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Regina Glei's fiction
Lord of water
"Lord of Water" excerpt:
Meredith has come to suspect that something is wrong with Eric Aquatus:
…
The next day, a herd of craftsmen were hammering, drilling, scratching and banging at the walls and ceiling of the ruined hallway at the university.
Meredith locked the door to her office with a key and turned to me. So terribly aware of the chaos I had caused, I prayed for a rat hole to hide in.
“Enough for today, I can’t concentrate with this noise anyway,” she said and took my arm.
“Where are we going?”
“Surprise.”
I chuckled nervously and followed her. She had called me in the morning. I had never been so happy about a phone call in my entire life. She had ordered me to her office in summer clothes. She had insisted on the summer clothes. I would’ve worn chains or a drag queen’s outfit if that had been her desire.
I remember her clothes that day in every detail. Usually I didn’t give a damn about what the men or women around me were wearing; so far I had only looked at clothes from a practical point of view. But Meredith looked breathtakingly sexy in that short blue skirt and that deep low-necked white blouse. On her back a crease sloped from her left shoulder to her right side. That imperfection made the desire to rip that blouse off of her all the more tangible.
She took the lead and weaved through the noise and the craftsmen. I stared from the crease to her lovely, sturdy behind.
The few hours that had passed since I had burst the valves had allowed me to calm down. I still felt bad that I had caused so much trouble, damage and all of this work. But I hadn’t done it on purpose, right? I had never had sex before. Now that I knew what an orgasm was like, I was sure to be able to control any valve bursting actions. However, I still didn’t know what Meredith made of last night’s events and dreaded the surprise she had spoken of. What if the surprise was unpleasant? What if she’d ridicule me in one way or the other, that naïve student of hers whose virginity she had taken?
As I watched her walking in front of me, I realized that I had never been truly afraid of any human being. Not even my grandfather. Many people were afraid of him, I knew that, but I wasn’t, had never been. The only true fear I had ever known had been of the sea and now I feared Meredith.
***
Meredith drove me through town. I sat next to her and couldn’t help staring at her legs most the time. Finally, I looked up to check where we were going and a sting of hot fear stabbed my chest. When we had walked down that hallway the fear had still slumbered, now it hit me in the face like a sledgehammer.
“Where are we going?”
“Wait and see,” she said, smiling to herself.
“This is the way to the ocean.”
“Yes, I discovered a beautiful lonely beach. It’s a little far but it’s worth it.”
A cocoon closed around me and squeezed me so hard I couldn’t breathe properly. She couldn’t be taking me to the ocean, she just couldn’t!
“You’re taking me to the beach?” I asked numbly and needlessly.
“Yes. It’s wonderful weather, isn’t it? Just right for a swim.”
I didn’t know what to do but stare at my hands. I felt her scrutinizing, merciless look. She had noticed something was wrong with me. Panic rose in my guts and rumbled through them. I don’t remember the rest of the drive or whether we spoke or not. That cocoon still huddled me when we arrived and she dragged me to the beach.
A basket in one hand and me at the other, Meredith left her car behind in the dunes and led me down to a wonderful secluded beach with a few rocks here and there in the sand and not a living soul far and wide.
Ten years. For ten years I had avoided this moment. For ten years I hadn’t been so close to the ocean again.
…
Want to read more?
The "Lord of Water" will soon be available from Dark Quest Books.
Progress updates will follow soon.
About the cover artist:
Naoyuki Katoh is a noted Japanese science fiction artist since the 1970s and has contributed to many science fiction/fantasy magazines, novels and games. He did the outstanding cover art for all of Regina's books:
"She Should Have Called Him Siegfried."