The Muddy Feint
“Arkin? Arkin?”
Nefetia gasped, thrashing in the slick, cold mud that sent a shiver racing across her skin. The fall had been from quite a height, yet her body felt surprisingly unhurt…
“Arkin!”
Startled, she seized his limp arm. Only now did she realize that it had not been the soft mud that caught her fall, but Arkin’s embrace.
“Are you all right? Hey?”
When one of his arms dropped lifelessly, she shook him in alarm. His other arm, however, remained firmly around her waist.
“Arkin? Come on, wake up. Please?”
What should she do? Was he hurt?
His hair and face were caked in mud, and everything below his neck lay submerged in the mire. Nefetia hovered over him in helpless circles, running her hands over his body. There were no visible wounds, so why was he like this? Something was wrong.
At last she cupped his cheek, eyes closed, and pleaded.
“Open your eyes… just a little.”
His bloodless face swayed limply with her touch. Mud trickled between her fingers, but he gave no response.
“Oh, what do I do?”
Should she call for help? She looked around in despair, but of course no one was there. The wretched, perverted elephant that had dumped them into this mud pit was happily rolling about by itself, flinging more mud into the air.
“This is all that beast’s fault.”
Teeth clenched, Nefetia turned back to Arkin. She held a hand beneath his nose, touched his lips to check if they were cold, gripped his neck and shoulders and shook him, but he only lay there, pale and still.
She could never move his massive frame alone…
Frantic now, she threw her arms around his neck and pressed her cheek to his mud-smeared forehead. Tears welled up without warning.
“I can’t carry you by myself. You’re too big. Stop scaring me and just—”
At that moment, Arkin’s outstretched hand pulled her close. Before she could react, she was trapped against his broad chest.
“Nefetia.”
Too shocked to speak, she forgot to breathe. A deep, gentle voice drifted down from above her head.
“Are you quite finished touching me?”
His large hand cradled the back of her head and pressed lightly, the grip firm enough that she could only keep her cheek against his chest.
“You were pretending to faint on purpose?”
Shock and wounded pride at his mischievous prank brought sudden tears to her eyes.
“I thought you’d lost consciousness. I was so scared—”
“You even tried to feel my lips, and then you hugged me.”
“So what if I did?”
Nefetia’s brows drooped in protest.
“We fell in the most undignified way. I was already covered in mud and embarrassed—I couldn’t open my eyes.”
“There’s no one here but me. What’s there to be embarrassed about? You were only trying to save me—”
Just as Nefetia’s temper flared and she tried to lift her head, Arkin’s hand gently pressed it down again.
“I don’t want that. Nefetia. I don’t want you to see me like that.”
Grumbling, Arkin wiped his face with his free hand, meticulously cleaning away the mud without her help.
“Still, pretending to be dead? That’s going too far.”
With her head pinned to his chest, Nefetia muttered.
“What’s wrong with letting me help clean you up? Solinar people are so fussy.”
“Enough. Wait a moment.”
Arkin kept one arm around her while the other diligently wiped the mud from his face, as painstakingly as a cat grooming itself.
Why was he acting this way?
Nefetia found herself regarding him with fresh bewilderment. Had he hit his head when they fell from the elephant? He had always been so strict, yet now he allowed their bodies to touch without the slightest protest. He had seemed determined never to break his rules…
She could never quite understand him. Resentment stirred, and she muttered sulkily.
“Is it all right for us to be holding each other like this? You said Solinar men only hold hands or embrace their own partners.”
Arkin’s movements froze for an instant. Then he answered lightly.
“You touch me so casually that I thought I might as well try it. Just wait a little longer.”
There was a faint trace of laughter in his voice, as though nothing were amiss.
Defeated, Nefetia gave up resisting and leaned against him. Nestled against his warm chest beneath the morning sun, she felt her body grow hot and restless.
…Whether Arkin was her Hetasept or not no longer mattered, yet a bitter, aggrieved feeling kept rising inside her. She wanted to let him go, to make things easier for him, but she simply could not. In the end, her hand reached out again.
“Arkin.”
She pressed closer in the slippery mud. Even the slightest contact sent a tingling thrill through her entire body. Drawn as if spellbound, she reached for him once more.
“…There’s mud in your hair too. Let me clean it.”
With bare hands she wiped the mud from his smooth cheeks, eyelids, and forehead, gazing at his face all the while.
When she met the brilliant light of his vivid blue eyes, her throat went dry. Unconsciously, she moistened her lips.
The prince did not refuse. He remained silent. Nefetia wet her lips with the tip of her tongue and carefully brushed the hair from his forehead. His exhaled breath tickled her wrist. He drew a deep breath; she could see the prominent line of his throat move.
Come to think of it, his behavior had been strange since last night. When he had volunteered to help her with the elephant punishment, his eyes had been unusually fierce.
And now he was here with her. The same Arkin who had drawn such a firm line between them was now holding her without the slightest awkwardness. No matter how she looked at it, it was far too strange…
Only moments ago he had declared that a Hetasept who was nothing more than a bedroom slave could never be him. Yet now he held her as though it meant nothing…
“Don’t you feel anything?”
She placed her other hand on his stomach, watching the rise and fall of his chest. She knew her desire was selfish and greedy, but she wanted him to want her. She wanted him to yearn for her, to be drawn to her.
“How about this?”
Her fingertips moved slowly, tracing the hard ridges of his abdomen. Using the slick mud as lubricant, her hand glided over him like a serpent.
“Doesn’t it tickle? Doesn’t your heart race?”
He was a man, after all. Surely he desired her more intensely than anyone. Perhaps he was simply suppressing that desire with all his strength. Nefetia grew bolder, widening her exploration.
“You’re reacting too, aren’t you? Aren’t you?”
She knew exactly how a man’s body changed in such moments. She glanced sideways at his lower half, but everything was submerged in the mud and nothing could be seen.
“What’s wrong with you? Are you really some kind of pervert? The moment there’s an opening—”
As though sensing her suspicious intent, Arkin twisted away and pushed lightly at her shoulder.
“Nothing’s heating up or anything like that?”
“No.”
Arkin answered curtly and rolled onto his side. His lips remained firmly closed, his blue eyes cool and composed.
“…Really, nothing at all?”
His large hand gently brushed her wrist aside.
“Even if you stood naked beside me, I wouldn’t feel a thing. Because I don’t think of you as a woman.”
“Even when I do this… you still feel nothing?”
She pushed his hand away and placed hers back on his stomach, stroking a wider area while listening for any change in his breathing.
“Honestly, you really are—”
An impenetrable wall. Arkin finally removed her wrist and let out a dry laugh.
“Nefetia. What exactly do you want me to feel? And what would you do if I did? Kidnap me to Kepet?”
Her mind snapped back into focus. She had no choice but to withdraw her hand. The heat that had been bubbling inside her cooled in an instant. Why was she behaving so pathetically? What had she hoped to achieve by touching the Solinar prince like this? Even if she confirmed it, what then? She already knew she could never take him to Kepet. That was impossible.
Collecting her tangled emotions, Nefetia sat up.
“Fine. I understand. Let’s go now.”
With a wet flap, the elephant lumbered through the mud pit, the sound drawing near before fading away again. Nefetia hid her disappointment and tried to straighten her clothes. No matter how much she wrung the hem of her tunic, the fine-grained mud clung stubbornly to the fabric and her skin.