Page 59 of Firebird

Chapter 24 - Wick

Metheus

A heavy burden was lifted. Oh, I wished that Razuku could see me now, I chuckled to myself. Women had wanted me before, but not in the way Luella did. I had to work faster in the fields and immerse myself in our pool more times than I could count. That way, I could come home to her, eager to absorb her heat and be absorbed in her.

I knew what the Seers would say. It was too much heat to take. But I did not know I had been longing for this until it came.

The other night, I brought her something – a gift almost, although it came from the palace library itself. It was a book on love, the Kama Sutra. I told her how I had read it a few times as a young boy, more curious than amorous. My father was not the sort who kept things like these out of his children’s hands, but I made sure Rowali never found it. I kept it at the back of some of the most tedious books. She would not look at them, she who sometimes slept through arithmetic.

“You must learn your numbers, well!” I had admonished her once. I myself loved numbers, history, and languages.

My sister preferred romances and adventure books, such as Beowulf and The Book of Good Love by Juan Ruiz from the other Earth. She also relished the ones from our world, Rashomina the Two-Headed Goddess and The Secrets of the Forests of Mogochislenia. Thankfully, she was averse to the monks’ scriptural texts. Call it blasphemy or something else, but I placed the other world’s book of love behind them. Sometimes, the Palabras de Amor from Mogochislenia had some fascinating anecdotes about lovemaking. So, I brought it, too. Of course, Luella was delighted.

We were like scholars together, learning from a book.

“I have never been so delighted about a book, Metheus,” she had whispered while flipping through the pages. Her head had been resting on my chest as we sat together on our bed. “Of course, I would not dare look at them if not with you.”

My wife was often embarrassed about her passions, but she grew comfortable talking about them with me. She no longer felt judged.

She loved doing her reading while I caressed her from behind. Soon, I would touch her between her legs, telling her to focus on what she was reading. She would protest and want to touch me, but I would be stubborn. Sometimes, though, I let her do what she wanted, and we would make love for hours.

We were newlyweds, after all.

However, all good things must come to an end. The wick could run out.

#

It was a special day. It was my father’s feast day.

There were visitors from various domains coming. I made sure that the cooks prepared the best meals. Luella, Rowali, and Francilia helped with the decorations and the management of the servants. Their faces were glowing with happiness that I could not help but grin back.

Luella and my father had become the fondest of companions. Her personality matched his more closely. Their chatter could sometimes be heard all afternoon long; that was when she chose to stay behind. She often went to look for me in the fields. Sometimes, we would go for camel rides or go to a secret pond I called Hadi.

“Your Highness, you look delighted!” my friend, Duke Ari, remarked. He was shaking his head in wonder. He was about my height but slender. His wavy brown hair marked him as a child of Prozeus like my father and his ancestors.

“It is my father’s feast day. Of course, I am happy,” I explained.

“No, Your Highness. I have seen your wife. She is beautiful and charming,” he said.

While I was pleased with what he said, I stepped back to assess him. Ari was notable for his many women. He did not care if the woman was married or betrothed. If he wanted a woman, he pursued her.

Ari must have noticed my displeasure because he held one hand in protest.

“No, Your Highness,” he smiled. “Your wife is beautiful, but you are my prince and a friend. I would never - ”

“Well, make sure that you never,” I said a little too gruffly than I intended. Through our four months of marriage, Luella and I had never exchanged words of love. However, it was not purely physical, either. We shared our thoughts, not just about making love but also about our fears and desires. She wanted a child, and whenever her menses came, she would walk through the fields all afternoon. She feared she was getting older.

“Of course. Of course. I have never seen you smitten by a woman. So, you can trust me. I am not getting in the way, although you have nothing to fear from me. Your wife seems enamored by you,” he said softly.

“How do you know that?” I asked, curious. My heart thudded in my chest. Everyone simply assumed Luella and I were in love. Still, nobody had offered observations like the one Ari was giving me.

“It is in the way that she looks at you, my prince. It is in how she waits for you by the fields. Oh, don’t look at me like that. I have not been following your wife. People tell me things. She does not look like a woman who traipses along muddy fields or even on sandy ground.”

“She takes a camel sometimes,” I rejoined.

“Oh, Metheus. So, you do not want to share your wife, but you also do not appreciate how she has the look of love,” Ari teased.

Had she ever intimated that she loved me? Sometimes, I would let myself believe that she was confessing to it whenever she sighed my name. It was also in her willingness to reciprocate whatever I did for her. The night before, she had taken me in her mouth, eager to please. I felt heat on my cheeks at the memory, furrowing my eyebrows to disguise my embarrassment with anger.

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