the queen’s blessing by Bogdan Dragos

she looked stunning in
the fading light
of the day

her black dress
and the boots with
ridiculously thick soles
and the dark makeup
made her look like the queen
of the cemetery

but her knight
didn't feel too welcome into
her kingdom

"Aren't you excited?" she
asked

"Oh, I am if you are,"
he said

"Good. Then drink up."

He drank
and then she drank
some more, always more
than him

and then the bottle was
empty

She placed it into his hand
and pointed at a
gravestone. "C'mon, I want
to watch you break it
against that."

By this time he knew
better than to
disappoint his queen

He walked over to the
gravestone and crashed the
bottle against it

The queen smiled
and applauded. She was very
pleased with him

"It's a child's grave," she said. "I can
always tell."

They sat there in silence
and watched it
as the stars reflected in
the glass shards

"All right," she said finally,
"fetch me the skull."

"W-what?"

His word turned her
gentle smile into a slight
grimace. "Now, do not answer
my command with a
question, darling. The proper
way to respond is the
wordless way. Don't say
anything, just do. Do what I
said."

"I... don't know how."

"Oh? You don't know how?
My, my, that's so bad. That's
really bad.
If you don't know how
then you also won't know what
it's like to
make love to me in a dark
room where only one lonely
and weak candle burns inside
the skull
as shadows dance above us
on the walls.
Can you imagine not
knowing what that
feels like? Ah, you don't need
a greater punishment than
that. And believe me, I'm never
happy to deliver punishments.
I'd rather deliver rewards,
but as it is..."

He knelt by the gravestone
and grabbed the
broken bottle
by its neck
and used it as a small
shovel

Again and again
he stabbed the
ground with it

Each stab and hurl of
dirt enlarging the
queen's smile, brightening
her pale face further
until it was like a beacon
in the night

It must've been really
bright. So bright that neither
of them observed the
police sirens approaching them
or the flashlights of
the officers

By the end of the night
it didn't matter
that she never
got her precious skull

She was happy
with all the attention she
got from everyone,
even the local news

She'll make sure to
reward her knight plenty

She had only
to find him
again somewhere