THREE

RALIA

His lips were a bit rougher against my own now, maybe as a punishment, maybe it was simply because he was angry, but it did not still fail to draw a moan from deep within my belly. I felt ashamed by the noises I was making, but he seemed to like them, because he became more gentle as he drew me to the bed beneath him, and the hands that wondered all over my body, touching me intimately did not hurt me, instead they brought me a kind of pleasure that was akin to pain.

I felt shame and embarrassment wash over me, and I closed my eyes to hide from his face. His hands suddenly went still, and he swore angrily under his breath.

My entire body tensed up because I thought he was finally going to hit me, maybe I had done something to make him angry again. My sister’s had never hit me before, but I knew it was only a matter of time before someone did.

“Open your eyes.” He commanded, and even though I did not want to, I could not disobey the commanding tone of his voice.

My eyes opened gradually and I found myself starring up into his eyes that was filled with barely controlled anger. His finger inched lower to rub me intimately again, causing a whimper to escape my lips.

“Tell me,” he murmured. “Have you ever had a lover.?”

There was a strange mixture of tenderness and anger in the way he said it that frightened me even more, and I began blabbing of how I did not have anyone who loved me except my maid, and then my mother, but I did not remember anything about my mother since she died before I was born, and so I could not really tell if she loved me.

I was frightened, and surprised when he suddenly started laughing. He paused a bit, and his gray eyes searched my green ones, I do not know what he was looking for in my expectation, but he continued laughing. Rolling off me gently, he let his fingers brush off my hair, exposing my cleavage once more.

“So you have had no lovers, and you do not even know what it means to take a lover. Why then did your sister bring you here?” He asked more sternly, and I shivered, afraid my answer might make him angry once more. I did not know what made him angry, and what made him roar into sudden laughter like he had earlier, but I wanted him to laugh instead of to be angry.

“I can tell you a joke if you want.” I offered shyly, surprising even myself.

He nodded. “Please do. Let’s see if you can come up with something more funny than the situation I have found myself in with you my little Amie.”

I wanted to ask him what situation he was in, but knowing he could easily get angry, I concentrated instead on thinking up a joke, even I knew it had to be funny. I thought for a long time, but I couldn’t come up with anything. All I could think of was the trivial playful insults I and Cheyenne cast against each other. Disappointed at myself, I remained silent.

“What Mom Amie? You can’t come up with something more funny than this situation can you?” He asked, and thankfully, he was still smiling.

Feeling less shy, I told him that I did not find our situation funny at all, instead I found it confusing. That brought another bout of laughter from him, and I could only lie still in my confusion and wait till he finished laughing.

He stood up suddenly and pulled me to him, planting a full kiss on my lips. “Let’s find your brother Mon Amie, and he must pay for this trick he played on me.”

I suddenly had an irrational fear that I was about to lose him, that he was going to one of my sisters to do the same things he had done to me to her, and my heart constricted in my chest because I knew that unlike me, she would know what to do.

I stepped forward and pressed my lips against his, wanting to keep him, to make him stay. I was still trying to figure out how to make the kiss deeper when the door flew open, and I heard the shrill scream of my oldest sister Berta.

“You stupid bitch! What are you planning to do? Bring ruin on this household? Cause my husband to lose all his fortunes?”

My handsome stranger pulled me slightly away from himself, and his eyes studied me briefly. “So the rumors are true.” He said calmly to my sister.

Berta immediately composed herself and plastered a fake smile on her face. “You must not mind my Sister Alpha Lesley. She is very stupid, and does a lot of stupid things. I’m sorry that she was bothering you.”

Without waiting for any reply from my handsome stranger who I now knew was Lesley, she grabbed my hand and started pulling me out of the room muttering something about how I had ruined my innocence and how I needed to be scourged of my sin by a hundred strokes against my bare back.

I felt real fear come over me, as I tried to free myself from her grasp. I could only hope she was not being serious. No one had flogged me before, and I couldn’t imagine anyone flogging me now, but the rest of my sisters, all except my two brothers were standing outside the door, maybe they had been drawn by the commotion. They too were muttering something about me getting flogged, one of them even seemed to think flogging me would not be enough.

“Enough of this nonsense.” Lord Lesley said from behind me, and I immediately felt reassured. This time, his angry impatience was not directed at me, but at my sisters. “This is absurd. None of you are going to flog the child. Now, the saner one among you should take her to her room, she is shaken enough by this this.”

If I was not so frightened, I would have found this moment funny because my sisters never appeared to be afraid of anyone, but they were visibly afraid of Lord Lesley.

The rest of them kept muttering, as Berta stepped forward and took my hand again. This time, I let her lead me back to my room. Hopefully, she would listen to Lord Lesley and not have me flogged.