Curse your logic, Ulric! And damn your accursed, meddling ways.
Vladamir watched after the servant until he disappeared into the kitchen. Grumbling, he slashed his long fingernails like claws through the air to erase the image of the defiant man. The man usually spoke his piece, but Vladamir couldn’t remember ever seeing Ulric so insolent.
Over the years, every time Vladamir thought of Clifton, his rage would return tenfold until he couldn’t even see clearly. It was that rage that kept him alive during some of the hardest times of his life. It was that rage that fed his soul and kept him from giving up. Vladamir clenched his hands as they shook with barely contained fury.
Vladamir growled, thinking of Gwendolyn’s sweet face. The child was the only bright spot in his life and he missed her dearly. It wasn’t easy leaving her in Northumbria to be looked after by nuns, but he had nowhere else to keep the child. Thinking of his new prisoner, he cursed. He couldn’t stop the rush of hatred when he thought of her father.
Haldana poked her head from the kitchen doorway. Her hair was covered in soot and he saw her blackened fingers from across the main hall. The woman walked toward him, her angry expression evident by the hardness of her round face. He could only guess Ulric had quickly told the woman of his plans for Lady Eden.
Turning abruptly on his heels, he stalked to the archway leading to the bailey, ignoring Haldana’s gasp of dismay as he left her behind. He gripped a blunted Saxon sword that lay by the main hall’s entrance and swung the weapon into the air, catching it easily on its way down with his opposite hand. The duke didn’t wish to face the meddling servant woman, already able to hear her reprimanding words in his head, and he certainly didn’t wish to be reminded about what transpired with Lady Eden.
* * * * *
A prisoner? The Monster of Lakeshire Castle has made me his prisoner? By all the saints, it cannot be true.
Eden tried not to cry as she pulled the coverlet closer to her chest and pressed her arm over her breast to stop it from aching. She still felt the brush of the monster’s fingers on the erect nipple—could feel the heat where his breath touched her skin. The monster seared her body with a fire she couldn’t name or fight.
After he left her, she fell into a troubled sleep—a sleep full of demons and fire and slain human carcasses. The skies turned as dark as night with a flood of crimson clouds, until blood poured from the heavens to soak the thirsty earth, running over her naked flesh as the shadowed figure of the monster loomed near. She didn’t know how long her nightmares lasted, only that when she did finally awake she was drenched in sweat.
Eden sat on the bed, straining her ears against the deafening silence. The fire crackled in the fireplace only to grow louder the harder she tried to listen past it. She tilted her head toward the place where the monster first appeared in the chamber. It was only logical that a demon would travel by hell’s own fire. Was he with her even now? Had he taken her sight from her? Had he already taken something else from her? Her innocence, mayhap? Or had that been taken before by Luther?
Eden cursed her eyes for not seeing the monster, though she was somewhat glad she couldn’t, for she could well imagine what he looked like.
No doubt his is a demon with bulging horns and sharpened fangs. His skin is likely to be the scarlet staining of blood and his teeth would be marred with the fluids of his many victims, with eyes as black as the moonless night and as devoid of life as…as a… By all the saints, cease!
Trembling, she fought the image her mind produced of him. She’d heard well the stories that were whispered about the Monster of Lakeshire. He was said to be half human, half devil—his ugly face contorted into that of an evil spirit as a reminder of his life in the nether world. His voice was thick with a demon’s black tongue. That is how she’d known it was he who spoke, for his voice was unlike any she’d ever heard. It sent shivers over her spine. His touch had been hot against her flesh and when his breath fanned against her neck he’d controlled her completely.
“M’lady?”
Eden jumped as the voice invaded her thoughts. She’d been so wrapped up in her own feverish mind that she hadn’t heard the maidservant at the door. She turned to the sound. It was the voice of the earlier maid. Squinting, she tried to focus her eyes. “Please, don’t go get him again.”
“M’lady?” the woman questioned, her puzzlement evident by her tone.
“Who are you? I cannot see you. My vision swims in my head. My eyes don’t rest and I cannot think clearly.”
“I’m Haldana. A servant here in the duke’s home,” the woman responded. “Has yer vision always done that?”
“Nay.” Eden paused, confused. “The duke’s home?”
“M’lady, yer clothes!” Haldana gasped. “I forgot that you weren’t dressed proper fer visitors. ‘Twas that I was so relieved that you finally awoke that I forgot.”
“‘Tis done.” Eden waved her naked arm in frustration and then winced at the pain it caused. She tried to remember what she asked through the haze in her brain. It was getting harder to concentrate and she closed her eyes, leaning her head back. Remembering what she wanted to know, she snapped her face around. “You said this is the duke’s home? What duke?”
“Yea, this is Lord Kessen, Duke of Lakeshire’s castle. Methought I saw his lordship come in here and introduce himself.”
“Of course, the monster has a human name,” said Eden under her breath as her fists tightened on the fur. She kept her attention on the serving woman as Haldana moved throughout the chamber. “Please, tell me, is he still here in the chamber? Did he come back? How can you tell when he is about?”
“Nay, m’lady. The door didn’t open.” Haldana came to the bed and lifted her hand to feel Eden’s forehead. Eden jerked from her touch.
“But, he—the fire…” Eden pointed toward the heat, only stopping when she realized she heard the frown in the other woman’s words. “But, how did he get in last time? I didn’t see him come through the door.”
“M’lady, please calm yerself. M’lord is not a monster.” The servant patted her arm before urging her to lie down. “You are sick with the fever. Methinks that is why you say such things. When you feel better, you’ll see you are mistaken. There are no monsters at Lakeshire.”
Of course! The monster would have his loyal minions. But this minion pretends to be friendly. I must be on my guard lest the beast lures me into his trap. Oh, how I wish I could see.
Eden groaned dramatically and raised a hand to her head. “I don’t feel well. Perchance my thoughts are still muddled.”
The woman gave a nervous laugh. “Naturally. You have been asleep for nigh a whole sennight and three days.”
“Please, leave me be. Methinks all I need is rest.” Eden sighed as she turned her face from the maid. “I’m just so tired.”
“I’ll have someone come with food,” Haldana said. “Mayhap you should try to stay awake long enough to get something warm in yer belly. It will help you to heal faster.”
Eden’s only answer was a long, weary sigh.
“Yea, you rest.” The woman tenderly patted her back. Eden moaned in response, too tired to speak. “Yea, rest child. I’ll check on you in the morning hours.”
“Thank you, Haldana,” Eden breathed. She didn’t reopen her eyes. For the moment she didn’t care that she was in the monster’s lair or that the monster wanted to feast upon her. She was happy just to be away from her father’s home and her fiancé’s lecherous grasp.
* * * * *
Eden trembled under his strong hands, her slender shoulders no match against the monster’s exceptional strength. She’d wanted to confirm he was a solid man built of flesh and bone and not the mythical demon come to haunt her. The man who touched her could be either creature or man. His grip tightened fiercely. She moaned in pain at the pressure along her arms as she wasn’t yet completely healed.
The hardened fiber of the monster’s body forged daringly against hers. His immense thigh worke
d indecently between her legs to flatten itself against her sex. The heat of his body wove around her. She smelled his very masculine scent and it only heightened the feeling of need inside her. Moisture gathered between her thighs—an odd reaction to be sure. Closing her eyes, she breathed him in.
She squeezed her legs together to try and push him away, but he was too strong. His leg pushed intimately into her, making her body respond the only way it could—by building with hot cream. Although she again tried to pull away, she curiously wanted to explore the sensations his indecently massaging movements arose in her stomach.
The heat from his hands was making her dizzy with confusion. Although she knew she should want to leave him, she found that she was oddly drawn to stay with him to see what he would do next.
She pressed into herself, wanting to stop the fluttering he caused inside of her. Her heart raced in a violent rhythm and her eyes rounded in astonishment as they sought him in the darkness. She licked the warm taste of him on her lips and shivered. Her sex throbbed like never before, angry at being neglected of his touch.
They were wet with blood as it rained from the heavens. She didn’t care. Drawing her nearer, he sucked her bottom lip between his teeth and bit lightly into it. She gasped in surprise. He took advantage of her opened mouth. Delving his tongue just over the border of her lips he licked at her gently. She moaned louder. The sound wasn’t one of pain, but of confusion.
M’lord, yea, take me…
Eden gasped in surprise, opening her eyes. It was just a dream. No, not just a dream. It was the dream—the same dream she’d had every time she closed her eyes. Two very long days had passed since she first awoke and the monster didn’t visit her again. She shivered every time she remembered his strange accent, of the increasingly erotic dreams she had of him. Surely, his kiss was a dream, wasn’t it? The blood falling on her from a devilish sky? His lips wrapped around her breasts, suckling her, touching her? Nothing in real life could make her feel so excited.
Could it?
Outside the walls of her dreary prison, the rain continued to fall. The sound pounded relentlessly from the outside, her only visitor for much of the time. Her eyesight had slowly returned over the course of those first days. Except for the occasional blurring it was as good as new. Sighing, she looked about the chamber once more. The improved vision only dampened her spirits more, for now she saw the hellish prison the monster kept her in.
Vladamir. His name is Vladamir of Kessen and perchance he is not really a monster, but a man and men can be persuaded. I must really have been out of my head with fever to say such things. I’m a grown woman and don’t believe in the silly superstitions of the peasants. I don’t believe in monsters.
She’d already explored every corner of the dingy room and discovered nothing of interest. Withered cobwebs hung from the ceiling, although it appeared the spiders had abandoned their musty homes long ago. There was the bed, a rough-hewn chair and the beautiful stone fireplace. It was as if she was the first one in the room since it was built. The bed was dusty, small and emanated, a musty odor of decay. At least it was a bed and not a pallet on the floor, even if it was as if the mattress had been stuffed of dampened wool and not straw, though the firmness belied its little use.
The only rare visitor to the chamber, which she now thought of as her own, was Haldana. The servant woman was kind to her, though she did have a talent for interrupting when Eden talked. The woman’s compassion only convinced Eden that she’d been out of her head when she heard the monstrous voice, and Haldana graciously refused to speak of her sick rantings again.
For assuredly, monsters cannot exist.
When Eden was able to sit without her head feeling like it spun in circles, the servant had ordered a bath brought to her chamber. None of the curious maids who carted the steaming buckets were allowed in the chamber with her. Haldana poured the bath herself, only to have the maidservants haul the buckets away. Eden didn’t mind, appreciating the privacy. She wouldn’t have been able to concentrate well enough to counter the maidservants’ inquisitive stares. The steamy water had felt good as she’d washed her grimy skin and she was relieved to brush the tangles from her hair.
Eden knew she might have gone insane with fear if not for Haldana’s periodic visits. She hoped that Vladamir would change his mind and let her out of her imprisonment or at least her prison. When she slept the whole day, it wasn’t bad in the chamber, but now that she found herself alert more hours at a time, the boredom was beginning to bother her. So far she had yet to be treated like a prisoner, though they didn’t let her leave the room, and she’d been cared for and fed.
Eden smiled as a soft knock sounded on the chamber door. Haldana was ever courteous. Only as she watched the door open, it wasn’t a woman who stood there.
She glanced down, thankful to be wearing her old gown no matter how shabbily the repairs caused it to fit. The gown had been ripped down the front, so when it was sewn back together, the bodice pulled tightly against her chest, binding her bosom uncomfortably close. The material pulled down at the neck, so when she looked down she saw her cleavage peeking up at her.
“M’lady?” the elderly man questioned, patting his bald head with his sleeve as he smiled kindly at her, his face pleasant. He wore a brownish-red tunic and baggy brown braes that were both fitted together at the waist with a festively red belt. Garters wrapped up around his legs. His attire was that of a pagan, though she could guess by his carriage that he held much authority in the castle. As if proving her point, she noted the ring of keys that jingled at his waist when he moved.
Running her fingers idly over the matted fur coverlet, she tried to place his name. She recognized his voice but couldn’t remember where she might have heard it.
“‘Tis Ulric,” he prompted when she didn’t answer, studying her. Eden lifted her hand to her face, noting that the swelling was gone. When she last looked, the white rings around her brown pupils had lost most of the red. Still, she had to look frightful.
“Yea,” Eden answered, forcing a demure look through the thick of her lashes. All of a sudden, she remembered meeting him and looked to the stone fireplace to see if his master mysteriously appeared. She wanted to scold herself for being a fool when she saw the space still empty.
“I trust you have been well cared fer. Methought it best to let you rest afore I paid another visit.” Ulric twisted his long sleeve, unrolling it over his hand only to fold it again to his wrist. “Please forgive my coming to yer chamber, but I’m afraid his lordship has not changed his mind about keeping you as his prisoner.”
“Then I wasn’t dreaming? He’s keeping me here?” Eden fell back into the mattress, dejected, and gave a forlorn sigh. Her mind reeled at the injustice.
“Yea. But take heart, m’lady. I have known m’lord fer a long time. He won’t let you come to harm. He’s a good man.”
“He won’t hurt me?” Eden looked at the man, pleading with him to understand. “He said he might feast upon my body. He said he was to eat my flesh. Surely those are not the words of a generous man.”
“Nay, you angered him is all.” Ulric stared past her. “Surely you don’t believe that superstitious nonsense about his lordship being a monster, do you?”
“Angered him?” Her heartbeat quickened. “How? I did naught but wake up. I didn’t ask him to care for me. He should’ve let me die out in the forest. I didn’t ask to be rescued—and certainly not rescued by the Monster of Lakeshire!”
Eden flung herself back against the stone wall with a pout. She sniffed delicately as a tear came to her eye. Peeking through her lashes at the servant, she wondered if her sorrow was having any effect on him.
“If ‘tis that you are upset about, then you must blame me. Fer ‘tis I who found you and brought you in from the cold. You would’ve died if I hadn’t.” Ulric pulled a chair from the corner of the chamber and set it in front of the bed. He seemed pleased that he could so easily dismiss her misery. “M’lady, do you mind
if I sit awhile?”
“Yea, please sit.” Eden motioned her hand to the chair in distraction. She bit her lip when she saw her tears were put to waste. This man wouldn’t be one to help her to escape.
“Thank you, m’lady.” Ulric sat in the chair.
“Why does he keep me? What did my father do? What crime has he committed? What offense?” Eden tried to accept her new role in life as the monster’s prisoner, for it was here she would have to stay if she couldn’t find a way to escape.
“That is fer his lordship to say, m’lady. Why do you wish to be dead? Surely yer family is looking fer you. A husband mayhap?”
“I’m not married,” Eden said in disgust of the idea. She crossed her hands over her chest. “I was going to the nunnery to take my orders. I wish to be a nun.”
“But, why? Yer so young to take orders. Are you a widow?”
“Nay.” Eden hid her emotions behind a solid mask of ice. “My reasons are none of your concern. All I’ll say is that my life is my own and I’ll do what I wish with it. I wish to live in a nunnery and mayhap care for orphans.”
Eden had been afforded time to study the old man. He had compassionate eyes, the kind of eyes that didn’t lie, though she got the impression the man lived through a lot and would no doubt be loyal to his master. She sighed, knowing she would find no release through him.
“Child, who beat you? Is he the reason you wish to waste away in a nunnery?” Ulric leaned back in his chair. Eden wasn’t fooled. She knew he’d report anything she said to his master. “Though ‘tis a noble pursuit to help others, that life is more fer widows and old maids. Not young, beautiful noblewomen with much to offer the world.”
Tears overwhelmed her at his interest and she couldn’t remain emotionless for long. “I cannot say why I wish it, for it doesn’t matter. ‘Tis the only choice I have.”
Ulric frowned but asked no more, as he stood and moved the chair back to its original place.
Maiden and the Monster Page 6
