And just like that, he – everything – changed. Something chemical reached a volta.
Tired of feeling shackled to his desire, His soul amended the mind of constitution’s, which was written by the body, and through will he lit a flame, forcing the equilibrium of his essence to be overridden. Nighttime moon reshaped itself. Gone were the old engravings.
He had desired this change fo’ years. Yet, none could grant him his peace. He would remain unstable without order to guide his hand from his cuffs to his pen to scribe a new legislature. Until he met Lasrever – self-imposed ambition and another’s love gave him the ammunition to shoot his guards and escape his prison, which he did not want to live in –
she was a tall, striking women, well-versed in science and math, literature and language, All-studies. She knew even of the probability that he could never understand back in his schooling days. Her laughter struck his ears like a pendulum, deciding for him his future: her.
They were married in fifteen months; he never cared about order with her. It came naturally.
He found himself enjambed in her poem, trailing her voice like a loose leaf floating on the winds of her air, her melody, her song, unaware of time. Life came more easily: he never worried again about his messy penmanship or his spoiled tulip-garden. He never grew tired of her lead.
In her wake, he tried to learn of her childhood – but the story was lost to him until after one year of their marriage, he sat her down and asked, “My dear… what is your truth,” fearing what the new might bring. She kissed him, and looked to the moon. He looked too. Both saw each other’s faces. She began:
“I grew up on the outskirts of Paris working as a patissier’s apprentice. I disguised myself as a boy for the purposes of safety, which I couldn’t understand at that age. Everyone believed my guise. It was a little native boy named Gnixelprep Noitanibmoc who had stolen me from my parents and cast me into this fortune. But, nonetheless, I prevailed and made my way into the light once more. Though Noitanibmoc disappeared into the dark. I lost contact with him – I never talk of the incident.”
Lasrever’s lip trembled, her tongue shackled to the roof of her mouth. She expected him to turn away, so very ashamed of her greed, her avarice, her prevarication. Instead, he grabbed her hands and bent down to kiss them. “You have healed my soul,” he said, “With your truth. Now I know why you are so brilliant.” “You are the only man who has ever been good to me,” said she, “I look inward because of you–” “And I, outward.” She smiled at his interruption. “My mistakes are no longer failures, and my appearance is no longer something to fix.” “Do we have to be careful of the end?” “The end of what?” “Is living like this ensuring us anything?” “You no longer are lying to yourself, yes?” “Yes–” “Then, my dear, it doesn’t matter. All that matters… is our union.” “Our undoing.” “Our moving forward.”
Lasrever had never cried like she did that night.