The Given Garden Page 16

  So, on the day we received the truth about ourselves- there were only six of us there to hear about it. Then, after we knew I decided to bury my guilty conscience as far as wishing for Jaiya’s death was concerned, because as soon as all was revealed, there wasn’t one of us left who wouldn’t gladly slay one of our older siblings to return home, and escape the fate of becoming Kohén’s ‘Companion.’

  13.

  December 29th AA640

  I am sure there are many ways to tell a girl that she is to grow up to become a whore because she had the misfortune of having been born third, and I knew that as far as being a whore goes, there are worse places to be forced to trade your body for a living, than within the clean, opulent walls of a grand palace and for one man alone. So for what it is worth, I came to feel bad for Maryah years later, when I reflected on how we’d taken the news- by blaming her.

  Emmerly threw her cup of water at the instructor’s head, Kelia had a screaming fit on the floor, I fainted and when I came to, Elfin was pulling back from Maryah, and the red hand-print that she had palmed against the tutor’s elegant cheek. Lette and Martya didn’t react at all and years later, I’m still not sure that Lette has fully grasped the meaning of the word, for she still speaks of marriage while curling under the ends of her chin-length black hair and gazing out the window.

  But also for what it’s worth- Maryah had had the gall to look at us after she revealed the true meaning of the ‘Companion’ caste that we were to join and smile as though she’d just done us a huge favour, so really, who could blame us for wanting to strangle her so that similar words would never pass through her throat again?

  But it didn’t matter how we reacted to the news, because Maryah had been trained to handle it with as much control as she handled us until then, and the crop of girls who had passed through her classroom doors thirteen years before when she’d begun training Karol’s ‘Companions’. Yes they used the word ‘Companion’ to mean sex-worker, and to our horror, the entire kingdom understood what it meant, why we had been chosen and that when we turned sixteen, we would start swanning about in white dresses like Resonah and Rosina too, and earning the gold jewels that we would sell when we were released in our twenty-first year. And once we understood it and realised that we were not being teased, we collectively went into shock, a state of hysteria or both. Kelia tried to run, but the door to the classroom was locked from the outside where a guard was standing with a key and the Nephilim boy who we all knew to be the Kingdom’s best healer, who was prepared to sedate us if required.

  ‘Since the dawn of time, sexual intercourse has been an event that has been both celebrated and condemned,’ Maryah said, as we gaped at her from the seats she’d ordered us to take so that she wouldn’t have to summon the Nephilim boy in from the hall. ‘But regardless of what attitude was taken, it has always been clear that the act is necessary, and one that we now know that God himself enjoyed partaking in, while he lived on the earth. Sex is not dirty or a sin- but it can be used as a weapon. It can break hearts, ruin families and once upon a time, it led to disease.’ She frowned. ‘Luckily, the only humans who survived Armageddon were the pure ones, mostly children, and so, we’ve managed to avoid such diseases since. Sex is a vital function, especially to men, and it should indeed be celebrated and done freely.

  However, we still cannot afford to be as free with our bodies in Calliel as we were in the original Eden, because our population depends on us balancing procreation with development and resources. As you were taught a few years ago, sexual activity has been prohibited before marriage or Joinings and even in these situations, birth control must be used religiously. If people do not wish to have children or find a mate, they live in the single communities and after the age of thirty, can elect to take the elixir that you will all be given on your sixteenth birthday to quell your fertility and purify your blood. This means that they will be able to safely have sex with other singles, as will you. In fact- that will be your job.’

  I raised an eyebrow, sure that I’d heard her wrong. When she said ‘Quell’ did she mean permanently prohibited from having children?

  ‘You’re telling us that we will never be able to bear children?’ Martya asked, her tone sharper than I’d ever heard it before.

  ‘Yes,’ Maryah said, gazing back levelly.

  ‘But that’s not supposed to happen until we’re thirty and have proven that we can’t find a mate!’ I exclaimed, outraged.

  ‘But you are not like the others,’ Maryah responded calmly. ‘You are Given and you will not be permitted to take a mate.’

  ‘But other third-borns -’

  ‘Are free to pursue destinies of their own choice after having served sixteen years under the crown in compensation for their conception,’ Maryah said quickly, sitting on her desk. ‘They work hard and then they are free to rise above their social status. You girls, on the other hand, were deemed exceptional when Kohén chose you and so the reverse is true. You have been rocketed above almost every caste since you moved in, trained to earn more than any other caste- including the nobility- but only under the stipulation that you will eternally belong to the kingdom after your training is complete, and when you signed the contract you were presented with on the day you moved in, you acknowledged this.’ Maryah folded her hands in her lap while I gripped at my stomach, feeling violently ill.

  This cannot be happening!

  The contract had said that we’d be the kingdom’s property after our twenty-first year, but it hadn’t specified HOW! We’d all just assumed that we’d be allocated a caste or moved or something, not that we’d lose our rights to live as free people! And being spoiled and educated for sixteen years was supposed to compensate us for losing the right to marry or have a family? That wasn’t fair, for I would have sooner worked with fish if I’d known the terms!

  ‘By your twenty-first year, you will not be considered an individual, as much as a resource, and our resources must be protected. The elixir will be imbedded into your womb on your sixteenth birthday, and not only will it serve to keep your blood clean, but it will stay there and poison your eggs forever. Never again will you know a week of blossoming bleeding after your sixteenth, and never will you be able to have children.’ Emmerly began to cry again but Maryah continued to speak in that same, calm tone. ‘Because of this, you will not be considered eligible for marriage or even a Joining. You will work here for Kohén until you turn twenty-one and then, most of you will be turned out as wealthy women who are ready to provide for themselves in smaller harems, mostly privately owned but there are several options and I will soon go over them in detail.’

  Harem. Harem. Harem. Harem… I’d known the word but I’d never looked into it! I felt like such a fool- Resonah had given me a clue but I’d ignored it in favour of kicking around a ball!

  ‘Most of us?’ I snapped.

  ‘Usually most,’ Maryah conceded, giving me a strange sort of smile. ‘But Kohén will be free to choose as many favourites to stay within the castle harem as he pleases. This is a non negotiable point- you are his until turned out- but it is a blessed thing to be asked to stay in Eden for as long as possible.’

  My heart sank like a boulder, and smashed against a reef of emotions. THAT was what being Kohén’s ‘favourite’ meant?!

  ‘What harem?!’ Kelia cried out.

  I buried my face in my hands and answered before Maryah could. If I’d looked up the word after hearing it uttered on my first day in Arcadia, I never would have signed that contract! ‘The north wing...’ I whispered, and then looked up at Maryah accusingly. ‘That’s where the Companions live, isn’t it?’

  ‘Correct,’ Maryah went on. ‘The same wing that I too once called home, for girls, I was once a Given child like you.’

  We all stared at Maryah in stunned silence, and she smiled and then used our collective stupor as an opportunity to fill us in on the basic premise of our new caste, why it had come about and what was to become of us.

  T
he situation was both simple and complex because of our population control laws and our desire to appease the God we never wanted to anger again. Within a joined union, the men had permission to seek physical satisfaction outside of their relationship so long as that activity only happened with a woman who was infertile and belonged to no one, and if the woman sought physical gratification elsewhere as well, she could turn to one of the eligible male counterparts.

  That was where Companions came in. Back in the AD world and even BC, sex workers had been viewed as the lowest level of human life, because people had married and bred to please God and pave their way into heaven while keeping their needs met. All of the girls knew that- we’d all read enough books to understand what a harlot was, and that was why we had reacted with such anger. In fact, the only ‘good’ whore that we’d ever heard of was Gabriella Barachiel- Miguel’s wife. But she’d only been a whore before she’d met him, not after!

  But alas, Gabriella was technically the reason why whores were supposed to be respected now, and because equality and population control was more valued than religion (which was illegal to practice, even in private), the ‘Companion’ caste had gone from being an illicit, dirty group of people, to necessary fixtures within society who were quite literally worth their weight in gold. We kept joined unions from failing over physical incompatibility, for we ensured that men remained satisfied and in good spirits, and women from having to fulfil obligations to men that they weren’t attracted to. We even helped keep men and women breeding and living as families when the spouses were gay and not attracted to one another at all! Kids got two parents and a stable home until they were old enough to live independently, and we got paid for lending our bodies out to soothe frustrated minds and anatomy. Voila! Our kingdom had found a way to keep family units intact in the face of temptation and dissatisfaction using the prettiest, most unwanted girls- and because of Kohén’s kindness to me and willingness to look the other way on my strange looks on my claiming day, I was now to be treated just like them!

  Yes, Companions were apparently a simple fix to the condition that had been plaguing men and breaking women for centuries- sexuality- and now instead of having to sell ourselves and hang our heads in shame, we were created and packaged by the kingdom to be used by the male heirs of the Barachiel family first (apparently this had been going on for centuries) and then sent out into the world as Goddesses, rather than the toothless, infected whores that had scuttled across the earth like cockroaches before.

  Maryah went on to explain that naturally there was no Harem provided by the castle full of boys, because there had never been a female or homosexual heir in Arcadia, so that was why only girls were Given to Eden during the heir’s fifth birthday year. But ‘Companion’ was a viable caste Calliel-wide, and the right men for the job could get into it with relative ease if they wished, so long as they didn’t mind being rendered sterile forever and understood that they would have to cater to both sexes interested in intercourse with them. More men still dreamed of being fathers and husbands than vagabonds or bisexuals though, so the volunteers for the male side of the Companion caste were very low, and of course, most who put their hand up for the job were either unattractive or had been born sterile anyway. But measures had been taken to raise the bar so that whoever was taken in proved to be attractive, intelligent and talented. To Maryah’s knowledge, there were only two men in Arcadia who made coin as Companions, but Tariel had at least six. Like with every other caste, the numbers were monitored so that there would always be enough work to go around in the industry that was apparently the wealthiest of all, and because the kingdom supplied the caste with a fresh influx of able-bodied and unwanted women every time an heir turned twenty-one, no woman outside of those selected could volunteer for the job, which made us both lucky and elite.

  And wealthy we could be. We Given girls would be paid in actual gold until we turned twenty-one, not coin, to keep up the facade that we were part of the kingdom’s treasure instead of simple old sex workers. Kohén would have access not only to a vault of women on the lower level of the forbidden north wing to do with as he pleased- whenever he pleased- after we turned sixteen- but access to a vault of gold jewels that he would gift to us following every intimate interaction as a token of his bought affection. That way, when we were led out of the palaces gates, the ones who sparkled the brightest would be recognised as the most prestigious of all sex-workers in Arcadia, and would be able to charge more for their services amongst the commoners after, then the ones who left with only a pendant to announce that they were a lousy lay but an affordable one, and as a bonus incentive, trained to make small-talk and dance for men’s pleasure or paint their damned portraits, just in case her oral skills were lacking.

  We were to be superstars. Admired and thanked by women, desired by every man, and revered for our perfect presentation and lovely residences. We would be the best singers, artists and dancers- and we would be able to attend every ball and meeting. Companions made more money than most of the nobility for they were not expected to hand any of it over to the crown, and had the freedom to come and go as they pleased and retire as soon as they were able to. We were to be a living, breathing, sashaying fantasy and we were to hold our heads high and thank the kingdom profusely when we left- unless Kohén decided to keep us around, which he was within his right to do until he replaced us with a wife that he could climb on top of, or like his father, keep his very favourite whores at his side for eternity and continue to use them while his spouse waited for the post-copulating cuddles in her lonely room.

  Yes, we learned that too- the king and duchess had not been married, which was why she didn’t go by the title of queen. No, they had been joined for procreation purposes only, and though Maryah swore that they were in love, she said that the Barachiel men were the very definition of the word insatiable and that not one of them had been ‘married’ to his wife in the eyes of God, and probably never would be. (One more thing that everyone else in Calliel knew but us.) They didn’t want to take vows and sin, so they simply skipped the vows part and took up a partner who would be content to love him despite his roving eye.

  To their credit (apparently) all of the royal unions had lasted until death, right through history, and it had to be okay with God, because he’d not only pardoned his angel Miguel for breeding with a human woman outside of wedlock during Armageddon- but he had made him ruler of the new world because he’d shown her more loyalty than he’d shown God himself, regardless of whether she’d sported a silver band on her finger, a gold one or in Miguel’s case- the solitaire diamond, which the current duchess now wore as an engagement promise that Elijah had yet to see through.

  Maryah said that it wasn’t that the Barachiel men couldn’t love or commit- it was just that the descendants of the archangel were as weakened by the temptation of flesh as Miguel had been, and did not think that should work against their character for it had been a trait inherited from God in creation. But Miguel had been the first man to take vows with Heaven’s mother, Neveah, and that hadn’t worked in their favour for she’d been a promiscuous whore- and he’d rejected Heaven to stay with the actual whore Gabriella, who he had loved, so why should his descendants have to prove how faithful they would be to their partners after, so long as they continued to feed them, and only cheated with the women provided to them by criminals like MY parents? They worked hard after all- giving up their lives in the world’s best interests and breeding to keep their line going for our benefit, so why should they suffer a cold bed as well, especially given as how they couldn’t take a spouse to have their needs met until they were thirty and deemed mature enough to govern us anyway?

  The entire situation made me feel like the world was spinning. Maryah could pardon the Barachiel men all she wanted to, but I’d be willing to bet good money that Miguel had never, EVER, gone behind his Gabriella’s back with another woman, even if she’d said it was okay! That was why there was one title for angels, and another for their
diluted offspring! Karol Barachiel may have descended from Miguel Barachiel- but he was no archangel! Miguel had spent his last years on earth tirelessly working to build shelters and purify waters for the people he was protecting, and wouldn’t have had the time to copulate like a rabbit regardless of how high his drive had been back when he’d broken Satan’s heart. As far as I was concerned, if the remaining members of the Barachiel tribe wanted to be seen in a similar pious light, then they could spend less time screwing, and more getting their hands dirty in a helpful way!

  The worst part was understanding that everyone knew these things, but us. Our parents. Our siblings. Anyone old enough to understand was told- everyone except for the girls in line for the caste, and measures were taken to protect us from the truth that could harm us mentally if told too early. That was why there was a law in place to keep us isolated to the best of the palace’s ability until we were thirteen, and though some girls had worked it out over the centuries, anyone charged with telling a Given girl that she was to become a Companion, or the prince that he was to receive a harem would be banished - no matter the age- five or seventy. That was why even Finch had never told me, or my mother or even Resonah, whom I now understood was the king’s ‘Companion.’ One of two who he’d kept well beyond their twenty-first years, and obviously to his wife’s contempt. And Maryah called that love? Ha! Romeo would slay anyone who treated his Juliet like that and Juliet would never have taken a diamond solitaire in the place of her Romeo’s devotion!

  No wonder my mother had denied her right to visit me. She’d promised otherwise in the beginning, hoping to see me traded off as a regular worker, but after I’d written to her and told her that despite being ugly, I’d been chosen to stay in Eden, well… she must have been horrified! After all, she and my father had married for love and committed to monogamy. The Companion caste was a slap to the face to everything that she valued the most!