She by Clark Wilkins

Author:Clark Wilkins [Wilkins, Clark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Clark Wilkins
Published: 2015-12-01T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 17

LIFE WITHOUT “SHE”

After a time Marco made it back to camp. It was not easily done for the Greek goddess had infected him far more than any malaria. He only managed to tear himself away from her for a man must eat and, without a fishing line or the willingness to swim deep, there was no food to be had on Morosini Bay but her fruit and wine. So he came back to Leo and Diana where they welcomed his return and asked what had become of him.

What could he say? Leo wanted to know if he had met the love of his life and Diana wanted to know if he had met the monster of his life.

Both were right.

He supposed he should be a satisfied man. After all, he had tasted both absolute beauty and escaped absolute death and lived to tell of it. Yet he had neither tasted of them fully nor did he tell of it.

Both were disappointments.

Oh! He had tasted some of it. He had tasted his own body and soul being turned to stone and he wanted no more of that. Yet then there had been the taste of her exquisitely soft, tender lips to bring him back from it. Of that taste was a flavor he could drink of forever. He was now, willing or not, her slave. There was no denying it.

But neither was he experiencing it here again at their camp and that disappointed.

And had he met the monster of his life?

Oh! Without a doubt! Upon sneaking back and seeing her in her true form, he knew why Diana called her a monster. That was actually an unfitting description. Absolute horror was what he saw. She turned his blood as cold as her body.

So what was he to say?

He compromised in order to share the same story. To both he admitted she was somewhat beautiful but that Diana was right, she was a monster and a gorgon who could turn a man to stone and that he was lucky to escape her alive. He found himself reluctant to tell Leo just how beautiful she really was though for fear it might tempt Leo to go and see for himself. He had good reason to keep Leo from doing so as he might end up turned to stone. Diana did not correct him on his understatement for the same reason. She did not want Leo calling on her either. But he found his greatest reluctance to not tell Leo how truly gorgeous she was to look upon was that she might not turn him to stone. If she didn’t, Leo might pursue her over Diana and that thought produced a mad jealousy in Marco, an emotion he had never known before until now.

Both explanations satisfied the other’s opinion without argument. Yet they did not satisfy his own. Regardless of what he told either one, he wanted to go back.

Nor did he just want to go back. He had to. If either of the two had tried to prevent his going back, he’d have killed them.

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