Conquest

She took him into her mouth. She was skilled. It was wet, hot.

He watched her. The storyteller was gone. Only the woman remained.

He didn't let it last long. He pulled her back by the hair.

-Up.

She rose. Her lips were slick.

-To the bed.

She crawled. The silk bunched at her waist. She presented herself. Face down. Hips high.

He didn't wait. He didn't ask. He positioned himself behind her.

-You said you were mine to consume.

-Yes.

-All of you.

He pressed against the tighter entrance. The final gate.

She tensed.

-Relax.

He pushed. It was a slow invasion. She gasped. A sharp intake of air.

He held her hips. He anchored her.

-Take it.

She whimpered. Then she adjusted. She pushed back.

He drove forward. Deep. She buried her face in the sheets.

No more stories.

He set a rhythm. Hard. Unforgiving.

She met him. She didn't break.

The room filled with the sound of skin on skin. Breath. The creak of the bed frame.

He leaned down. He bit her shoulder.

-Who do you belong to?

-You.

-Say it.

-I belong to the king.

He increased the pace. The friction burned. He was close.

-No. Say my name.

-I don’t know it.

He shattered. He poured himself into her. She collapsed onto the mattress.

The room went quiet again. The only sound was their breathing.

The sweat dried on their skin. The room was cold again.

Scheherazade lay still. Her chest rose and fell.

The king sat up. He reached for his robe.

-You asked me something, he said.

She looked at him.

-I ask many things.

-You asked if you had the right to wish for a wish.

-I remember.

He stood. He tied the belt. The leather groaned.

-I am granting it. But on my terms, since the wish is from me.

She sat up. She didn’t cover herself.

-What are the terms?

-A royal decree.

He walked to the window. He looked out at the sleeping city.

-You are free.

-I am already alive. That is freedom enough.

-No. You are free to move within these walls. And outside them.

She paused. The silence stretched.

-I can leave?

-You can go where you please. You can do what you want.

He turned back to her.

-But you answer to no one. Not the guards. Not the court. Not the world.

He walked back to the bed. He looked down at her.

-Only me.

She smiled.

-A gilded cage with the door open.

-A long leash. But a leash nonetheless.

She reached out. She took his hand.

-I accept.

-Good.

He sat back down on the edge of the mattress.

-Now. Tell me another story. A real one this time.