Ascendant

by Florian Armas

  “A girl,” she said, feeling torpid; it was much warmer than in the hall, and both the wine and warmth from the fire and his body were working on her.

  “I was sure you would say that. A girl if you want, but the next one should be a son. We need sons too.” He turned her head and kissed her, and her lips went soft under his. His hands moved to caress her, and soon he found a way under her chemise, fondling her naked breast.

  “Bucur, don’t,” she whispered but, feeling her weakness, he went further, with practiced ease, and opened her chemise even more.

  “Don’t worry, Saliné, I will keep my word to make love with you only after the wedding.” That weakened her even more, and her body became subdued under the pleasant pressure from his hands and lips. They spent the evening like two lovers, kissing and touching. Speaking and drinking wine. Only once, when Bucur’s hand tried to go under her skirts, did she react firmly, and he did not try again.

  It was only later, in her bed when, still feeling that pleasure, Saliné fully realized that her reactions to Bucur’s advances were different than before. She curled tightly around the pillow in her arms, thinking that the more she stayed alone in Severin, the more vulnerable she would become. Logically, Saliné was accustomed to the reality that in the next autumn she would have to marry Bucur, but in a corner of her mind, she still hoped that Codrin would be able to save her. Yet the worse danger for her was before the wedding.

  Bucur may close the door and rape me anytime. I can’t do anything, but he is trying to seduce me, so he can brag about it. Is my body so weak? He wants to make me pregnant. I can’t do anything, she repeated. Only try to kill him. I will do it, if there is no other choice left for me. I will die too, but at least Bucur’s death will help Codrin.

  Remembering again both the party and the weeks before, she thought that her isolation was just a ploy, not the result of a security issue, as Aron had sold it to her. They were softening her for the party and for the evening after it. The wine bottle and the glasses were already here... Her last thought before falling asleep.

  The week after the party she was again confined to her suite and, at the end of it, Bucur came to spend an evening with her. She managed to be colder this time, yet she still gave more than she wanted. Once Bucur had made a step forward, he would not go back again. With his experience, he found all her weak spots and he played them for his own pleasure and hers.

  To break her isolation, Saliné pretended to be sick, and Felcer came to her room. Once inside, he closed the door quickly, and stared at her with an enigmatic smile on his face. She glanced at him, and turned her head away. She could not understand his smile, and was not able to answer. It was like she has forgotten to smile.

  “I have this for you.” Felcer placed a box wrapped in paper on her table, but she looked at it absently. “It came two weeks ago, but I could not give it to you.”

  “Thank you, Felcer,” she finally said. She wanted to talk with him, but now that he was here, she could find nothing to say.

  “There is not much to tell you about Ferd and his men. It’s winter and they have slowed down with the hunting. If the need arrives, I will find a way to talk with you. Enjoy the gift; I think you already know who sent it to you.”

  That was when Saliné raised her head, feeling that the box was more important than she had initially thought. She wanted to ask Felcer, but he was already gone. From a sudden impulse, she jumped from her bed and opened the box quickly. The familiar smell of mefilene came to her, and she saw a letter too. She slid down to the floor and waited, her knees to her chest, her arms tightened around the box. “Oh, Codrin.” It was all she could say, tears filling her eyes. Almost blind, she tried to read the letter. She failed.

  Her tears ran dry, yet she did not move, leaning against the bed, her thoughts back in a past that seemed more like a dream. After a while, she remembered the letter and opened it.

  ‘In the garden, our cherry tree will always be there, waiting for us,’ she read.

  There was no signature, but it was not needed; there was only one person with whom she shared a cherry tree in the garden of a hunting house. Her mind slipped into the past again, and it was long after midnight when she finally could sleep.

  Bucur felt that her will was faltering under his pressure, and kept Saliné in isolation for more than one month, and his visits became her only escape from talking to the walls of the room, and her only pleasure. She started to wait for him to come and take her in his arms in front of the fireplace, but did not yield completely to him.

  “Next time, I will have her, gently or not,” he growled in his room, after failing to fully seduce her in the fifth week, and his fist hit the hard wood of the table. “No, I want Saliné to give herself to me. I want her to love me, like every other woman I’ve had before. I want her to cry for me. I want her to beg me. My pleasure will be greater.”

  Soon afterward, Bucur had to leave Severin, and said nothing to her, planning his next step.

  “What happened?” Saliné asked Gria, when Bucur did not come to her room at the end of the usual week. Gria shrugged, and left her alone with her breakfast.

  Saliné tried to find refuge in the book she had started the day before, but once it was finished, she was not allowed to go to the library again. Gria came three times a day with food, and refused to talk with her. At the end of each week she usually had a bath in her suite, but this time Aron refused even this small pleasure to her.

  After the second week alone, she thought of walking out through the secret corridor and visiting the market, just to escape the appalling loneliness. Several times she opened the hidden door, only to close it. After a while, afraid that she could no longer restrain her mind, Saliné forced herself not to open that door again. She struggled, but kept her will, and she no longer went to hunt Aron’s soldiers on the walls.

  She hated herself, but waited each day for Bucur to return, walking around the room. Even though she knew that Gria would not answer her, she continued to ask about him. She was like a caged animal feeling its cage becoming smaller and smaller. At the end of the third week, Bucur returned to Severin, but everything was hidden from her. Then he left again.

  It was her twenty-fifth day of loneliness when Aron finally allowed her to have a bath again. The servants filled it with warm water, and left four more buckets of hot water for her. When she remained alone with Gria, Saliné took off her clothes, almost ripping them, and threw everything at Gria’s feet. “Wash them,” she said coldly. I stink.

  Gria picked them up without a word and left the room. Saliné checked the water in the bathtub, and emptied another bucket into it. She spent the next hour just sitting in the bathtub, immersed up to her chin, until her body relaxed completely. From time to time, she added more hot water from the buckets. It feels so good. Finishing, she called Gria to have the room cleaned and asked for her dinner. For the first time in weeks, she enjoyed her evening.

  When the horologe beat two hours before midnight, someone knocked at the door of her suite. Feeling lazy, and almost sleeping, it took her a while to answer. The knocking continued unabated.

  “Who is there?” she asked.

  “Bucur. I’ve just returned and wanted to wish you goodnight. Please open the door.”

  Behind the door, she bit her lip. “Just a moment, I need to dress myself; she was wearing a nightgown, leaving her shoulders naked and barely covering her knees.” She moved away from the door, her eyes searching for something to cover herself.

  “Saliné, I am tired, and I will not stay long. We are both tired. Don’t leave me waiting here.” He knocked again on the hard wood.

  Her fingers grabbed a dressing gown lying on a chair, and she returned to open the door. Before she could say anything, Bucur took her in his arms and embraced her. He did nothing more, just held her tightly, saying nothing.

  “I missed you, Saliné,” Bucur said after a while, and his head moved back until their eyes locked. His hand moved to caress h
er face.

  “What happened?” she whispered, breathing heavily. “I missed you too. No one told me why you ...” She stopped herself from saying ‘you left me alone’.

  “Something unexpected kept me far from you. I was almost killed on the way back. Ah, how I wished to be here with you, to hold you in my arms in front of the fireplace.” He embraced Saliné again and kissed her with all the passion he could muster. She answered him warmly, and Bucur moved gently to undress her. She voiced a small protest, but he pressed his lips over hers, and she abandoned herself to his touch. “How beautiful you are,” he whispered when she wore only the nightgown, then kissed her again, before she could speak. “There is no other woman like you. You are so special. I love you, Saliné,” he whispered in her ear. His lips went down her neck and shoulder, edging the strap of her chemise down her arm, and stopped on her breast, while her arms tightened around his neck. His hand moved up on her thigh, and she gasped when his fingers played her.

  “Bucur, don’t,” she whispered, then said nothing more.

  Eye closed, Saliné leaned her head back against the wall and abandoned herself to the pleasant tension mounting in her body. When he felt that she was fully subdued, Bucur lifted her and walked toward the bedroom.

  “No,” she said, seeing her bed through the open door. “Please, Bucur, we had an agreement.” Her hands caught his face between them, trying to enhance her plea.

  “I love you, Saliné. I hope that you love me too,” he said, still walking.

  “Please, Bucur.” She held his head to kiss him and that gave her a minute. I need to gain some time, she desperately thought, understanding that she had no chance to escape, if not today then tomorrow or the day after, and it would happen whether by force or her acquiescence. Her mind was working feverishly to find the less damaging path.

  He disengaged from her mouth and started to walk again. They were close to the door of the bedroom now.

  “Bucur, don’t.” She twisted abruptly, slipping from his hands and tried to run away from him. He caught her in the door and, from behind, he encircled her waist, trying to push her inside with his body. She pressed her hands against the frame of the door to stop him, but that only freed him to tear down her nightgown. “Bucur!” she cried, but he ignored her, raising the pressure on her body. Her hands left the door, and they stepped abruptly inside the bedroom. He found the right moment to turn her, and they were now face to face in the low light of a small lamp.

  “I want you, Saliné,” he breathed. “I can’t wait any longer. I love you so much.”

  “Bucur, don’t,” she whispered, stepping back until she realized that he was pushing her toward the bed.

  “You are mine, Saliné. You will always be mine.”

  Her knee went into his groin, and the shock paralyzed him for a few moments, even though she took care to hit him relatively softly. It was more her unexpected resistance which froze Bucur. For years, no other woman had refused him until Saliné came into his life, and two years ago, he had to drug her, to overcome her resistance. She pushed him out of the bedroom and closed the door.

  “Saliné,” he said coldly. “You are mine. I will give you a few days to come to terms with this. Open the door; I want to talk with you about something else. It’s a weak door and has no lock. Don’t make me break it.”

  She grabbed a bed-sheet and covered her body, then opened the door. “I thought that we had an agreement,” she said.

  “We had; we will have others. I want you, and I don’t feel the need to wait until the wedding.”

  “Then we should have the wedding now.”

  “For whatever reason, the Circle wants our wedding to be in the autumn. I have no control over that, but it’s something else we need to talk about. This evening, we caught the man who has been stirring up the people in Severin, and kills our soldiers. He is now in the Gate Tower. Tomorrow, he will be moved into the main jail.”

  “Who is he?” she asked, and it took Saliné all her inner strength to make her voice sound bland.

  “Ferd.”

  “The merchant who sell sweeties?” Yes, Bucur nodded. “Strange, he doesn’t look like a killer. Maybe he is only the one who pays the killer. Or killers.”

  “Maybe. Tomorrow, in the afternoon, we will interrogate him. A Sage will be there, and I need you to be present too.”

  “Bucur, I can’t do that.”

  “You will be there. We need to show people that we are family.”

  “At least not... not when they torture him. Please don’t torture him.”

  “We will give him a chance to tell us what we want before we employ harsher methods.”

  “Please.”

  “Fine, you will leave before that.”

  “Thank you, Bucur.”

  “Let me wish you good night.” Gently, he pulled her against him again. “Embrace me, Saliné,” Bucur said, his voice seductive and demanding. She stood still for a while, then laced her arms around his neck, feeling the bed-sheet falling down, and answered his lips. He lifted Saliné in his arms and sat in a chair, seating her in his lap. “You are so beautiful,” he said, staring at her naked body. “I am sorry for being so rude. Please forgive me. It was... I just lost my head, seeing you again after so long. I missed you. It’s more and more difficult for me. I never felt for another woman what I feel for you, Saliné. I want you. I would marry you today, if the Circle would allow it. I don’t know why they are delaying us. I owe a lot to them, and I can’t say anything.” He kissed her briefly while his arms tightened around her. “It’s so good to feel you like this. Tell me that you forgive me.” Bucur leaned his head back, until they were eye to eye. Unable to speak without betraying her turmoil, Saliné nodded, and placed an arm around his neck. “I want you, Saliné.”

  I am alone here. There is no one to help me. Either he rapes me or I accept him. If I accept, I may be able to control things. “It’s a difficult choice for a woman to act like this before her wedding. Please give me some more time.”

  “In three days, when all this issue with Ferd is solved, I will invite you for dinner in my suite. Would you move in with me after that? Every evening and night we spend together would be a joy.”

  She bit her lip, and leaned her head on his shoulder to hide her face. I have only gained three days. We will see what may happen in three days. “Bucur we have a certain position, we should not...”

  “Please,” he cut in, and leaned his forehead against hers.

  “At least we should keep up the appearances, and stay in separate rooms.” I need my room and liberty to use its secret door.

  “You will love me,” he said, his voice filled with delight. “You will love me.”

  “Yes.”

  “Thank you.” Bucur hugged her again, acting like a child, then stood up and went to collect her dressing gown from the floor, and came behind her. There, he kissed her shoulder, then helped her dress, and turned her toward him. “Good night, Saliné,” he said, leaning his forehead against her. His hand went gently down her face and neck, then back to her nape. After a while, he kissed her hand and left the room.

  “You are mine,” Bucur whispered to himself. “Finally.”

  She locked the door of the suite, picked up her dressing gown, and put another log in the fireplace, then sat in front of the fire, her head leaning on her knees. Now it’s clear that he will not marry me. At least this is a relief. He just needed me to take Severin. Mother and Codrin were right; once Severin was taken, Bucur needed a wife who brings him soldiers. In autumn, I will be free, but he wants me for his own pleasure until then, and my pregnancy will block any marriage I could have later. I can’t let it happen. Later... Ferd... Who betrayed him? I may be in danger too, but I need to help him. What if they already know...? Is Bucur playing me? I have to think.

  Chapter 24 – Saliné

  Ferd’s interrogation started later than planned as Grigio, the Itinerant Sage, came to Severin late in the evening. There were only three pe
ople waiting for him in Aron’s office.

  “Some unexpected issues,” Grigio shrugged at Aron’s mute question. “Saliné, Bucur,” he nodded. “Let’s see the prisoner. Saliné, my dear, you look more beautiful with each passing day. You shone at the Winter Solstice Party, and both of you stole the show,” he gestured between her and Bucur. “Will you come with us? Maybe your beautiful face will soften Ferd.” He had a crooked smile on his lips, and that made his face look even more hideous. Grigio was an ugly man, with a face that seemed borrowed from a donkey.

  “I wouldn’t count on that,” Saliné shrugged. “But the fear you impose may help us,” she smiled back at him.

  “Let’s go then,” Aron said, and even he could not stop a hint of a smile spreading on his lips, in contrast to Grigio, whose eyes could not hide his irritation.

  When all four entered in the interrogation room, Ferd was already there, sitting on a chair, his hands tied at his back.

  “So this is the one,” Grigio said thoughtfully. “He doesn’t look like a killer.”

  “Saliné said the same to me,” Bucur interjected. “Ferd is a merchant, and he sold her cakes and other things. She thinks that he may be the one with the purse.”

  “Well,” Aron rubbed his chin. “Saliné, did you not tend his wounds after the second battle with Mehadin?”

  “I helped many people,” she said, vaguely. “Some say that I am a good healer.”

  “Yes, yes,” Aron mused. “You are a good healer. So, Ferd? What are you really?”

  “A man,” Ferd shrugged.

  “My fault for not being specific enough,” Aron said. “How comes it that a peaceful merchant fought in a Seigneur’s war?”

  “I was one of Valer’s mercenaries.”