ādear, dear, my darling sweet,ā he murmurs, wrapped around her possessively in a sun warmed bed with sex warmed sheets. āi cannot bear to live without you,ā he tells her, a lock of hair curled around his finger, āso i will grant you immortality. stay with me in my palace forever, wonāt you? every day can be like this.ā
she adores himā of course she does. nary be there a woman not tempted by the gods! he makes her feel giddy and bright. she is sweet as a honey beeās labor, as dark and dependable as the earth she loves to work. she is naive when it comes to love, but of course she doesnāt know so.
immortality sounds like the sharpest of thorns, but she would do anything for him. her whole life has taught her she should.
for the first few days, she believes them to be servants. it isnāt until he brings another into her bed that she understands whatās happened. immortality does not bring godly powers, but hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. she doesnāt blame the other women, could never, but nor will she acknowledge them. she gathers what few things she has and leaves.
she is only seventeen, and will now forever be so. she retires to a cottage in the woods, with only nature and its caretakers for company. she grows bitter as a cold seasonās night; the bees are asleep, if not dead. no work can be done in the winter of her soul.
months pass. he aquires women like some aquire clothes, and she finds herself disgusted. āheās married,ā a druid whispers, braiding daisies into her hair as a snake rests in her lap, ābut only in name. she wonāt look at him, either.ā the unspoken words are there: sheās right in her anger, and no one thinks any less.
only days later a doe-eyed, soft-cheeked girl shows on her doorstep. āthey told me iād find you here. that youā that you canāt stand it, either.ā the girl has the look of new immortality; she can almost smell it, the way a baby smells of milk.
the woman was nineteen, she learns. sheād be eighteen now herself if years still mattered. the womanās name is mary. the woman asks if she can stay with her for awhile, asks for her name. āeve,ā she says, warmth blooming in her chest. ābut friends call me honey.ā
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