It was all a bit embarrassing and distasteful, especially with Narcissus watching my every reaction. Not that I would have been into watching live sex shows without him. I'd much rather see this sort of thing on a screen in private, where I don't have to meet the eyes of those involved or feel dirty about the way they looked at me. Honestly, I don't watch a lot of porn; I don't need to. When you had men who looked like mine, there's no point; watching them crawl into bed is enough pornography for me.
“If I didn't know better, I'd think you were a cold fish,” Narcissus huffed as he pulled me from the room. “All right, Vervain, you win this round. Tomorrow we'll try again.”
Narcissus escorted me to a bedroom, pushed me inside, slammed the door in my face, and strode away angrily.
“Can I get something more comfortable to sleep in?” I shouted after him.
The leather disappeared and a see-through baby-doll took its place.
“Aw, come on!”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
“This is stupid.” I rolled my eyes for emphasis.
Narcissus and I were sitting in the stands at a horse race. We were the only ones watching the race, which in itself was kind of creepy, but then there were the horses. Which weren't horses. Naked people with contraptions over their heads to mimic bridles pranced about as they waited for the race to start. They had jockeys standing over their saddled backs, numbers painted on their flanks, and horsetails sticking out of their asses. I didn't know whether to laugh or look away. It was like an episode of Seinfeld where you're so embarrassed for the people that you can't even watch their humiliation.
“Can we go now?” I grumbled.
“But the race is about to start,” Narcissus said gleefully.
“I'm not pretending.” I grimaced. “This honestly does nothing for me.”
“Nor I,” he agreed. “But it's rather funny. I can't believe people do this.”
“I don't believe it,” I said flatly. “Maybe the horse thing, but I don't think they have races like this.”
“You'd be surprised at the things I've seen in people's memories,” he whispered as if he were sharing a scandal.
I gave him a dry look.
A buzzer went off, and the horses started “running.” A human couldn't move all that quickly on their hands and knees, regardless of whether they had knee pads and gloves on. The race wasn't about winning, it was about arousal. Although, how anyone can get aroused by pretending to be a horse is beyond me. Isn't that a child's game? Maybe it was my ability as a shifter to turn into real animals that made this seem so silly.
At least I wasn't the one dressed like a horse.
I sat back and looked over the horse track as Narcissus jumped to his feet to cheer his kinky illusions on. He had gotten very detailed with it. Ribbed, aluminum seats threatened to emboss my butt with lines and some of their rivets even had edges of rust. Betting stubs, empty soda cups, and kernels of popcorn littered the stands in testament to the last cheering crowd. Not a single cloud hampered the strength of the Sun, shining brightly overhead. The packed-earth track circled an oval of grass outlined with a low railing. Yellow flowers sprouted in a clumpy line on the grass side of the railing to give the border some color. I didn't doubt that Narcissus had seen this track in someone's memory—it reeked of reality—but I did doubt that humans had been the horses racing around it.
The race finally ended, and the winning horse received a wreath of flowers; draped around her neck triumphantly. Narcissus applauded while I crossed my arms and waited for his uniquely dismal torture to be over.
But the celebrations had just begun.
The winning horse had her tail lifted, and her jockey started vigorously fucking her. He slammed into her so hard that flower petals fell from the wreath around her neck. Then the announcer who had presented her with the wreath pulled out one more prize for her. He held his erection before her and the other jockeys clapped in approval before he shoved it into her eagerly open mouth. The men began bandying the winning “horse” back and forth between them as the other horses presented themselves to their riders for their own rewards. Everyone got a prize at the horse tracks. I tried to block out all the strident whinnying.
“This doesn't excite you either?” Narcissus pursed his lips. “Perhaps you need to see specifically what you could have.”
The scene shifted; track, horses, and stands all disappearing. We were suddenly in Narcissus' old bedroom; the one with the column-bed and pool-tub. I sat near the foot of the bed, strapped to one of the columns, but I was also lying naked beneath Narcissus.
“What the fuck?” I screeched as he kissed the other me.
“It's just an illusion,” he said calmly. “I've been practicing for you... on you. I figured it would give me an edge.”
“If you can make a fake me, why don't you just fuck her and leave the real me alone?” I growled.
“But she's not you. I want something real, Vervain.” He pouted. “And now, while I wait for you, I'll be able to hone my techniques more accurately. I've been able to make some improvements on your stand-in after getting a good look at you naked. You know; without other people in the way.”
“What do you mean; without other people in the way?” I went still.
“I watched you and your husbands that first morning in the Mirror,” he said casually. “You're very naughty and very talented. I've been having fun exploring all the ways I can satisfy you, and I think you'll find me to be an expert where your body is concerned.”
“You told me that you haven't had sex in centuries,” I ground out. “But that was a lie, wasn't it? You've been fucking illusions all along.”
“I was fucking real women and illusions.” He
