"Oh my god, Marcus! Thank goodness it's you. I was worried that it was your mother." I said, trying to block him from entering the kitchen.His nose crinkled up before he coughed and sneezed several times."Did something catch fire here? I can smell it from the garden."I took up the herculean task of preparing lunch for everyone in Marcus's family. I was quite confident about my cooking skills and was feeling like a domesticated wife, trying to impress Marcus. It started out all good during the first five minutes, and I never experienced so much joy in cooking for someone.But I guess I was too anxious to please. I got nervous once I started worrying about if he was going to hate what I made. He loved eating all those weird brains and extreme foods that I didn't know the recipes for. I should blame Allena and her clumsy hands. These clumsy hands plus my nerves were the perfect recipe for disaster. Never had anything that I made come out so gross be
I stood by the edge of the hill to get a good look while Marcus went down, relieved to see that Neill was already on his horse. I slowly climbed down after asking the servant to leave from the other side so that Marcus didn't fire her for helping me.He waited for me with his horse. I was so tempted to leave from the other side of the hill like the servant did to avoid his wrath but decided against it to not get him anymore riled up than he already was. I braced myself for his ranting and was surprised when he just offered me his hand to climb up his horse.He was riding extremely fast, just like the guy from my dream. He ignored my words and looked straight ahead, trying to focus on the rocky terrain."Marcus, slow down please."No response."Don't misunderstand this meeting. I don't feel anything for him, and I can't remember him, at all."Even his horse would have responded better if I talked to him instead. Marcus went deaf."You
I was staring at the portrait, shell shocked."Allena? Are you okay??"I was walking with Maia from the hallway to the atrium after eating breakfast when one of the paintings on the wall caught my eye. It was a painting of me... a nine-year-old me. I was standing by the window looking slightly up. There was a reflection of fireworks in the glass pane and my eyes.I remember very well when this happened. It was the first New Year's Eve that I spent alone. That blue frock was my dad's birthday present to me. I watched the fireworks from my bedroom window while waiting for my mom."This... this picture? How, I mean what..." I didn't know what my question should be.Maia looked at me curiously before responding."This is a girl that used to haunt Marcus's dreams when he was around ten. Do you know her?""No, I mean no. Um... Those reflections on the window are strange.""There are a lot of things that are strange about this picture
With his eyes fixated on me, he slammed me on over the bed and undid my shirt. Excitement surged through my body with anticipation. Was this really happening? Finally?!"Shouldn't you be drying off your hair first?""No, it can wait." He pulled my clothes off and threw them across the floor.I tried to move to grab a towel saying, "You will catch cold, it will only take a...""Shut up!"He wrapped a solid arm around my midriff and gave my hair a ruthless pull before crashing his lips into mine. A shuddering moan left my lips when he left a trail of passionate wet kisses all over my breasts and stomach."Oh, Marcus""Mhm...""I missed you."He got hold of my neck and his kisses turned violent. His rough hands grasped onto my hips aggressively. My heart lurched in my chest when his eyes met mine. I tried to keep up with his passion and roughness. His tongue swept and teased me in all the right spots, and a sharp sensation of pleasure was rising between my legs. He rubbed his length a
"Achooo!!"That was the seventh time I heard Marcus sneeze in the last one hour or so. He was in the meeting room with the other men of the house, and I was all over the courtyard, trying to get a glimpse of him. I walked by the room several times, missing him.I went into the kitchen to help with the stew for dinner. I was careful to simmer it on the lowest possible heat but used the wrong size vessel. Marcus snuck up on me while I was in the tedious process of transferring the excess hot liquid off the ginormous pot into another vessel.I almost dropped the ladle and screamed at him in a much shriller voice than I intended to, "Ah, go away!!"I was feeling hot in the kitchen and annoyed with the men that they don't let the women of the house participate in their so called important meetings."Shh! The entire house doesn't need to know that I am here."He told the servants to leave."Are you mad at me?" He asked while moving st
I watched Marcus walk Laelia out of the house through the garden entrance, close to the riverbank to talk privately. I could probably hear their conversation, at least in bits and pieces, if I hid behind one of the bushes in the garden. I fought the urge to actually do it.I should trust Marcus because he just promised that his love for me won't change. Really? I paced around the house for almost thirty minutes but he did not return.What were they doing?Were they even there anymore or did he take her somewhere?I didn't like his reaction at all to her when she saw us making out. Why does he owe her any explanation? Too bad ex-girlfriend, he doesn't feel the same about you anymore.Shouldn't he break it off with her if he's so clear about his feelings towards me? Plans change, things don't work as expected, and we move on; she should get over it too.I was pulling my hair and chewing my nails when Maia suddenly came into the atrium asking,
It felt like my whole world was falling to pieces and everything was spinning out of control. Marcus and I sucked at arguments, and there was no end to them."You are just stretching the truth by a whole damn mile!" He said."Because she's always going to be in your life, Marcus! I will never have this feeling of contentment that you are mine. I am all yours, but you aren't.""I am all yours too! But I can't just push her away. It's not the right thing to do.""So it's okay to put me under this feeling of constant insecurity that you might cheat on me at some point? Be the father to her kids? Be on her side when she needs you? You married me while you were already married to her. How much of the right thing was that?""I never planned to marry you. It was---""But you did! And that's the point I am trying to make. You are telling me that you will never cheat on me, but then you will come back with 'It just happened' kind of an explanation."
Even without stopping much for food and rest, it took us almost nineteen hours to reach the point near the river where Allena saw Marcus and Laelia making out. It was close to midnight and the river looked swollen and angry. We took the alternate path that went through caverns in the dark. I was scared stiff but the men walked their horses through like they did it every day."Most of these caverns run underground, below the river bed. But when the river overflows like now, some of the caves are also flooded." Seamus explained.He was Marcus's other friend that I never met before. Marcus was very good at dividing and delegating his work was what I realized. Conan who grew up near the fortress took care of most of his responsibilities there. Seamus grew up close to Allena's village and was Celtic. He knew these devious routes like the back of his hand. From what Max told me, Seamus also knew how best to deal with the emerging Italo-Celtic folks and their sentiments.