Heir of Beasts

Ch. 4.1- Monster, Man, and King

 A coil of inky black rises slowly from one central point, gradually growing into an undulating coil. It doubles back on itself, rearing and winding like a mass of snakes. And then it pauses, and I know it's looking at me even though it has no eyes. it begins to unfurl itself like some dark wing, each feather elongating into a spike that pushes against my closed lips. The spikes become fingers, dark and insistent, prying open my lips and clenched teeth as I desperately try to gnash them shut. I need to push it off of me, out of me, but it only moves faster and farther down my throat.

"O'otani, wake up," a soft voice says. A hand shakes my shoulder lightly, then more insistently as the nightmare clings to me, refusing to retreat as consciousness dawns. "It's just a dream, okay? Breathe, little tiger girl. It's not real."

I feel like I'm pushing my way through thick water to wake up. Something slippery and dark curls around me as I try to climb out of the depths of my reverie. It doesn't want to let me go, but his touch brings me back to life, gasping and breathless as the new light of dawn bathes my face. I lift my hands to my cheeks in dismay, finding them wet.

"Breathe," Sholu repeats. He's on his side, leaning his head on one hand while the other rests lightly on my arm. So I do. In and out, feeling the rapid rising and falling of my chest as I can't seem to suck in enough oxygen. Slowly, though, my breathing calms. My heartrate returns to normal. I push myself up slightly on the plush pillows, using the corner of the white sheets to wipe the wetness from my face.

"You were screaming," he says softly. "And talking fast, but I couldn't make out what you were saying. You sounded so scared, though."

"So you woke me. How kind of you," I say as sarcastically as I can manage with the residues of terror and sleep dampening my voice.

He sighs, lowering his head onto his arm so we're face to face on the pillow. "Believe it or not, I find there are far better reasons to hear a woman screaming." His smile is lascivious and I feel my pulse begin to quicken.

"So you woke me from one nightmare into another," I breathe onto the cool silk sheets between us. He frowns.

"You never asked what I was dreaming of, husband."

"What was it, then?" He asks, looking a little suspicious.

"A dark, snake-like tendril pushing its way inside of me," I tell him without feeling. "I'm no interpreter of dreams, but it's not very subtle, is it?" I pause for a long moment before adding "I was dreaming of you."

"Nothing about you is subtle," he says, pushing himself up onto his elbow. "Everything is good and evil, black and white, heaven and hell. There are angels and demons, not women and men." That strange light enters his eyes as he looks at me, and before I can react he throws himself on top of me, straddling my chest and pinning my arms on either side of my head. I struggle against him, but he holds me tightly, barely seeming to break a sweat as I twist and writhe beneath him. His hair falls forward over his eyes so I can't see them, but he's smiling.

"Like this," he says, his breath slightly sour from sleep. "Right? This is what you want."

"Want?" I snap, gritting my teeth to quell the panic rising within me. "Are you truly that deluded? That blind? Do you really think that I want you somehow?"

"No," he says, leaning forward inch by inch until his grey eyes float before me like twin moons. "I think you want my actions to conform to your stereotype of evil so that you can pretend everything is simple. Easy. I'm a monster who thinks nothing of murder, of rape, and you're just a sacrificial lamb too in love with a man who left you to die alone to fight me."
He leans down further, until his lips are almost grazing mine. "It's easier for you if I just hurt you, isn't it? It's easier when I'm the devil and you're damned. You're terrified of us just being a man and a woman together in bed at dawn. This," he says, closing the space between us and pressing his lips against mine so lightly I can barely feel it, "this is your nightmare. The moment you're forced to confront the fact that there's a beating heart in my chest that shares some kinship with your own."