The Vixen Trials

The Plot To Kiss

Author Note: a section of this was updated on 20/9/19.

There is something that takes your breath away in that first, unexpected kiss
with someone you love

Keilah

Keilah had not eaten since the Burning. She refused to leave her room and instead sat on a stool by the large western window. Alyssia fussed less if she pretended to be looking at the garden below. She couldn't get over the dishonorable way her mother had been treated and she did not even want to try.

Lady Silsa fluttered in and blocked her view. Keilah scowled. If they all called her fox-like, Lady Silsa was a white rabbit. Her hair was an ashy blonde, her front two teeth protruded and her face was long and kind of floppy looking.

Sulsa's smile wavered around the edges then became firm. "Have you heard what all the girls are saying?"

"What girls?"

"Lady Tynie and Lady Blyne. They still let me visit sometimes even though I've been wrongly marked as a traitor too. They said that if they had the Hattavah in their house they would kiss him!"

"Really?" Keilah said in a cold, disapproving tone. "What a silly thing to say."

"You think so? But I've never kissed anyone before - Baba is ridiculously old-fashioned about that. Would you believe she made me wait until my first bleed! It finally happened last night."

Silsa looked so thrilled Keilah congratulated her.

"Thank you," Silsa simpered. "The celebration feast will be tonight. You have to come."

Keilah wanted to refuse. She wasn't ready to face them all and be polite yet. She murmured something non-committal.

"You fill my heart," Silsa trilled giving her an enthusiastic hug. Alyssia, bustling around preparing starberry tea, looked relieved.

Silsa chattered on. "I've decided they are right. My first kiss should be with the legendary Hattavah who nearly slayed the Prince and has killed over fifty people. It would be unforgettable."

Keilah frowned. Fifty people. Silsa must be exaggerating although the casual way Dakkoul dispatched Captain Tanaach suggested otherwise. "That's a terrible idea."

"You think I should practice first on a different slave? The Hattavah is very experienced." Silsa scrunched one corner of her mouth then shook her head. "All the girls say that first kiss has something magical about it, that in sharing it you get a little of their soul and they take a little of yours. Maybe I'll get some of his speed or strength or willingness to kill and he'll get some of my humor or intelligence or knowledge about dressing."

"He does need help with choosing colours," said Keilah dryly even as a delicious shiver went through her. That first kiss with Dakkoul had seemed special. Was she different on the inside because of that one unexpected act? She'd always cared about him, but now the feeling felt different, stronger, and the idea of Silsa toying with him made her want to gag.

Silsa giggled. "I'll give him my taste in clothes then. I promised to kiss him before I see them next which means I have to do it by Saturday. Should I order him to my room?"

"No."

"Stalk him until I catch him alone somewhere? That might be more natural. Should I take the lead? But I've never kissed before. I might do it all wrong. That would be awkward." Her forehead wrinkled then smoothed. "I'll command him to kiss me."

Keilah stood up and gave all her attention to Silsa. "A kiss is only special when its with someone you care about. That's what my mother always said. After she met my father, she regretted all the times she'd had fun with slaves."

A sneer ran across Lady Silsa's face and for a moment she looked like her father. Then she laughed and the impression was gone. "Don't take it so seriously cousin. He won't."

Keilah gritted her teeth. If she couldn't dissuade her perhaps she could delay her. "Better to practice on your hand for a long time first." 

Silsa did so with a loud smacking noise. "That seemed easy enough," she remarked. "It's the tongue part that worries me".

"Tongue part?"

"Yes. How do you count his teeth with your tongue while he's counting yours? How do you not get tangled up?"

A giggle escaped from Alyssia's mouth. Keilah glared at her until she smothered it.

"There's no teeth counting," Keilah huffed.

Silsa stared at her. "But there is! What's the point of kissing otherwise?"

Keilah shrugged. "Perhaps Wayvolkan kiss differently." It was possible. All she knew for sure was that her own brief encounter with the Hattavah hadn't involved any counting.

"How odd you village girls are. Lady Blyne said she once touched seven teeth and Lady Tynie said that was nothing, she got ten. I'm planning for eleven of course."

Keilah's own desire to laugh was now so strong, she motioned to Alyssia for her tea and forced it down even though it was still too weak to be enjoyable. Her stomach woke up at the faint flavor of it and demanded food. She ignored it.

"You really think ordering him in here now is a bad idea? You could watch and be my witness. They tend to disbelieve everything I tell them."

Keilah thinned her lips. "Not today Silsa. I'm still mourning my mother."

Silsa's eyes widened. "Sorry. I forgot. Another time." She drank her tea and left.

Keilah hardly waited for the door to close behind her before saying, "Can you believe her Alyssia? How dare she? Poor Dakkoul. I shall warn him about her."

"He might enjoy it. He is lonely with his daughter gone."

Keilah sniffed. "He could visit me if he's lonely. I wouldn't mind. Do you think that's true about soul sharing, with the first kiss?"

"I wouldn't know," Alyssia parried. "My village had the same custom as yours and mother said I shouldn't settle for some local lad. She wanted me to travel a bit to other places, meet more young men before deciding."

"It probably is nonsense," Keilah decided. "But there is something that takes your breath away, in that first, unexpected kiss with someone you love. I did feel like something changed in me."

"Your Jagur," Alyssia said. "He sounds so brave and kind, going to the Enderaii for you."

"He was," Keilah said quickly trying to hide her surprise. Of course Alyssia thought she meant Jagur. He had been her betrothed. She did not want to correct her mistake. "Redo my hair again in that style the Lady Silsa had."

"Yes my lady," Alyssia replied as she pulled Keilah's hair loose for the fourth time that day.

Keilah found Silsa's visit had shifted her thoughts. Even though her goal was abhorrent, at least Silsa had the courage to go for it. She needed some of that determination too.

"I need to mourn my mother in my own way," Keilah declared to Alyssia. "I must rent the Hattavah."