Chapter Twelve Furi
Chapter Twelve
Furi
The evening had been both the best and worst Furi had had in many months.
It was the anniversary of her mother and aunt’s deaths, so she’d already woken with the heavy weight of grief on her shoulders.
Add to that a nerve-wracking meeting between the elves and fae, along with hosting the Flare Feast, and she was wrung out before the night had even begun.
But the night…that had been worth the ordeal. That was, until Cely died.
Furi had known her for twenty years. They’d been lovers once, before she’d been part of her royal guard.
Cely’s appetite had been vast and she was well known for her skills under the sheets.
It was why she’d been the first person Furi had thought of when organising Motogo and Malak’s evening pleasure.
‘I know of a few people who will be more than obliged to attend to the elves. Maybe even Zayed,’ Cely had said, her eyes glinting. Zayed, her partner, was also often sought out once the fire was doused.
Furi hesitated.
‘What is it?’ Cely asked, sensing the queen’s trepidation.
‘There is one other who could benefit from your talents…’
‘Oh yes? You?’
Furi flashed her teeth. ‘Always, but not this night. Tonight, I’d like you to find Yeeran O’Pila.’
Cely was surprised. ‘Your consort?’
‘Not consort…’ They had broken the thing between them too quickly for the title to be formalised like it had been for Lettle and Rayan.
Cely’s smile was sly. ‘I’ll spread the word then…I know a few who have been circling her. There’s a rumour that elves are the best to bed. Something about desperation because they don’t live as long—’
‘No,’ Furi growled. She’d taken an inadvertent step towards Cely, who startled backwards. ‘Your vultures can keep their distance.’
‘Yes, my queen.’
Furi winced inwardly; she hadn’t meant to enforce her rank. ‘Of course, if Yeeran approaches someone there is nothing I can do to stop her.’
What if she is already bedding someone else? Maybe Jay? She has been spending lots of time with them.
Furi went cold at the thought.
‘But you would like me to pleasure her?’ Cely asked uncertainly.
‘Yes, no, I mean…’
Furi regretted bringing Yeeran up at all.
Cely laid a gentle hand on Furi’s wrist. ‘How about I entice her to a secluded part of the woods where you and me and maybe a few friends will be?’
‘I—’ This was the moment to lie and say that she hadn’t meant that at all, that this hadn’t occurred to her the second she called on Cely. She looked at her former lover’s fingers on her wrist and thought of all the ways they had brought her pleasure in the past.
But Cely’s was not the touch she craved.
I yearn for one person alone.
So Furi did not correct Cely and allowed her to carry out her plans for Yeeran, leading her to Furi’s corner of the woods.
It had been an evening of pleasure, and then once again a night of pain.
‘Alder is Afa? You are sure?’ Yeeran asked for the third time.
Rayan ran a hand through his dishevelled hair, also for the third time. ‘Yes.’
They were still sitting by the daisies that marked Motogo’s grave. The fray was lightening around them; it heralded the start of a new day that was entirely different from the one before.
Alder was Afa. It confounded her mind.
Did you know Ajax was with Lettle? she asked Amnan. He was on his way back from delivering Cely’s body to her home.
I knew he was not in Mosima these last few months, but many obeah spend their days enjoying the real sun.
Furi had thought Rayan’s malaise had been from missing Lettle, but in fact he’d been with her every step of the way. She was too tired to be angry at him, and the intelligence he’d just brought could change everything.
‘But Lettle’s safe?’ Yeeran looked so anxious, her fingers tearing at the daisies, pulling them out by the root.
Rayan looked away, a glaze going over his eyes which Furi now understood meant he was looking through Ajax’s eyes. ‘Yes, I think so. They’re still talking, though it’s turning night there.’
‘Good, that’s good.’ Yeeran was speaking as though to reassure herself.
‘Yes, that is good,’ Furi said. She was never very adept at comforting people; she communicated best through touch.
So touch her, her mind screamed.
‘Yeeran, come to me,’ Furi said, opening her arms. And Yeeran did, tears of worry pricking the corners of her eyes.
Yeeran felt so solid beneath her touch, but so soft too. Because Furi knew all of her; beyond her thickened exterior she was a passion fruit, sweet and tart in the centre.
Together again. Now, Furi could not bear to be apart.
She looked over Yeeran’s shoulder to see the imprint in the grass where Cely’s body had fallen and her happiness was pierced with a blade of grief.
Cely was another unexpected loss she would have to weather in this unending storm.
Yeeran noticed her tense and she pushed her to arm’s length. ‘Here you are looking after me, but you’re the one who has lost a friend.’ Because of course Yeeran knew what Furi was thinking. She knew all of her, too.
‘I’m fine,’ Furi lied.
Yeeran cocked her head at her. ‘You will be fine, and that’s OK too.’
Furi’s eyes began to sting with oncoming tears and she looked away. Her gaze snagged on the rootless daisies Yeeran had plucked from Motogo’s grave and Furi’s grief turned into heartache.
She had once told Yeeran that murder was all that bound their love, and this was just another example of it.
But even in her despair, she had another thought: Does love grow stronger in blood-soaked soil?
She reached for Yeeran once more and crushed her against her chest, savouring the smell of her, the feel of her, the warmth of her—
‘Furi…You’re squeezing me too tight…’
‘Oh sorry,’ Furi stepped away, the gap between her and Yeeran feeling like a gulf.
Yeeran seemed to sense it too, because she moved back into Furi’s arms.
‘Is this OK?’ she said as she entangled her fingers in Furi’s.
It is more than OK, it is all that is joy in the world.
‘Yes.’
Yeeran relaxed back into her with a sigh and Furi could feel the steady beat of her heart.
My favourite sound.
‘Afa’s tomb and Alder’s cave are one and the same,’ Rayan said, his eyes coming into focus as realisation dawned on him. ‘I wish I could ask my father about his obeah’s journey there.’
Afa’s tomb was where Najma had found the grimoire in the first place. Not for the first time, Furi longed to talk to her brother again–there were so many things she didn’t know about him or his research.
‘Has Alder said anything about the curse on the fae?’ Yeeran asked.
‘Afa,’ Rayan corrected her sharply. ‘This is no longer the Alder we know.’
Whatever he was seeing had left him on edge. Furi realised he was more worried about Lettle than he was telling them.
‘Afa, then, does he know how to end the curse?’ Yeeran said.
‘I’m not sure yet.’
‘Do we want the curse on Mosima to be lifted? It’s the only thing protecting us from the elves,’ Furi reminded them.
She rendered them all into silence.
Then Yeeran spoke with tenuous hope, ‘Keeping Malak prisoner has bought us some time.’
‘True, but that time needs to be spent recalling the obeah; I will not have what happened here repeated. Speaking of which, we should not dawdle. I’d like to get those missives out with the new day. Then we should all get some sleep.’
Yeeran nodded but Rayan was frowning, and though he stared off to the distance, Furi could tell he was consumed by his own thoughts rather than following Ajax.
‘What is it?’ she asked.
Rayan shook his head. ‘We’re talking about how this affects us, but not how it affects the obeah. We know nothing of the curse that has also made humans beasts. It could be related to the boundary,’ he said. ‘We could be prolonging their imprisonment.’
Yeeran seemed to understand the thoughts he was wrestling with better than Furi. ‘Only Afa can answer these things, and no matter how close you think you are to the situation, you are here, and Afa is not,’ she said.
‘We cannot make decisions on things we do not know or understand. Go to bed, Rayan,’ Furi said. ‘Ajax can fill you in later. We’ll have a lot to discuss and I’ll need you awake.’
Rayan looked like he might protest, but then a yawn racked his body and he nodded.
‘I’ll organise the missives, you go to bed–and no sleeping in your chair,’ she said.
‘Yes, my queen,’ he said with some of his usual warmth.
‘I prefer auntie.’
His laughter rang out behind her as she and Yeeran began to walk back to the palace.
‘You know he’s going to sleep in his chair, right?’ Yeeran chuckled.
‘I know, but at least I tried.’
Anyah was already waiting for orders outside the war room and it didn’t take long for Furi to instruct her on sharing the message: all obeah on the surface are to return to Mosima immediately.
When her task was completed, Furi found herself excited about going back to her chambers. Sleep desperately beckoned but so did Yeeran. She looked at her from the corner of her eye.
Does she feel like I do?
Yeeran had been staying in her old quarters, which she had formerly been assigned with Komi, Lettle and Rayan. But when they’d been together, they’d spent a lot of time in her royal chambers. That was where Furi wanted to take her now–to finish what they had started in the forest.
Furi was about to tug her hand in that direction when Yeeran shook her head. Furi’s blood began to race from the incoming hurt she was about to feel. She dropped Yeeran’s hand and crossed her arms to guard herself from the pain.
‘You said to me before that you didn’t want me to misunderstand what this is,’ Yeeran said. She sounded apologetic and it made Furi’s temper rise.
No sorry will mend this rejection.
‘Tonight may have been mere comfort for you, but it wasn’t for me. I have missed you, Furi, desperately. I have dreamed of this night every day since we last parted–well, not the murders–but you, in your dress and…why are you laughing?’
‘I did not want you to misunderstand my intentions, and yet you have, for I didn’t finish my sentence.’ All of Furi’s anger had ebbed in a moment of realisation. ‘Listen well now: I want all of you, Yeeran. No matter how many days are left in this world, I want to spend them with you.’
Yeeran’s breath caught in her throat.
‘Truly?’ she whispered.
‘Truly.’
Yeeran’s arms wrapped once more around Furi’s waist and she felt herself being lifted into a kiss. It deepened, sending shivers along her skin.
‘Let’s go to my chambers,’ Furi said against her lips.
‘No,’ Yeeran said.
‘I don’t entirely oppose the war room. With the map gone, we do have the table, I guess…’
‘I want to go somewhere new, without memories. Where we can just be us, and forget all that has come, and all that is to come.’
‘There isn’t anywhere in this palace I haven’t been,’ Furi said.
‘Then let’s leave the palace.’
‘Mosima becomes very small when you’re a queen.’
‘Tie your hair back, hide your features–no one will know you.’ Furi could tell Yeeran was getting excited now and it was nice just to bask in it.
She gave her a small smile. ‘All right, let’s go exploring.’
They donned a pair of faeguard uniforms they found. Yeeran clearly felt slightly uncomfortable wearing different insignia than she was used to, but Furi appreciated the figure she cut in the leather armour.
Pila and Amnan were waiting for them at the bottom of the Tree of Souls.
Where are we going? Amnan asked as Furi mounted him.
Anywhere, was Furi’s answer.
He needed no further encouragement and began to lope through the Royal Woodland and out to the city beyond. Pila gave chase and soon Mosima was a blur beside them. It was early in the morning and the fray was still the colour of a conch shell, warming with the coming of the day.
Furi kept turning to Yeeran, just to see the radiance of her smile.
I want her to be this happy all the time. I want to be the cause of it.
Love, this was love. She had known it all along, but their time apart had only solidified her depth of feeling.
‘What’s that?’ Yeeran asked, breathless and beautiful. She pointed to a building on the riverbank.
‘Looks like a water mill.’
‘So you haven’t been inside before?’
Furi shook her head.
‘Then a bedroom it shall be.’
Yeeran’s words made Furi shiver.
The last league to the mill seemed to take forever. It felt as though Amnan slowed beneath her, but when she questioned him he seemed affronted.
Am I not the fastest obeah in Mosima?
You are, you are.
Then let me be fast.
When they eventually arrived Furi was the first through the door.
The water mill was empty, save for the farm cat who prowled in search of mice.
The building itself was stocked high with bags of milled flour.
Though the hopper was empty of grain, the millstones still ground together from the waterwheel outside.
Cushca, cushca, cushca.
The room smelled of toasted wheat, and the earthy aroma that comes from being so close to a riverbank.
‘It’s perfect,’ Yeeran said, coming up behind her.
The obeah had slipped away, leaving them alone.
‘I missed you,’ Yeeran said into her hair.
‘Oh no, remember we’re not to discuss the past, or the future. Just this moment. We are two people coming together, for the first time.’
‘The first time?’ Yeeran’s breath was hot on her neck. ‘You had better tell me what you want, then.’
‘Undress me.’ It was a simple command, but Furi’s favourite.
Yeeran took her time. Each button revealed more skin that she had to savour, to kiss, to knead.
Furi quivered beneath her touch. But she wanted more and she told Yeeran so.
‘Then guide me.’ Yeeran took Furi’s hand and placed it along her jaw. ‘Tell me where you want me.’
Furi smiled. This was a game she was going to like very much. First she drew Yeeran’s mouth to her chest. Her other hand she used to pleasure herself, while Yeeran teased her breasts.
The first ripple of ecstasy came quickly, too quickly. She guided Yeeran’s lips lower.
‘I don’t want to ever let you go,’ Yeeran said. Had she meant now? Or always? Either way, Yeeran looked back at her sincerely.
‘Then don’t,’ Furi replied.
And then Yeeran lowered her mouth to her navel and all talk of the future was forgotten.