Cerise’s head was abuzz. She’d never actually seen anyone do that before. She knew it was a thing that happened, but there was a big difference between knowing about it and actually witnessing it. Also, he was a horse, just like she was, which made it even weirder. She found herself torn between wondering what it would’ve looked like up close, just as it had happened, and wondering what it would’ve looked like if he’d been human.
She hadn’t really thought much about sex before. She knew it was something that people did, of course — she’d even let Darius once, just because he was cute. She’d kept her eyes closed the whole time, and when he finished, and just rolled off her, she wondered if she was supposed to enjoy it more. That was a long time ago, though, before her village was gone, before life had gotten hard, before — well, before the Sorceress.
She glanced at her lower half, chagrined, and realized that if she someday did find a nice boy — and Marren seemed passable — and decided to get married and have children, they’d likely be stuck as half-horse freaks too. And then she supposed that was exactly what the Sorceress wanted: She’d created this species, and the whole reason there were two of them, a male and a female, was so they could make more.
Cerise sighed, staring up at the stars. Life was easier yesterday.
She heard Marren come softly clomping back through the thick grass, and closed her eyes as if she’d been asleep the whole time. He lay down across from her, close to the fire to dry off, and she heard him stoke it a bit before rubbing his hands in front of the flame.
She continued to mimic sleeping, until he spoke.
“You can’t sleep either, huh?” he said.
She swallowed hard, and debated for a moment whether to try to stay “asleep.”
“No,” she said, opening her eyes slowly. She sat upright.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you tending the fire,” he said, not realizing why she was already awake — or doing a really good job of pretending it hadn’t happened.
“I was already awake,” she replied.
She stretched her arms, and out of the corner of her eye, caught him watching her stretch. She held the pose a moment, and then settled back down, arranging her hair over her chest. His eyes inched upward toward hers.
She smiled wryly. “Well?”
“You’re really pretty,” he said, smiling.
“Uh, thanks.” She smiled back for a moment, then grew serious again. “So what do you think we should do tomorrow?”
He poked at the fire. “I don’t really know,” he said. “We’d be treated like monsters in any of the villages and cities here. But we have to find somewhere to stay.”
“Do you know this area?”
“I’m originally from a small town about five miles from here, past those hills,” he said, pointing eastward. “They’re really — uh — well, they don’t deal with things that are different very well. Small town, small-town thinking. They’d probably chase us out with pitchforks and torches, and that’s if they didn’t just decide to catch us and kill us.”
“Geez,” she said. “Even though they know you?”
“A cockatrice wandered into the town about a hundred years ago. Turned five people to stone before it was caught and killed. They’re *really* serious about killing every monster they see. A lot of the other villages around here aren’t much different.”
Cerise whistled. “What do we do then?”
“I was thinking — we could sneak in and steal some tools from one of the farms, and then keep heading north. It’s mostly wilderness up there. We could just — I don’t know, I was thinking I could build a house, and we could live there, and maybe start a new life there. The Sorceress said I have to watch over you anyway if I ever want to be human again, so that seems like a good way to do it.”
She grinned. “You’re saying you want us to live together?” she said.
He turned bright pink. “No, I mean — ”
“Relax. I know what you meant,” she said. “I’d be thankful for having a roof over my head.” She stretched again, yawning.
He stared. “You really *are* pretty,” he said, his eyes wide.
Cerise grinned back at him. “You’re not too bad on the eyes yourself,” she said. She cupped her right breast. “But try not to stare, okay? They’re just breasts.”
He turned an even brighter shade of pink, and some parts of his face grew white. “I — I — ”
She chuckled, and lay down. She rolled over onto her side, turning both of her backs to the fire. “Good night, Marren. Sleep well.”
He nodded soberly. “G — ood — good night,” he croaked.
She closed her eyes, smiling, and gently drifted off to sleep. Of all the men she could have been stuck with, she could have been stuck with far worse.