Bitter Oath (New Atlantis)

chapter TWELVE





Liv was given a crash course in Twenty Fourth Century living for the rest of the day. She watched as Rene used the little writing tablet to contact people, and to order in food. She watched as Jane selected suitable music and ‘visuals’ on the entertainment system.

She limped down to the bottom of the hill with Rene, much against his advice, to collect the boxes of little packets of food that arrived on one of the moving pathways. In one of the boxes she discovered, not food, but a bridal veil, a floor length gown, and two bouquets of flowers. The larger of the two was a mix of white roses, yellow centred fuchsias, and angel’s breath. The bridesmaid’s bouquet was smaller, but more colourful, and made up of a selection of flowers Liv had never seen before.

Jane was in a frenzy of activity, which Liv was happy to stay out of. The whole wedding seemed somewhat unreal – like a girlish dream come true. It would have been more real if her family had been present. But of course, that was impossible. The whole point of this was that her family would never know she had married. She would go to her grave as a spinster in their eyes.

The thought of returning to her world without Rene filled her with dread. How would she ever go on without him? Already he was becoming more essential to her than life itself. Everything about him filled her with wonder and awe. This ancient man, in a breath-takingly handsome body, who treated her as a beloved equal, and was dedicated to healing the ‘planet’, was hers. And if they didn’t have forever, as Jane and Julio had forever, they still had the moment, and they could pack a lifetime of memories into a few short months.

No one said how long she would be staying. But it could not be more than a few years at the absolute limit. She could not go home looking much older than she left. Such an anomaly would be picked up by her very observant sisters. Especially Portia, who would have seen her only fifteen minutes earlier. How would she ever get her hair back as it had been?

She ran her fingers through her clean, shining hair. It felt incredible, and smelled divine. Rene seemed to think so too, because he would stop whatever he was doing during the day, run his fingers through it, then lean down and breathe in the scent of it. How long would this devoted attention last? If they were anything like Jane and Julio, three years would not even tarnish the shine on their relationship.

In the afternoon, Jane had taken her next door to meet Maggie and her ‘Bonded’, Travis. Maggie was an artist, and she had dreamed of the much younger Travis all her life. It wasn’t until the technicians had uncovered a replica of New Atlantis three hundred years in the past, and Maggie had been sent back to investigate, that she discovered that, while she had been dreaming of Travis, he had been dreaming of her. People said they had a ‘shared soul’, whatever that was.

Her first sight of Travis was a shock. She had never seen a black man, except as a slave to some of the ton in London. And he was as black as polished ebony, and probably the most exquisitely handsome man she had ever seen. Every plane of his face and bald head was perfection. And his beautifully shaped lips were almost feminine. But his muscular body left no doubt that he was all male. It was quite a shock when he spoke. His deep, baritone voice was accented with a Scottish brogue.

Maggie had shown her into her studio where there was a mural in progress. It was like nothing she had ever seen before. If she had any doubt that she was in some future world, then just staring at the three dimensional images that danced on the canvas as almost living beings, removed that doubt. And when Travis showed her his first experiments in ‘orchestrated colour’, a mix of colour and dance he created in the space around him, she was awestruck.

As Jane prattled on happily as they return to their villa, Liv kept seeing the man’s near naked body undulating in graceful, but truly erotic ways, as the coloured air wrapped itself around him. It woke her newly uncovered sexuality, and made her want Rene in her arms, moving against her, as that man had moved through the air, and caressed the waves of colour. Although Travis was probably more handsome than her Rene, he was far less sexually attractive to her. Only Rene made her yearn for his touch.

By the time the sun set behind the island’s mountain peak, the frenzied activity had abated. Everything was ready for the morning ceremony and wedding breakfast to follow. After that, Jane would be going home with Julio, and Liv and Rene would have the villa to themselves. They would have their honeymoon there, and the following week, Rene would resume his work, with Liv assisting as she could.

‘Nervous?’ Jane asked as she sat down at her side on the overstuffed sofa in the ‘living room’. Classical music was playing on the entertainment system, a phenomenon that she was still slightly in awe of. The lights were dimmed, and two candles sat glowing on the ‘coffee table’ in front of them. Rene was elsewhere in the house, ‘checking data’ on his ‘Tablet’.

‘Yes, very. But excited, too. Jane… could I ask you a personal question?’

‘Sure. What is it?’

‘It is about your ummm intimate relationship with Julio. Did it… um…. hurt when he entered, when he consummated the union the first time?’ Her face was on fire, she could feel it. But no amount of embarrassment was going to stop her asking this vital question. Her sisters had told her it hurt. Some of them said it always hurt a little. Augusta said it only hurt the first time, and after that it was nice – somewhat pleasurable. She wasn’t sure which would prove to be the truth for her. Her ignorance of such significant matters was deeply disturbing.

‘It hurts a little the first time, but the pleasure makes you forget the pain pretty quickly. The important thing to remember is that you take it at your own pace. Don’t try to go faster than you are ready for. Rene won’t try to force you to do anything you don’t feel comfortable doing. He will take his time. Forget any talk you’ve heard about sex being dirty or sinful or bad. Nothing you and Rene do together, that gives you both pleasure, is wrong. Just trust your body. We are animals, after all, and sex is instinctual. Let your instincts guide you… I knew the theory – I’d studied sex education at school. But the reality was nothing like what I expected. It was much, much better. Rene loves you more than life. Trust him.’

‘Do you think we are doing the right thing? We have known each other for such a short time, and we will only have a few months, maybe as much as a year together. Maybe making vows about loving each other until death us do part is wrong, when we know we must part so soon.’

‘You might part, but you won’t stop loving each other. That’s going to be the hard part. I don’t know how I would have reacted if I’d known I would only have Julio for a short time, and then I would have to live the rest of my life without him. I don’t know if I could do it. But I do know that I would take everything I was offered, every last drop of love and pleasure I could squeeze from the time I had. I would make days feel like weeks, and weeks feel like years. It’s not how long you love, but how deeply.’

‘Then we will have had an eternity, if it is measured in depth. I cannot remember my life before I met him. I cannot imagine life without him now. My every sense is attuned to him. I can feel him, even though he’s in another room. Sometimes I think I know exactly when he’s thinking about me. It’s like I can read his mind. Does that sound fanciful?’

‘Oh no, I know exactly what you mean. That’s how I feel about Julio. He is every breath I take.

‘I’m so glad Rene has found you. He’s truly a good man, and his life has been such a long and lonely one. No one has carried the burden of humanity on his shoulders as much as he has. He deserves this time with you.’ Jane leaned over and kissed her gently on the cheek.

‘Thank you, Jane. I feel as if I have found another sister in you.’

‘You have. I had no brothers and sisters when I was growing up, but I’ve found them here. Maggie, Faith and you. And Cara is like the mother I would liked to have had.’

Liv beamed her pleasure. ‘Well sister, I think I will retire, as I will need my beauty sleep if I am to be at my best tomorrow morning.’

‘Sweet dreams, sister.’

‘Sweet dreams.’



The sun was several inches over the horizon, creating a glittering path across the ocean to the patio where the assembled guests now stood. Morning’s colours were muted and soft, and the air was crisp and new, smelling of the sea. The sound of waves crashing against the rocks below was a rhythmic heartbeat in the background of their activities.

Jane had strung coloured ribbons between the posts of the portico, and allowed the ends to dangle in pleasing ringlets. The guest, all twenty of them, including the minister, were dressed in the white gowns and tunics of New Atlantis. There was a soft buzz of voices as they waited.

Rene felt sick with anxiety. At his side, Julio nodded his reassurance. It would be fine. It would be just right. This was the crowning moment of his endless life. This was the moment when his heart found its true home.

He hoped he didn’t look too drawn. He hadn’t slept at all last night. His last minute background search had fielded no new information on Liv’s life. There had been no startling changes to the time line. Her death remained as it had been recorded previously. She had never married.

Well, it just showed how historical data could be wrong. She did marry. And she was loved, as few people were ever loved. He hoped it would be enough, when the time came for her to breathe her last. The idea that she might regret even one moment of their time together broke his heart.

At that moment, a hush fell over the guests, and they turned to the glass door that led back into the living room. With a quick, last minute glance at Karl Brandenburg, who was currently a man in his sixties, his face lined and leathered from years in the middle eastern sun, he turned back to see Jane coming through the glass door.

The music on the home system changed to the bridal anthem played by the Boston Philharmonic. Jane, hair woven around a crown of flowers, a bouquet clutched in her hands, bare footed on the ochre tiles, began to making her slow way toward Rene, down the informal gap that had formed between the guests. He could see Jac towering over everyone, his arm resting lightly across Cara’s shoulders. Cara had stars in her eyes, and when she glanced up at her man, the look they exchanged was magic. If only he and Liv could have even a fraction of that love…

His eyes were once more drawn to the doorway and, for a moment, his heart missed a beat. Coming toward him was a vision. Livianna wore the ubiquitous gown that all the women in this world wore. But hers was floor length and drawn in under the bust by a delicate, gold-linked belt. Her long honey blonde hair hung around her shoulders in glossy, abundant curls. And on the top of her head was perched a wreath of white roses, which Cara had brought with her this morning, over the transparent gauze of the floor length veil. In her hands she carried the bouquet of white roses and gold tinged fuchsias. Her upturned nose, with its light dusting of freckles, was sun kissed from her two days in the New Atlantean sun. Her brown eyes gleamed with unshed tears of joy.

Thank you Jane, he thought, as his love walked toward him on unsteady legs. I would never have had this moment if you had not encouraged me to follow my heart. If every day, from this time on, is a living hell, at least he would have had this moment. His heart was so full it threatened to overflow with joy, and he felt the tears sting his eyes.

After timeless minutes had passed, Liv finally reached his side. Karl cleared his throat, and began to speak the words that had been spoken untold times before, over the millennia. ‘Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to witness the joining of these two people in the bonds of holy matrimony…’

While he stared down into Liv’s upturned face, he was reminded of that first day he had met her – it now felt like a thousand years ago. He had known it then; had known that she was part of him, and would always be part of him. Not even death would ever keep them apart.

Julio was nudging him, and with a little start he realised everyone was waiting for him to say his vows.

‘ I, Rene York, take you, Livianna Patience Mulgrave, to be my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part.’

He took a gold ring, which he had ordered the night before, from his pocket, and slid it onto Liv’s long, white finger. His dark hands seemed too large and clumsy to touch such fragile beauty.

He finished his vows. ‘With this ring, I thee wed, with my body I thee worship, and with my heart I thee love for all the days of my life.’

The catch in his throat as he said the final ad-libbed addition did not go unnoticed. Liv looked up at him like a cornered fawn. She knew how long that life could be.

Then she began to recite her vows, produced a ring, and placed it on his finger. She included the same additional line that he had. And he was almost unmanned by the knowledge that all the days of her life would be so short.

Then she was standing on tip-toe, and he was bending down to kiss her tenderly on the lips.

‘I now pronounce you man and wife,’ Karl said with a flourish and a smile.

The guests began to clap and cheer, as Rene, blinking back the tears, pulled his wife against his side, and wrapped his arm firmly around her trembling shoulders.

Then they were walking down the pathway formed by the guests toward the living room. The guests followed on behind like a flowing tide of white.

The next hour passed in a kind of blur. He drank a dozen toasts, ate more food than he was comfortable with, at that time of the morning, and never let Liv out of his sight. Eventually, after the last kiss on the cheek was given, the last well wishes said, they shut the front door on the final guest.

Now the house was theirs. They surveyed the half cleared mess and grimaced.

‘Maggie and Cara wanted to finish the clean up before they went,’ Liv said, picking up an empty glass.

‘I know, but that would have meant another half an hour or more before I could get you alone. The mess can wait. Come to bed, wife. I need you.’

With the entertainment system still playing soft music in the background, Rene swept his bride into his arms, and carried her down the hall.

He gently lowered her onto the bed, and she scrambled to sit up to remove the floral headdress and veil before they were crushed.

‘Don’t worry about them…’ he said with a growl, and cast them off the end of the bed. Then he leaned over her, and began to kiss her in earnest.

It felt like it had been an eternity since they had kissed like this. He thrust into her mouth, greedy with lust. She tasted so good. Nothing had ever tasted so sweet. He took from her all the innocent passion she had to offer.

His hot mouth blazed a trail down her neck, while his frenzied hands unclipped the shoulder clasps, and lowered the front of her gown. Her naked breasts were revealed to him, and he covered them with his hands, needing them hungrily as he returned to kissing her mouth.

Then, when kissing was no longer enough, he replaced his hands with his mouth and suckled on her, loving the way her body bowed up to meet his hungry mouth. He loved the little sounds of surprised delight that came from her throat. He loved the way her hand roamed over his head and down his neck to his shoulders, as if she couldn’t get enough of the feel of him.

‘Do you have any idea how much I love you?’ he mumbled against her breast.

‘About as much as I love you?’ she replied as another little gasp of pleasure left her mouth.

‘More than that. Far more than that…’ his hand stroked the delicate fabric of her gown down her body, and he reluctantly left off his suckling to finish the removal. When he had made short work of her shorts as well, he returned to kiss her mouth. Except for a little half-hearted modesty, she seemed more than willing to be naked before him. He hadn’t expected that. He thought he would have to deal with maidenly insecurity and shame until he won her over. This Livy was a delightful surprise.

‘Where has my shy virgin gone?’ he said, as he kissed his way from breast to belly button.

‘She’s here, my lord, but I am taking Jane’s lessons to heart.’

‘Jane’s lessons?’ he choked out in surprise, coming up to look deeply into her eyes. The image of Jane educating his wife in the erotic arts, was more than he wanted to envisage in his present state of arousal.

‘Yes. Last evening I asked her about … the consummation of our marriage. She told me to go with my instincts, and trust you. That there was nothing we would do that was wrong or sinful. She said it would not hurt much …’

‘Ah, sinful pleasure is my favourite kind, Ma Chere. And she was right, you can trust me. I will prepare you so that there is very little pain, and a great deal of pleasure, I promise.’

She smiled up at him, and reached for the catches on the shoulder of his tunic.

‘You want me naked too? I’m not sure you’re ready for that sight yet, my impatient bride.’

But he let her release the catches and undid his belt so the tunic would fall to his waist, still covering his painful arousal. Her hands stroked at his chest.

‘I thought men had hair on their chests…’ she observed thoughtfully.

‘This body is young yet, although my Obewje blood means I am more hairless than most. Would you prefer me with hair? I can have it grown if you wished it.’

‘No. I like you just the way you are. Can I kiss you here, like you do me?’

The shock of her shy request had his arousal jerking against his shorts. She noticed, and with one curious hand she tentatively touched him. With a little grunt of surprise, she drew back at the movement.

‘What is that?’ she asked nervously.

He stretched out beside her, slid out of his shorts and the rest of his tunic, and never took his eyes from her face. Her eyes were as big as saucers, and her mouth was slightly agape as she stared at his aroused member, pulsing under her scrutiny.

‘Your thoughts?’ he asked gruffly.

‘That is what you will enter me with? I do not think it will fit. There is an awful lot of it.’

He had to laugh, what else could he do? He roared with it, all the pent up emotion of the last few days finally finding an avenue for release. After her first shocked response to his laughter, she began to laugh too, and in convulsions she fell over his chest, her glorious hair fanning out across his chest, tickling him.

When he had himself under a semblance of control, he tried to answer her question. ‘I am flattered that you think me large, but I assure you, I am only somewhat more than average. Your body will accommodate me easily, when you are ready. More thoughts?’

‘Can I touch it?’

‘Most assuredly.’ He tried to lie patiently as she made her slow and tentative approach. When her fingers finally grazed the full length of him, he groaned.

‘Why does it jump like that?’ Her fingers stroked him again, this time with more confidence.

‘I do not know. It is just part of the reproductive urge pulsing through me.’ He didn’t think she was ready for the scientific explanation anytime soon. Neither was he. Every sense was on high alert, waiting for her next move. He could barely remember his own name.

When the pleasure she was giving him became almost too much, he gently removed her hand, and laid her back on the bed. Very slowly, he began his own exploration of her body with his mouth. Everywhere he kissed and tasted her, she squirmed, and her breathing becoming a little faster and more laboured. Her little moans grew louder.

When he stroked her inner thighs with his fingers, she automatically drew her legs together.

‘Let me. Nothing is wrong or sinful, remember.’

Reluctantly, she relaxed her thighs, and let him spread her legs. Her triangular thatch of tight curls was dark golden, and he cupped it with the palm of one hand. She bucked against him, surprised and excited by the touch. When he slid a finger deep into her welcoming heat, she became very still, her breathing harsh, her eyes half closed.

It had been an extraordinarily long time since he had pleasured a woman. But the skills he’d master as a youth came back to him automatically. He knew exactly what to do to take her higher, and he did it with pride and confidence. His English Rose was burning bright now, her excitement and pleasure reaching fever pitch.

Using the honey of her body, he stroked her hardened nub with his thumb and felt her muscles contract around his finger. Feverishly, she tried to push his hand away, and yet draw it closer, all at the same time. Her movements were jerky and flustered, as if she didn’t know what to do about the sensations coursing through her body. Then his persistence paid off as she cried out, and she shot up off the bed as she peaked for the first time.

Laughing with delight, he waited for her to relax, and then slipped a second finger deep into her wet heat. Moving his fingers to mimic the dance, he pushed her over the edge again. When she lay quiescent once more, he removed his hand, and replaced it with his own aching arousal. Stretching her was torturous pleasure, and when she grimaced with pain he pushed past the virginal barrier as quickly as he could, so the discomfort was brief.

Then, when he had joined their bodies completely, he looked down into her face, holding onto his control by a thread. Her fawn eyes stared up at him in amazement, and then she smiled the most impish of smiles. Wordlessly, he dropped his head to claim her smiling lips once more, and was rewarded by the intrusion of her little tongue into his mouth.

It was too much. He drew back and then thrust deep, drew back and thrust deep again, feeling the slick friction building. Then it was only sensation, as he raced toward his own release. And when it came, he felt as if the top of his head was blown off, and he spun out into the Universe.



Liv lay beneath the heavy weight of her husband, feeling strangely dissociated from the world around her. For some timeless period, she had been pure sensation. Thoughts were forgotten, boundaries forgotten, conventions unknown. There had been nothing but Rene’s pounding strength battering her soft shores until even that distinction faded away, and she was the pounding strength, too. She was everything. And nothing. And it was so overwhelming that, for a while at least, she blacked out.

Her sisters had lied to her. The marriage bed was not painful, nor was it passingly pleasant. Pleasant was such an insipid word for what they had just shared. It had been wild and explosive, like the thunderstorm of two nights before. It had beaten her into submission with pleasure, and then sent her over the edge into ecstasy. Had it been painful? Exquisitely so!

And now as she felt Rene ease his weight from her, she wrapped her legs around his thighs so that he could not take from her that part of him that had fit so perfectly. That part that had made her whole.

Sensing her need, he pushed into her deeply, and the rush of pleasure swamped her for a moment. So tired… her body felt so tired… and yet she was energised in a way that she’d never experienced before. She wanted him to take her to that place again, and she squirmed under him, wanting more.

He laughed against her neck, and moved a little. Then his muscles of his torso became rigid. ‘Mon Dieu, I am hard again. This cannot be…’

She didn’t know what he meant. But she didn’t question him. The feeling of fullness was returning, and she moved her body so that she could make the most of the sensation. Then he was drawing back from her, and there was a moment’s fear that he would leave her. Then he was driving deep once more, and she cried out, and clung to his strong shoulders, afraid that she would fall.

The piston beat began in earnest again, and she lost herself to the rhythm. It fleetingly reminded her of the sight of Travis orchestrating colour. But it was her blood that was swirling now, thrumming like a taut string from her toes to the top of her head. And it was the heat of Rene’s body that fuelled the fever inside her, until she exploded in white-hot flames around him, screaming out his name as she fell into darkness once more



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