Carnal Rites by Ines Johnson (learn to read books .TXT) 📕

Liam reached into his pocket for leverage. "Name your price. I'll pay anything."

7

Merlyn's lips felt swollen. When she walked down the hall of Stallions towards the exit, she was sure everyone could tell what she and Jaspir had been doing.

When she arrived home, she was certain the manservants stared at her swollen lips. Certain that some passionate color stained her brown cheeks. Confident that they all saw it in her eyes. But no one made any comment.

Luckily, her mother was out at the fertility clinic and her Grand Mother was on social calls. Grand Mother hated social calls, but they were a necessary evil in order to keep the family status. With the house empty of women, Merlyn escaped scrutiny and dashed into her lab. She itched to write down the experience she'd just shared with Jaspir before it began to fade. To record each detail of Jaspir's lips. The pressure, the softness. And the heat—she couldn't forget the heat this time.

Then there were all the new experiences: the feeling of his tongue thrusting in and out and around her mouth, the feeling of his fingers cradling her chin and then capturing her neck. She remembered the way he smelled, the earthy scent of sandalwood. He'd always smelled that way, even as a child. But Grand Mother had had the Sandalwood tree cut down, along with the rest of the flora in the garden. Merlyn hadn't come across the scent in years. She had to record it all precisely before it faded away again.

"I thought you were out with Mother."

Merlyn nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of Alyss' voice. "What are you doing in here?"

Alyss had every right to be in the lab. Technically the room still belonged to both of them.

"I was just looking for something." Alyss shrugged. She stood in the doorway of the closet. In her hands, she clasped a brush, alive with brilliant blue paint. A smear resided on her thumb as well as her chin.

"Did you find it?"

Alyss frowned, her brow pinched in confusion.

"Whatever you were looking for," Merlyn clarified.

"It's of no consequence." Alyss turned back into the closet. When she emerged next, her hands were empty. No trace of the smudge on her cheek or thumb.

Alyss headed for the doorway, but stopped as she came closer to Merlyn. "There's something different about you today." Alyss peered at Merlyn. "Is that a new sheath?"

Before Merlyn could answer—

"Oh, no, no. It couldn't be. It’s the same drab color as always."

Merlyn eyed Alyss in her typical array of colors that were nowhere near each other in the primary chart. Alyss wore a vibrant yellow skirt paired with a pale blue blouse. Orange hoops dangled from her ears and purple jewels decorated her hair. It reminded Merlyn of Alyss' crayon creations from when she was a child.

"It’s something in your face." Alyss' golden eyes peered at Merlyn. "Your eyes look dilated. Your lips are swollen."

Though Alyss' attentions had always been drawn to colors, she still had the deductive logic that ran in her family's genes.

"Have you been fornicating?" she gasped.

"What?" Merlyn's hand involuntarily covered her mouth.

Alyss' eyes zeroed in on Merlyn's hands. "Kissing. You and Liam have been kissing."

At that Merlyn let out a chuckle. "Don't be absurd." Kissing Liam. She'd never even thought of it. Merlyn turned to her lab table and reached for her journal.

"Have you been kissing someone who's not Liam?"

"Alyss, I don't have time for this. I have data to record."

Merlyn saw that she wasn't going to get rid of her sister without an answer. So she reached for different facts.

"I've just come from out of doors," Merlyn said. "That's why my cheeks are flushed."

"And your lips?"

"Heat pools liquid when you drink tea." Another fact, though Merlyn hadn't had any tea today.

"Fine," Alyss shrugged and leaned against Merlyn's worktable. "You don't have to tell me. I'm not interested in any case. The thought of fornication, or even kissing, is absolutely repulsive. To have someone stick something of theirs inside your body." Alyss shuddered. "It's completely unhygienic."

For a moment, Merlyn wanted to set her sister straight. She'd once believed the intrusion to be unhygienic and repulsive as well. But now she welcomed the idea. Merlyn would go back to Jaspir in a heart's beat if they could kiss all day and night, and, perhaps, do more. She knew there was more. She had felt the yearning for more as he pressed himself against her. There was a question throbbing between her thighs that wanted an answer.

Instead, Merlyn stated a fact. "Well, you will not have to worry about any intrusions to your person, sister, since you will never bond with another."

"Thankfully," Alyss agreed. "I find males tedious and filthy." Alyss pinched one of the petals of Merlyn's plant. "Such lovely colors. Too bad it won't survive."

Merlyn looked at the wilting plant. It had been so vibrant when she rescued it from her Grand Mother's landscaping plans three years ago. "I know. I need to plant it in the field where it can take root."

"Grand Mother will never let it upset her designs."

Merlyn nodded. She didn't know what she was going to do about the plant. She couldn't give it a proper home for it to flourish. And if she kept it hidden in her lab it would certainly continue to lose its beauty and die. She turned away and peered down into her scope.

She assumed the conversation with her sister was over. She and Alyss rarely had occasion to speak on a social matter. But it would seem Alyss wasn't done with her visit. She looked down at Merlyn's work.

"What are you trying to discover now?" Alyss asked over Merlyn’s shoulder.

Under the lens of Merlyn's microscope, sperm lay in wait, still fighting a battle. A few had made it past the barrier towards the egg. Merlyn saw the tail end of a spermatozoa that had just penetrated the egg.

"I'm trying to understand the differences in