Chapter 22

Part 3

“Well, thinking about it that way, I guess I can spank you when you ask me to, if you wore a bit more clothes.” he mused, his rumbling voice still muffled behind his hands.

“No, that will not be enough.” Talia told him firmly. “I will need you to spank me sometimes, and I think I will need you to do… other things. I do not know what, and I do not know why. But I know that most of the time they will not stop the curse. Most of the time you must rape me. You must, I know it, for that is the crux of the curse that we both suffer from. If you do not, the curse will torture me, and cause horrible things to happen, and still, somehow, one way or another, you will end up raping me anyway.

“If you can do this of your own choice, the curse will only directly affect us in one way. It will give us immortality, for I am cursed to be raped by you until the end of days. We have eternity, and if we can find happiness at least most of the time, it will be a blessing. And we will not grow old, for that was not what was in Alilia’s mind when she cast the curse. She pictured the person I am now being raped by the person you are now, until the sun no longer rises, and that is how it shall be. The curse is deep down in my bones now, and I feel the truth of that. Already I have proved that it will not let me die.”

Mark was softly crying behind his hands now, overwhelmed by the enormity of what she was revealing. “But it all makes no sense!” he sobbed. “How can I rape you if you’re willing? And what else will I have to do to you? And why was I chosen for this?! I don’t understand that at all!”

“Those are fair questions.” Talia murmured after a moment’s consideration. “Alilia? Can you answer them for us?”

Alilia had to clear her throat and swallow twice before she softly spoke, her tear-flowing eyes downcast.. “I’m not sure. It was… impulsive, and over in a moment.”

“You must try, Alilia.” Hilsith gently prompted. “Try to remember exactly what you were thinking at the instant you cast the curse, at every level of your mind.”

After a moment Alilia whispered: “I will try. I will need to think about it awhile.”

Minutes passed, then Talia murmured into Mark’s ear. “Please don’t hide your face from me. This garment is perfectly acceptable among my people, if a little daring, but I promise I will wear more clothing after this, so you will not be uncomfortable.”

Slowly, Mark lowered his hands, to gaze into Talia’s eyes from a hand’s length away.

Talia gave him a brave little smile and tried to brush some of his hair away from his forehead, but it fell back to the same place, and she giggled a bit. “You have beautiful eyes.” she whispered. “You are so big, and so male, and your voice is wonderful. Would you give me a hug? Please?”

Moving slowly, as if mesmerized, he carefully placed his arms around her and closed his eyes. “Ahh, Talia, you are so tiny and soft and warm and pretty and young. Your scent is wonderful. How will I ever be able to hurt you… that way?” he asked, speaking privately and intimately, as she had done.

“The curse protects me from all injury. I will be all right. We both will.” She assured him. “We will face it together. It will be hardest at first, but one can get used to anything, after a while. Besides, I am not that young. I am twenty-nine years old.”

“Twenty-nine?! Yazadril said you were about the same age as me! But then, I guess we are about the same age, compared to him.”

“Yes. And elves mature more slowly that your people. I am at the age when I am most like a human girl of about seventeen years. And I judge you to be about twenty-five, so we are fairly well matched that way.”

At that moment, Mark did not feel like telling her his age. Then he marveled again at what he’d learned.

“We’ll truly be together forever? I mean, really, for all eternity?”

She nodded, and placed her palms on his beard-covered cheekbones, looking intently into his eyes. “Always.” she whispered. “I swear to you, Markhan Reginus Longstrider the Fifth, I shall always do anything and everything I can do to bring you happiness. For I fear you will never be rid of me. Ever.”

He shared her gaze for a long moment, and smiled. “You glowed brighter when you said that.”

“It was an elven vow. It has its own power, and it was not given lightly.” she told him seriously.

He closed his eyes and gently moved his arms, and his hug became the embrace given to one who is truly cared for. They spent a long time like that, with the rest waiting silently, before he spoke again.

“I think I’m starting to accept it.” he murmured. “It’s a beautiful feeling, knowing that I’ll never have to be alone ever again. These past few months have been very hard that way. And it’s another beautiful feeling, knowing that in the strangest way, I’ve found the girl I’m going to spend the rest of my life with.”

He shook his head, then looked into her eyes again. “Talia, I was raised to believe that certain things are honorable, and necessary. I know it’s not fair to ask you this, as we hardly know each other, but… if we’re going to be together as we’ve discussed, I need for you to be my wife.”

Talia stared at him, thunderstruck.

Just then Alilia spoke. “I know what I was thinking. And they are ugly thoughts.”

“Just a moment Alilia, if you could hold that thought please?” Mark asked as he rose to one knee and took both of Talia’s tiny hands in his huge ones. “Talia, I would be forever honored if you would be my wife. Will you marry me?” he asked sincerely.

Talia paused for a moment while a smile grew on her face, and fresh tears gathered on her eyelids. “Yes, Mark.” she softly answered. “I will gladly marry you.”

They threw their arms around each other in happy and emotional embrace.

Alilia stood and approached them. “Please, let me give you this.” she said as she held her palm up. There was a bright flash from her hand, and then she was holding a tiny and exquisitely beautiful ring with five diamonds in a delicate and swirling gold setting. “It is magically enhanced, in its sparkle, and in that it always fits perfectly. It cannot be scratched or marred, and it is almost indestructible.”

“Thank you, Alilia.” Mark told her as he carefully took the ring between his fingertips, and gently slid it onto the third finger of Talia’s left hand. Her breath caught at the beauty of it.

“I deserve no thanks, as you will know when I tell you what I have realized. It is truly the least I can do.” Alilia said as she resumed her seat.

Mark also resumed his cross-legged seat on the grass, and Talia settled sideways in his lap. He gently put his arms around her, and she put her arms around one of his and leaned the side of her head against his chest. He marveled again at her delicate beauty, then Alilia regained his attention.

“When I cast the curse, foremost in my mind were the words I spoke; I curse you. Beneath that were the terms of the curse; I curse you to be raped by him until the end of days. As to exactly what I pictured happening when Mark raped Talia, I was thinking of Yzandra.

“Yzandra was a young elf of my people, in her second century, when she mysteriously disappeared without a trace about fourteen hundred years ago. When she finally returned, I became intimately involved in the case, because there were diplomatic repercussions.