The Given Garden

by S. K Munt

  ‘Funny girl.’

  ‘I’m well read.’

  ‘You’re welcome.’ Kohl nudged me with his hip and then cleared his throat. ‘So, when you say you were startled by the sight of me with my hair short… was it a good kind of startled, or a disappointed kind of startled?’

  I gave him a sidelong glance. ‘Are you seriously asking me if you look better than he does?’

  ‘No,’ Kohl said, hooking his thumbs over his waistband as he walked. ‘I know that I do- I was just seeking confirmation. I’m always wondering if I should keep it short or grow it out.’

  I laughed. ‘You don’t sound like you actually need it, so I’m going to keep my opinion to myself, all right?’

  ‘Fine,’ he sighed and then stepped up onto the gazebo, which stood in the middle of the common. ‘But I am bigger, right?’

  ‘Way bigger,’ I said, taking his hand and allowing him to pull me up with him. ‘And every bit as mischievous as he said you were.’

  ‘Guilty as charged.’ Kohl glanced around us and whistled through his teeth. ‘Hmm… this is a bit romantic isn’t it? I’ll probably get in trouble for bringing you down here.’

  ‘I love it,’ I confessed, touching one of the lights that were suspended in the air around it. ‘Every time I see these, they remind me of catching fireflies with my brother when I was little.’

  ‘Why would you catch them?’

  ‘To make wishes, of course. The lights of Arcadia at night were always too bright to see stars through, but in the meadows behind our common, there were always fireflies.’

  ‘I love fireflies too, but I’ve never tried wishing on one.’

  ‘Well you should. I wish on everything shiny or singular, if I think it’s special and miraculous enough to hold power.’

  Kohl closed his hand around one and closed his eyes, ‘Okay done.’ He opened his eyes then and smiled at me, releasing the light. ‘Damn, seeing you the third time is even better than the first two. And talk about miraculous!’

  ‘Oh you…’ I said, rolling my eyes.

  Kohl cupped my face in his hands and stared into me. ‘He did get these right though…’ sensing the way I stiffened at the intimate touch, he smiled knowingly and released my jaw. ‘Your eyes- they’re the colour of the milky way. Sort of blue, sort of grey, sort of lavender… and sparkling.’

  ‘Um…’ I looked down at my feet, not sure if I was more flattered by Kohl’s words, or the knowledge that he was repeating Kohén’s sentiment. ‘Thank you… I guess…’

  The prince swallowed and stepped back. ‘But that’s all he’s gotten right, as far as I’m concerned. Larkin… I’ve never seen a more beautiful girl in my life, and I’m sorry if saying that makes you uncomfortable but...’ he sighed heavily. ‘My brother is a lucky man.’

  I lifted my head and scowled at him. ‘He’s not that fucking lucky, you know!’

  Kohl blinked in a bewildered way, then raised his hands. ‘Oh! Oh I know!’ He waved his palms at me, and I saw that they were glowing slightly- a pale blue haze. ‘About the deal and stuff, God! I meant… I meant that he was lucky to have you around, not… lucky to… oh sweet Jesus…’ he grabbed my wrists and looked imploringly into my eyes. ‘Please don’t think that I think of you as a …’ my skin buzzed with his current but he squeezed tighter. ‘I’m not used to talking to pretty girls, okay? Not ones who speak English. And I’m this close to making it rain just so I can have a cold shower or wash away the last three minutes of my lame attempts at flirting, which I know I shouldn’t be doing anyway...’

  ‘Wait, you’re flirting with me?’ I asked, as other parts of me began to hum.

  ‘Uh… no? Well, clearly, not well- why? You’re not going to tell on me are you?’

  ‘To who?’ I pried his hand from my wrist and examined it, my curiosity overwhelming my embarrassment.

  ‘I don’t know… Kohén. Mother…’

  ‘Your mother doesn’t talk to me and I don’t want to get zapped by Kohén anymore than you do so your secret is safe with me.’ I poked at his fingertip. ‘But tell me… how do you do that?’

  ‘Do what?’

  ‘Generate electricity AND water? I know there have been some Nephilim who can do more than one thing, but never opposing things! Like, I’d understand if you could do water and say, healing- or electricity and fire… but….’ I turned his hand over, as though I’d find the answers written across his knuckles. ‘It’s weird. My friend Martya would have been fascinated by you.’

  ‘Um, that’s nice to know... but I can’t do both,’ Kohl said, and I looked up, confused.

  ‘What?’

  ‘I can’t do both,’ he repeated.

  ‘But your dad just said that you put out that fire-’

  ‘I did, but that’s it. I mean, Kohén got electricity like dad, Karol got healing like our great uncle… but I only got water, like my great-grandfather. If I could conduct both, I’d probably be dead by now.’

  ‘But you did it earlier,’ I said.

  ‘When?’

  ‘When you kissed me!’ I reminded him. ‘Remember? You kissed me and it was like being hit by twenty bolts of-’ I realised what I was admitting to- NOT accusing him of a beat later and I could have exploded like the chandelier under the heat of my own embarrassment. Kohl’s eyes widened in tandem with his beautiful mouth and he swept forward and pulled me into his arms, looking more excited than I’d ever seen anybody look before.

  ‘I’m sorry, that was my hopeful ear…’ he whispered, his smile still stretching. ‘Did you just say that when we kissed, it was electric?’

  ‘Fuck. This. Shit.’ I said, and tried to turn away but he laughed and wrestled me back.

  ‘Oh no, you’re not getting off the hook with this!’ he sang playfully, guiding my eyes back to his, making me see how they glittered with delight. ‘You can’t give a guy his first kiss, blow his freaking mind and then run away after half-admitting that he blew your circuits too!’

  My jaw dropped. ‘That wasn’t your first kiss!’

  ‘Yes it was,’ he said. ‘And boy, have you made my century!’

  ‘But that couldn’t have been your first kiss!’ I protested.

  ‘Because it was that good?’ he demanded. ‘Please- go on!’

  Oh my gosh, he’s more like Karol than Kohén! What a rake!

  ‘Actually, yes, okay? It was good but the only reason I’m admitting that is because I basically said as much a minute ago. Yes, that kiss was electric so congratulations- but I know that it couldn’t have been your first! Kohén wrote to me and told me that he got lots of kissing practice with island girls while he was there with you- the girls that YOU live with year-round who wear grass skirts and coconuts and swing their perfect little tanned hips...!’

  ‘Of course HE did!’ Kohl pulled back, looking at annoyed. ‘They may have regressed to the stone age over there, but they still know that kissing a boy with a golden crown on his head will get them into a bigger hut than kissing a boy with a leather eye-patch will.’

  I stared at him. ‘They don’t go for you?’

  Are they BLIND?

  ‘No, okay?’ he asked, looking sullen now. He moved to the edge of the gazebo and glared up at the kingdom. ‘And even if they did, I’m not allowed to touch anyone, remember? Kohén can pop over to Caldera Island for a tropical holiday and roll up his sleeves if he’s so inclined, but I’m in a youth division of the all-boy Corps and our rules are as strict as yours once were. We get pulled up if we so much as look at one of the local girls for too long, but if I kissed one, Atticus would have me whipped!’

  I winced, partly because that was a horrible thing to endure and secondly because now I was imagining Pacifica girls all over Kohén and it made me feel ghastly. ‘But you’re a royal!’

  He gave me an exasperated look. ‘So? I’m still a third-born and a Given. I thought you of all people would understand how limiting that can be.’ He shook his head. ‘Larkin, aside from mother, you’re basically the
only girl I’ve ever gotten to know outside of an Aloha situation.’

  ‘But you’re here!’ I pointed out. ‘You get extended visits all the time, and now you’re here at a party, in a tux- kissing me!’

  ‘Because it’s been six months since my parents visited last. It was up to them to stay on in the nation they owned for as long as they wanted to, but as soon as it hit two weeks I was moved out of the house that’s been built for them- that I helped build- and back into the barracks with all the others. Now, they’ve brought me home and yes, the rules are relaxed here so I can sneak off to kiss a girl the way I’m sure other Given on sojourn do, but it’s still only for these two weeks, you know. If my ship is fit to sail in fourteen days, I have to be on it, and then I’ll go back to being like every other cast-off: restricted, penniless and working from sunrise to sunset.’

  ‘You don’t get any special treatment at all?’

  Kohl sighed. ‘Every now and then, but that’s usually because my parents are there and the general wants to impress them, or as a thank-you for something I’ve done with my powers. They’ll toss me a bigger turkey leg or whatever but no- I’m not handed five virgin maids, if that’s what you think, and I wouldn’t want that kind of gift anyway.’ He rotated to smile sadly at me. ‘Okay, maybe one, but I’d be damn specific about which one I wanted.’

  I rolled my eyes. ‘Did you just try to sulk and flirt in the one breath AND insinuate that I’d be your only prostitute?’

  ‘I told you, I’m not good with girls.’ He stepped up and beamed at me. ‘But no, I’m not given special treatment, though I’m not surprised if everyone thinks that.’ He squeezed my hands. ‘And I’m not given a cent either, which is why I have to send you books that I’ve dug up and smell like thousand-year old socks, and wooden rings that I had to carve, and chocolates that I had to make.’

  ‘You made those?’ I asked, astonished. ‘They were incredible!’

  ‘Right down to the box,’ he confirmed, and then winced. ‘I’m sorry. Now you’re probably going to wonder about how sanitary they are from now on, huh?’

  ‘No,’ I said. ‘And for what it’s worth, those books you sent me…’ I pressed my hand to my heart so he could see how much I meant what I was about to say. ‘They’re my favourite possessions, every one of them.’

  Kohl smiled. ‘Kohén told me that you loved them, which is why I’ve kept sending them- but thank you for saying that- and I love that you love them because I read them too first, to make sure that they were right.’

  ‘So, the geisha one… you sent that because you knew?’

  Kohl cringed. ‘Yeah... I knew, and long before Kohén did.’

  ‘How? I thought that was hidden from most kids until they were thirteen.’

  ‘Things are different when you live with one hundred and twenty men aged between five and twenty-one,’ Kohl pointed out, then looked away, blushing. ‘And we have um, a few Companions stationed with us… for the leaders and the voluntary Corps guys, you know?’

  I wrinkled up my nose. ‘Ew. Swear to me that you’ll never touch one.’

  Kohl crossed his heart. ‘Not for all of the coconuts in Pacifica…’ he smiled crookedly. ‘Anyway yeah, I knew, and I had to keep it from Kohén.’ He blew out a puff of air. ‘Even when I was eight, I knew it was a bad deal and so I was careful not to send anything mushy, you know? I dug up a lot of fairy tales and stuff but sending you those sorts of books seemed a bit cruel. Sort of like if you’d sent me a paper boat or a cardboard crown.’

  ‘I get it,’ I said. ‘And thank you for saving my life. Not just tonight either when you physically removed me from death… But those books gave me the strength to dream, and to strike this deal with Kohén and to…’ I paused, feeling strange. It was so weird to be discussing books with a Kohén look-alike, not arguing or kicking around a ball. And I’d never confided in anyone like this before, not even Martya. ‘To be a girl with her own mind- not a thing, even if it’s just inside my head most of the time- it helps.’ I paused, giggling. ‘And The Godfather was thrilling! Try as I might, I can’t find another like it in the library.’

  ‘No, that’s not one of the ones that they’ve reprinted,’ Kohl agreed, his eyes shining. ‘I hoped you’d enjoy it, even if it was a little different to the others, and not think me a psychotic for sending it.’

  ‘A psychotic? Kohl you’re wonderful- Kohén and I both think so. If I’d known you were coming home with him, I wouldn’t have been able to sleep for my excitement!’

  I was rewarded with a grin and he took my hand. ‘I couldn’t sleep. I-’ Kohl dropped his eyes, and then blinked at my hand. ‘Are you serious? How do you even…?’ He lifted my wrist and touched his finger to the wooden ring on the ring finger of my right hand, and then raised his eyes to mine. ‘You’re still wearing this? Larkin, I made it ten years ago!’

  I smiled. ‘It took me eight to grow into it. It was on my thumb until I was about eleven but only fit my middle finger when I was thirteen.’ I looked back down at my hand. ‘Then it got too tight last year, so I moved it back down to there.’

  Kohl cupped my hand and grinned at me. ‘Is it weird… knowing you still wear this is like, the best sixteenth birthday present ever? And speaking of which…’ he reached into the collar of his shirt and pulled out the pendant I’d fashioned for him, eliciting a gasp from me. ‘I haven’t taken it off, so thank you. Oh and Kohén as really jealous of it too, so thanks again.’

  I’d also made one for Kohén to give him as a sixteenth present too because I’d thought that the blue stone was the exact colour of both of their eyes, but I saw now that I’d been mistaken- it was a paler, crystal blue like Kohl’s, not neon as Kohén’s had been around me lately. And if it made Kohén feel special to receive it, I’d let him be the only man in Calliel who had one.

  ‘I’m sorry it couldn’t be more,’ I said sadly, and he took my hand again and whispered.

  ‘I’m sorry too,’ and he wasn’t talking about the gift. He looked down at my hand again and grinned. ‘Still, the fact that you have this blows my mind. I’d assumed that you’d lost it years ago.’

  ‘Are you kidding?’ I asked, wiping soot off his cheek, amazed that I could already have grown so fond of a stranger. ‘This is the only piece of jewellery I’ve ever been given, that I wasn’t expected to work off. And that made me guard it more than I would any diamond or gold band.’

  ‘Larkin…’ Kohl sighed then brought my hand to his lips, kissing the wooden wave. ‘You are very lucky that I’m the brother who got sent away.’

  ‘Why’s that?’

  He oh-so-gently touched his finger to my lips and whispered: ‘Because if I’m this in love with you after an hour, then you wouldn’t have had a chance in hell of escaping me after sixteen years.’

  I inhaled sharply, and scented coconuts. For the first time in my life I was speechless, nor did I have a concise thought or clear feeling to express anyway. Kohl smiled shyly and lowered my hand. ‘I know you can’t even dream of responding to such a declaration, so do not worry- I don’t expect you to.’ He dusted fragments of glass and dust from my hair and smiled fondly. ‘But you’re wearing a glass crown tonight, and as Kohén says, you don’t ever intend to wear a sliver of gold. But you and him… there’s something there, isn’t there? Do you have aspirations to wear a golden crown one day? Because, if you do, I’d like it if you’d consider-’

  ‘There you are! Larkin! I was so worried!’ Kohén’s voice sliced through the night and between Kohl and I, who spun away from me with a large stride, putting distance between us before I’d even thought to.

  31.

  ‘She’s here, Big Kahuna so fret not,’ Kohl began to lope towards his twin and then pulled him into a quick hug. ‘I knew you’d want to speak with her away from the others, so I brought her out where she could collect herself in privacy.’ He nudged Kohén toward me, winking over his shoulder. ‘And I’m glad you’ve come, because she was quite worried about you.’

/>   ‘Well you shouldn’t have brought her out so far, Kohl! I’m thankful that you rescued her, but mother and Maryah are having a conniption over her whereabouts.’ I groaned as Kohén rushed up the steps of the gazebo and pulled me in for the tightest hug he’d ever given me while I began to tremble in delayed shock. I didn’t know whether to be furious with Kohl for getting me into such a predicament, or grateful that he’d anticipated Kohén’s potential anger and had covered our dalliance smoothly. ‘Larkin… I’m so glad that you’re unharmed.’ Kohén pulled back and peered into my eyes as though checking for concussion. ‘But are you truly? That thing fell so close to you, and you are shaking!’

  ‘I’m fine,’ I said, disentangling myself from his arms and then holding myself. ‘Kohl got to me in time.’

  ‘I saw. But…’ Kohén frowned at me and stepped forward again, cocking his head and giving me a suspicious look. ‘Are you sure you’re all right? It’s not like you to tremble or flee- or curse out a complete stranger as Maryah is saying you did. And your skin…’ he touched my bicep and I looked down to see that it had rippled with gooseflesh, which was unusual. I so rarely felt the cold, and it was a warm night. But Kohén’s touch sparked against my skin, and I pulled away from the charge.

  I didn’t curse out a stranger, I cursed out a presumptuous asshole! Approaching a member of the prince’s future harem at his sixteenth, indeed! He should have been escorted from the premises, not me!

  ‘I’m fine,’ I repeated, and then put on a brighter face. ‘But I think I’ll be going to bed as soon as you two have cut your cakes to avoid a talking-to from Maryah.’

  ‘There’s only one cake,’ Kohén said absently, frowning at me as I stepped back. ‘But I understand, of course. In fact, I think it’s for the best really.’

  ‘That you have to share a cake?’

  ‘Not share, Larkin,’ Kohl said softly. When I met his eyes, they were sorrowful. ‘For all official purposes, there is only one birthday boy present tonight.’