out of his control. ‘You came undone, Larkin, because your body knows as well as mine, that we are meant to be.’

I buried my face into my arms and cried, hoping that he was wrong- praying that I would be able to hold onto my hatred because without it, I would truly be nothing and no one- just a shell that had once housed potential.

*

Once my room was as tidy as he could make it, Kohén opened the door to the pink-haired healer, Cherry, who took one look at me and blanched.

Oh, this is mortifying! Thank goodness the swim across the pool and rain has at least washed me clean!

‘Your highness…’ she hesitated at my door. ‘I am a healer, not a Shepherd. If something sinful has happened here, then I do not have the power to heal-’

‘She is merely hungover, exhausted, suffering sunstroke and sore from being broken in for the first time, Cherry- not suffering the aftermath of a forceful molestation against her will, so please, do your job,’ Kohén said, looking annoyed. ‘And rest assured that you will be able to meet my eyes and leave here with a clear conscience after.’

I pulled my throw to myself when she looked at me sceptically, and nodded a small nod. ‘He was a perfect gentleman, and I insatiable- apparently,’ I said through bruised lips. ‘In fact, you might want to check him out for damage because at one point I rode him until he cried like a big girl and begged for mercy-’

‘I’m fine Larkin,’ Kohén said, chuckling as Cherry snickered and knelt beside me. ‘But thank you. I’m going to go fetch us some hair of the dog to enjoy in the spa. You like peach champagne the best, don’t you?’

‘Yes, your highness,’ I said even though I didn’t, cringing as Cherry reached under the throw and parted my thighs with warm fingers. Looking guilty despite his claims to the contrary, Kohén made a face when I whimpered and left the room.

‘Are you sure you’re okay?’ Cherry whispered, lifting her magenta eyes to mine. ‘Excuse me for saying so, but this whole situation is scandalizing a lot of people… and you seem rather frazzled. In fact, I can tell that you’re in shock.’

‘That’s possible,’ I said softly, whimpering again when I felt a gentle warmth seep into me.

‘He had your consent, didn’t he?’

‘I wasn’t aware that he needed it,’ I said dryly.

‘Maybe not but… you’re an important girl now Larkin, and if word needs to be spread that the young prince has abused-’

‘I was important,’ I said softly, touched that she’d give a thought to my feelings at all. And… people were scandalized? Well, apparently there wasn’t enough free champagne in the world to cover even an angelically horrific series of events. ‘But my love for him has rendered me worthless now so don’t worry- nothing has been taken from me today that I did not foolishly throw away.’

Cherry pouted softly. ‘I’m sorry. But I must admit that I’m rather disappointed. I was counting on you becoming Calliel’s first queen…’

I snorted and lay back when she removed her hand from my legs and stroked it across my head, instantly erasing my headache. ‘Kohén was never going to last long enough to make me a queen,’ I scoffed.

‘I wasn’t talking about Kohén.’

My heart skipped a beat and I sat up. ‘Where is Kohl? Have you seen him? Is he okay? What do people think is going on?’

She lowered her eyes. ‘Young Prince Barachiel took off on a horse a few hours ago and has only just returned- his mother summoned me the moment he walked inside to repair a large laceration down his right shoulder which he apparently earned himself while attempting to go through the Wildwoods.’ I gasped and she cringed and went on. ‘He is in a lot of trouble for having caused a jealous scene apparently, when he saw Kohén skirt you away, and because he was still in a state of flux when he rode in, he has been sedated into a deep sleep by the eldest Prince Barachiel, to prevent him from causing another scene or injuring another animal.’

‘The horse got hurt? I croaked, and she nodded.

‘I’m afraid it might have to be put down. I know Miss, it’s incredibly sad but it’s also sort of a blessing- Kohl’s concern for the animal is what motivated him to return. So had they not stumbled together, I fear that maybe Kohl wouldn’t have come back to Eden until he was the one in need of euthanizing.’

I looked up at the ceiling, letting the tears run down my temples. Poor Kohl! Poor horse! And it was all my fault!

Cherry sighed. ‘You should probably know that the crowned prince is also in a hideous mood, seeing as how his younger brother stole his glory before the sun could set upon it.’

My heart skipped a beat. ‘Oh my God: the wish! He’s not going to change it and retract everybody else’s freedom because I didn’t take advantage of my own freedom, is he?’

‘That is unlikely, miss- robbing fourteen exceptional people of their right to be treated as diamonds because one decided that she would prefer to remain in the rough would negate his entire speech, wouldn’t it?’ She slid her hand down my neck, hopefully removing the love bites. ‘But he is upset. In fact, he could use a bit of sedation too- but he would not allow me to touch his brow.’ She glanced at me again. ‘However, he did ask that I pass the message along: You are to come to him at the first chance you get.’

My belly flipped over, but I frowned at her as though confused, not instantly fearful. ‘Why doesn’t he just come himself?’

Cherry smiled sadly. ‘He released his Companions earlier this afternoon, on Ora Camden’s request.’ My mouth dropped open, but she went on. ‘Those are glad tidings for both of us, I am sure, but now only Kohén and Elijah have cause to access the harem.’

I raised an eyebrow. ‘How does that work? Barring the crowned prince from an entire wing of the castle?’

‘It used to be an honour system- no one came in and out unless they were an occupant or entitled to, and there was almost always a guard nearby, keeping an eye on things to be safe.’ She paused. ‘But Kohén has had a guard stationed by the door now, miss, under the king’s command. That guard cannot let anyone in without permission of the harem’s dependents- Elijah and Kohén. Karol’s key would still work in that main door, but it never worked in yours-’

‘Wait!’ I exploded. ‘Those winged rings are different?’

‘Well, Elijah’s is a skeleton one but yes, every feather is carved to suit some locks and not others, so the locks differ to match them. So when you turn your lock from the inside, no one outside can get in. But when he turns his key in your lock from the inside- not even you can get out.’ She smiled sadly at me and I wondered how many doors Kohl’s opened- probably not many! ‘So even if someone aside from Kohén could get past the guard, as Kohén has allowed access for me and one or two others for the sake of tending to and waiting on Resonah and Rosina, he’d only be able to access the rooms that he used to access before and now, they’re empty.’

I felt claustrophobic knowing that only Elijah could get me out of there by unlocking a door that Kohén had locked. ‘And the secret entrance?’

She quirked her lips in a sign of discontent. ‘It has been sealed shut, which is precisely why I feared that Kohén had taken advantage of you...’

I didn’t know what to think. I was trapped yes, but I was safe from Karol and I needed to stay that way, especially now that he was jumping hoops to please Ora- he must really like her!

‘Then report to Karol that I am well and too wrapped up in Kohén to have any time free for him,’ I sank bank, shocked over all I had learned, but relieved to realise that Karol was good and pissed off and very aware that now that Kohén had played his hand, I’d been forced to fold my own and would not be coming to him anytime soon in the foreseeable future. ‘And tell him that I am ecstatic to learn of his submission to the lovely Ora’s demands.’ I smirked. ‘Tell him: “That’s one,” and if he asks what, say: ‘One white feather he has earned in my eyes.’

Cherry looked confused, but she sighed and nodded. ‘I will pass it along verbatim, if that’s what you wish. But still-’ the door opened and Kohén walked back in and she stopped talking. I rolled over onto my side, thanked her, and then closed my eyes.

Sleep soundly and deeply Kohl, and awake to a new day where your future is brighter than mine ever was!

While Kohén and Cherry exchanged useless pleasantries, I tried to tune them out and prayed for Kohl, and did not realise that I’d begun to doze off until Kohén scooped me up in his arms and roused me from near-sleep.

‘What’s going on…?’ I muttered.

‘I am loving you,’ he whispered, closing the bathroom door. ‘And looking after you. And all you have to do, is allow it.’

I muttered to myself, and he submerged us both in the deep and bubbly water, which first made me feel more alert, but then the water worked its way into my tight muscles and I began to sag and feel heavy again. Candlelight tossed shadows against the walls and he hummed on as he bathed me, and it might have been romantic if not for the frangipani oil that he’d used to scent the water with. My lungs practically folded against the memories that that scent evoked within me, and instead of drawing up the ones of Kohl and the blooms, all I could remember was Kohén and I picnicking- Kohén and I flirting on the beach… Kohén and I screaming at each other in the security room in the plantation house.

We’ve done so much damage to one another! How is this going to end, and when? What will be left of either of us when it does?

My misery overwhelmed me and so when he began to wash my hair so tenderly that it made me ache, I used the rinse process to let my tears escape. I’d loved him so much and I thought he’d loved me, but I did not feel like half of a romance, but like a doll that he was play-acting with. How long would I have to suffer this charade before he lost interest me? Or worse, what if he never did and I was trapped here forever? What would happen when he took a spouse? Why couldn’t I muster up the will to pray that he would get married? I sobbed and he turned my face to his, looking concerned and asked what was wrong, but I couldn’t answer so he sighed and went back to washing me with even more tenderness and as he did, he sang softly:

‘Pretty little silver bird/ perched high upon her bough/ she whistles through my window/ but my returning song, the Lark won’t allow….’

A tremble wobbled my lower lip.

Oh, hell…!

Kohén sang on, his voice a rumble against my lower back. ‘She sings of her love for my golden heart/ so I open my hand and beg her to stay/ but she cries: ‘Hark! Gold cannot love silver’/ and promptly flies away.

My tummy contracted. ‘Wh… what is that song?’

Kohén nuzzled my ear. ‘It is mine.’

‘And you said you weren’t a writer…’ I drawled, trying not to weep like the sentimental fool I was.

‘It’s just a simple little tune, hardly impressive…’ He ran the soft sponge down my back. ‘I’ve been turning to music when I am not training, trying to keep myself distracted from my pain over losing you but… but you possess me even then.’ He sighed and rested his head against the back of my neck, breathing heavily. ‘I am so lost in you. I cannot believe you doubted my love for you enough to have allowed this void to develop between us!’

I rubbed my face with my hands. ‘Perhaps you should have handed me my contract and those lyrics at once a year ago,’ I whispered. ‘And I would have jumped to your side of the void.’

But Kohl only shook his head. ‘I handed you the statue of Liberty,’ he pointed out. ‘That ought to have spoken loudly enough.’

‘Which you have now taken back,’ I pointed out, thinking of the locks.

‘What? It’s still there.’

‘Physically, yes she is,’ I gripped the edge of the tub and rose to my weak legs. ‘Spiritually however, she is devoid and now, so am I. So whistle whatever tune you wish to, Kohén Barachiel,’ I wrapped a towel around myself, determined to get some fresh air and distance however I could- needing to be with him in real light without a mist of lust swirling around us so that I could guard the ashes of my heart from him before I allowed myself to be entranced by his song as well as everything else. ‘I was never silver or white gold, only shining steel polished by this place, and now that you have collared me, my heart has begun to rust and never again will it shine for you.’

I heard the water splash behind me. ‘He made you promises that I couldn’t, after having fallen in love with you only after you’d become a swan!’ Kohén croaked. ‘But I loved you when you were just a little girl with a fistful of cards, a mouthful of barbs and a heart full of fear! And I have NEVER stopped loving you! Why do you think Karol tried to talk me out of making that deal with you, Lark? I’d already told him that YOU were the girl that I was going to marry!’

What?!

The idea that he had loved me back when I’d been that pale-eyed, scrawny, plucked-looking duckling made my heart cramp with an infusion of black blood. What was the good of knowing this now, when it was too late for it to be proven? Unaware that he was killing me more, Kohén went on:

‘... And if I hadn’t been able to get the rules changed, I would have left this place with you and made you my everything! But you never even allowed yourself to HOPE for such things from me! You were too busy running to his arms to hear my promises, but I made them all!’ He sobbed. ‘You have forced my hand here with your distrust, Larkin, so vilify me as much as you will- it won’t change the fact that I am hurting as much as you are, if not more!’

It felt like being hit in the stomach, but I opened the door and glowered back at him, glancing down at the lock and noting happily that it was the push button kind with no key access at all. It wasn’t much, but it did offer me a foxhole of sorts. ‘And what were YOU doing, while I was in his arms, Kohén? What MADE me run to Kohl? To Karol?! What EARNED my distrust? Your royal duty, right? Trying to find a way to have it all; the sex, the true love and the crown!’ I scowled at his pinched expression and curtsied a clumsy version of the courtesan bow. ‘Well, congratulations sire- now that you have me trapped in here, you’ll apparently have all three on a golden platter! Just don’t come off all hurt and pouting when I break out in HIVES thanks to my enforced proximity to the spoils of your greedy ambition!’

‘You are my SOUL MATE, which means that you will find happiness at my side!’

‘A soul mate would have been enough for you!’ I screamed at him. ‘You don’t get a prostitute and a true love, so don’t expect a soul mate when there are FOUR prostitutes involved, or I really will think you’re a fucking idiot on top of being a hateful, manipulative, spoiled BRAT!’ I closed the door between us, then leaned against the door and sobbed. I heard Kohén splash heavily back into the bath, and I sagged in relief. But then he began to sing again, and my heart crackled like paper being balled up in a fist.

‘My darling little silver bird/ curses the weight of my golden crown/ but rain fell before I could take flight with her…’ I heard Kohén sob. ‘Now in my golden hand she drowns…’

I clutched at my heart and ran for the door, needing to be away from his mournful melody before he trapped me within another ambedo. But when I tried the handle, it did not even budge- he was locking me in even when I was willingly inside with him! I went to the window and lifted the sash so that an icy cold draft swirled through the frame, but when I tried to turn the handles on the shutters to throw them open, I sobbed to see that something had been done to them to lock them firmly in place. I smacked the timber in despair and though the vines twisting through the slats shivered, the timber held.

You bastard!

Knowing that he’d barred me from spying Liberty to prevent me from attaining it was awful, but the claustrophobia didn’t hit me full force until I stumbled back and discovered that the room had been cleaned while we’d been in the bathroom, and that now there were dozens of fresh white roses stuffed into vases on every available surface. The sight of them was horrifying, but the stench of them was enough to drown me in my own breath.

Oh God! I’m going to die here, but the girl they bury won’t be me-it’ll be that witch from the mirror- my father’s evil spawn and the source of all of Arcadia’s suffering, but it won’t be me! I died tonight,  in Kohén’s arms, and now, I’m going to have to haunt these halls forever, because he won’t let me go!

I fell to the floor and wept, feeling broken in every way that a person could be broken- until I remembered the expression on Kohl’s face after I’d callously dismissed him, and suddenly, I found several new parts of me that had yet to rupture or fracture- but did, and swiftly. My face was wet with tears, as was my hand and parts of the tile beneath me, but I would have stayed there and cried on, had Kohén not called out to me then.

‘Larkin… baby?’ I heard a splash as he stood. ‘Are you still crying? I can get Cherry again if you’d like- or maybe another drink?’

Another drink? Another interaction with the helpful but helpless healer? I lifted my face and croaked out: ‘No, I’m…’ and then my voice caught in my throat when I saw that the back of my hand was covered in blood.

Oh… sweet… Satan… what is THIS?!

‘What?’ Another splash, then the squeak of the towel rail as Kohén reached for something to dry himself off with.

‘Ugh...uh, nothing I just… I need more sleep, I think. Some, erm…’ I stared at the blood on my hand as I rose to my feet, yelping a little when I saw that it was on the tile too. I pressed my fingers to my face then pulled them back- and felt hot pins and needles drive into every square inch of my flesh and insides too, when I saw that they too, were covered in blood.

I knew what was wrong before more than half a heartbeat had lapsed, but I twisted and stumbled toward the mirror all the same, a scream building up inside me and giving mean instant migraine when I saw the rivulets of blood that were streaming down my face were coming not from a wound, but from my suddenly scarlet eyes. Well, they were scarlet where they were usually white, stained from the claret pooling behind my lower lashes. Panic grasped my heart and squeezed it hard enough to burst every vessel within, but I stepped closer, as fascinated as I was horrified, and remembered Miguel’s promise to God- that no woman in the new world would ever be so badly wounded again, that she’d weep blood instead of tears.

He’d lied.

I’d told Kohén that things weren’t right- that things weren’t fair. I’d told Karol too, and Elijah, and Atticus… I’d told every man in a position of power that what they were doing was wrong, but though they’d heard me out- none of them had heeded my warnings and now...

‘Well…’ I whispered to my fingertips, rubbing them together to check that the blood was in fact, sticky, warm and real- not some figment of my imagination. ‘They’ll listen now, won’t they?’

‘Are you talking to someone?’ I heard Kohén call out, and a smirk twisted my lips. ‘If anyone comes to that door Lark, you ignore them, got it?’

‘Got it…’ I said, sniffling and wiping the bloody tears across my face, feeling it smear and stain me like war paint. ‘I was just talking to the girl in the mirror-’ I looked up, excited to see how grotesque I’d look when Kohén came out- anticipating giving him the fright of his life, but the girl who looked back at me wasn’t covered in blood, and her eyes were not crimson. They weren’t lilac either, or periwinkle, or midnight blue- they weren’t mine at all!

They were brown, and narrowed in wicked determination- gleaming and burning right through me, making my heart not falter- but halt. They were Gabby’s, and if not hers- then her twin sister, Siria’s- and they were full of more malice than any other set of eyes I’d ever seen before. My hands clapped my mouth to hold in a bloodcurdling scream, and the girl brought her finger to her lips, silencing me just as effectively.

‘There’s no need to scream,’ she whispered, wriggling her eyebrows at me. ‘Your thoughts have been doing that for years, little swan- more tonight than ever before. And as relieved as I am that you’re finally ready for a bit of divine intervention, I must admit, I’m a little disappointed...’ She feigned a pout. ‘I really thought you’d be the exception to the Barachiel rule, you know? But apparently not.’ She extended her hand to me, and my stomach knotted when it passed through the glass and into my room. Perfect. Milky. Corporeal- and undoubtedly, Satan’s. ‘Well… are you going to help me out, or not, daughter of mine?’

I stared at her, unbelieving, but utterly convinced. Mind reeling, and yet making calculations that only someone who was thinking rationally would be able to make. I held my breath- she blinked in expectation. I shook my head- but the woman in the mirror nodded. I let out a moan- she snorted derisively and just as I heard Kohén pull the plug out of the bath, I found my voice at last:

‘Or not,’ I whispered, before shock claimed me, and everything went black.

-End-

To be continued in the Eden Chronicles #3 The Wildest Woods, available late 2015. Thank you for reading, and please, support Indie authors, and leave a review! Every single one is a blessing 

Adult Titles by S.K Munt

The Fairytail Saga

#1 The Marked Ones

#2 Three Rings

#3 Heads Or Tails

#4 Stained Glass

The Kissed By A Muse Trilogy

#1 Unchained Melody

#2 Turn The Page

#3 More Than Words

The Highway to Never After

#1 Palpitations

#2 Sanguivorous

#3 Kinemortophobia

#4 Thanatophobia

The Harlequin Bros Legacy

#1 The Harlequin Doll

The Eden Chronicles

#1 The Given Garden

#2 The Forbidden Fruit

#3 The Wildest Woods

4#The Tangled Trees

Young-Adult Titles

The Siren Song Quartet

# 1 The Legasea

#2 The Turning Tide

#3 The Maelstrom

Urchin

(Prequel to the Fairytail Saga)

All titles available through Amazon Kindle.

Follow me on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/skmunt

Amazon http://www.amazon.com/S.K-Munt/e/B00DT31B0I

Twitter @skmunt25

Instagram TheArticukateSK

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7159848.S_K_Munt

About The Author

S.K Munt lives in the sunshine state of Queensland, in Northern Australia and has been writing full novels since she was a little girl. When she isn’t writing, Samantha is running after her three daughters, hosting karaoke, surfing, rehearsing for the local musical theatre company and avoiding sleep in general. The Forbidden Fruit is her 15th published title.

Follow me online!

Twitter https://twitter.com/skmunt25

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/skmunt?fref=ts

Tumblr:https://www.tumblr.com/blog/thearticu...

Wordpress: https://samanthamunt.wordpress.com

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/killerslim/

Instagram: thearticulatesk

Quotes and References in bold:

KingJames Holy Bible

‘And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God's angels worship him.”

Romeo & Juliet

William Shakespeare

‘Do as thou will, for I am done with thee.’

Table of Contents

- The

- The Eden Chronicles #2

- PART ONE

- 1.

- 2.

- 3.

- 4.

- 5.

- 6.

- 7.

- 8.

- 9.

- PART TWO

- 10.

- 11.

- 12.

- 13.

- 14.

- 15.

- 16.

- 17.

- 18.

- 19.

- 20.

- PART THREE

- 21.

- 22.

- 23.

- 24.

- 25.

- 26.

- 27.

- 28.

- 29.

- 30.

- 31.

- Given Contract

- PART FOUR

- 32.

- 34.

- 35.

- 36.

- Epilogue

- About The Author

- Quotes and References in bold: