“Yes,” he answers dourly.“She belongs to me.The possession I feel for her isn’t something to be trifled with.It’s consuming.”
He took the words right out of my mouth.
“So what does that mean?What do we do about it?”
“We don’t do anything about it.It’s jealousy.It’s only a feeling, and one that means and feels like a lot of different things.It doesn’t have to be bad.We just feel it, and we deal with it, and in this situation I think we need to accept that as long as we are sharing her, it’s going to be there.Like another person in the room with us.”
“Another person,” I mutter.“I can barely deal with three.”
He pauses, a small smile curling his lips.“If it helps, I think Kat was jealous of us.”
“How so?”It does actually help a little.
“How could she not be?”Crane explains.“She hasn’t been in my bed for the past week, butyouhave.You’re with me every night, and she’s not.I’m sure all she wants is to join us.”
“We must correct this injustice,” I say, unable to keep from smiling.
Crane notices, puts his hand on my cheek, gazing at me with mournful eyes.
“Are you sure you’re not in love with me, pretty boy?”
But before I can say anything he kisses me so deeply that I feel it in my soul.
And my soul starts to burn.
—
Despite Crane wantingto sleep for weeks, after we made each other come and took a bath together, we went on with our day.He used just a bit of his magic to speed up the healing process on our palms, not wanting to attract any attention with our identical scars, and then we were off to our morning classes.
My first class is history, so I won’t see Crane or Kat until the afternoon.I can’t even try to pay attention.While the teacher—I can never remember her name—drones on and on about the Salem witch trials, all I can think about is last night.The sight of Kat’s voluptuous, soft body covered in our blood, how deeply she took me down her throat, how ruthlessly Crane pounded into her.I want that again.I don’t care about the ritual part, I just want that debased fucking in the forest.I want to feel free.
And truth be told, I want to come inside Kat.I want to pin her down, impale her with my cock, and spread my seed deep inside her cunt.I know it’s forbidden because of what the sisters have planned for us, I know that’s why I need to stay away from her in that way, why I was only allowed to come inside her mouth, and any deviance from this might lead to tragic consequences.
But I can’t help what I want.It’s what I’ve always wanted.
I love Kat, even more now than I did yesterday.
I want to marry her despite everything.
I want to get her pregnant, no matter what Crane says.
I want her soul and her love just as much as he does.
It isn’t fair that I don’t get to have that just because the sisters and her mother have arranged it from day one.Why do I have to suffer because of it?
You don’t have to suffer, the horseman says to me.His voice is so loud that I stiffen, I think everyone in class can hear it.I look around, and no one is paying me any attention.
You don’t have to suffer, Abraham Van Brunt.
You can take what’s owed to you, what’s promised to you.
And if you don’t, then I will.
It might be harder than you think to keep me satisfied.
“No!”I cry out, pushing my chair back from the desk with a loud scrape.
I look up to see the entire class looking at me now.
