The Minotaur's Son: & Other Wild Tales by Kevin Ansbro

Author:Kevin Ansbro [Ansbro, Kevin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Short Stories (Single Author)
ISBN: 9781913071318
Google: v0DSyQEACAAJ
Amazon: 1913071316
Publisher: 2qt Limited
Published: 2019-09-26T18:30:00+00:00

*

By the time he had finished his shift, Jaideep had decided to put ethics before self-preservation and resolved to bring the ransom note and severed ear round to Deepa’s house.

Arriving home, he was unsettled by a grunting noise emanating from his bedroom. Fearful that the three scoundrels might be ransacking his house, he grabbed a cricket bat for protection.

He opened the bedroom door and the scene that befell him turned his blood to ice. Yara’s head had grown back from her severed ear – but minus her beautiful eyes.

“Get away from me, you vile bastards!” she yelled, her hollow eye sockets searching blindly for the sight they had once possessed. Her sorceress powers had not yet returned to her and her detached head wobbled helplessly in the centre of the bed.

Jaideep, though deeply unnerved to behold such a terrifying sight, sought to reassure her. “Yara, relax. It’s me, Jaideep the postman—”

“Please don’t tell me you are involved with those jackals, Jaideep,” her pretty mouth responded. “You, one of my dearest friends!”

“Of course not,” he assured her, perturbed to be holding a conversation with a talking head that was minus its eyes. “I don’t know where to begin… I found your ear inside an envelope that also contained a ransom note. I panicked and brought it home until I could think what to do for the best.”

Yara’s beautiful brown eyes popped back into her skull and a smile returned to her glossy lips. “Aww, so sweet, Jaideep. You always were thoughtful and kind.”

“You really think so? I felt such a coward for not reporting it immediately. I was terrified of what the palace guards might do to me. In reality, I acted with dishonour.”

“You forget that I’ve know you since you were a shy schoolboy, Jaideep. Even then you acted with honour. I don’t suppose you remember but I once asked you to kiss me.”

Jaideep blushed. “I do remember.”

Yara’s talking head continued in a honeyed voice. “You are never far from my thoughts, Jaideep. Even when I am alone with His Highness, it is you I make love to.”

Wonderstruck by this revelation, Jaideep opened his heart. “Oh, Yara. I never knew you felt this way. I have always loved you. Only you.”

“So, kiss me now,” Yara’s head urged, her eyes blazing with desire.

Jaideep was too fearful. “But His Majest—”

“His Majesty isn’t here, Jaideep,” she interjected. “Please don’t deny me that kiss. It’s all I’ve ever wished for.”

Almost deferentially, Jaideep leant over Yara’s face. Her smile encouraged him to shed his customary inhibitions and he kissed her tenderly on the lips. She tasted of coconut and cardamom.

As she returned his kiss with interest, Yara’s neck and shoulders grew from her head, shortly followed by her lissom body clothed in the same white sari she had been buried in. All her jewellery was returned to her and, as she reached for him, a cluster of bangles slid down her elegant arms and rattled to a halt.

She sat up and looked him directly in the eye.

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