"I swore I
would one day make you pay for what you did to me, Tara, and that day has
come," he said." This mansion is mine and so is everything in it,
including you."
She swallowed
convulsively as she tried to pull out of his grip. "No...no!"
" Yes and
yes, Tara", he said. "Do you not want to hear my terms?"
Tara fought for
control of her emotions. "Go on, then," she said, dropping her
shoulders slightly.
His fingers relaxed
their hold, his thumb moving in a slow caress over the pillow of her bottom lip
until every nerve was tingling. Tara was mesmerized by his touch. It was
so achingly gentle after his flaying words. She felt herself melting, the
stiffness going out of her limbs, her body remembering how it felt to press up
against his hard, protective warmth.
After a moment,
he seemed to check himself. His hand dropped from her mouth and his eyes
hardened to black coal again.
"You will
be my courtesan", he said.
"I will pay you an allowance for as
long as we are together. But I would like to make one thing clear from the
outset. Unlike the way you manipulated Fidel Nkwe into marrying you, I will not
be offering the same deal. There will be no marriage between us. Ever."
"My grand mother once told me a
story one night as a child that a certain handsome young man planted a rose and
watered it faithfully and before it blossomed, he did a thorough examination of
it. He saw that its bud would soon
blossom but noticed thorns upon the stem and saddened by thought of how such a beautiful flower from a plant
can be burdened with so many sharp thorns, he neglected the duty of nourishing
the rose with water and just before it was ready to bloom.....IT DIED!’’
I have made so many mistakes that i am
not proud of but not forgetting that within every soul there is a rose and it
grows amid the thorns of our flaws.
Many atimes, we tend to see only the
thorns, the defects, thinking that nothing good can possibly come from us and
we never recognize our potentials but my child; the greatest characteristic of
love is to look at a person, know their faults and then accept that person into
your life still.... all the while, recognizing the nobility in their souls and
yet they can still help others realize that they can overcome their flaws or
imperfections...
Pointing at me, granny said;
"if we show them the rose within themselves, they will conquer
their thorns. Only then will they blossom many times over-
My name is Tara and I am ready to
unravel the details of my life as a courtesan born into slavery. A slave to
love, lust, power and money but life gave me just one to pick from, bearing in
mind that the road was often bleak and slippery but yet..... I had to do what I
did that got me to where I am!
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