IN THIS CHAPTER: The Vatspalt family begin to share the story of the Santa Lucia holiday with Lilly. Following a family tragedy, Lucia and her mother are placed in the custody of the church. Lucia is stripped naked in front of the congregation so that she may be deflowered. Anointed as a Forever Virgin by the church, Lucia is forbidden by doctrine from having sex. With her mother's help, Lucia discovers the joy of self pleasure. Mother reports to the monastery for an important ceremony, of which Lucia is commanded to participate. Lucia and her mother are forced to provide their bodies to the whims of strangers.
The Swedish words for pussy (snippa, slidan, fitta), asshole (stanga), korka (corked) and completely (igen) are used intentionally. They are not misspellings.
As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions.
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Lucia leaned back, spread her legs and placed her ankles into the widely spaced notches of the special cleansing chair the church had sent to their home. It wasn't as ornate as the chair used during her ceremony in the cathedral, but it accomplished the same goal.
Clutching the arms, she winced as Mother dribbled the molten wax between her opened thighs. She had been through this so many times, she'd grown almost tolerant of the discomfort that came when it was stripped from her skin, removing any vestige of her womanhood. But the application of the wax was always uncomfortable.
It seemed like a lifetime ago that she'd seen the soft dark hair down there. Mother explained that within the delicate pink folds at the crux of Lucia's slender thighs was her bunny den. "It's soft and warm and bunny's would live in such a place." Lucia smiled. She liked that name. "And next to the bunny den is your fox hovel." Mother was referring to the tightness where she made dirt. "Both must be smooth before this evening's journey."
"Yes, Mother."
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Mother had taught Lucia about the importance of these two special places the week of her 18th birthday, within only a few months after her Father's death. He drowned during a fishing expedition when the boat capsized. While other members of the party clung to the overturned hull, he had slipped beneath the stormy waves and never resurfaced. This was a common occurrence as the clan often fished far out into the ocean.
The sea provided life-giving sustenance, but was also an unforgiving and dangerous beast. One day her father embraced mother, tickled Lucia and planted a sloppy kiss on her cheek. "I love you, Lucia. Be a good girl for your mother while I'm away."
"I will, Father." She bowed her head out of respect.
"I know, Beansprout."
"Don't call me that. I'm too old for you to call me that baby name." She squirmed within his embrace. He laughed and kissed her again and that was the last time she saw him.
And because Father died, Mother explained, Lucia had no one to give over her hand in marriage. According to the church, it was forbidden by the gods that a girl in such a situation would ever know the pleasures a husband could offer her body, nor the financial security he could provide. As such, Lucia would be anointed as a Forever Virgin of the church upon the following Sunday of her 18th birthday. After Father's death, the church took ownership of Mother and Lucia and would do the same for thousands of other women and girls across Sweden who were held under the same law.
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And so it was on that Sunday that she dutifully walked to church with her mother. Lucia knew what was coming; she'd seen it performed many times. At the end of the regular service, the cleric announced the arrival of another Forever Virgin and he beckoned Lucia forward. With her back to the congregation, her head bowed and kneeling at the altar, the male attendants carried in the sacred chair. It was large and engraved with men and women engaging in the act, which baffled Lucia because the chair represented for her a world in which that act would never be experienced.
With the chair in place, the attendants approached Lucia and turned her to face the audience. They removed the black clothing she'd been required to wear since her father's passing and applied a warmed oil over her entire body so that she shined in the morning light piercing through the window above the altar. They worked it earnestly across her mounded breasts and nipples until they became stiff, and then between the folds of her bunny den and fox hovel, before helping her into the seat, which was covered in white silk. It was the first time she'd ever been touched in such a way and it felt nice, except for the congregation staring intently at her nakedness.
The chair was large so as to accommodate her ankles in ornately carved arms. They were widely spaced and designed to expose everything between her legs. The attendants shackled her wrists and ankles to the chair as the cleric prayed.
Lucia stared at the beautiful stained glass overhead, chewing her tongue as her body grew tense. The cleric spoke a few more words and Lucia cried out when he poured enough hot wax over her bunny den that it was completely covered. He turned back to his audience and spoke the words she knew by memory. "Lucia is a Forever Virgin and she will live her days resembling the beautiful virgin goddesses of the ancient past."
He turned and pulled on the wax and she yelped as a strip of her dark, downy hair was torn away. "She will never know the touch of a man or his masculinity between her legs and for this we will rejoice in her purity." The congregation hummed its approval. He tore another strip away and said, "The church decrees she shall never be the property of any man and she will remain the property of the church so that the gods may watch over her. She is never to be violated and she shall remain childless. As with every Forever Virgin, this one is to be corked to protect her purity." He pulled another strip and tears streamed down her reddened cheeks. It hurt like nothing else she'd ever experienced; even more so than the dreaded monthly bloodletting from her bunny den. The shackles clattered as her body jumped within the restraints.
The cleric continued. "From this day forward she will be korka igen and by the grace of the gods, I will perform such a task on this girl with the congregation as my witness." The altar attendants approached and tugged the remaining wax away as the cleric prayed.