by Nicole Fox
“So, you don’t want me now? After everything, the reality is not that great," Tatum demanded.
“We haven’t even begun to touch reality, and it will be more memorable than any fantasy that you had in your lonely bed wanting me," Keir replied.
Tatum looked around like a small child caught with her fingers in the cookie jar, “That isn’t polite conversation, Keir.”
His breath was hot on her neck as his hand crept along on Tatum's knee. He felt her slipping away from him, focusing on possible bad things.
"Focus on me and our life together, Tatum," Keir urged. “Don’t let chaos into your mind. Don’t think negative thoughts. Life was be amazing among us.”
Keir ignored her wildflower scent, like she was freshly bloomed. How warm and alive she had felt in his arms. He realized that he would kill anything and anyone that attempted to take her away. His large hand caressed her thigh as he urged to her to relax. "Don't be afraid of your past, my past, and our combined future. Always will I be there, holding your hand, supporting you on the journey of life."
"Do you truly want me to be with you?" Tatum whispered as she braced herself for a possible painful truth.
"Yes."
"I want to be with you, and I know that it won’t be easy."
"Nothing is easy; you just have to find your way through the chaos until you reach serenity."
“How do you know this, Keir?"
“I’ve spent too many years alone, questioning my mother’s death. I dealt with the ridiculous trials, and I saw light when I met you one fateful day scrubbing Silke’s floor. Not a temptress. Not a Goddess. Not a high priestess. In your simplicity, I found the most complex and powerful woman in my life.”
Keir's thumb traced her jawbone, causing heat to flare along her face. "I’m hopeful."
"Tatum, trust me and be my strength."
"Yes, but I have a question."
"My life is open to you. Some things are dark and painful, others can be life."
“What about the other girls from the other trials?"
Keir made a quick decision to explain his actions allegedly dooming so many young girls. At this moment he regretted contributing to his current situation with Tatum. He encouraged his legend as a lady killer, seducer. He did enjoy women, but it was in the past. He wanted to move forward with his life. He couldn’t just ignore her questions without it lingering over their marriage.
"I've never taken those girls to my bed."
"What?"
"I couldn’t seduce girls and use them for my desires. Now, I enjoy pleasures of the flesh. Not young girls, too much like my uncle. I never wanted to be him. So, I found all of them except one husband.”
Tentatively, Tatum placed her head on Keir's broad chest. Her eyes shut when he pulled her closer. "Do you think less of me for promoting such a lie?”
"No, I don’t think less of you. It’s rather endearing. Wait, what happened to the one? I'm confused."
That was putting mildly. It dawned on Tatum that she was not questioning what happened to the other girls. She spent so much time planning and organizing her life that she had never really loved or allowed herself to change her well-crafted plan. It was time just to enjoy the ride.
"It's okay," Keir soothed against her curly locks, "We can do this together. Her name is Maya. She’s a bit different than the others. I’m attempting to find her a new home. I never loved or touched her.”
“Together, we will deal with Maya.” A memory popped in her mind. “Is she an insane looking red head?”
“Yup, with lots of insane.”
"There is something that you should know."
Keir clenched his jaw. "A boyfriend?"
Tatum shook her dark head. "No… silly. I can be violent in a rage. I beat the daylights out of Thomas one afternoon. He called my mother a whore. No, it was Azael’s dirty whore. I saw red, and I stomped him until he cried. Then, I was known as a bully. So, I might not be able to reign in your darkness.”
Keir tightened his arms around her. He smiled in joy; he doubted if Silke knew Tatum was the neighborhood bully. She would have given her admittance to the temple twice over. "Whatever do you mean?"
"I have a bad temper, and my mouth is surly."
"How?"
“You haven’t noticed. Always have a snappy comment. I’m cranky."
Keir frowned in her hair. "Probably. Can you stop?"
"I don't know. But I want you to like me as I am with my mouth and cranky ways. I do know how to drink properly from a goblet, and I don’t eat with my hands. Not exactly goddess material.”
“You’re perfect unless rolls are presented with cream. Besides, I can be soft.”
"You can be soft?"
Keir chuckled in her hair. She can't stay on one topic. "Not really, a new life… second chance. You stomp Thomas again. I won’t hold you back.”
"How come my head ached so today?" Tatum touched a spot on the center of her forehead.
“I don’t know what could have created a beginning bond between us. Describe your moments before your ached in pain.”
“I wriggled the box, and a ring dropped into my palm.”
“A silver ring.”
“Yes.”
“Ah, I understand, I craft it with my essence. We’re joining to blend our life forces.”
“OH.”
"Do you have a problem with that?"
"No, I don't think so… is that why I felt your anger?"
He made a mental note to speak with his father for clarifications about the life force. He suspected that they could share minds, but he needed to manage his emotions better until Tatum became a full demi-goddess. Keir could taste her desire for him as she tried to fight it. He could feel her desire to break free from her life to explore. He cleared his mind with a slight shake. He didn’t know what Tatum was reading from his mind.
"I'm not sure."
"Oh."
Keir ran his hands along her back. Her breath grew ragged as her pink wrap grew tight on her arms. She wanted to remove it. It felt tight on her arms, confining.
"Keir, I want to remove my wrap." Her heart beat rapidly as she opened her heart to him.
Keir shot her a confused look. "Remove it."
Tears filled her eyes: "I’ve never offered myself to anyone except you." She smiled at Keir weakly. "Just make me feel wanted, desired.”
Keir's hands cupped Tatum's face. His thumb brushed the tears from her dark eyes, promising her: "I'm here to take care of you. Like no other ever did in the past.” Keir almost winced when a flash of pain flared in her eyes.
"I have bad memories from my childhood about your uncle. I always blame myself for not protecting my mom."
"I know, it wasn't your fault," Keir soothed her.
His blue eyes radiated calmness, it reassured her. Tatum's fingers dropped to a golden slash closing her gown. Keir smiled when she slowly untied the opening to her dress. His hands slipped it down her shoulders. Smiling, he yanked his tunic from his chest and tossed it into a corner of his cave. Keir placed her small hands into his large rough callous one, "So small, Tatum." Tatum shivered from the heat in his blue eyes. She trembled slightly when Keir brushed his lips along the fading marks on her arm.
Keir looked at Tatum with hooded eyes.
"I'm a bit nervous."
"I figured that out already."
"I don’t know what to-“
"I can show you," Keir demanded. “I want to show you everything.” She kept explaining about what she perceived as flaws. She was just per—slow down Keir, he thought. I'm moving too fast with her. No, I waited 20 years. She’s getting a condensed course on me now; go slow, be patient.
"I said my mother was a good person."
"She was a victim of my uncle.”
Keir pushed away the wave of fury when he saw a deep fear in her arms. At the same time, he wanted to jump for joy. He made more progress with Tatum in the last fifteen minutes away from them than he would have ever ima
gined. They needed to go away to spend a few hours alone, just talking and dancing.
Keir dropped little kisses along her jaw while her head dropped back exposing her neck. His hands placed Tatum's small hands on his shoulders. One hand covered her waist. Tatum lifted her mouth towards Keir's. Tenderly, he placed his mouth on her opened mouth. His tongue entered the warm cavern of her mouth. Keir felt hope when Tatum's tongue touched his. His other hand twisted in her dark curls. Keir pulled Tatum down onto the leather material. Her fingers pulled on the hair at his nape. Keir's hand laid on her flat stomach as his lips pressed hard. He covered Tatum's small frame. Keir was surprised when Tatum's hand pushed her dress up to expose her thighs.
"I don't need..."
"Do it, I want you too," Tatum commanded.
Tatum bent her neck. Keir could see the pulse in her neck. Tatum reached up and placed a hard kiss on Keir's mouth. Keir's control slipped away as his tongue licked her salty neck. Tatum's soft moans filled the room.
Keir screamed inside his mind to vanquish his frustration. He swore that he would be able to use his manhood when he needed.
“Why are you screaming in my mind, ruining the mood?”
“I can’t do this.”
Tatum turned passion-filled eyes upon him, “Why are you stopping?”
“I want to do this the right way. We need to be married. Not kissing and thrusting, and way too much touching on my couch.”
Tatum rolled her eyes, “You don’t go good!”
“It’s a momentary plight of conscience. It won’t happen again.”
Keir dropped a brief hard kiss on Tatum’s lips. “This is just a beginning.”
Chapter Ten
Over the next week, Tatum saw very little of Keir as the Temple prepared for their wedding. Before Chan released the sun, seamstresses yanked her from her bed for daily fittings of daily clothes, undergarments, and a sheer gown for her wedding. They hissed when she asked for wool to protect her if the air was cool at night. A muse arrived to teach her proper etiquette and phrases not to enrage, encourage, or tease another god or goddess. Afterwards, the chefs arrived to plan menus for a pre-wedding banquet, a morning breakfast, the wedding feast, and morning-after breakfast. Tatum’s eyebrows rose when she was informed that she needed to select meals for three days during her confinement with the Lord. Rolling her eyes, Tatum insisted to see her Lord.
Calmly, she sat in a blue cushioned chair as Keir sauntered into her sitting room. Tight black leather pants rippled around his strong legs. A loose white tunic hung across his torso revealing a few dark strands of hair.
“You ordered my presence,” he inquired gently.
“No, I requested that you join me at your earliest convenience.”
“Here I am in all of my glory.”
“With all of your personality.”
“You love it.”
“If you say so. Anyway, what is a three day confinement?”
Keir smiled brightly at an amorous thought of their planned three day confinement.
“Well, Lovey, you aren’t a goddess. So, you drink goblets of ambrosia for three days in seclusion with me. We consummate our marriage, drink a few goblets of ambrosia, chat, read, make love… swim, and after three marvelous days, Father will make sure that you’re a demi-goddess, and you can roam around Oceanus without being harmed by anyone, or my enemies.”
Tatum arched a dark eyebrow.
“What enemies?”
“I’m the God of Darkness, Tatum. I maintain evil on Oceanus. I have made deals, treaties, and bargains with people. Do I like it? Not really. Can I change it? No, I don’t like this. It’s who I am. You agreed to marry me, evil and all. We have discussed this before, at length.”
Tatum rose from her chair to rush over him, “I’m not dropping out of our marriage. I’m trying to understand three days of confinement. I thought I had to be tied, or hung from a tree, nothing is explained. I know and accept your duties on Oceanus. I’m supposed to keep you with a sense of humanity. Steer you away from committing travesty. Be your guide.”
Keir caressed her face softly. “It won’t be easy. “
“The Trials were.”
“I don’t want to be my Uncle. Yet, I need to be strong and bear my duties.”
Tatum placed her head on his chest. “No, you’re not alone.”
“You sure melted quickly.”
“Maybe, I’m still melting. You showed me the layers under your own skin.”
“See, I’m not too smelly.”
“I need to go.”
“Until the morning.”
~~~
“You promised that I would be his wife, Silke," Maya mumbled softly. “Yet, that girl becomes his wife in the morning. Everyone is fawning all over her. My glory, mine. It belongs to her, not me.”
Silke viewed Maya with indifference. The girl was merely the ends to a means. Her voice grated on her nerves.
“He must first marry her. Then, you can murder the girl and take your rightful place. You must be patient, my dear.”
Maya stared at Silke like she had seen her for the first time. She didn’t recall such a manic look in Silke’s eyes ever before.
“What must I do?”
“After the girl emerges from his chamber,” Silke replied shaking a bag of herbs, “you have to mix these herbs with fresh spring water and toss it over her. It will cause her skin to dissolve. Don’t be seen, and you can hold my brother’s hand as he grieves for his young beautiful wife. He will lean on you, need you.”
Maya nodded silently. “Then, I will be his wife, consort of the Dark Lord. Oceanus will bow at my feet.”
“The time for your desires is close at hand. Listen to my words, kill the girl.”
Chapter Eleven
Tatum sat in a chair as the attendants tugged and wrapped her long brown hair into a tight bun resting on her nape. A white silk veil with dangling rainbow crystals was carefully draped on her artfully coiled hair. So, this is my fish life. Caught in a net. I can’t see a thing.
She pushed it over to reveal her bare face, “You don’t do my face yet,” she whined. “I’m not sitting here again, ever with you people.”
A small woman painted a soft red cream across her lips. Afterward, she pinched Tatum‘s cheeks until a rich red color appeared. Following their motions, Tatum stepped into a heavy silk white gown of silk and satin. The attendant pulled the garment up until she could slip her arms into the straps. The attendants hurried behind her quickly fastening the ties until the material seemed to mold her flesh. She was guided into a waiting white silk overcoat. The ties firmly knotted around her neck. The girls quickly slipped silver bangles up her arms. Finally, a huge pearl pendant fastened behind her neck and hung in the middle of her chest.
Tatum stood breathing silently as she stared at her reflection in a wall mirror. She didn’t recognize herself adorned with such finery. Curling her fingers slightly, dueling butterflies returned to her stomach.
“I can do this. It’s alright,” Tatum muttered under her breath.
“You look lovely,” a male voice said behind her.
Turning her head slightly, Tatum stared into her grandfather’s eyes. This was my surprise -- he brought my grandparents here.
Tatum stepped to embrace her grandparents. Grimacing, she waved over her attire. “Poppy, this is quite heavy. Very hard to move around,” she whispered. “I don’t know. I wish mama was here. I feel her around me.”
Her grandparents rushed over and embraced Tatum. She smelled their familiarity as she gathered her strength to change her life.
“She would have been so proud of you.”
“I hope so.”
“I know so.”
~~~
Keir stood waiting in his white silk tunic and linen white pants. He didn’t make a sudden movement and dirty his clothing. He couldn’t fathom why he was forced to wear pure white. He hadn’t worn white since he was an infant.
“Brother, please forgive me f
or missing the final phase of the Trials. A sudden illness overtook my body, and I can’t rid my body of its effects. I couldn’t do anything except sleep,” Silke murmured.
What in the world is she talking about? Silke was in attack mode, but she was present for test two and three.
Keir’s eyes roamed over Silke’s appearance. Her gown was slightly rumpled; her usual impeccable brushed hair was stringy and wild. She had deep shadows under her eyes which made her look paler and fragile like an ice crystal.
“Sister, you were there with me. I stared into your eyes.”
“No, I don’t remember anything expect dining with Father and lots of sleeping. I can’t remember speaking with you. “
“Do you remember the night at my temple with the other gods?”
“What night at your temple? Did we place bets on Tatum passing the Trials?”
“No, I was forced to listen under duress about everyone’s problems on Oceanus.”
“Maybe, you spent some time with Blane.”
Silke flushed bright red. “I had a lapse of judgment on the first day of Trials.” Silke lowered her eyes. “I can’t lie to you any longer. I’ve had multi lapses of judgments with Blane. I’ve shared his bed repeatedly over the last twenty years. So, I’m going to have a baby. Father’s furious with me about falling for Blane’s charm. He shouted and called me names, horrible names. He gazed upon me with such revulsions. He cursed my baby for being a plight upon my purity. I haven’t spoken to him in days. Now, I feel sick all most of the time… every minute of each day, and I just want to sleep.”
Keir pulled his sister into his arms to comfort her. “Do you remember when we were children; I always made you feel better when he shouted at us. I’m deeply happy for you and Blane. Babies are wonderful.”
“He already shouted at us unless Mother was around. He tolerated us unless she was nearby. Then, he was doting and caring, super father.”
Keir wanted to question his sister further about their father’s behavior lately. A horn blared in the background signaling Tatum’s arrival.
“Brother, we will speak after the wedding. Be happy.”
“Perhaps, happiness is finally within my reach, Silke.”
~~~
Surprised Tatum watched Ruby fluffing the hem of her wedding gown. Rainbow beads bounced around her neck as she moved quickly to smooth Tatum’s gown.
