I woke up with the idea for this story and I just HAD to write it. Just for a bit of background info, Gemma is home from school but hasn't made her debut yet, and she and Kartik are at a point in their "relationship" where they kiss a lot and are okay with it. Enjoy!
"What do you think you'll do after you make your debut?" Kartik asks, twirling a fountain pen between his fingers. "Is it just parties and dances from then on for you?"
"Mmm," I lean against the pillows on his bed. "Perhaps I won't even make my debut. Perhaps I'll trip and knock over the Queen as I attempt to curtsy. They will throw me out onto the streets, a disgrace to England, and I shall be free to do as I please."
Kartik's lips curve into a hint of a smile. "You will do no such thing," he says, settling himself near to me. His nearness brings an excited flush to my face, but as there is no place else to sit in his small room behind the tapestry, I must swallow my nerves and bear it. After all, I was the one to instigate this meeting.
I sigh. "I cannot picture myself in such a future. I'd like to picture myself that way, but I can't."
"Neither can I. There is no adventure to be found in a ballroom, unless…" He leans in close to me and his face develops a look similar to the one Felicity gets when she dangles a secret before me. "Did you see the way Miss Doyle rejected the Honorable Simon Middleton's invitation to dance?"
"How scandalous!" I exclaim.
"Indeed. We shall talk about it for weeks." He smiles devilishly and my heart flutters. I have found myself caring for Kartik very much lately. This is of course helped along by…
He leans over and kisses me chastely. A simple kiss, one not without promise of more, but simple in its own right. He touches one of my loose curls gently as he pulls away. "Tell me, Gemma," he says as if we had not just kissed. "Provided you do make a disgrace out of yourself, what will you do then with your freedom?"
I am still reeling from the heat of his lips. "I…I want to see the world. Travel to the Orient. Go on safari in the Serengeti. See the Festival of Lights in India again." I look at the fabric of my skirt twisted between my fingers. "Is that silly of me? To wish for that?"
"Not at all," Kartik says, taking my hand in his. "You know what you must do, don't you?"
I shake my head. "What?"
"Trip and knock the Queen over."
I laugh and wrap my arms loosely over his broad shoulders, bringing his head close and kissing his temple. "You'd accompany me on such a trip, wouldn't you?"
"I'd have a getaway carriage waiting at the gates of Buckingham Palace." He looks up at me and the promise of our earlier kiss fulfills itself. The kiss itself is a sigh of relief, a release of the pent-up tension always between us. When his lips touch mine it is as if I have regained a lost part of myself; I feel whole, at home.
The door to the room flies open with a crash so startling that a scream of surprise escapes me. A suited man steps into view, pointing a pistol at us. Fowlson. I am stunned, but Kartik is trained for such unexpectedness. However, he isn't given the chance.
With a roar of fire, the pistol is shot and Kartik is knocked back into my arms with the force of the connecting bullet. Fowlson's smile is as wicked as his scar as he retreats, satisfied with the blood leaking from Kartik's chest.
"Kartik!" I cry, tearing at his shirt to see the wound. There is too much blood. Too much. His brown eyes are wide and fearful. He coughs – more blood. It coats his lips, the same lips I had been kissing just moments before, so that they are slick like wet cherries.
"Gemma," he whispers, coughing. More blood. His hands grasp for mine.
"Kartik, no, please," I whimper, unsure of what I'm pleading for. He is dying, in just seconds, dying. The person that has remained a steady presence in my life for so long is just…dying. In seconds, he'll be gone.
No.
Placing my hands on his chest – so much blood – I summon forth the magic from within me, from the realms. Tears stream from my eyes in steady rivers. Please work! I cannot let him die. I cannot. I want him, need him, here with me.
His wet eyelashes flutter as the magic courses through his veins. His body seizes up, grows rigid with the magic, but not death. In my mind I see us dancing in the stables, kissing in the boathouse at Spence, arguing over fate, laughing over my lack of grace. My heart throbs with emotion, with love, for Kartik. How is it that I have not realized this until now?
Kartik pants heavily when I pull my hands away. He opens his eyes, and for a moment they look different. Darker. But then he gropes for something on his chest and holds it up, a bullet. He stares at it in wonder, and I know that he will be fine.
I realize that I've been holding my breath. I collapse in a fit of sobs, relieved that he is alive.
"Gemma?" he asks softly. "It's alright, Gem."
"No it isn't!"
He makes to hold me but notices the blood on his hands and stops. I hear the tinkling of water, so light and ordinary a sound, as he pours water from a pitcher to scrub at the blood on his skin. The room smells heavily of blood, and it is all I can do not to be sick. I shut my eyes tightly, trying to block out all the red, but all I see is the barrel of the pistol, staring us down in cold malice.
A few moments later, Kartik is by my side on the floor, scrubbed clean with fresh clothes. He pulls me into a tight embrace, burying his face into my neck. I do the same, aching to smell the familiar smoke and spice, but all I smell is the tangy scent of blood. It is enough to bring a fresh waves of tears.
What if I had lost him?
I grasp at him tightly, unable to bring myself close enough to reassure myself that he is still here.
"Gemma," Kartik murmurs. "You brought me back."
"What?"
"I had one foot on the other side. I saw the realms, Gemma. They're beautiful," he says longingly.
Chills run through my veins. "Are you saying you wish you had died?"
He hesitates just long enough for my fears to be confirmed. "Kartik!" I cry. "Please don't say that!"
He strokes my hair. "I didn't say that, Gemma. I'd rather be here…with you." He gazes at me intensely. "But life is only worth it if I can have you," he whispers.
"Don't say those things," I whimper. Something doesn't seem right about him.
Kartik's hands tighten on my waist. "Gemma, please. Tell me you want to be with me. Tell me I can be with you."
"Kartik, you're scaring me."
His head snaps back and his eyes widen. "I'm sorry," he says mournfully. "It's just that – when I saw the realms – I…I realized that I'd have been without you…" His eyes fill with tears.
My body relaxes a bit. There is nothing wrong with him. He almost died. He's just afraid to be alone.
I cup his face in my hands. "I do want to be with you, Kartik."
He smiles and kisses me firmly. His mouth tastes only of blood.
Ooh, eerie.
I don't know how many chapters this will be, but there will be more.
Has to write 2 philosophy papers pronto,
LunaEquus
PLEASE REVIEW and tell me what you think!