In the cabin, Chimera stared at the knotty door. Her strength slowly returned as did her senses, but that odd ache within her continued to demand alleviation. She wanted to run after Sterling and insist they seek, find, and investigate the “more” he’d spoken of, but she knew in her heart he would not consent.
She sighed deeply and had begun to rise when the triplets’ toad hopped into her lap. She picked it up and stared directly into its black-dot eyes. “Toby, you witnessed what just happened. One kiss was all the poor man could take for one night. But how is it, Toby, that he can resist the magic, and I cannot? He admitted to feeling the hunger, and yet he fought its pangs.”
She placed the toad on the floor and swept to her bedroom. Slipping out of her gown, she watched it fall and then stepped out of the bright purple pool it made. She wore no undergarments because she had none to wear, and the sight of her own bare body caused the ache inside her to deepen. Her fingers trembling, she touched her breast—the one Sterling had caressed—her eyes widening at the gentle pleasure her own touch gave her.
But it was a pleasure that gave hint to more. “That ‘more’ he spoke of.” She sighed and laid upon her feather mattress. Desire. She’d read poems about it but never felt it until she’d met Sterling. And he, apparently, hadn’t had much experience with it either. But now that they’d discovered it, what were they to do with it?
She searched her memory for an answer. “‘He who desires but acts not, breeds pestilence,’” she whispered. “William Blake, wherever you are, what were you thinking of when you wrote that? Is pestilence this hunger, this yearning I feel? And will it worsen each time I’m enchanted by his eyes, bewitched by his deep voice, fascinated by the power of his body, and captivated by his smile?
“And since Sterling is so afraid,” she asked the long-deceased writer, “should I take the initiative, act upon these desires, and prevent the further breeding of pestilence?”
Restless with confusion and frustration, she flung herself to her side and then to her other side, her legs quickly becoming entangled in the patched sheets. The more she kicked them, the more twisted they became around her legs.
“Chimera?” Sterling called from the other side of her door. “Are you all right?”
She gasped. But whether it was from the sudden thrill of his nearness or the fear that he might come in and see her naked, she didn’t know.
“Chimera?” he asked again. “What are you doing? What’s happening in there?”
Gosh darn the sheets to Hades and back, she thought, and began pulling at them. One seemed to be tied in a perfect knot around her ankles, and the other had somehow become intricately wound around her waist.
The door creaked quietly. She sat upright. Wildly, her gaze flew to the doorknob. She couldn’t find her voice, couldn’t even manage a tiny screech when she saw it turn.
And then he was there, filling the threshold. Without taking her eyes off him, she resumed her struggle with the sheets, pulling and yanking at them until the one around her waist threatened to cut her in half. “I—I’m being held captive by two bewitched sheets,” she said lamely.
He knew she was unaware of the enticing view she was giving him. With the aid of the moonlight that streamed through her window, he saw the gentle upper slopes of her breasts. He could see little more than a hint of them, but his imagination took over from there. Pearls, full and lustrous, he thought. And crowning them, he knew, were pale pink jewels. Beneath them her torso tapered down to an amazingly tiny waistline. The sheet she was tangled in covered her hips, but one of her legs, long, white, smooth, and slender, lay in a graceful curve upon her mattress.
His palms itched to touch her. How he longed to show her the things she thought him ignorant of. The thought of the “more” they’d spoken of earlier seared through his mind, and his body responded immediately in answer. His legs shook with the readiness to take him to her.
There was nothing but silence in the room, but Chimera heard the thunderous sound of desire crash throughout it. There was no need to bring it about gradually this time, for the kiss they’d shared had begun it, heightened it, and still it swept through her.
Her fingers whitened around the sheet. “I don’t know what to do. I—I want you to come in, but...Sterling, I don’t know what to do.”
He stared at her for many moments, her words echoing through his mind. He’d heard the tremor in her voice. Her uncertainty. She was afraid.
But he’d also heard her trust. She wasn’t trying to entice him into her bed, he realized. Her confusion was genuine. She would accept whatever decision he made.
The knowledge touched something inside him he didn’t know existed. “Then let me decide for you, estrellita,” he said very softly.
His dark silver gaze was riveted upon her. She tried to read his decision within it, but could not get past its depth, its smoldering color. She could not find a breath while she waited to see what he would do. Counting the seconds as they ticked by, she thought she’d counted a thousand before he stepped away from the door, closed it, and left her alone.
“Pestilence,” she mumbled, and flopped back to the mattress. “Yes, William Blake, you were filled with unappeased passion when you chose the word ‘pestilence.’”
She closed her eyes and fought both her desire and the sheets for hours before sleep finally ceased her struggles.
Chapter Six
“Stop throwing it, and pile it neatly, or I’ll show you exactly what I mean when I say I’ll take you to the woodshed,” Sterling warned the triplets when they began tossing the firewood into the newly built shed. “You can make a stack out here in the yard with the bigger branches, and I’ll cut them and clear them away later.”
“We’re just children,” Snag complained, and wiped sweat from his freckled brow. “For over a week now you’ve been treatin’ us like we were grown men. This is too much work.”
“Yeah!” Snug agreed vehemently. “Besides, we didn’t need a woodshed nohow. Got along just fine without one.”
“All’s we’ve done for eight days is work, work, work for you,” Snig growled, and pulled a splinter from his dirty thumb.
Eight days, Sterling mused. Venus was ten days old. He wondered just how long it took babies to become strong enough to sit up straight. Venus didn’t look any bigger or stronger now than she had the day of her birth. Perhaps if Chimera fed her more...
“We ain’t slaves, you know,” Snig flared.
Sterling kept his rising irritation with the boys at bay. He realized that sterner measures would soon be called for but decided to give them every chance before he resorted to spanking them. Casually, he dipped out some water from a bucket, leaned against the broken fence, and drank deeply, his eyes never leaving the three angry children. “Good water,” he said, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “It’s cool, fresh, and clean. But the best thing about it is that it’s wet. You three look pretty dry.” He drank more of the water and made great slurping sounds designed to aggravate them.
“Give us some,” Snug said.
“Finish stacking the wood and you can drown yourselves in it if you like,” Sterling answered. “But until you finish, you don’t get one single, cool, refreshing drop.”
“It ain’t right,” Snag hissed, and took another log into the shed. “Us thirstin’, and you over there coolin’ yourself off. We could die, you know. People can’t live without water.”
“He wouldn’t care,” Snig said, and handed Snug some kindling. “He probably wants us to die. He hates us.”
Sterling poured water over his back, gasping in exaggerated delight as it streamed over his skin. “You had water only twenty minutes ago. And if I hated you, I wouldn’t be making you work like this. I’m trying to make decent human beings out of you.”
“This ain’t no kinda way to show somebody you like ’em!” Snag bit out, and eyed the bucketful of water longingly. “You’re a damn slave driver.”
“Yeah!” Snug agreed l
oudly. “And you ain’t gonna get away with it no longer!” He threw the log he was holding to the ground and stormed toward the house.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Sterling called.
“To write a letter to the army!” Snug answered. “I’m gonna tell ’em all about you! Them soldiers have bayonets, and they’ll stab you. Then they’ll shoot you, and after you’re bleedin’ to death, they’ll string you up and—”
“Set one foot on that porch step, and I assure you you’ll regret it,” Sterling warned, and dropped the dipper into the bucket. “Get back over here.”
Snug was only inches away from the porch step. He turned his head to look at Sterling, then slowly lifted his foot and set it down forcefully on the step.
“Come here. Right now,” Sterling commanded quietly, his patience stretched to its limit.
Snug put his other foot on the step. “Make me.”
Sterling strode to the haystack where his saddle lay. From its horn, he removed a coiled rope. Allowing it to tap his thighs, he advanced toward Snug.
“You gonna beat me with that?” Snug asked, his eyes wide.
“Come here right now, and you’ll never have to find out,” Sterling offered, and stopped in the center of the yard.
In seconds, Snug was off the porch. But he didn’t run toward Sterling. He charged for the forest.
Sterling never moved an inch. He simply uncoiled the rope, looped it, swung it over his head, and tossed it.
It landed neatly around the fleeing boy. None too gently, Sterling pulled Snug in and caught him. Snug struggled wildly, but he was no match for Sterling.
His shouts for help brought Chimera immediately. “Just what is going on out here?” she demanded as she rushed into the yard, Venus in her arms. “Sterling, what are you doing to Snug?”
“What your tender heart has not allowed you to do,” Sterling answered, and dragged the boy to the woodshed.
“Chimera, he’s gonna beat me with a log!” Snug screamed, and began to sob.
“Sterling!” she screeched, and started for him.
“No!” he shouted at her. “You stay right there, Chimera. You want them disciplined, and disciplined they shall be. Go back into the cabin and don’t watch.”
Snug’s screams battered into her ears. Her hammering heart went out to the crying youngster. “But...but I’m sure he’s just crabby from so much work,” she explained desperately. “Surely he’s only—”
“He’s only what, Chimera?” Sterling charged, deftly avoiding Snug’s lashing feet. “He’s only a boy and shouldn’t be made to work hard? He’s only a tiny child and should be coddled and spoon-fed? He’s a brat, Chimera, and so are his brothers!” He looked at the other two triplets. “The two of you are next. You’ve done nothing but complain all week. You’ve cursed, ranted, and raved about everything I’ve asked you to do, and I can’t stand it anymore. I warned all three of you that a woodshed is not only for firewood, but you wouldn’t listen. Now you will step into the shed you so grudgingly built and learn its other purpose. You’ll watch Snug get his punishment, and then you’ll get yours.”
Snig and Snag gasped. And then, in a flash, they were gone, each having taken separate directions into the forest. Sterling growled a strong profanity and dragged Snug into the shed. Once inside, he slammed the door shut.
Chimera jumped at the bang of the door. Tears sprang into her eyes when she heard the whacking sounds. At Snug’s piercing screams, horrible, bloody images filled her mind. Surely the boy would emerge from the shed maimed for life. Never again would he run freely and joyously through the woods.
The terrible thought spurred her into action. She raced to the shed and yanked the door open. Snug stood before her, his head bent, his tears dripping on his dirty violet shirt.
“All right, Snug,” Sterling said, and tossed the slender stick he held back to the pile. “Go wash, then help Chimera. When I get inside, I better see you clean and the table set. If that isn’t what I see, you and I will visit this shed again. Have I made myself clear?”
Snug sniffled, nodded, and left to do as bade.
As the boy walked away, Chimera watched him carefully for any signs of broken bones or bleeding injuries. But other than rubbing his bottom, Snug presented no proof of any further pain.
“Would you care to put sound to those venomous thoughts of yours, Chimera?” Sterling asked, noticing her scowl.
“I...I didn’t realize how difficult it would be for me to see them disciplined...by a man. I’ve never—I could never spank them. You spanked Snug! Hit him! Sterling, how hard did you—”
“Hard enough to sting him, but lightly enough not to hurt him. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going after the other two.”
“But you’ll never find them!” she called after him. “You’ll be out all night looking for them!”
Sterling shrugged. “Then so be it.”
Chimera could not eat a bite. Her dinner lay before her, cold and untouched. Every little sound she heard made her jump. Her nerves were frazzled with the waiting.
“They’ve been missing for hours,” Archibald said, and hobbled to the window. “It’s pitch dark outside, Chimera. Don’t you think we should go look for them? Sterling’s never going to find them, and they’ll be afraid to ever come home. We might not ever see any of them again.”
Snug lay his head on the table, buried his face in his arms, and sobbed. “He’s the meanest man in the world, Chimera. Why don’t you make him leave? If he gets hold of Snig and Snag, he’s gonna beat ’em just like he did to me. He might get too carried away and kill ’em!”
Chimera couldn’t suppress a shiver. Sterling had been furious with the boys. Sweet heaven. She prayed he’d have a change of heart toward the mischievous triplets. She really couldn’t see the need for such violence.
“Here he comes!” Archibald shouted. “He’s got one of them, but it’s so dark I can’t tell which one it—Wait a minute! He’s got them both! He really found them!”
Chimera hurried to the window and watched Sterling take Snag and Snig into the shed. It was all she could do not to cover her ears at the whacking sounds and screaming.
“He is killin’ ’em!” Snug screeched, and raced to the window. “Chimera, don’t just stand there, go—”
The door, as it banged open, cut short Snug’s plea. Sterling’s silver gaze centered directly on the quivering boy. “Get out to the shed and help your brothers finish stacking the wood. You’ve got five minutes and not a second more. If you don’t stack it exactly the way I showed you—”
Snug raced outside before Sterling could voice the rest of the threat. “It’s very late, Sterling,” Chimera hinted stiffly. “Almost midnight, and the boys haven’t eaten.”
“Nor will they until they finish their work.”
“But—”
“They had the entire day to do it, and they chose to defy me. Now they will stay up the entire night if necessary. I realize they’re tired and hungry, but they’ve brought their plights upon themselves.”
“But Sterling, they’re only little boys!”
He glared at her. “Little boys who are also little heathens.”
“I’ll go help them,” Archibald offered.
“No,” Sterling said. “I’ve got other things in mind for you. For now, go to bed.”
“There was no need to be so stern with Archibald,” Chimera reproached when the boy was gone. “He’s a young man, and—”
“He’s yet to prove to me he’s anything of the sort. But I’ll soon give him the chance to show me.”
“Sterling, although I don’t condone your violent methods of discipline toward the triplets, I understand their mischievous ways try your patience. But you’re being far too harsh with Arch—”
“Believe it or not, Chimera,” Sterling said, and proceeded to the hearth to fill a bowl with potato soup, “the triplets are not your greatest problem. Archibald is.”
“Archibald? Why, he’s the swe
etest, gentlest—”
“Exactly,” Sterling agreed, and sat down. “And even though he’s sweet and gentle, sweetness and gentleness will get him nowhere out here. The triplets would survive in the pits of hell, but Archibald—”
“He’s crippled! What do you expect from—”
“You’re allowing him to be crippled both physically and mentally. You’re holding him back because of his leg. So his leg is mangled. So what? He’s more than capable of—”
“Snug was right! You are the meanest man in the whole wide world! You’ve not an ounce of compassion in your entire body! Archibald is—”
“I do feel sorry for him, but pity isn’t what he needs. In fact, it’s what he needs least. He was frozen with fear last week when Sprague’s henchman had you. You didn’t see him. He couldn’t move a muscle when that son of a bitch dragged you around the yard. And then, after it was all over, he cried!”
“He—he was shaken! Sterling, he was frightened out of his wits! And what with his leg...how could he have come to my rescue? What could he have possibly done?”
“A lot more than he did.” Calmly, Sterling began eating. “He wasn’t crying over what happened to you. He was crying with shame. His mind is maimed far worse than his leg, and—”
“We’re done, Sterling,” the triplets chorused as they entered the cabin.
“It’s all straight and lined up good. Ain’t none of it throwed around,” Snag assured him.
“Very well,” Sterling answered. “Now, eat some dinner and then go to bed. Tomorrow we start on the barn.”
“Couldn’t they have one day of rest?” Chimera asked as she watched the boys wolf down the soup. “They’ve been working for eight days straight, and—”
“No,” Sterling said, and rose. “They’ll get no rest until I see they’re willing to behave themselves.”
“But they’ve stacked the wood just as you asked!”
“But I had to beat them to make them do it. I had to hunt down two of them almost all night. When they start following orders without having to be spanked or hunted, then they’ll get days off. Until then, no rest. Boys,” he said to the triplets, “go to your room now. You’ll rise before the sun, wash, dress, and be outside ready to work before Apollo crows.”
Moonlight and Magic Page 11
