CHAPTER 98

He sighed and then cocked an eyebrow at her. "Reckon it be, lass. Never seen it afore, but might as well be the same stuff the rest o' me be made of."

When his body came to retrieve his head, it stumbled just a bit before grabbing a handful of his hair. He shoved his head back into place and the world's biggest grin crossed his face.

"My legs feel all funny," he told her, then picked up her panties and handed them over. "Like I've been riding all day."

"How do you feel on the inside, though?" she asked.

He looked at her, and then up at the house. The smile on his face made him look warm in spite of his stark appearance.

"Dinna know it be a feeling I can put into words. But maybe not so lonely. Definitely not as lonely."

"I'm glad." She slipped her panties back on and then ran her hands over the buckles of his leather outfit before pulling him close for one more kiss. She could taste herself on his lips, and found herself smiling.

She had been right. A walk with Sulyvahn had made her feel much better and been the perfect distraction from her thoughts. She hooked her arm through his and pulled him away from the sundial and into the maze.

"If you have some more time, I was wondering if I could talk to you a bit about what happened. Over there," she said. "I'm...struggling with what the queen did to me."

Sulyvahn smiled. "I know that feeling. For you, lass, I be making the time."

Kisa couldn't believe her eyes, but had also been unable to look away. Had she really just watched Beth have sex with a headless horseman on the front lawn? It had been an odd sight, seeing the headless horseman drill her from behind, but Kisa had been unable to take her eyes away from it.

"I have so many questions," Death loudly announced, then looked at Kisa, his bony face frantic. "Do you suppose you could help answer them?"

"Ew, no!" She moved away from the Grim Reaper, but got caught up in the curtains of the window.

"Oh, please! Beth cannot see me, so I cannot ask her directly. "

Death was practically hopping from foot to foot in excitement. "Maybe you could ask her for me? Just one? I want to know if what they were doing just now was considered making love or boning. I've heard both terms mentioned on the gargoyle's tablet, and I cannot be certain which is appropriate in this case."

"That's not...I...no, you can't ask people about their sex lives!" She hopped down off the window seat and crossed her arms. Her tail swished back and forth, and she tried to make it hold still, but that part of her didn't listen. "That's very rude."

"It is?" Death wrapped his fingers around his chin. "If it's rude to ask, then why do they insist on doing it in front of me? I have seen many pairings since coming here."

"You're watching people have sex?" She hopped onto a nearby table so that she was eye level with Death. "You're not supposed to do that."

Death shrugged. "I wish to know more about how and why humans copulate. Ever since I saw Mike Radley do it with the demon up close, I feel it is worth understanding properly."

"Mike fucked a demon?"

Death nodded. "It was a fascinating encounter, way better than sitting around and looking at maps."

She couldn't believe it. The Grim Reaper was a peeping tom. "That's so wrong. If you see people having sex, you're supposed to give them privacy."

"If that is true, then why did you keep watching?"

"Uh..." Kisa had no answer, and she scowled. Being honest with herself, she had been unable to contain her curiosity. At first, that had been enough. But as the act continued, she had felt something more, a longing deep inside. Her own desires were being stirred, and by the time Beth had climaxed, she had felt a certain level of jealousy for the woman.

She would rather die in a fire than tell this to Death, so she lied. "I wanted to be sure that it was a consensual encounter. That's all."

"Hmm, I see. So it's okay to watch as long as you are uncertain about consent. And we cannot be certain until we ask them afterward."

"No, that's not—"

"I will go ask the dullahan if he granted consent, and you can ask Beth. If they both consented, then we shouldn't have watched."

"That's not how this—"

"I should probably offer him some tea. I imagine he is very dehydrated. Do you think he is hungry? It looked like he was eating her vagina, but I can't be sure how much nutrition...I say!It is considered very rude to laugh at someone when they are speaking to you."

Kisa had exploded in laughter. The whole argument with Death had been absurd, and she had finally lost control at the mention of Beth being eaten out. She laughed even harder when he scowled at her and swept his robes in tight, then crossed the room toward the door.

He stopped at the exit and turned to face her, fire blazing in his eye sockets. "This is why I prefer dogs. I would rather you had simply stared at me." He slammed the door when he left, causing a nearby death mask to fall off the wall and bounce across the floor.

She fell off the table and onto a nearby couch, and laughed until tears filled her eyes

Mike was face down on a tall table as Zel and another centaur examined the back of his scalp. He hissed in pain as they checked his wound for any other sources of infection.

After his bath with the fairies and Naia, he had eaten a light dinner and gone to bed. In the morning he woke up with a pounding headache that felt like a sinus infection. The back of his scalp was tender and swollen, and that was when he learned that the moisture from his hours long bath had kept his wound from scabbing over properly; it had opened during his sleep and bled all over his pillow. When the wound had tried to close up again, his pillow and hair had gotten caught inside, which triggered a nasty bout of swelling all along his scalp.