The Word Cloud

She tossed in the vast bed, twisting in the bundles of sheets, surrounded by elaborate carvings and draped crimson curtains. Waking in a gasp of terror, she rose sharply, gathering the linen sheets to her chest. As she panted heavily sweat glistened on her brow. Wiping her moist skin with a trembling hand she pulled the covers from her legs. Looking around her dark, empty chamber she felt a pang of loneliness and her heart sank. He had not come. Rising from her bed, she placed her feet upon the cold wooden floor, shivers running up her spine.

Her silk gown flowed behind her as she moved, shimmering red in the light that flooded in through the two balcony doors. She had sat and waited in the darkness before finally surrendering to sleep. Her maids had not undressed her this evening as she requested and she had lain in her finest silk gown, waiting. She walked, bare footed to her bedroom door, turning a heavy iron key in the lock before placing it beneath her pillow. No one ever came to check on her in the night. Not that anyone cared to. She was but a beautiful bird trapped in a gilded cage.

Since her mother’s death her father had spent his days locked in his study in a drunken stupor. All he cared for was wine and his whores. It used to cause her so much pain to see what he had become. She feared his anger and his destructive ways. Then she lost all feeling. She no longer loved, nor loathed him. He just existed, as did she. Until the day she awoke from her living slumber, from the nothingness. Until the day that he came. She knew that if her father became aware of her actions, there would be grave consequences. This did nothing but excite and entice her further.

She longed to become engulfed by the darkness that she toyed with. At first she was afraid but the danger made her feel alive again. She thought bitterly of the marriage her father had arranged for her. He was a cruel man who had kept many mistresses and drank even more than her father. He had often admired her at banquets as a young girl. He would devour her with his eyes as he ate at the table, tearing meat from the bone like a ravenous beast.

The thought of him made her stomach twist in disgust. How could he condemn her to a life with him? The way he leered at her even as a child, how he twisted her ribbons around his sausage like fingers as he spoke to her. She would not let him have her. So she gave herself to someone else. Defying her father as he lay, goblet in hand, asleep in his study. She walked briskly to her balcony doors, flinging them open, feeling to wind rush into her empty room. There she stood, listening to the rhythmic sound of the waves lapping at the Cliffside.

“Come to me my love. Come and awaken me once more” she whispered into the night. The moon shone brightly in the clear night sky, illuminating her white skin. Her hair shone a rich coco brown, cascading down her back, swaying gently in the breeze. Sighing deeply she spun to return to her empty bed, when she heard the gentle purr of his voice.

“You know I can hear your thoughts. Even when we are apart they travel to me on the wind” he sang.

As she turned to face him, he was right beside her, his nose grazing hers. She inhaled sharply as she gazed into his piercing turquoise eyes.

“And what do they tell you?” she asked quietly.

“More than even you would realise. Those thoughts that even escape your recognition. The flickers of your mind, your dreams.” He stroked her cheek with a finger.

“Then I have no secrets from you. You know me better than I know myself” she replied, a smile spreading across her full lips.

“I know how you think of me. How you long for my touch. Just as I long for yours”.

Pulling her long hair across one shoulder gently, he kissed her exposed neck, running his cool, silken lips to her collar bone. Her cheeks flushed and her heart betrayed her as it began to pound in her chest. She knew he could hear it and she spoke casually to seem controlled.

“Do you like my new dress? I thought I would wear it so you could admire it... or rather me in it” she laughed to herself.

“You look beautiful. I always thought that red was your colour. It matches the flush of your cheeks” he said, raising an eyebrow at her.

Stepping forward quickly, he pulled her by the hand back into her bedroom, spinning her around to face him again. She laughed loudly as she tipped her head, eying him lustfully. No one would hear her in this wing of the castle, it was all but deserted.