‘Hold on to this moment. Keep it. You’ve known happiness in life. No one can ask for more than that, can they?’
The villagers’ dance had turned primitive now. People flung themselves around, falling on the ground, flailing arms, grabbing each other, kissing, wrestling.
Evie’s lips touched Adam’s, and a hysterical cheer broke out. Immediately, the people swarmed forward, pushing and jostling against them. Adam struggled to end the kiss, aiming to try and direct them backwards, but Evie clung to him, biting down, pushing her tongue in his mouth.
Arms braced around them, hands grabbed hold of him and he felt his feet leave the ground. Evie still held on to him, the pair of them joined in an embrace while the village men bore them aloft, laying them down across dozens of forearms. Adam, alarmed now, broke free of Evie, but a pair of men walking alongside yanked his hair and forced his face back into hers.
‘Kiss her,’ they demanded. ‘Keep close to her.’
Somebody else was winding something around the pair of them, binding them together. It was some kind of twine, a flexible tree branch, perhaps willow.
‘What are you doing?’ he yelled, escaping Evie’s lips again, kicking and thrashing, but powerless against the combined strength of the Saxonhurst men.
‘Relax, lover,’ cooed Evie. ‘It’s just a silly tradition. Don’t worry.’
‘I know your traditions. What are you doing?’
‘We have to join together. Make the fertility of the summer last another year.’
‘What?’
‘There’s no point fighting it now, Adam. The time’s here. You might as well just …’
‘You mean …?’
Adam and Evie were set upright and then more twine was wrapped around them, securing them to the largest and most obscene of the corn dollies, a vivid representation of a woman being taken fore and aft by two lovers, one on either side of her.
‘You can’t mean this,’ yelled Adam, to the villagers as well as to Evie. ‘You can’t say all the other vicars have done this. Or is this some kind of joke? A sick Saxonhurst joke for a sick place.’
‘Kiss me.’
‘Evie, this is wrong. I love you, but this – this is wickedness.’
‘I’m sorry. I can’t go against the tradition.’
‘I love you so much. All I ever wanted to do was love you.’
She looked away for a moment, into the leaping flames. The villagers thronged around, some writhing on the grass, some lighting brands from the fire.
One man took a knife and cut a line down Adam’s clothes, pulling them off through the twine. It was a long and painstaking process and Adam had to hold completely still if he didn’t want an injudicious cut. The same was repeated with Evie’s dress until the pair of them stood, bound and naked, on display to the village.
‘There’s nothing for it,’ said Evie softly.
Adam shut his eyes and groaned, feeling her breasts squashed against his chest, his cock pressed to her hip. Despite everything, he felt it twitch, eager to harden.
‘You want me, don’t you, lover?’
She caught his mouth in another kiss. The cheer was loud and shrill, rising above the crackling roar of the fire.
He knew there was nothing else to be done. All was finished. He would leave Saxonhurst, never to return. But this once, he could have Evie. Evie could be his. Perhaps she would even leave with him.
He let his reservations fly and threw himself into the kiss. If he was to corrupt his soul, at least he could do it wholeheartedly. He ravished her mouth, fidgeting with the twine as his tongue lunged. But it was tied so fast and so tight, there was no way of releasing them.
Evie’s skin undulated, warm and yielding, against his. She ground her hips, inviting him to feel the wetness between her legs. He felt it, felt it stronger than the sting of smoke in his eyes or the pressure of the bonds or the humiliation of being exhibited this way. Its rapacious allure shot through him, into his bloodstream, straight to his cock.
Oh, at last, at last he could have her. At last he could plunge inside that luscious, dangerous cunt of hers and take it, take it, take it. He could know earthly pleasure, never mind damnation. It didn’t matter any more. And besides, he had no choice.
‘She’s wet!’ shouted a female voice. Adam opened one eye to see a woman crouching by their legs, inspecting them. ‘And he’s getting hard.’