Conquered

by Kirsten Osbourne

  He wasn’t the quiet patient lover of the night before, but instead a persistent driven man. As soon as he was certain she was ready for him, he was on her, pushing himself inside her.

  His thrusts were hard and insistent and he finished quickly spilling inside her before she truly had a chance to wake up and enjoy herself. He rolled her to her side and hugged her back against him as if they were two spoons nestled together. She closed her eyes and immediately went back to sleep as he stroked her body under the covers.

  *****

  Christiana woke alone the following morning. She could see the sunlight streaming in through the windows and knew she’d overslept. She was usually up before dawn seeing to the duty of directing the servants. She sat up in bed, mentally groaning at the soreness of her inner thighs. Her new husband had used her body well during the night, and she was now paying the price.

  It was only after she was sitting on the bed with her legs crossed that she realized her sisters were sitting in chairs watching her come awake. Her bare breasts were uncovered above the bedclothes.

  “Good morning,” she mumbled, trying not to blush. She knew her sisters were wondering what had happened the night before, but she was not ready to talk about the intimacies she and her new husband had shared.

  “Roland was up hours ago,” Marina informed her with a grin. “Did you have a nice time last night?” Her eyes twinkled with mischief.

  Christiana realized then she’d promised to mentally contact her sisters when it was all over to let them know she was all right, but she’d fallen asleep too quickly. “It was fine.” They’d hear no more about it from her.

  Eva eyed Christiana. “Tell us about it. Was it painful?” The question seemed genuine, and because it was coming from Eva, Christiana knew it probably was something her sister truly wanted to know. She still wasn’t going to answer.

  Christiana well knew her sisters knew no more about the marriage bed than she had when Joan had given her explanation the previous evening. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Eva made a face. “We’ve never kept anything from each other. You must tell us what happens when a husband takes his wife to bed.”

  Christiana shook her head. “I’ll tell you before your own wedding nights and not before.” She wasn’t about to discuss it with her sisters, because she didn’t want to tempt them into letting a man take his marital rights with them before marriage. If she’d known what it was like before, she certainly wouldn’t have waited.

  Marina exchanged a look with Eva before turning her attention to Christiana. “There is some bruising on your breast, sister. Should I not heal it for you?” Her eyes danced mischievously as she asked.

  Christiana looked down to see the bruise-like marks on her breast. They weren’t painful, so she assumed they were from the love bites he’d given her. She covered her breasts with the blanket. “I’m fine.” She glared at her sisters. “Did you come here to torment me?”

  Eva grinned happily. “We merely wanted to see for ourselves that you were all right. We worried about you when you didn’t contact us last night.”

  “I’m sorry for that. He took his time about things, and by the time he was finished, I was so tired, I simply forgot.” She blushed when she thought of how he’d taken his time loving her. How would she ever look the man in the face when she couldn’t even face her sisters this morning?

  Eva’s laughter echoed through the walls. “Took his time about things? What things would those be?”

  Christiana buried her face in her hands. “You two need to help me dress and stop tormenting me. I don’t know why you think you have time to sit in my room watching me sleep instead of being downstairs helping the servants. There are changes to come, and not all the changes are ones we will like.”

  Eva and Marina found her dress and underthings and helped her put them on, making no more comments about the wedding night, much to Christiana’s relief. “What changes?” Marina asked.

  “Roland is planning on building a castle and tearing down our manor. He believes a castle is smarter because it will protect us all better.” Christiana kept her voice even. She hoped to be able to talk him out of his plans of destruction, but didn’t say anything about that. The manor had been in their family for generations, and none of them wanted to see it torn down.

  Eva stopped in the middle of tying Christiana’s dress closed. “Tear down our home?”

  Christiana nodded. “He believes we’ll be safer and that’s his primary concern.” She knew how her sisters felt about the manor being torn down, because she felt the same way herself.

  “Is he thinking other armies will come and attack us simply because he is here? This is now a Norman home, not a Saxon. Why would other Normans attack it unless he has enemies?” Eva quickly tied the neckline of Christiana’s dress. “I don’t want to lose our home.”

  Marina simply stared between the two of them. She had no idea what they’d do if their home was gone.

  “He has promised me both of you will be free to choose your own husbands, though. I told him I didn’t want to see either of you forced to marry a man not of your own choosing.” Christiana sat down so her sisters could fix her hair for her. They worked quickly and had it settled atop her head in minutes, no words exchanged as they were all lost in thought. After a moment, Christiana added, “He did say he would present men he approved and would want you to consider them, though.”

  Marina’s eyes widened. “He would allow us to say ‘no’ to a man he approved?”

  “He said he would. He does seem to want peace.”

  Eva laughed at that. “A warrior who wants peace? How could that possibly be the truth?” They had known warriors all their lives, and the men loved nothing more than the clang of metal on metal. A warrior who truly wanted peace would be an aberration.

  Christiana shrugged. “He claims he only followed William so he could be a landowner. He is a second son, so he would never inherit his family land. He doesn’t want to have to fight anymore. He will build a castle for defense, but hopes to never be called on to fight another war.”

  Marina shook her head disbelievingly. “I certainly hope he tells the truth. We don’t need more war in England. We need peace.”

  Christiana nodded, knowing war affected her youngest sister more than most. With her healing ability, she hated to not help everyone she saw, friend or enemy. It was difficult for them all, of course, but particularly hard for Marina. “We do need peace.”

  “Finished,” Eva announced as she pinned Christiana’s wimple in place.

  The three sisters left Christiana’s room and went down the stairs. As soon as they reached the main floor, Christiana saw Roland speaking with the cook. “I want a feast to thank my men for the loyalty they showed me as we fought for William. We will spend the day training, so they will be hungry. Are you equipped to feed two hundred men on a daily basis?”

  Cook shook her head. “We can do it again today, but we can’t do it on a regular basis. We just don’t have enough people to keep working at the pace you’re expecting.”

  Roland nodded. “I’ll see to hiring more servants to help you, and in the meantime my men will cook for themselves. If you’ll prepare the feast for this evening, I’ll see to it they take care of their own meals after today until I can hire more staff to help you.”

  Cook nodded and gave a quick bow before hurrying out of the room to begin her preparations. Roland noticed Christiana then and held his hand out to her.

  She rushed to his side, expecting him to merely brush her fingers with a kiss as she’d seen other men do with their wives on occasion. Instead, he pulled her into his embrace, and kissed her passionately whispering, “I look forward to the night time when I can be alone with you again, wife.”

  Christiana felt the blush spread across her face. “You can’t speak to me that way in public!” She put her hands on his chest, ready to push away from him if he got too intimate.

  He laughed,
stroking her cheek. “I’m the master of this keep, and I will speak to you however I want.” He brushed her lips with another quick kiss. “What plans do you have for the day?”

  “Well, since you’re having another feast prepared, my sisters and I will go hunting for fresh meat. We’ll run out if we don’t keep replenishing.” She did her best not to blush as she stood in the circle of his arms, fully aware that her sisters were watching them with interest.

  His brows drew together with surprise. “You’re ladies. You can’t hunt.”

  She gasped and stepped back. “We’ve been hunting all our lives. We happen to be excellent hunters.” Their mother had told them when they were small that they would need to be good at all things men did. She made sure they could hunt, with sling shots and bow and arrow, as well as wield a dagger and even a lightweight sword.

  He shook his head. “Be that as it may, you’re not to leave the walls of the manor without an escort, and I can’t spare any men to help you today.” He spoke with the air of a man who was used to issuing orders and having them carried out with no questions asked.

  “Are you forbidding me from hunting?” She knew she was pressing her luck to speak with him so boldly, but she didn’t care. She knew how to protect herself as well as most men did, and she and her sisters were perfectly capable of bringing in some meat.

  “Yes, I am. You will not leave the grounds without me or a man I appoint following you. Do you understand me?” His voice was low and severe. He was not about to agree to let her hunt, and she knew it.

  Christiana nodded and turned to her sisters, sending them a mental message. “We will wait until he is busy training with his men, and we will slip out one at a time. Eva, you will go first, so you can create an illusion for us as we go. I will watch for the perfect time and give you the signal.” She sent a mental picture of the small door off the kitchen that led to an area of the grounds the men were not camped in. They would slip into the stables and saddle their own horses.

  Christiana felt Marina’s response. “Are you certain you want to defy him so soon in your marriage, sister? You seem happy this morning, and I don’t want you to risk that.” Marina’s face echoed her words as she looked at Christiana skeptically.

  “He needs to know from the start that I’m his wife, not his property to order about. There is hunting to be done, and I will not sit on my backside embroidering tapestries for the walls when I can be doing something useful.” Christiana sent the words to both of her sisters so there would be no more arguments.

  Roland grabbed her arm before she could leave the room. “You will be careful. You are not only a Saxon, but you are the wife of a close confidante of Duke William. You will be a target for evildoers.”

  Christiana nodded to show she understood before she left, knowing she wouldn’t obey. He could not issue orders assuming she would obey everything he said simply because he said it. She was her own woman and always had been. He may be able to force her into marriage, and take her property from her, but he couldn’t kill her spirit. Not if she didn’t allow him to.

  *****

  Marina laughed with the wind in her face as she raced for the woods just outside the walls of the manor. Christiana and Eva were on her heels. They were all thrilled to be able to ride after weeks of being confined. Now there were men at home to protect them again if something were to happen, they were free to do as they wished whether Roland thought so or not.

  Finally they were deep enough in the woods they couldn’t be seen from the manor, and they dismounted. Each had brought her crossbow, and they pulled them from the back of their saddles. After their mother’s death, their father had taken them on his hunting trips, knowing it pleased them and that it would please their mother who had always insisted they needed to know how to hunt as well as any man. They’d quickly learned to use a crossbow as well as any man he’d ever seen, and he’d allowed them to hunt on their own, knowing between their hunting skills and their powers, they could easily protect themselves.

  The area had been overrun with deer over the summer, and there had been few men around to hunt them. Now there seemed to be deer everywhere, and the girls dropped three bucks in the first hour they were in the woods. “We can’t carry more than three deer back with us,” Christiana told the others. “Let’s try for a few rabbits before we return.”

  The three sisters sat on the ground with their backs together facing outward so they could see in every direction. They’d brought home countless rabbits that way over the years, and they knew they could do the same today. Because they could easily communicate without words, they didn’t have to sit silent and bored, and instead had fun talking with their minds.

  Christiana let loose an arrow and almost missed seeing the man who tried to sneak up on them. She turned her full attention to him, taking his measure. He was a young man, around twenty summers with dark hair and brown eyes. He wore the clothing of a peasant, but to Christiana’s eyes, he was too clean to be of the lower class. She was immediately on alert and sent a message to her sisters to be on alert, showing them the man in her mind.

  “What do you do here?” she asked. Her arrow was notched and ready as she asked the question, making it clear she was not going to play any games with him.

  “We’ve heard you have married one of the Normans. Your duty to the Saxon resistance is to report his activities back to us.” His glance included her sisters. “You will find a way to get us messages every week. Someone will always be in these woods waiting to hear from you.” There was no question in his words, just a simple statement of what she would be required to do for the Saxon resistance.

  She stood up facing him. “I will not. I may be a Saxon, but my duty is now to my husband, Norman or otherwise. I will not betray him.” She stood straight and tall as she told him she would be unwilling to forsake the man she had married.

  The man took a step closer to her, trying to intimidate her. “You betray the Saxon name! It is your duty to help the resistance!” Anger and madness swam in his eyes. A small amount of spittle was on the corner of his lip as he yelled the words at her.

  She shook her head emphatically. “It is not. My wedding him was not of my choosing, but he is now my husband before God, and I will not do anything to betray him. As a Christian, it is my job to protect and honor my husband. My duty to God is greater than my duty to the Saxon resistance.”

  “By refusing to help the resistance, you sign your own death warrant.” His arms reached toward her as if they were about to reach out and choke her.

  “So be it! I will not go against God to help anyone.” She felt her sisters step into place beside her, quietly flanking her. They would protect each other as they always had.

  The man sneered, but turned away. All three women kept their eyes on the man until he disappeared from sight. Christiana turned to her sisters. “We must get back to the manor.”

  They moved together quickly, getting the bucks on the backs of the horses, and tying the rabbits together with a string. They mounted their geldings to head back to the manor, each of the sisters watching more closely than before, worried there would be more from the resistance to hurt them. They would have to be careful to always take an armed guard as they left from now on, and each of them privately mourned their loss of freedom. They could protect themselves from one or two men, but against a full-blown resistance their efforts would be futile.

  They galloped back toward the manor, knowing they’d need to be careful to not be spotted on their way through the back gate. The gate was hidden by a small rundown shack at the back of the property, but they knew it was there. Roland had yet to discover it, so it was a safe way in and out of the property where they wouldn’t be caught.

  Just as Marina was dismounting to open the gate for them, Roland’s army appeared around the corner of the wall stopping beside them.

  Roland stared at Christiana, ignoring her sisters. He rode to her side and caught her around the waist pulling her onto his stallion
with him. He nodded to Hugh and Charles. “Get her sisters. Have someone send the meat to the kitchens.”

  Christiana sighed as her new husband turned his horse and road off toward the front gate with her across his lap. She’d known she was courting danger by refusing to obey her husband’s wishes. She sat silently, not making excuses for herself, for truly there were none to be made. She’d known she was doing something he didn’t want her to do even as she’d made the decision to do it. It was simply time for her to face the consequences of her actions.

  She knew most men would beat her for her behavior, and as gentle as her huge Norman husband had been with her the night before, she expected no less from him. How could he expect obedience if he wasn’t willing to discipline her when she did something wrong? She didn’t look forward to her punishment, of course, but she knew she deserved whatever he wanted to dole out, and she wouldn’t protest. She had no right to protest when she’d willfully disobeyed him.

  She knew she’d disobey him again, because it wasn’t in her nature to be blindly obedient, but in this case, she could see he’d been right. The man in the woods had frightened her to the point she wished she had obeyed her husband whether they had enough food or not. She sighed as he rode through the front gate and pulled her down off the saddle, dragging her behind him by her arm. He took her straight upstairs to their bedroom and pushed her down on the bed, standing over her with his hands on his hips.

  His face reminded her of murals she’d seen of Viking invaders. His feet were spread and the fire jumping out of his blue eyes at her had her quaking slightly. She wouldn’t let it show, though. She couldn’t. If he thought he could control her with his anger, he was wrong. She was simply not a woman to be controlled.

  “So what will you do with me? Beat me?” The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. She waited, holding her breath, for his response.