anything in my head at all, not a thought. I just began to climb down. It should have been much harder because of the water, but I have no real memory of the short journey. My body simply took over where my mind could not cope, and it must have been done in less than a minute. Even so, by the time I splashed down knee-deep into the water the others had reached Simon and dragged him to the bank. People were scrabbling for their mobile phones and running to get help from the hotel.
‘He’s still breathing!’ someone yelled.
I stopped where I was, halfway across the pool, suddenly lost. The scrum around Simon was thickening and there was no room for me. Probably it was best that I keep well clear. I turned away and waded to another quadrant, slopping out onto the lawn, shivering. My nipples were so stiff with the cold that they ached.
There, at the edge of the dim circle of illumination cast by the pool, stood Michael Deverick. Our eyes met. He raised one brow and smiled, very faintly. I thought – I hoped – for a moment that he might drape his jacket around my shoulders, but he turned and walked away into the dark.
No one was more surprised than I that nine months later I was working for him. Fairy tales are supposed to end with a wedding, not start with one.
But then, the fairies in this tale weren’t exactly what I’d imagined either.
2: Into the Woods
THE NIGHT BEFORE I drove down to Devon to start my new job, I had a dream that woke me shaking.
At first I took no active part in the dream; I simply saw. There was a dark space, huge but crammed because within it fought two dragons. One was red like ripe hawthorn berries and the other as white as birch bark; both were scaled and winged, though their wings couldn’t have been much use there in such tight confines. They fought coiled around each other and rolling over, claws scrabbling for purchase and teeth clattering as they slid and interlocked, their yellow eyes protected behind cloudy nictitating membranes, their hot breath coming in roaring gasps while barbed tails lashed. Neither seemed able to make any impact on the armour of his foe, but the ground shook. I felt the vibration running up from my feet into my belly. I felt the heat radiating from their writhing bodies. And as I became aware of myself, so did they become aware of me; the struggling ceased and two pairs of amber eyes turned in my direction, flaring bright as the protective membranes rolled back. I felt my heart galloping in my empty chest as, tiny and vulnerable, I met those terrible stares and all the blood seemed to drain down my body, paralysing my legs and swelling my sex.
They came for me, forgetting their struggle in their eagerness to lunge for my flesh. The red one closed its jaws about my chest, knifelike teeth sinking deep. The white one took both my legs in its long mouth, grinding down. It was a dream and I felt no pain, just the incredible pressure of penetration and the lubricious heat of their wet mouths. Helpless, I was lifted between them, splayed and gasping. First one then the other tugged my limp body.
I woke just before they pulled me apart, wet with sweat and excitement.
Knocking the chain brake on with the back of my wrist, I switched the engine off and dropped the saw to my side. It caught at the end of its short tether and swung below me while I leant back in my harness, relishing the sudden hush. The rope lashing me to the fork high overhead wanted to send me swinging back towards the main tree trunk, but my heavy boots kept purchase on a branch, holding me steady over the forty foot of clean air that separated me from the road verge. Tony, my groundsman, moved in across the grass to clear away the dead branch I’d just dropped. I smiled down at the orange blob of his plastic helmet and gave him the thumbs up. That was the last of the hanging snags in this lime, and we’d had to get it cleared so that the builders could pass safely up the drive in order to work
‘He’s still breathing!’ someone yelled.
I stopped where I was, halfway across the pool, suddenly lost. The scrum around Simon was thickening and there was no room for me. Probably it was best that I keep well clear. I turned away and waded to another quadrant, slopping out onto the lawn, shivering. My nipples were so stiff with the cold that they ached.
There, at the edge of the dim circle of illumination cast by the pool, stood Michael Deverick. Our eyes met. He raised one brow and smiled, very faintly. I thought – I hoped – for a moment that he might drape his jacket around my shoulders, but he turned and walked away into the dark.
No one was more surprised than I that nine months later I was working for him. Fairy tales are supposed to end with a wedding, not start with one.
But then, the fairies in this tale weren’t exactly what I’d imagined either.
2: Into the Woods
THE NIGHT BEFORE I drove down to Devon to start my new job, I had a dream that woke me shaking.
At first I took no active part in the dream; I simply saw. There was a dark space, huge but crammed because within it fought two dragons. One was red like ripe hawthorn berries and the other as white as birch bark; both were scaled and winged, though their wings couldn’t have been much use there in such tight confines. They fought coiled around each other and rolling over, claws scrabbling for purchase and teeth clattering as they slid and interlocked, their yellow eyes protected behind cloudy nictitating membranes, their hot breath coming in roaring gasps while barbed tails lashed. Neither seemed able to make any impact on the armour of his foe, but the ground shook. I felt the vibration running up from my feet into my belly. I felt the heat radiating from their writhing bodies. And as I became aware of myself, so did they become aware of me; the struggling ceased and two pairs of amber eyes turned in my direction, flaring bright as the protective membranes rolled back. I felt my heart galloping in my empty chest as, tiny and vulnerable, I met those terrible stares and all the blood seemed to drain down my body, paralysing my legs and swelling my sex.
They came for me, forgetting their struggle in their eagerness to lunge for my flesh. The red one closed its jaws about my chest, knifelike teeth sinking deep. The white one took both my legs in its long mouth, grinding down. It was a dream and I felt no pain, just the incredible pressure of penetration and the lubricious heat of their wet mouths. Helpless, I was lifted between them, splayed and gasping. First one then the other tugged my limp body.
I woke just before they pulled me apart, wet with sweat and excitement.
Knocking the chain brake on with the back of my wrist, I switched the engine off and dropped the saw to my side. It caught at the end of its short tether and swung below me while I leant back in my harness, relishing the sudden hush. The rope lashing me to the fork high overhead wanted to send me swinging back towards the main tree trunk, but my heavy boots kept purchase on a branch, holding me steady over the forty foot of clean air that separated me from the road verge. Tony, my groundsman, moved in across the grass to clear away the dead branch I’d just dropped. I smiled down at the orange blob of his plastic helmet and gave him the thumbs up. That was the last of the hanging snags in this lime, and we’d had to get it cleared so that the builders could pass safely up the drive in order to work
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