“Sometimes the soul kills the intellect, while the feelings subdue the soul”

  It had been raining heavily for several hours already, cooling the air of a late April so much that it cut to the bones, but this seemed not to bother Anne, who continued to lie on the cold floor of the stable, slowly breathing warm air from her body which lacked powers, and the air, exiting the girl’s nostrils, slowly lifted the feeble strands of straw, which surrounded her.

  She felt down and trampled on, considering being a nobody for those people she had served and at whose feet she put her soul because what happened to her today was something she had never expected.

  First, has been the cruel beating she received from Marianne Chesterman, while she was defending someone else’s house. Then, it came Christine’s betrayal, who she sent her to the stables designedly and who sold her for a moment of madness of a man who could have had at his feet any woman he would have wanted, but without even shaking a finger, he took advantage of the innocence of a young and inexperienced servant, who showed up in front of him by chance, but whose round and alluring body provoked him to the madness that he dragged her into this cold stable and he had her on straw and not into a warm and ordinary room, as it is used to have a virgin.

  This hurt Anne even more, who felt that she lost her virginity so simply and in such an insignificant place.

  She had dreamt to be loved and to love because for so long she didn’t feel that someone really cared for her, but now, after all that happened that day, her dreams are gone, as her desires, because who will need her after she had been into the arms of another man. Even if it was without her approval, but anyway, she will be the one accused, she will be the one pointed with the finger and considered to be a worthless woman.

  Finally, she decided to stand up. She deeply inhaled air in her chest, relieving as much as possible her chest, so pressed because of tears and muffled sighs and, supporting herself on her forearm, she lifted her body into a sitting position.

  There was enough quiet around. Nobody’s presence was felt because Luis took care not to allow witnesses of his madness and he sent everybody on business.

  He did like this every time that place awoke in him the desire, but most of the time in his arms were simple women, who stepped the threshold of this stable voluntarily and accepted to spend some time with him.

  But he had wanted something different today and he had had it: the body of a young woman, writhing in his arms and awakening in him a crazy urge to have her again and again and again, until he will get tired of him, but something deep inside him was telling Luis that this won’t end soon.

  But Christine had changed his plans. When he saw her in the stable, he decided to give up to the idea to close this girl somewhere and to have her as a mistress, because he knew so well what Christine is capable of and, for a simple wild desire, he could lose her help, support that he took advantage of all these years since he and Christine share not only the same bed but also the same ideals.

  Deeply inhaling cigar smoke in his chest, while he was sitting on a big log next to the stables, he looked at the sky: even if it was night already and so dark around, the light of the lantern, which illuminated the surroundings, revealed a sky full of black and heavy clouds, a sign that the rain won’t end soon.

  “Tomorrow will be bad enough,” Luis whispered, and, throwing the cigar butt away, he extinguished it by stepping on it. “The way will be impassable for a while and from what I see we are caught here for a long time. But, all the evil for a good purpose,” he said again in a lower voice, convinced that he won’t get bored here because something inside him was telling him that something good is approaching.

  A sudden move, coming out from the stables, alerted Luis, and, standing up in a jump, he pierced the sight with his eyes. “Who’s there?” he yelled. “Show up!”

  Nobody answered for about two minutes and this made Luis nervous, who was already looking around, trying to find something to use as a weapon and to defend himself from a sudden attack. But soon he calmed down when he saw Anne sneaking toward him, next to the wall, with all the garments on her broken and wet, as if she had stood under the rain, lying on an open field, without suspecting that it had been so.

  When Anne left the stable, her first thought had been to find a lake or a river and to drown there her body, because of the shame that was pressing her chest, as if it was a plier, and this was unbearable.

  But while she was crawling her feet on the path full of mud, with all the water that was pouring from the sky all over her body, she felt that she can’t advance any single meter and she collapsed in her knees, with her cold arms clutching the rags of the dress next to the wounded body, trying as it was possible to cover it and a painful cry took over her, lying her on the ground, without paying attention to the coldness of the earth and of the mud that was sticking on her body.

  However, it didn’t matter to her. She felt her body the same: sprinkled with mud and trampled on, unworthy to live further, with her mind wandering aimlessly and wanting to die, but a thunder light, that pierced the sky, illuminating the purple void, brought in her mind Christine’s words: “if I see you one more time hanging around my man, I swear I’ll kill you with my own hands.”

  And this made the girl shudder, not because of fear of being killed, but because Christine dared to blame her for what happened and that she never felt remorse, because she sent Anne to the stables, willingly, and that she knew that Luis was there and what would happen with the girl.

  Somewhat animated, Anne stood in a sitting position, while her hands fell next to her body, clenching her fists and squeezing the thick and sticky mud in them.

  The loose dress, torn to pieces in front, fell aside uncovering her naked breasts, and the cold and fast drops touched her skin, heated by anger and by pain, and it made her shake and, twitching, she remembered another sentence Christine said the day Anne had been hired as her servant: “Keep your friends close, but the enemies closer” and this is what Anne decided to do.

  “If she’s so afraid to lose her man, that I’ll help her with this!” the girl grinned, and her eyes, till then lifeless, had filled with hatred, sparkling in the darkness.

  “Even if I must swallow my pain and my anger for my entire life, I won’t leave and accept to be trampled on feet by these dogs. I’ll do whatever I can, Ms. Bircham, but I’ll have the pleasure to see you crawling at my feet, begging for mercy, while I’ll be the one watching you from above” and standing up and wrapping her body in the broken dress, Anne turned back toward Chesterman’s property, convinced to take advantage of what happened that day.

  “Make me your mistress, mister Chesterman!” Anne told him while standing in front of him, in her ragged clothes and shivering from the cold.

  Luis looked at her amazed: another girl, in Anne’s place, would have run because of fear and shame and pain, but she didn't do this and her words … so strange, that he at first didn’t understand what she meant to say. But later, when he finally watched her eyes, he saw in them a kind of strange blink, but he didn’t think, even for a second, that it was the sparkle of revenge and because of this she turned back to him and she’s the one asking him to enter his bed once again.

  But Anne was convinced to gain this. Even if she feels nausea for this man, that abused her, even if she’s scared not to feel once again, she felt the first time he had her, she knew that he is the only one who could save her from poverty and she was not mistaken: Luis still had in his glance a burning desire to subdue that youth and Anne decided to take advantage of it.

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  “I’m not asking too much, mister Chesterman: only a shelter and a little bit of your love,” but the girl knew very well that Luis was quite generous with the women that were entering his bed and if Anne becomes one of those women, she will take care that the few to become more, and when she will find a way to get revenge on him too, for his shamelessness to have her without her accept, she will get revenge without any doubt.

  Luis smiled. He didn’t expect such a request and he also didn’t know how to act, but anyway, the desire intrigued him and it was so alluring because he wanted to live once again that night the sensations of a sweet youth, twitching because of pleasure in his arms, because it is what he thought that she felt while he had her, but the problem was Christine because if he is out of the house this night, she will suspect something and it can bring unpleasant consequences for him.

  “And anyway,” he finally said, “your request seems to me preposterous, Anne. What makes you think that I want more from you than I had already today? Don’t be silly. A man, who thoroughly enjoyed your freshness, won’t want to feel this once again, especially if he had the possibility to enjoy many other youths who lied down at his feet willingly,” but Luis was lying to her and the girl could see it in his eyes, which were widely blinking while staring on the opening of the dress, at her blossomed chest, alluring and calling, and Anne caught the message the man was sent to her and, slowly moving as if by chance, she let a piece of her corset fall to the side and it uncovered her breast more than a half, and this clever movement of the girl made to twitch the man’s wild instinct of possessing and with a slow shake of his hand, Luis approached her … he grabbed the piece of cloth that was shamelessly falling on her breast and move it aside, uncovering it completely. Then, he touched the top of the blossomed chest with the back of his hand and the light stitching of the breast made his body hardened of desire.

  The other hand touched the back of the girl and with a sudden movement he approached her of him and their bodies practically stuck on each other.

  Anne shuddered. At first, because of fear, feeling in the man’s movements a wild desire, but she decided not to run and she did well, because Luis soon started to move the back of his palm from the chest down her soft skin, caressing it and a kind of sweet tingle passed through all her body, but it was just half of what Luis felt and soon he intensified his movements and his hand first touched the skin of her back and moved down and down and down and the girl closed her eyes when his hand touched the back curvature and, squeezing it, he pushed her closer to him, while the other hand was moving even lower on her body.

  Anne was struggling now with her own feelings because something was telling her to run, to push him away and to run, but she stood in place, while the man’s hand was caressing her skin gently and wildly at the same time till it reached the parts of the desire of her body and she hardly twitched and she hid her face on his shoulder muting a scream, because his movements on her skin made her twitch, but not because of fear: she wanted him.

  And this strange feeling made her want more and she continued in his arms, while he grabbed her in a tight hug and, kissing first her temple and moving down till his lips touched her naked shoulder, she understood that this time she looked for this and there was no turning back.

  “Follow me!” he demanded her and she obeyed, entering behind him again in the stables and, in the same place, where he had had her by force before, she gave herself to him this time, but now his movements weren’t hurting her but were making her feel pleasure and a weird sensation was piercing her body and, closing her eyes, she fell prey to her own desires, while their bodies were intensifying their movements.

***

  At the gallop of the horse, Anne and Luis move away from the estate, because Luis had decided to install the girl in one of his houses, not too far from his property, to have her near all the time he will feel the necessity to see and to have her.

  To escape Christine's suspicions, he told her that he has to leave, because of an urgent business in trouble, and that he will be back in a few hours and after taking all the necessary things to make his leaving for business seem real, he left the house in a hurry.

  Christine, not convinced till the end, because of the man’s behavior, approached the window and looked at the backyard, until didn’t see Luis leaving on the horse, alone, and the fact that Luis was leaving alone, made her feel comfortable and she decided to go to her room and to enjoy a warm bath, because she was sure that today she will have a calm night, next to Luis, after he finally calmed down his wild instinct, but what Christine didn’t know was that Anne was waiting for him, on leaving the property, in a hidden place, planning in silence the next movement to strengthen her position.

  Actually, she made it already when she managed to defeat her distaste, fear, and hatred to the man and again spent some time in his arms, and now, the fact that he decided to give her a house, made her smile with all her being, because Christine’s plan, to kneel her and to crash her, had failed.

  Instead of falling, Anne climbed and she learned this from Christine, who for so many times forced her to listen to her aberrations about power, convinced being that Anne doesn’t understand anything about this, but Anne not only understood all, but she also saw in this a way to succeed and now she had the chance to put in practice those lessons.

  When Luis approached on the horse the rotated tree, under which Anne was hiding, the girl was thinking about what to do to make him spend that night with her and this way to give Christine the first blow, but right away she understood that it was too soon and that she needs some time to think carefully about the futures plans and she just smiled to Luis, when the man stretched his hand to help her to climb on the horse’s back, in front of him and grabbing her tightly, he put his coat on her shoulders, convinced not to show that beautiful nakedness that was his and he didn’t want anybody else to see it.

  Spurring the horse, Luis hugged her to his chest and, feeling the scent of her hair, while they were advancing in the gallop of the horse, a lot of strong feelings were awakening in his chest and he understood that this night he wouldn't return home.

***

  Anne allowed herself to slide completely into the tub of hot water, which immediately covered her body and made her calm down, for under the sweet caress of the water the wounds on her body at first twitched, but then she calmed down slightly, giving the girl a feeling of ease.

  She sat like that underwater for a long time, because the water had always been her friend, and Anne knew how to hold her breath underwater for longer, enjoying solitude and relief, and the fact that now she had time only for herself, and this tub of hot water just for her gave her a strange sense of security.

  But she soon returned to reality, feeling short of breath and, taking a deep breath of hot steam, she smiled, and that smile filled her with joy, for she had triumphed in her plans: Luis was sleeping in the room, after another round of enjoyment of her body, for the journey in two, on the same horse, while their bodies were fastened to each other, and this had not been left without a burning desire to try again, and the girl decided to allow him all, for she had seen in it her chance to manipulate him.

  The house, where he brought her in, was not large, but it was comfortable and clean, and the fact that it had no servants made the girl feel confident, for not having eyes that could spy on her, and this way she could act as she pleased.

  So, in a row of hot kisses and hugs, she asked Luis not to hire anyone for the time being, and this request came after the man told her he was going to hire someone, as soon as they crossed the threshold of that house, but the young woman had seen in this a chance for Christine to control her, and she decided to turn it down, as soon as she had the chance, and she was amazed at her own decisions, for she considered herself clumsy and stupid until then, but her mind began to work quickly when she became a woman.

  "Why didn't I think of that before?" Anne thought to herself, playing lightly with the water in the tub. "Being someone's mistress isn't as bad as it sounds, and being the mistress of a man like Luis Chesterman can bring me a lot of benefits," and she smiled because before she came to Christine's house, there were others who had tried to take advantage of her innocence, but the girl had always found a way to escape, but this time she had been unlucky: she had been deceived by her own instincts, when she had put loyalty above her safety, and that brought her here.

  But she had decided to forget, at least for the moment, and enjoy her power, for she knew that the more time Luis would spend in her arms, the more influence she would have on him, and it was strange than he thought because she hadn't learned it from anyone: it was hers, whispered by her instinct as a woman, and who didn't seem to fail.

  And lying comfortably in the bathtub, with the water touching her body in small, warm waves, she gave in to relaxation and dreaming, and a strange sensation of pleasure crept under her skin as she remembered what had happened that evening: a strong contrast between events, which made her want to die and then to love life, while disgust had turned into desire, and the desire to die into life-giving touches, because the man's experience was not long in coming and he, involuntarily, while looking for personal pleasure, made her vibrate too, and this exchange of energy-filled them both more and more.

  Leaving the bathtub, Anne reached for the towel, but then changed her mind and ran her own hand over her bare body, wiping the damp drops of warm water, this touch calmed her and, as she approached the bed, she slipped under the duvet, and she brought her body closer to that of the sleeping man after all the strong sensations experienced that day, but his mere presence and his nakedness beside her, calmed Anne, and she soon fell asleep close to him.