Chapter 48 Anassa
Water stings my eyes, my ravens sinking back into my skin, afraid of drowning. The Three Fates stand like sentinels above the lake’s surface, so far above us now, their silhouettes blurred by the quick deepening water. I see them raise their hands, to bless us or to curse us.
A seed of fear makes me want to break our kiss. What if I got it wrong, the way our keys are meant to work? What if –
But no. A door opens underwater, bending to my will.
I do what every queen should do.
I follow the path of my love, the path of Claret, and guide us both through this last door.
Sunrise rouses me from slumber in a rainbow of soft pinks and marigold yellows.
Feather-like trees – phoenix trees, my demon calls them – paint a careful shadow in the sand, shielding me from the heat. I stretch, allowing my body to acclimatize to its surroundings, my heart to beat in synchronicity with the ocean waves lapping a few steps from my naked feet.
Then, my demon lunges for my throat. My breath catches.
‘Wake up, you lazy raven,’ she orders me between soft bites and nuzzles. ‘You’ll miss the way the sun kisses the waters.’
‘Re-enact it for me,’ I say, sinking my fingers into curly hair that smells like salt.
I take a moment to admire its walnut colour, grown at the roots, wild and free and so uninterested in conforming to a brush, or pins.
I wrap the strands in my fingers, tugging playfully, the red ends like a beating heart. ‘I have you now. You’re trapped.’
Claret growls, and I feel my bones responding, melting.
She attacks my lips with a ferocity that never fades, no matter the number of mornings we have woken up like this.
I never knew such endless hunger could exist between two souls, feeding off each other, only growing stronger with each feast. I find myself becoming more and more daring, in our love.
I allow my ravens just a little bit of presence, enough to surprise her by lifting us both up, until I have her pinned by the phoenix tree, held in place by chaos.
Her growl turns into startled laughter. ‘You really have me trapped,’ she mutters, wrapping her knees around me, locking me in warmth.
‘Oh no. Whatever shall I do now.’ She squeezes, and I lose all ability to think, to tease.
I attack the glorious curves of her body all at once, my lips lost on her breasts, one hand sunk in the suppleness of her thigh, the other pushing urgently between us, adding enough delicious friction that we’re both rendered speechless, pushing, exploring, riding this wave of sunrise fire until I see sparks, until my Claret screams and her body pulses with heat, until I fear this tree will be blown to smithereens as lightning breaks the sky apart, until I’m too far gone to care.
We fall back on the sand, and I’d be happy just to stay there, let celestial objects carry on their orbit in the sky.
But Claret squirms away from my arms and gets up.
She offers me her hand, eyes glittering with delight, full lips swollen from kissing, skin toasty warm and tanned from days under the sun’s rays.
I pout – but we both know she’s already won.
There’s nowhere Claret would lead that I wouldn’t follow.
I take her hand and get up, my knees shaking, our footsteps the only mark in the pristine sand as we walk towards the sea.
An errant glance at the poor tree tells me it’s still standing, just slightly singed at the top.
Phoenix indeed. I’m too sated with pleasure to feel bad about it.
The soft breeze lifts my hair from my shoulders, making my ravens stir, filling them with thoughts of flight.
Not yet, I soothe them. Soon. My hand goes to the pendant on my neck, where our two keys, Claret’s and mine, hang as one.
It took me a while to realize why their shape bothered me; how the keys Clotho gave us were different from the ones Shepherd possessed.
Our keys were flat on one side, always meant to be put together, to combine.
Noticing my gesture, Claret sighs. ‘Are you becoming bored here? I saw a door appear yesterday, while I was gathering fruit for dinner. Is it time for a new adventure?’
I squeeze her hand reassuringly, then bring it to my heart.
‘I can’t tell if we’ve been here for days or weeks, and do not care.
I’m still learning how to use our keys to bring forth doors at will, make them open in the right place, the right time.
What you saw was merely me practising. So when it’s time to try different scenery, or if something chases us, I’ll be ready. ’
‘Good.’ Her gaze drifts to the horizon, where the sun emerges from the waters.
‘Because we’re not leaving this world until I teach you how to swim properly.
’ Then, like an arrow, Claret dives into the cool waters of this sea that’s just for us.
Slowly, more carefully, I follow, allowing the calm buoyancy of the waves to carry me.
Doors flicker into existence in the sky, a promise of possibilities, a reminder that we can do anything, go anywhere – that we can swim and fly and float and kiss, and like a rising sun burn such a brilliant path upon the waters.
That together, we can paint all the world’s seas incarnadine.