Cantor for Pearls by M.C.A. Hogarth

Author:M.C.A. Hogarth [Hogarth, M.C.A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: M.C.A. Hogarth
Published: 2016-09-08T00:00:00+00:00

AMET

In truth, Always Falling had only to leave the room for me to curl into myself and finish what the fourth had inadvertently begun. My release was powerful and painful both—as if I had become aware of fluids in me that could not move, no matter the spasms that afflicted me at climax.

The lowland attitudes toward sex struck me as… practical. I supposed there was nothing for it, when one had two extra sexes complicating the matter. Perhaps that was why I didn’t feel this incident constituted a betrayal of my feelings for Dancer. I did not want to make Always Falling my lover, and its penchant toward arousing me entirely by accident felt more mechanical than romantic. And yet, while I didn’t want to make Always Falling my lover, I found I wanted to make it… something. More than a friend. Less than? A lover? But ‘less than’ didn’t feel right either. The exchange of magic dug too deep for that, opened us too much to one another. As the one being acted upon, I thought I alone would feel the exquisite vulnerability of it, but I had heard—or more accurately, failed to hear—Always Falling breathing while touching me. Whatever this was that we were doing mattered to the fourth.

Trust the east to find some entirely new way of yoking people to one another. That I was resigned to the experience bemused me, but then… I was a composer, and music also united people in intimacies difficult to describe. Wiping myself clean, I dressed again and went in search of a quick meal before our constitutional by the shore. The kitchen was still open, and the staff there preparing for supper, but they spared me several bits of fish diced with greens, rolled into the center of compact balls of rice. Finger food; I ate them while eyeing the much larger fish loins they were preparing for the evening meal and wishing I could indulge in a chunk of it instead.

“Ah,” Always Falling said, glancing in the kitchen. “Not a bad idea.”

I glanced at the nearest servant, who shook his head and shoved a few more rice balls over with a linen napkin. Wrapping them, I said, “You can eat on the way, kusa.”

The fourth snorted, but didn’t object.

Sunset on the water staggered the eyes, leaving one sensitive to the smell and sound of it. A warm, damp breeze played at my neck, and breathing it brought a salt-brightness into my mouth that made all the other tastes more distinct. I ate another of the rice balls while walking, enjoying the sensation. Offering the napkin to Always Falling garnered me a frown, but the fourth took one of the balls.

“You like this,” the fourth observed.

“Being dry allows me to appreciate the ocean better.” I smiled. “I am not so busy trying not to drown.”

It shook its head: a beautiful head, with the weather clotted with clouds and the sky that sultry shading orange. I had seen lowland robes dyed

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.