Day 11: Escape the Bloodkeep
In the months that had passed since Efink had become the new Boatwoman, she had developed a knack for telling the time without a clock or any outdoor phenomena: counting the constant drip-drip-drip of caveblood off of stalactites, and confirming her estimate with the regular meal siren, deafening to those in its proximity but muffled by distance and layers to be only a faint vibration to Efink.
The main purpose that Efink employed this ability for was counting down the seconds—a unit of time so insignificant to her past self that she never could have imagined such a thing—until her daily visit from Lilith. Though Efink’s immortality had only strengthened, the number of ways to spend her time had decreased significantly given that she was confined to such a small place. Despite the commute from the throne room, however, Lilith always made the time to visit her for a few hours. No matter how preoccupied she was with her duties as Queen Regent of Gorgar and with her children that still lived with her at home, she absolutely insisted on spending time every day with Efink. That time was spent in a variety of ways. Sometimes, Lilith would be accompanied by one or more of her children, who Efink was getting rather good at keeping track of. Other times, she would be joined by Leiland Jr. or some of the other lieutenants, all of whom also visited Efink on their own time but not with anywhere near the frequency that Lilith did. Other visits still were private, just the two of them. Those were Efink’s favorite visits, and usually consisted of some combination of chatting, sharing snacks or a meal, and physical intimacy.
Their relationship had started slowly: a wanting glance here, a silly comment there, but momentum built steadily until neither party could ignore what was between them. Following Lilith fumbling another potential suitor, Efink had simply asked if Lilith had ever considered dating another woman, to which Lilith responded by lifting Efink off her feet and bringing her into a deep kiss. Things only escalated from there: the occasional peck was soon accompanied by cuddling; cuddling was quickly joined by making out; and making out was eventually followed by sex. The sex was good, too: Lilith clearly knew what she was doing (it’s hard to accidentally (non-sexually) trap someone in web and (non-sexually) devour them when they’re confined to a single pool of blood not much larger than your body) and it was just the latest form of loving one another that came naturally to the pair. Far from the entirety but certainly the bulk of Lilith’s most recent visits involved some great deal of physical contact, depending on the mood, and it seemed to Efink that Lilith had greater and greater anticipation for every consecutive meeting.
Which is why it troubled poor Efink so deeply that Lilith did not show up at the usual time. Minutes passed by before Efink’s mind went to a horrid place: Did I take things too far? Am I not that attractive? Did she only say those things about me to be nice?
She was moments away from attempting to tap into her oracular abilities for an answer when she heard a frantic scuttling just above. The doors to her chamber were practically thrown off of their hinges as an out-of-breath Lilith flung them open and rushed toward Efink, lifting her into a warm embrace.
“Oh Effie darling I’m so sorry that I’m late! I didn’t worry you, did I?”
Efink melted into Lilith’s arms: into her love, her concern, her care. She pondered for a moment before speaking.
“I…yes, Lilith, a little,” she managed to say. Lilith responded by softly taking her by her chin and bringing her to her lips.
“How dreadful! There should be nothing for which you should ever worry, Effie. In fact, that’s what I hope my idea will prevent!,” she exclaimed, setting Efink down in her boat as she waded deeper into the blood.
“Yes, darling, and my final preparations were the very thing that kept me from you for so long.” Lilith took a breath and she looked deep into her lover’s eyes.
“With your permission, of course, I’d like to move in with you.”
“I can’t stand only seeing you for so long each day! My hunger for you, comparable only to the hunger that led me to devour the stars themselves, weighs heavy on my mind at all times I’m not with you, and that both makes me miserable and distracts me from my responsibilities.” Lilith paused to gauge Efink’s reaction, watching in horror as overwhelming bliss was rapidly shadowed by concern.
“Don’t fret over logistics, Effie! The caves are close enough that I may see my children easily, and I plan on having a web shaft installed from the throne room directly to this one, of use to spiders and spiders alone.” She could feel the relief radiating off of Efink.
“Of course, Lilith!,” replied Efink, wrapping herself around the larger woman, “but it’s not terribly comfortable here, as I’m sure you know. Wouldn’t you rather be in your web?”
“Well, as long as you permit it, I’d obviously like to have some renovations done in here. We can knock down that wall, lift the ceiling a little, make it as roomy as a cavern and as cramped as a cave!”
Efink’s gaze followed Lilith’s, imagining her suggestions.
“But where will you sleep?”
“I was thinking about spider-silk sheets and some eagle-feather pillows on a waterbed filled with blood right about…here,” declared Lilith, pointing straight down into the pool.
“Oh-oh,” Efink said, blush rising through her face, “I suppose that would mean I’m still atop the pool, so yes! Oh, Lily!,” she practically sang, draping herself over her now-roommate and kicking her feet with excitement.
“Excellent!,” proclaimed Lilith, gently setting Efink down in her boat. “We can use that old vessel for the bed frame, come that time, so long as you’re comfortable going from Boatwoman to Pool girl.” Efink laughed, giddy with delight as Lilith produced a scroll from her web bag and handed it to her.
“We can get started right away, though The Archarchitects insist that everything is properly contracted and documented.” Efink skimmed the top of what seemed to be an eldritch work permit for The Archarchitects, ancient and unknowable evils that created megastructures before the dawn of time and these days helped with renovating the Bloodkeep and other bastions of wickedness. Skipping to the bottom, she saw a spot for the signatories to spill blood in their first and last names to make the order binding. She turned around to take her blade to herself and signed her own name, last then first.
“Out of curiosity, Lilith, do you have a last name?”
“Murderdeath, if that’s good by you?”
Efink wheeled around and looked down to see Lilith sitting in the pool with her many legs crossed, holding a small ring crown in front of her. It was a brilliant pale gold, but the hole in the middle was impossibly dark.
“A solar eclipse, sacred to the world that witnessed it, frozen in time and taken by yours truly.” Efink brought her hands to her mouth, still bleeding from one palm, as tears of joy congregated in the corners of her eyes.
“A fear of commitment is far from the main reason that Zaul’Nazh sucked so bad, but Maggie deserved a better partner, and so do you. The children would love a second mother, and I quite imagine that Gorgar would enter a golden age of evil with a second queen. But beyond all of that, I love you, Effie. No one has ever made me feel this way before, and while everyone else has left me to rot, you’re still here. Effie, will you marry me?”
Efink dove off of her boat, tackling Lilith into the blood as ripples danced across the pool.
