The Seduction
     
He was near her in the darkness, but not near enough. He stood in the shadows of the room, leaning one shoulder against the wall, as if the darkness could protect him. As if she could hurt him only if she could see him. He was tall and lean, muscular and strong, but not brawny. He had a sleek, urgent, agile sensuality that all women adored and longed for, and he was naked before her. He brought his one hand from where it toyed with the ornate pommel of his sword – leaning against the wall beside him – to cross it with his other arm in front of his chest. Why did he always come if she was not ready to submit, he wondered.

She sat on the bed clinging to the sheets in a pleading manner, wringing them in her fists. Her head was bowed, and her internal sobbing was on the brink of external realization. She was wearing only the satin nightgown that she saved only for her special lovers. Normally, it made her feel wonderful to wear it, but right now, there was only one thing that would make her feel good, and he was denying it to her as he always did. Again, she had called for him to come, and he heeded her request as always. To no avail, she was sure. Why did she keep calling for him if he would not succumb to her, she wondered.

He was close to anger.

She was close to madness.

The silence was tangible, but then suddenly broken. "You have forsaken me," she whispered into the sheets. "I have called your name in my darkest hour, yet you do not respond when I need you most!"

"I have forsaken nothing, for I have promised even less than that." He flatly responded. Then, acrimoniously, he pointed an extended finger at her and added "You!… you have done the summoning! and yet again, you are not ready for me? Oh, please… spare me this maudlin display!"

"I am ready for you!" she pleaded, "I have want you here with me time and again!"

"Have you truly wanted me?" he asked, "…or am I simply the lover of the week?"

Her pain was real. It bit hard into her very core, and a tear fell from her straining eyes. "You must know how much I want you…"

"And so here I am." he interrupted, scathingly, eyes wide, and face clear as anger can ever be. The words were accompanied by the most sarcastic of sweeping armed bowing gestures, only to end in his former relaxed and detached posture, leaning against the wall. "Yet once again."

"It is you who have acted as the 'lover of the week' as you so eloquently put it." Now it was her turn to be angry, but it lasted barely the span of the words, then she continued to weep the words out. "You play with me like a child's toy to be discarded at whim. When I needed you so desperately, you did nothing to help me… nothing to ease my pain! When I was afraid, you gave me no comfort. When I was weary, you gave me no solace. You have turned your back on me, as I fear you will only do again and again." She put her face in her hands and sobbed quietly.

"I have come time and again! To every summons! And again, here I stand yet one more time, fool that I am." He chided. "You… you are the one who breaks the oath." He spat at her. "You promise me yourself, then deny me what I come for. Then I come again – always the loyal servant – only to be denied again! ‘Oh, I’ve had a change of heart,’ you croon. ‘I don’t think I can,’ you cry. Well, when do you think you will come to a decision?"

"It has been difficult… these decisions. Tell me that you – in your heart – do not know that! …can not sympathize!" she pleaded with him. "You, who know these things so well."

He was more silent than the darkest night. Time waited. The trees held their breath. Infinity passed until he glided closer to her.

"Hold me… please," she begged. "I need you so much more than you know."

He did not move except to tilt his head in a most curious – if unnoticed – display of interest. "Why do you need me? These things you speak of… the pain, the fear, the weariness… have they not strengthened you? Or perhaps they have weakened you so that you truly do need me now, yes?"

She snapped her head up, her eyes falling on his. "I love you!" Then, she could see through her tears that he was genuinely curious, not the least bit sarcastic in this latest query. She continued more gently "I have always… loved you."

"And what does that mean?"

"…love?"

"Yes. What does love mean?"

"You don’t know what love is?" she asked.

"You are skeptical?" he replied. "One cannot truly know what one has never felt."

"Have you not felt my longing? Have you not known my desire? I would do anything for you. You have only to ask! I have done every tender thing to show you this, even having courted you such as a romantic fool would do," she said, shrinking in the embarrassment of the admission. "The sacrifices… I’ve left… my family… my… husband… all for you! So many times over and again!"

"And each time, when summoned, I come for you. Then – as always – you retreat back into their waiting arms." He seethed.

"They loved me so," she defended, "and I could not hurt them… leaving them like this."

"But you’ve felt otherwise at times… you’ve tried to more than once…" he ventured.

"…and failed," she completed, cutting him short.

   "Ah… but now they are gone, yes? And now you have the convenient time for me at last. How… virtuous of you! How sacrificing. You’ve waited all this time – as have I – simply because you could not hurt them. Waited through these tortures of your very soul so they would be at ease."

"And I have endured so much for you!" she cried.

"Yet all this was to satisfy your needs," he countered, "…your longing… your desire for me. And what of myself? Do you think I have no feelings? No needs of my own? That I am here to merely do your bidding? That I have no furtherance of my cause save to satisfy your one, singular need? To hang on your indecision?"

"I long to satisfy you, to fill you as you are able to fill me. Please try to understand this love I have only for you. Let it enfold your heart, your… your soul. I wish only to satisfy whatever within you that I can," she pleaded. Then, she added, "…and I have made my decision… and it is to be with you."

"I feel your despair clinging to my heart and what of my soul you may be able to comprehend," he hissed.

"Yes, I despair. You will leave me empty and broken again." Her tears flowed freely then, and she did not cover her face, but looked directly into his eyes.

"And I have no reason to stay and indulge your hesitancy any further. There are many others who know what they want of me, and I must fulfill their needs this night. When you are ready, then shall I come again, but not before!" he said, turning towards the balcony doors and taking the few steps to leave.

"Before you leave me then, grant me but one favor." She pleaded, and he stopped. "Tell me what I can do for you, my dearest love. What I can do to satisfy you."

His dark eyes searched her soul. "For me?" he whispered. It was almost an entertained gleeful tone, and it made her shrink slightly. He turned and nimbly advanced on her once again.

"Yes, my love. For you… anything." She composed herself then, wiping a tear off her cheek and kneeling on the bed in front of him, sheets still clutched in her fists. A submissive gesture at the least. "Something special. I'll do it just for you!"

She waited while he considered this.

"You have said that you would do anything for me if I request it of you. Can it be that you indeed utter this as truth?" He sunk to one knee and gazed deeply into her eyes. She sunk to sitting on her ankles. "Yes… I can see it in your eyes… the truth."

Again she waited while he drank in the intoxication of the promise he now held. Then he smiled a tiny bit and pressed nearer to her warm flesh, inhaling her scent. He knelt on the bed next to her, then slid behind her, still kneeling. He was much larger than she, and now he was a full head above her. His lips loomed at her ear.

"Tell me what you will do for me, my sweet," he gently crooned into that waiting ear. She nearly fainted with the revelry.

"I will stay with you forever." Was all the reply her shaky breath could muster, then with a deep inhale, she continued, "I will be your friend, your lover, your confidante. I will walk with you to the end of eternity."

"Continue…" he urged, whispering in her other ear.

"I will love you… surrender fully to you… I will be … yours… yours alone."

"Yes?…" he quietly questioned from directly behind her, still just inches from her wanting body.

"Anything… I would be your slave… your loving slave. To do with as you would please. Just take me… please… I beg you, just take me now."

He reached around to her front, and his hand caressed her tears away. "Is this feeling in my chest the love which you have so oft declared to be the tangible emotion? This… rumor so oft touted? " he asked.

"It is the stirring of passion, my lord," her anticipation growing palpable. "In time… as we are together… a stronger bond will grow between us. One that nothing and no one can ever destroy! Truly, you shall know love for I shall teach it to you!" she replied.

"You will stay with me forever?"

"I promise."

"You will walk by my side through the darkness?" he inquired.

"Darkness is a good friend of mine, and as you well know. I have all the reason in creation to accompany you there." was her hopeful reply.

"And through the decay?" he continued.

"I was born into a world of decadence and decay." She fairly well chuckled through this last response, but caught herself to complete the answer required of her. "They are also companions, and so you ask nothing of me that I have not already done. If these be your truths of love, then you have them!" she stated with a fair amount of genuine glee.

"Then you shall be my lover," he said.

"I love you. I have always loved you," she sighed as she leaned into his arms, and as she fell to sleep, her body relaxed. Her hands – no longer clutching the sheets – let loose the knife she held, and she rose from her body, the blood from her wrists already bathing the sheets to a deep crimson, and Death – darker than the blackest night – embraced her and loved her at last.