by Sophie Starr
I lowered until my head was in the water. I laid there for a while, holding my breath and peering at the ceiling above me. Suddenly there was a figure, a dark figure. I lifted, covering my exposed breasts to see the handsome king staring down on me. There was obvious lust in his eyes as he glanced over my entire body.
He smiled like he marveled about something, and then took a seat on the bench across the room. “I have heard many rumors about you. One of which was that you are responsible for the decline of my cousin, Prince Charmant.”
My brow knit. “I am, Your Highness.”
He nodded. “You are apparently quite the magical girl.”
I shook my head.
He chuckled, stroking his leather riding boot. “Hmmmm. The accounts I have so far are so confusing. Perhaps you will clear them up for me?”
I nodded.
“Excellent. Are you a whore?”
I shook my head.
“A servant?”
I furrowed my brow. “Might I be permitted to explain that one?”
He folded his thick arms. “I beseech you, explain away.”
I cleared my throat. “I was born Lady Ellsinore Angleton. My parents always called me Ella. My mother died when I was but a small girl. I recall her but I was young. My father remarried a woman with two children. She was a widow, apparently. My father, the lord, died when I was ten.” Slow tears started to stream down my face. “Drusilla, my stepmother, hated me. She calls me Cinder Ella, because I sleep in the ash of the hearth—most times I have no blankets. She forced me to become a servant in my own home. So yes, I am a servant but I am lady born.”
He smiled. “I knew your father. He was a remarkable man. My uncle, the king of your lands, was dearly fond of him. As was my own father.”
“The king gave him a royal funeral.”
“I know. I was there. I recall you. I was fourteen at the time. You sobbed silently, I could see the fireworks from the flames in the reflection of your tears.” He got up and walked to the tub, kneeling beside it and wiping my tears from my cheeks. “How did you end up here?”
“Your men dragged me here, touching me inappropriately.”
His eyes narrowed. “What? I meant the kingdom, but the touching will be dealt with, milady. They had strict instructions, though I can see why they would have been tempted.” He ran his hands over my cheeks. “No, why are you in my kingdom?”
“Drusilla knew I had a dowry, a large one, that she had no access to. So she made an agreement with her brother, the Duke of Grey Castle. He is very old and not married. He agreed to marry me and give her a portion of the riches. But he forced abuses upon me, no lady should suffer.”
“Did he touch you before your marriage?”
I nodded. He looked distant, like he was contemplating my bizarre story.
“So I came here.”
A slow smile crossed his lips, lighting his bright-blue eyes on fire. I could see the mischief in them. “You are missing a very key part of that tale.”
I looked down, ashamed of this part of the story. “Before I escaped, I went to a ball and met the prince. We—instantly—seemed to share something. There was a look —” My cheeks lit on fire as I recalled the night. “When I got the chance, I fled, not before running into the prince. Again, there was something between him—and myself.” My words had turned to a whisper as I smiled softly and remembered the carriage. “His father made it perfectly clear I was a slave and not a wife. I ran for a convent, but I knew I couldn’t be true to my vows there. My heart would never belong to God.”
“I don’t care about hearts, Ella.” He tilted my chin again. “I want you to be mine. I have no wife and no children. Because you are not from here, I cannot marry you. We have a rule the queen must be chosen from our lands. But I wish for you to be my mistress—mistress to the king. I have no other. One day I will be forced to marry, but that day is a long ways off. Until then, I wish to share my life here with you.”
“You don’t even know me.”
He smiled. “I see what I need to know.”
I sat there, stunned. I didn’t have a response. My body and heart belonged to his very own cousin, yet he didn’t care. He saw something someone else wanted and decided to take it. I asked quietly, “Do I have an option?”
His smile deepened. “Do you feel as though you have a choice?”
I swallowed hard and shook my head.
“Clean and ready yourself. I am off to deal with the men of the guard for touching what is mine.” He sounded frightening when he said it.
I sat there numb. I had no other alternative. I was being given one choice, but it wasn’t mine. I was being given the option of all or nothing and nothing meant death, I was certain of that.
But could I? Could I let a man with everything have me, body but not soul? It would be like being given a cup, but no wine to drink. I was sure I couldn’t do it, but the images of my life flitted about behind my eyes.
I had already had years of nothing. Years of abuse, mistreatment and suffering. I had been humiliated, and for what? Because I was an orphan?
After a life like that, could I not enjoy a life like this?
I ran my fingers over the rose petals in the bath and made a decision. If my prince wasn’t ever going to be mine, this was a close second. This was protection and a bedroom and food and blankets. It was already far more than I had ever had.
But who was he?
He knew my father, he seemed familiar, and yet, I didn't know him. I recalled almost nothing of the time around my father’s death. I wouldn't have remembered him there at the funeral.
I forced myself to agree, forcing my brain to take my memories of my prince and stash them somewhere I couldn’t look at them every day. It wasn’t going to help me, suffering with those images playing about in my brain.
I climbed from the tub and dried myself with the strange, lush bath sheet. I wrapped it around myself and padded along the marble floors to the huge bed. The sun was setting over the mountains and vineyards the land was known for. The grounds were stunning and the town was picturesque.
From the window I could see commotion in the courtyard. I caught a glimpse of a face I knew. He grabbed a man and shook him, tossing him to the ground. I opened the window, with a great deal of effort, and listened.
It was my prince. He shouted at the guard. “YOU BRING HER TO ME!”
My heart leapt. I shouted. “MY LOVE!”
He turned to see me. I waved. He had come!
“YOU’RE SAFE?”
“I am, my lord. Very safe.”
He smiled. “I am here to take you home.”
Happy tears claimed my face. “I am coming. Wait for me there.”
I turned and ran from the room, my feet slapping against the cold stone. I ran for the main room, clutching the bath sheet to my body. He had come! He had defied his father and come for me! He loved me. I was so excited, tears slipped from my eyes, blurring my vision. I wiped them away.
When I reached the main hall, the king turned to see me. He gave me a look. It was the same one I had seen on his face when I had arrived. It was cold and detached.
He snapped his fingers. Two men grabbed me and dragged me back down the hallway. I opened my mouth to scream but a huge hand covered my mouth. I couldn’t get air. My vision blurred and the last image I saw was the door to the room I had been in before, the king’s mistress’s room.
When I woke, my mouth was dry and my eyes burned. I blinked until my vision cleared. I could see candlelight flickering in the room. I was on the bed in the room I had bathed in. I tried to move my hands but they were bound to the bedposts with scarves. My feet were also.
I cried out into the ceiling where the candlelight danced. “HELP!”
I looked around, frantically until I saw him. HIM. Not my prince but the man who would have me against my will.
He was sitting in a chair in the corner of the room. One leg was resting on the other and his riding boot was twitching. I
could almost see his eyes glowing in the dim light.
I coughed with a hoarse voice. “Please, Your Highness. My prince came for me. I saw him in the yard. Please, he has come for me. I am to marry him.”
He sighed and stood, taking only a couple steps, and yet crossing the huge room. He reached down and pulled the bath sheet from my naked body. He stared for a moment at my exposed sex. He gripped the sheet for a moment and then dropped it.
Then, like he had come out of his trance, he smiled grimly. “My foolish cousin was willing to sacrifice his crown for you. I told him it was an imprudent endeavor, and as his cousin I would not allow it. He has seen the error of his ways and left for home again. My uncle is grateful for my efforts on his son’s behalf and you are my prize.”
I shook my head. I could feel the weight of hopelessness. “No. No. He’s still here. Please. I’ll let you do whatever you want to me, just let me see him.”
He started to chuckle. “You think he wants you now? Now that he knows I’ve had you for days. He knows how specific my tastes are. He’s no longer interested. Trust me. His father has him settled in with a nice girl, a proper lady.”
My heart broke. I started to cry again. “Just let me go.”
He turned and walked from the room. “No. The next time I see you, you will be begging me for something else.” He closed the door and left me to sob, alone in the dark.
I closed my eyes and begged for God to end it.
9
But he didn't.
I woke to the light of day and a sore body. When I looked across the room, he was there again. He was sitting in the chair leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. He looked different, relaxed. He was in casual dress and his dark hair was messy. He gave me a shadowy stare from under his brow. “Good morning.” He looked out the window as he stood. “I guess good afternoon would have been a better sentiment.”
I tugged at my wrists. I spoke with a hoarse whisper, “Please, Your Grace.” My shoulders were in a spasm and my throat was dry. My hips ached, and I hungered in a way I didn’t know I could.
He sat on the bed next to me and ran his fingers along my wrist. “I will untie you when you agree to my bargain and beg me to fuck you.”
I wanted to shake my head but I didn't. I nodded, unable to stop myself. I wanted water and my limbs to have blood in them again.
“Say it.”
I winced. “Please fuck me, my lord. I am yours.” I could taste the rusty blood of my cracking lips in my mouth. It added to the bad flavor of the words.
He smiled, and for the first time I could see true happiness on his face.
He really was a monster.
He untied my wrist. My arm was limp, I couldn't move it. He lifted it for me. I cried out as he laid it across my bare chest. He got up and untied my foot. Instantly, I moved the limp limb, releasing the pain in my hip. He came around to my arm before he did my last foot. When he untied my wrist, again I moaned in pain. My hands were numb and my fingers tingled. He pulled me up to sitting and walked around the room. He grabbed a glass of something and brought it to me. He lifted it to my lips, placing a hand delicately at the base of my head. I drank slowly.
“You are a stubborn girl, but you can’t think that a man should give up his kingdom for a girl. You can’t be that selfish.”
I swallowed and pushed the glass away with my weakened hand. “I’m not. I don't think he should give it up.” The words hurt as much as my throat did. Everything inside of me ached. But he was right.
The water in the glass tasted funny. It had a fruity taste to it. He wiped my face and gave me a hard look. “You will promise to be a good girl, no more issues?”
I wiped my mouth and nodded. He moved my hair from my face and gave me a long stare. The look in his eyes was eerie. He was plotting something. He got a wicked smile. “Are you hungry?”
I nodded again.
He left the room. I untied my foot and when he came back in with a plate of food, I had wrapped myself in the linens on the bed.
He carried the plate of food to a table and sat at the beautiful chair next to it. He patted his knee, “Come to me.”
I frowned but climbed off of the bed, to walk to him. He shook his head. “On your hands and knees. You must earn the right to walk in this castle. Leave your sheet there on the bed.”
I paused, about to protest but my stomach ached. I unwrapped my body and left the sheet there. On shaky limbs, I lowered to the floor and sat back on my knees. He picked a piece of succulent-looking meat from the plate and ate it. Watching him chew made me delirious. I placed my hands on the floor and crawled like a dog, to where he was. I didn't know what to say to him or to do. He offered a piece of meat with his fingers. I grimaced but ate from his hands, like I was Gus.
The thought of Gus startled me. I looked at him sharply. “My mouse, Gus! Where is he? He was in a sack.”
“He is fine. Trust me. He is a fat little mouse.” He laughed and offered me a piece of fruit with it. I closed my eyes and ate from his hands until I was nearly sickened.
“You’re a very good girl.” He held a glass of the fruity water for me but then poured it into a bowl and placed it on the floor next to him.
I sucked up the last of my pride and lowered my face to the bowl. He got up and walked around the back of me. Being bent over the bowl I felt how exposed I was to him, but I couldn’t stop lapping at the water.
He got down on the floor behind me, running his hands over my back. “You have flawless skin. So pale, even after years of working as a servant. How remarkable. You are bred perfectly, as a lady should be, and yet broken already. What a prize. No wonder my poor cousin is half mad.”
He pressed something hard against my backside. I suspected what it was when he took deep breaths of my skin, rubbing his face against me. I paused, hovering over the bowl. He rubbed his hands over my back and then slid them around the front, cupping my breasts. He rolled both my nipples, pinching slightly.
My parted lips sucked my breath.
I didn't mean to give him a reaction but there was no way to prevent it. He chuckled softly into my ear, covering my whole body with his. He rubbed himself against me in a steady rhythm, breathing hard and muttering. “Oh yes, you are a good girl. You will call me Sire, in all our undertakings. Do you understand?” He rubbed himself faster against me, pinching my nipples faster too.
“Yes, Sire.”
He stood up abruptly and lifted me from the floor. He carried me to the bed, laying me on my back. He leaned over me, there was rage on his face almost. He looked wild. He dragged his hands down the sheets before dropping to his knees in front of me. He was completely undone by me, or his passion.
His hands gripped my knees, pulling them apart in one savage tug.
He leaned forward, hovering his face above my parted lips. “You smell like honey. Do you taste that way?”
“I don’t know, Sire.”
He gripped my thighs but never lowered his face. I opened my lips when I could feel his breath upon me. Somehow I had gotten wet and the moisture tickled from his hot breath.
He ran his fingers lightly down my thighs, the grip gone completely and replaced with a gentle caress. They kissed like a feather might on my trembling skin. My eyes closed and my breath hitched, but he never touched the place I wanted him to. He had done it. He had made me want him to touch me.
“Shall I lick you, Ella?”
I nodded, pressing my eyes shut. “Please, Sire.” I was a bad person. Desire was my weakness and he could see it. I forced a deep breath and caught myself again. There was no fighting him or myself. I was far too weak and hungry.
“What is the sexual undertaking you like the most, Ella? Do you enjoy being taken roughly, like an animal might? Do you prefer to be savored slowly, delicately? Do you relish the thought of being licked and sucked? Open your eyes and look at me.”
I almost had to pry my eyes open. He hovered over my stomach, giving me that same wicked smile again. T
he one that made my blood boil. “What do you like the best from a man?”
I glanced at his hand on my thigh but forced a twitch of a no. “I do not know, Sire.”
He shook his head. “You are lying. I know you have a favorite act of wanton lust. I will do it if you tell me, beg me.”
I shook my head. He placed a kiss on my stomach, a moist kiss. I gasped. He placed a hand on my belly, just above the rise of my pubic line. He placed his other hand inside of my thigh, running his fingertips down my leg until one was suddenly at the entrance to my cunny.
I was trembling with need when he slipped a finger into me. He pressed down on my belly lightly and plunged the finger in deep.
“Your eyes stay on mine.”
I nodded, mesmerized by the intensity in his eyes. His finger slid in and out, but the pace was off. He was purposely not letting me get the build up I desired. His thumb rubbed my nub. I started to move with him. He stopped. “I don't think that is your niche.”
“It is, Sire.”
He chuckled. “No. It’s not.” He lowered his face and flicked my nub once with his tongue, “All women like this.” I swallowed hard but he shook his head. “But I can tell it’s not your favorite.”
He lowered his hand, pressing a wet finger against my anus. My mouth opened to protest but he pressed the finger into me. I cried out. He laughed. “You have never been taken this way. It might be the manner to make you lose control.”
I winced, prepared to beg, but he pulled the finger from me. He got up and walked to the washbasin. He cleaned his hands and grabbed a drink. “I think we will try something else.”
I lay there, terrified he was more like the duke than I would have imagined.
He placed the cup on the table and walked back over to me, undoing his trousers. “Come here, kneel for me.”
I covered my breasts and climbed off of the bed. I knelt in front of him.
“Take out my cock.”
My hand reached into his trousers before I really gave it any thought. My hand couldn't wrap all the way around it. It wasn't quite as long as the prince’s, but it was fatter. It made me nervous to imagine it inside of me.
