Page 61 of Thief of Roses
“Baró has shown himself to be nothing but courteous and considerate.And where with Rivani and non-Rivani alike, I have met hostility and rejection and prejudice, Baró has only ever offered me acceptance, affection, and support.I wish all people could be as monstrous if it caused such care.I dread to think of the day I will be parted from him.As You told me, there is a way for him to leave and I must find it no matter how You may twist him.I will take him as a monster.I don’t care that you think I should do otherwise.I don’t care what everyone will see or think of him, although I worry that it will pain him.What must I do so that he may have his freedom?”
The Woman’s chilling laugh echoed off the walls of the bailey, as hard and as unfeeling as they.“I cannot tell you.I would not tell you!”
Rivani crossed the bailey to stand before the Woman, chin high, shoulders squared.
“You told me You are an emanation, an autonomous intelligence, even if you are unable to adapt to new information.It has been three centuries.Your caster is dead, Mother.Are You not tired?”
“I had magic enough for five hundred years,” She said.“Fools came by, fools like yourself, and robbed Us of almost two hundred.”
Rivani’s mind raced.That was vital somehow, her being a fool who came by and robbed the Sorceress of years.If she robbed the Sorceress, did she then diminish the time of Baró’s sentence? That made no sense.
“Does staying with him limit the time that he must endure such torture?”Rivani asked.
“It prolongs his futile attempts at retaining humanity, but no more.”
What had Rivani done then to limit the time?And if her presence only gave him the ability to keep his more sophisticated faculties in use, then how did that relate to the fact that her presence assisted in changing his physical aspect?
“When his time is done, does he get to leave?”
“When his time is done,” the woman informed her, “he remains as he is, trapped here but without my aid, and he resumes aging.He has long wished for an end to all of this, but he cannot shorten his time on his own.That he has had so much taken from his original sentence has been surprising, but with you showing up, I can make the most of my time here while he is lucid.What should I alter next, child?His hands?That should further complicate his existence, no?What kind of hands would make you run from him, I wonder?”
Rivani took a defensive step backward.“The more monstrous You make him, the more I shall care for him,” she threatened, “knowing it is Your malice that causes such mutations and not his own failings.”
The Woman waved her hand.“Ah, child-who-would-bed-a-monster, would you still have him if he looked human?”
Rivani hadn’t been prepared for that question.The idea of it had never crossed her mind beyond what he might once have looked like and that was an idle exercise.
“It would be easier, away from here, to take him with me.I think him dear as he is, but...”
Her life had been hard because of her race.How much harder would Baró’s life be in a form that most others would never see as a person?He might be happier not to face the world in such a shape.But Rivani did not care about Baró for his appearance, although that had always been a point of fascination and something she appreciated.He was her best friend, a creature whose identity remained separate from hers but whose heart beat in time with her own.
“Even if he lost everything that makes him unique and fascinating, even if he were reduced to looking like just any other dull human man, yes, I would still love him then.”
“Love?Who said anything about love?” The Woman’s composure faltered.
“I did,” Rivani said in a voice stronger than she expected after such an admission.“I love him.”
“He is incapable of reciprocating,” the Sorceress informed her.“He’s told me of his desire for you.He will bed you and discard you.You should be wary of him.”
“Then that’s on him,” Rivani told Her.“I may love who and what I will, even without the expectation of them returning it.”
But the Sorceress lied.Baró may never have said the word, but there was love in every sweet gesture, every gentle touch, every shy whisper they exchanged.
“And,” she added, “I will bed whomever I choose if they are willing, including Baró, whether they love me or not.Unlike a child, I well know my own mind and my own passions, and if he burns for me half as much as I do him, then Mother, you will have two monsters on your hands.”
Rivani fell.
Baró jumped and pushed himself up on his elbow.
“Rivani, are you all right?”He asked.
“Yes.Nightmares.”She stared wide-eyed at him and then launched herself into his chest.She snuggled into his arms and tucked her head under his chin.
“Do you want to tell me about it?”
“No,” she whispered into his fur.“Just this.I just need this.You.Let me rest on you, your arms around me?”
He brushed his cheek against the top of her head and then laid back, arms open as she crawled into them and draped herself on top of him.He embraced her once she settled.
