a kiss, is a kiss, even as dessert

A couple of small snippets from a novel I started writing a couple years ago; it never got very far, but I did have a few scenes that remain captured in my imagination.

The following scenes are two moments in the entwined lives of a woman who thought to raise a child to use for her own ends, and the rewards she reaps for doing so. 

— 

“Motives are complex, but needs are simple."

“You must do this for me. You owe me.”

“I owe you?” Where burning anger might have fed my desire, the cold fury I felt at her words left me numb of anything but its grip on me. “What do I owe you?”

"I took you in, I taught you how to be a man.”

At my side, my fingers curled until I could feel the nails biting into my palm. “You didn’t take me in. You bought me.” My voice was soft as I recalled Jasmin’s words so long ago. “You bought me, and you want your money’s worth. You didn’t teach me, you crafted me, trained me like I was your pet. All so that you could get your revenge; you hate them for what they did and you want to see them suffer.”

Her eyes flashed up to mine and I could see the candlelight reflected in her gaze, “You hate them too.”

“No.” I shook my head, “I don’t hate them. I pity them.” I drew in a slow breath and felt the chilled bite of my anger slip away, “I will do this for you. Because I do owe you. But after this, there will be nothing left between us except what is deserved.”

— 

A month later, having completed his favor to her, she put into motion a string of events that would lead to his death.

They don't succeed. The evening of the annual masquerade ball, he extracts the price for her not entirely unexpected betrayal. 

And there she stood.

I gripped her hair tightly and drew her head back to expose the long curve of her throat. I was ready for this.  I brought the knife up to her neck.

And then I kissed her. Hard.

I felt her tense under me. Her fear made me pull her close, close enough for her heat to become lost lost in mine. I felt her shudder and my lips parted against hers, tasting her for the first time.

I made her mine in that moment and everyone in the room knew it. My eyes moved from one noble to another. Not a single person would hold my gaze; one by one, they looked away.

I let her go, and she slumped to the floor.