Lorelei didn’t feel a thing. It was just a dream. A nightmare. But this time there was no waking up. She remembered in a haze what happened after her sister screamed. Actually, there was a lot of screaming, but Pricilla started it all. There was the priest mumbling the oaths of marriage. She had repeated them unconsciously. Beside her, there was a male voice repeating them too. There was a large, rough male hand holding hers. That’s right. It belonged to the masked knight from earlier. The Beast of the North. Her husband.
She didn’t care.
After the ceremony, she was sent away with a group of ladies. They undressed her and washed her from head to toe. They brushed her hair so many times that it became almost like real silk. Her body was rubbed with scented oils and dressed in a thin gown. And she was forced to drink cup after cup of strong wine. Her head felt heavy and dizzy. Through the drunken fog, she could hear them talk to her about what she was supposed to do. Soon, she would have to please her new husband. It didn’t matter how rough he was or how much it hurt. They told her to bear with the pain and not cry. Men hated a crying woman under them. Although Lorelei knew very well that this was not true.
The women then surrounded her from all sides and took her to the nuptial chamber. In front of the door stood her father. He ogled her like a piece of livestock, but she didn’t mind. She was indeed just that. The count grabbed her chin and lifted her head up.
“I never thought that anything good would come from a mutt like you.” There was glee in his voice. Gods, how much she hated his voice! He continued without care:
“Listen carefully, mutt, tonight you will open your legs wide for the well-being of this family. The duke owns you. Your body belongs to him now. You will please him no matter his wishes. Move your hips well and you might even conceive his heir. If you are like your mother, we won’t need more than one night. Remember, tomorrow I want to see a bloody gown and a full belly.”
Lorelei nodded. She could not answer or she feared she would vomit. He disgusted her. This animal before her was her father! No, even animals took care of their young. He was just a little greedy man. And she was his to sell to the highest bidder.
The women then brought her into the room and laid her on the bed, arranging her hair and gown. Why bother? It was going to be ruined soon anyway. They left and locked the door behind. It was meaningless. She could not escape anyway. This was the third floor. Right below was the great hall, where all the guests were. Outside were the knights, the guards with their dogs. There was no escape.
She lay motionless on the bed feeling the night cold seep into her arms and legs. The full moon shone through the windows, covering the room in its silver glow. Soon it was going to be midnight. She heard heavy steps in front of the door and whispers. Her heart tightened and her abdomen cramped painfully. He was coming for her. The key turned in the keyhole and the door opened. Even from there, Lorelei could smell the alcohol. His heavy steps approached her and the stench intensified. This called back the memories. The dark ones, she had tried so desperately to forget for years. At that time there was the same stench.
The bed creaked under his weight. She could feel the heat of another body leaning towards her. Six years ago, in the stables, it had felt the same. Then and now, she was so scared! Her apathy broke apart. She screamed and flailed, hitting in every direction, only for her arms to be forcefully grabbed by a large calloused hand. Six years ago, she had managed to escape by pure luck. Now her husband’s iron grip pinned her hands over her head. She struggled but it was impossible to break free. Soon the torture would begin. No, no, no!!! She choked. Everything was spinning. She gasped for air, unable to fill her lungs. Then the low voice of her tormentor reached her ears.
“Look me in the eyes, girl!”
His words possessed such power that she unwillingly obeyed. Bathed in the moonlight was the face she had seen for the first time just a few hours ago, and it was now the most disgusting and hated face in the world for her. His features were chiseled, from the long straight nose to his high brow and resolute lips. They were much rougher and masculine than the fine royal lines of prince Lionel, but could still be considered attractive. But then there were the scars - spreading from his slightly drooping left eyelid to the ear and cheek, up to his forehead, and crawling down the jaw and neck. ‘What a horrid burn!’ Lorelei’s mind spat out the thought against her will.
“You are right, it is an ugly burn. But luckily now you are breathing again, so no offense taken.”
Had she said that out loud!? His hypnotizing gray eyes were still locked onto hers. She felt like prey, ready to be eaten.
“Now, girl,” his tone was a low animal’s growl, “listen carefully because I will not repeat this. Everyone, including you, sees me as a monster. Gods be my witness, I really do look like a monster. But I’ll be damned if I were to ever start acting like one!”
After that he stood up, releasing Lorelei’s hands. Free at last, she curled up, grabbing her knees tightly and her whole body shook violently. She felt a warm blanket being pulled over her and the steps of her husband going further away. Her eyes blinded with tears, she lifted her head and saw his silhouette sitting on the floor, his back leaned on the hard wood of the door. It finally dawned on her. He was not going to touch her. At least not tonight. The relief made all her mental walls collapse. She wailed for an hour before falling asleep exhausted.
All this time Noah sat at the door silently. His eyes were staring at the sobbing figure on the bed, his thoughts in chaos. For a moment there it had been really dangerous. He had almost lost control. The wine, the stress, the frustration, the fever, the fact that he hadn’t touched a woman in a long time, all of it had piled up together. But he prevailed. She didn’t deserve to be tortured and humiliated like this. He touched his burning shoulder and grimaced. Of one thing he was sure. His wife could throw a punch.
From the other side of the door came a slight knock. Noah pulled himself up and opened it a bit. Jess’ smiling face appeared in the crack.
“Everyone is gone, master,” the boy whispered and stretched his neck, trying to peek inside. His face was met with Noah’s palm and he flew backward.
His master came out and silently locked the door behind. He then grabbed his nosy page by the collar and dragged him up.
“Listen, Jess,” Noah’s purring calm voice sounded scarier in the boy’s ears than any shouting, “you will guard this door with your life until morning. When the lady wakes up, you will let her out and follow her orders. If I learn that you have disobeyed me, or have set a foot in this room without being called, I’ll make you into dog-food. Understood? Good. Then good night, Jessup.”
With that he shoved the key in the boy’s hands and walked calmly down the hall, clutching his shoulder. His wound had started bleeding again. Noah felt his head throbbing from the wine and pain. His skin was burning hot with fever and he reminded himself to take his drops the moment he returned to the room.
He walked alone through the sleeping mansion. The floors were dark and silent. Suddenly he heard a small noise coming from a nearby niche. Muffled gasping sounds and drowned giggles reached his ears. Noah felt his burning face getting even hotter. His chest tightened. He tried averting his gaze but it was already too late. The golden head, buried in the clouds of pink silk, and the white hands, tightly wrapped around the neck, were barely visible in the darkness but still enough for Noah’s well-trained vision. This scene made him frustrated, disgusted and angry at the same time. He walked by in silence, hurrying his quiet steps, trying to leave the two behind as quickly as possible.
While passing, he thought for a second that he saw the girl looking straight at him, half ashamed, half triumphant. There was no doubt, she had seen him. However, she didn’t react in the way he expected her to. There was no screaming this time. Did she just lick her lips seductively before returning her attention back to her lover? Impossible. He dismissed that thought. It was too dark to be sure. And he frankly didn’t care what his royal brother and new sister-in-law were doing. He had no power to stop the prince anyway, and it didn’t look like the girl was against their intimacy. She was foolish. Noah knew of Lionel’s habit of ‘plucking flowers’. This was a one-night-stand. If that idiot of a girl and her father thought that they were going to capture a full-blooded imperial prince in addition to the bastard they already had, they were in for a nasty surprise tomorrow. Lionel, much like a bee, liked drinking fresh nectar and throwing the wilted flowers away the moment he smelled a fresher one. He was insatiable, just like their imperial father.
Leaving the two lovers behind, Noah rushed to the north wing. For some time, his sensitive ears could still hear them, the girl no longer trying to lower her voice, then the blissful silence returned. He was finally alone in his empty room and grateful for his solitude. His body tensed up. Right now, fighting with his rising fever and unfulfilled desire was plenty a challenge. On top of that, witnessing Lionel with his new conquest was almost too much. Noah laid in his cold bed and breathed deeply to calm his emotions.
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Well, without a doubt, this was one heck of a wedding night.
***
It felt as if he went to bed not even a minute ago but then a loud bang tore him away from his sweet sleep. The gray light coming from outside indicated that it was unholy early. Even the birds were too lazy to start chirping yet. Noah growled and put the blanket over his head but the loud bangs continued. Then suddenly the door flung open and a gasping Jessup stormed in and started pulling his sheets.
“Wake up, master! We are in trouble!” His cries stung Noah’s ears.
“Go away, Jess, it’s too early!” He turned his back on the boy and prepared to resume his sleep.
“Master, please, hurry before it’s too late. The mistress is in danger!” The desperation in Jessup’s voice pulled the right string. Noah turned around and grimaced.
“Mistress? What mistress?” he asked drowsily.
“Your wife! Lady Lorelei is about to kill herself! She is about to jump from the tower!!!”
This finally made him sober. Noah sprang up and grabbed his clothes, putting them on as he ran after Jessup. On the way, the boy told him through sobs and gasps what had happened. Exactly as ordered, when the lady had knocked on the door, Jessup had let her out. She then had gone on a stroll and Jessup, again as ordered, had followed her. After that, they had climbed the highest tower in the mansion and now…
Crossing the yard Noah could see the tower. And on the very top stood a small figure in a white nightgown. Noah cursed and ran faster. He took two steps at once until they reached the narrow space below the roof. There Noah eyed the old crumbling wooden ladder and started cursing again.
“I am too heavy. This rotten construction will turn to dust if I try anything.”
He turned to the boy beside him and grabbed his shoulders.
“Jessup, you must go up there and try to pull her back in. I will go to the window on the floor below. If the worst happens, I might have a chance to catch her.”
“B-but master, I…”
“Just do it, Jessup!” shouted Noah, already running back down.
On the rooftop, Lorelei closed her eyes and let the cool breeze caress her cheeks. So many things happened yesterday that her head was about to explode. She didn’t know what to think first or what to do. One thing was sure – she would soon leave this wretched place. But wasn’t she exchanging one prison for another? Her body shivered. A pair of cold gray eyes, bathed in silver moonlight, appeared before her – stern, distant, unyielding, and yet more human than any eyes she had seen in this house. And they belonged to a beast?
A loud noise to her left startled Lorelei. She tilted her head and blinked several times in disbelief. A heap of curly brown hair was popping out from the narrow roof window. The face below was pale, freckly, and wet with tears. In it, Lorelei recognized the young page from yesterday.
“M-my lady, p-please, d-don’t kill yourself!” his stuttering voice rang in the morning silence.
“What?!” Lorelei thought she hadn’t heard correctly.
“P-please, don’t jump down!” The boy mustered his courage and came out of the window, flattening himself immediately against the roof tiles. Lorelei could see his knees shaking but his mouth was doing steady work in the meantime. “My lady, d-don’t do it. The lord is not a bad person. He might be a bit scary from time to time… actually pretty often, but he… he is like a shepherd’s dog. He is dangerous only to those who try to harm his flock. Don’t trust the rumors. Lord Noah would never harm an innocent person. His punishments might be a bit harsh… actually a lot, but there is always a good reason for them. Being his wife is not such a bad thing, my lady. He might look rough sometimes… almost all the time, but he is a good man. And besides he…”
Ringing laughter interrupted his monologue. Lorelei was holding her stomach, laughing her heart out until her eyes started to tear.
“Alright, I got it.” She threw him a cunning glance. “What is your name, lord squire?”
“I am Jessup de Mar, my lady. But you can call me just Jess, if you wish. I am still a page, though.”
“And what made you think I was going to kill myself, Jess?” Lorelei asked with the sweetest tone possible.
“Why else would my lady come way up here?!” His earnest reply stunned her. But of course, that would be the logical conclusion of every normal person. Lorelei felt a bit guilty for making him worry.
“I do not plan on jumping down, believe me. This is my secret spot for sunrise gazing. Since the sun is already way up, I think it would be best to go back inside.”
“Oh, may the Gods bless you, my lady!” His young face convulsed, ready to burst again into tears any second. This confused her, but his very next words cleared everything. “I am actually terribly afraid of heights.”
Lorelei was simply speechless for a moment. Then she chuckled.
“Well, Jess, now I do believe that your master must be quite the man if he has such a devoted servant.”
“You are right, my lady. My master is one of a kind” The boy puffed up his chest but, in his excitement, his foot slipped and he almost fell from the roof. Lorelei grabbed him quickly and pulled him back. Both of them crashed through the window. The old staircase trembled but held up. Lying there, gasping and staring at the dark wooden pillars crisscrossing over their heads, they burst into relieved laughter.
When the two finally descended the stairs, there was a very cranky shepherd’s dog waiting for them down below. The moment the boy met his master’s eyes, he flinched and tried to pull back, but Noah was faster. His iron fingers dug into his page’s ear and pulled mercilessly.
“It was quite the experience to listen to you badmouthing me and praising me at the same time, dear Jess!” Noah seemed fuming.
“Ow, ow, ow, master, careful! I’ll start to look like a donkey! Ow! You said to bring the lady back in. You didn’t say how!”
“Who taught you to talk back to your master?”
Witnessing their bickering, Lorelei didn’t know how to react. Was this man in front of her the same scary knight from yesterday? His ruffled black hair and untidy clothes showed that he had come here in a hurry. Her eyes fell on the ugly scar on his face, now even more visible in the daylight. Her throat tightened. Noah caught her gaze and realized what she was looking at. He let go of Jessup’s ear and turned his back to her.
“Jess, take the lady to her chambers to put some decent clothes on. After that, both come to my room. And whatever you do, do not forget to bring the nightgown with you.”
With these words he left them, totally oblivious to Lorelei’s flushed face and Jessup’s wide grin.
Not even half an hour later Lorelei and Jessup made their way to the secluded room in the northern wing. She had tried to put her nicest clothes on, but no matter how one looked at it, she was still quite shabby and unladylike, looking more like a maid than a duchess. To her relief, Jessup hadn’t even uttered a word about her old faded dress, simply braided hair or face devoid of any makeup, and had gallantly escorted her all the way. His bright and carefree personality was a breath of fresh air. And all the time, while they were crossing the still empty halls, he was talking about the great deeds of his beloved master. Lorelei had the peculiar feeling that in the last couple of minutes the honorable duke Norden was presented to her in a light, rarely seen by others. If one were to believe Jessup, his highness Noah Lux Norden was faster than a horse and even able to battle a mountain lion with his bare hands. She laughed politely at that and offered the expected compliments. Still, deep inside her heart she couldn’t help but wonder, just how much of the boy’s words were true, and how much false flattery on his lord’s order.
When they finally arrived, the boy excused himself and asked Lorelei to wait for a bit in front of the door. ‘Can’t have the lady enter, if master is not presentable enough’ were his parting words as he slipped in. Left alone in the empty hallway, she stepped to the narrow muddy window and looked outside. The mansion was already waking up and the familiar everyday sounds entered her ears. It looked like the beginning of a normal day, just like so many before. But for her today was different. And all because of the man behind the tightly closed door.
A big shadow fell on her. She turned around and froze, unable to move a muscle. Why didn’t she hear him approaching? A rough hand grabbed her neck, preventing her from breathing, not to mention giving out even a squeak. The man pinned her to the cold stone wall.
“So, this is where the little slut went.” Ronan’s face was so close to hers that Lorelei could smell her brother’s foul breath. “Did you spend a pleasant night, mutt?”
His other hand grabbed her ass tightly and he forcefully shoved his right knee between her legs.
“It must have been indeed great. Was it so pleasant that you have come here this early looking for more? It should have been. We all could hear your screams from downstairs. Did you enjoy straddling a beast all night long, mutt? To think you would shake your hips for a disfigured monster but claw at your brother for even touching you.” His left hand started groping her as the fingers of his right dug into her throat. “Oh, I understand now, you just like it rough, don’t you? Like mother, like daughter. A bitch can only birth a bitch. How do you like me now, hm? I bet that monster couldn’t satisfy your lust. Now, be a good mutt. Spread your legs for me, and I’ll give you what you want. After all, you truly are just a little slu…”
Before he could finish, someone grabbed him from behind and tore him away. Lorelei coughed violently. Her legs gave out and she dropped to the ground, green lights circling before her eyes. Someone patted her on the back while talking to her. At first, Lorelei was frightened, but then she finally recognized Jessup’s panicked voice. She blinked to clear her vision but what she saw seemed unreal. Her brother Ronan was rolling on the floor, wailing, hands clutching his crotch. Above him was a towering figure dressed completely in black. When the man turned around, Lorelei could see the black mask hiding his scars. She couldn’t see her husband’s face but could clearly feel his boiling anger.
Despite that, when he spoke to her his voice was completely calm and leveled.
“Are you alright? Can you stand up?” He reached out his hand but Lorelei flinched and shrugged back. She could see the eyes behind the mask squinting.
“Jess, help the lady get up.”
Saying that he went away, bent down, and dragged up her squirming brother by the collar. One iron hand on Ronan’s neck, the other viciously twisting his right arm behind his back until something cracked, Noah’s order reverberated in the empty hallway, drowning Ronan’s wails.
“Lady Lorelei, if you are able to, please show us to your father’s chambers.”