One Thousand and One Nights
Story Thirty-Three - The Dreary Nights, Part II
The room was chill. The curtains, normally billowing in the morning, lay dormant, held tight by their binds. Her side of the bed was cold. She had spent the night with that man from the ball.
Rage flooded his veins, warm and thick, causing his eyes to darken. How dare she make a fool of him?
Just as he finished preparing himself for the day, a task that normally befell his missing bride, the doors opened and she swaggered in, her shoes clasped in her hand and a blissful smile spread across her lips. She spared him only a glance and a painted nail across the line of his shoulders as she made her way to the vanity he had installed in a corner.
"I trust you had a fine evening?" His voice was ice, sharp and stark. She hummed noncommittally while running a gilded brush through her hair. Her fanciful hairstyle had been ruined sometime durning the night.
"You would be correct, I had a lovely night until my husband had other... affairs to tend to," She clicked her tongue in annoyance and plucked a pin from her curls, adding it to the growing pile.
"If I remember correctly, my beloved wife abandoned me as well," That earned him a snort and an angry glare reflected in the glass of the mirror. He smoothed the silk out to fix the wrinkles and when small hands yanked at his poor knot work, he almost hissed.
"Well your beloved wife was forced from her chambers by a mistress, excuse me if I feel she has some right in choosing whom's bed she warms!" A particularly vicious tug left him with a lack of oxygen and a frown burrowing into the back of his skull.
"I seem to remember you not returning to bed after you had finished with your explicit activities," He hissed and only by shear will, when the next yank left him breathless, he refused to make a sound.
"Yes, my first thought upon finishing my midnight escapades was to return to my husband and his den of inequity," She huffed out all sorts of curses in a multitude of languages, a few that he was not familiar with. "What is wrong with you?"
"You mock me," He tried explaining but he could hear the disappointment thick in his voice. The lord in him argued that she had to be punished but the rest, a vast majority, felt only the hurt she had caused. The incessant pulling stopped and he chanced a glance over his shoulder.
Her hand had stilled with the laces and her eyes bore holes into the middle of his shoulder blades. Her words were whispered so low he missed them and when he demanded she repeat them, she finished the knots with deft fingers and quickly exchanged her dirty dress for a new one. He reached out when she started shoving pins into her scalp and yelled when she grabbed her fan and made her way to the door.
"Tell me!" He demanded, his voice so much harsher than he had meant. She stopped, her bare feet stark against the floor. She looked over her shoulder, her eyes set ablaze and her smolder made his blood run cold.
"I only took that man to bed to stop your overzealous ego from getting too large!" She cried and he felt the knot in his stomach harden at her words. Her fan was gripped so tightly in her hands that her knuckles had turned white. "If you dare to demand things of me than be damn sure you wish to know the real answer because at the moment, that is the simple fact that I am the only one in this relationship that has stayed faithful!"
"What did you expect to gain from that?" Her question was left hanging in the air and when she gathered her wits, she flicked her fan open and exited, her gown fluttering about her ankles as she left, the proud arch of her back the only thing left in her wake.
()()()()
The tears that pooled in her eyes made her feel like a child. A stupid, ignorant child. She wanted to help him, to understand this man better in hopes that he could become a kinder, gentler man. The pictures came unbidden from her subconscious, flashes of the girls that had their lives stolen by the very man she hoped to reform. She was a fool.
"Milady?" A maid rushed forward and dabbed at the smearing makeup on her mistresses face. That was rewarded with a sad laugh and a slight sob.
"I am fine," She huffed, taking the rag and doing the wiping herself. "Or at least I will be."
She dabbed at her eyes and sniffed a few times. Her reflection looked back at her with smushed lashes and thick streaks of tan skin under her makeup. With a sigh she reapplied the layers with her maid making hummingbird motions with her hands. It would take time for her to even consider leaving such a rudimentary task to a maid.
"I need to go out. Inform the stables I require a mount," She stood and tucked her tools into their places and swept the spare particles from her skirts. The maid bit her lip and whimpered. With a raised brow, she hissed quietly, afraid of the retribution.
"You must inform milord," She quietly mumbled, not meeting her eye.
"Milord can deal with a little rebellion, god knows it might make him feel the smallest bit of remorse," She snorted, spinning around and clearing the room with a flutter of fabric and a confident stride.
()()()
The town was abuzz. People pointed and smiled, their teeth flashing in the sun. Women wrapped their heads in colorful fabrics and men had draped many hues of scarves around their necks. Food vendors, screaming their wares to the people, fell silent when she passed on her horse. They smiled and offered her free treats she generously tipped for afterwards. Children raced under foot and she plucked a bundle of apples for a cart, pressing the shining silver in the owners hand to watch the children giggle and laugh when the juices spilled down their dirty chins.
"She is more beautiful than the sun!"
"More vibrant than a desert flower!"
"More lively than a child!"
Praise was spoken for the new queen of immense generosity, unparalleled vibrancy, and undefinable beauty. By the time the night fell, everyone and the dead knew her name.
()()()
She had left, simply up and vanished. He could feel the rage curling in his gut like a serpent. She drove him to madness. A simple women whose only defining characteristic is her mouth set his blood ablaze.
Damn her.
He sighed and placed his papers back into their anointed slots. He was not finishing anything anyways. Might as well leave it for tomorrow. He stood and walked leisurely down the halls, his slippers making a gentle gliding sound on the floors.
When he reached his chambers, the door was ajar and from inside he could hear the lullaby Kagome sung. Her voice was low and harsh, singing of things dark and sinister. She was in another mood. He was waiting for more anger to clot in his veins but he was left waiting. The only thing he could feel with clarity was a bone deep weariness.
"I hope you enjoyed for excursion," He could see the smart tweak to her mouth that signaled a witty response but once she glanced his way, the smirk slid from her lips and they tightened into a harsh line. She stood and walk forward. Her knuckles brushed his cheek before they delicately pulled the knots from their places and the thick overcoat slid from his shoulders and pool into her waiting arms. He never noticed how much weight he wore until it was lifted.
"I met many wonderful people. Perhaps you might join me next time?" It was a peace offering, an olive branch held out by shaking fingers. He grasped it like a life line.
"Of course," She smiled a sly smile and patted the folded sheets. He placed his shoes off to the side and sat. She startled him by hoisting up her skirts and shimming onto his lap. He raised a questioning brow and she laughed, a deep chuckle that made her slight body shake.
"Do not misinterpret. This is all for the sake of the story," The added wink only made the still tenderly growing feeling of affection flourish under her touch. "Close your eyes, this is a story for your mind, not your eyes."
He followed her instructions and felt the careful brush of her finger over his eyes and the tender touch of her words.
"This is a story of lovers," A touch to his brow. "They found each other one summer night and never left the other's side. Until a ruthless overlord wanted the woman's beauty for himself, and had to have it."
"This woman, was she extraordinary?" His words her hushed by a press of the pad of her finger. It was a silent message, no talking. He was content to imagine her in he place of the faceless woman.
"If you must know, she was kind and beautiful. They lived in a small cottage wrapped in a cocoon of ivy. The door was carved from a huge oak, its plants the finest quality in the land," The scenery took form in his mind. His mind substituted Kagome in, her hands wrapped in a dirty apron, as if she had been at the hearth. He found the look fairly charming. "They lived a quaint life full of handmade pies and candlelit dinners."
"The woman was taken from the garden; a small patch of churned earth not far to the west," A press of fingertips to his nose. "She grew vegetables but also flowers. Poppies and lavender that released their heady scents in the fall. The king trampled her beloved garden when he rode in with his men on steads with hooves like knives."
Her fingers tightened to pinpricks on his throat and when he was close to throwing her off, she released him, her breath she had been holding falling out across his lips. Her thighs tightened minutely and even through the layers, he could feel her shake.
"The man searched day and night for his missing love, calling for her to the point the forest echoed her name. He feared the spirits of the forest had stolen her off," He could feel her lean forward and the points of her nails as she trailed them up his neck to his chin. She trailed his jaw as she spoke. "He found her when he requested a meeting with the local leader. She was chained to his chair, a slave until she gave her name to the man. She had refused, you see. When she saw her love, her whole world flooded back."
He never considered his ears sensitive but under her attentive care, even that proved to made very nerve in his body stand to attention. She traced the faded war paint on his cheekbones, the purple markings still visible.
"He drew his sword and killed the man, a swift stab to his gut-" Her hand pressed roughly to his abdomen and he found his breath being stolen. He clenched his eyes to resist the urge to open them. "He died and he freed his love of her chains and rode with her until daybreak."
"That sounds like an ending," He whispered and cracked an eye. He was met with a bright laugh and her flushed face. She smacked his shoulder and he closed his eye.
"No, no. There is more. This story will reach its ending tonight but I shall tell another before sunrise, do not worry," She ran a hand down his arm and the fabric fell. His hands clutched at the bedding at his hips. "You see, when the couple returned, they did the only thing any good married couple might do."
Her lips pressed into the junction of his neck and when the warm pressure of her tongue joined them, a gasp was pulled from his mouth. The refused to open his eyes. Her lips were drawn up into a smile when she straightened and saw his eyes were still closed. Her fingers danced across his ribs to his wrists and down to where his hands were clasped in the sheets. She untangled them and wrapped them around her slim waist. He could feel her pulse stutter in her wrist when he flexed his nails into the soft fabric. She laughed and a smirk curved his mouth to join the one he knew was on hers.
"I believe I know how this story ends, perhaps the next shall hold my attention longer?" He baited, raising a brow and a lid. She laughed and tugged the intricate curls from their place on her scalp and when they tumbled round her face, she let a soft expression mold her features into a mock innocent pout.
"Oh dear, how ever could I have thought that would be enough for you?" She chided and when she yawned and raised her arms above her head, her stomach was pulled taunt and plush curved shifted into lithe muscle.
He knew she would become his undoing.
School, dead childhood pet, writers block, sickness, and procrastination. There, all my excuses in one convenient place. All spelling will by checked later when I'm not at five percent battery.