Rape of a Heart

The servants let him in without a question. He was known around

the tower estate as one of the mistress’s most recent lovers. They

opened the portcullis for him without reservation, and did not look

twice when he headed up the stairs to her chambers without

saying a word.

She was spread out on the lascivious red cushions and bedding,

still dressed, her face wearing the remnants of tears, her lips open

in a soft sighing frown. As he leaned in close to her ebon skin, he

could smell rum on her breath.

She had fallen asleep drunk after her engagement ceremony, her

new fiancé departing for lands unknown for who knew how long.

And she had cried herself to sleep.

The dark elf shadow knight slowly shook the wizardess by the

shoulder. Her white hair covered her face like a mist as she turned

her head and looked up and around. Then she saw him, and her

blue skin paled visibly.

He put a finger on his lips and shook his head back and forth,

cautioning her to silence.

Sidhe knew something was wrong the moment she looked into his

impassive steely grey eyes. He held no emotion there, he was

colder than ever. She stood up when he pulled on her arm, and put

on her cloak when he handed it to her.

“Now,” he whispered.

“Take us to the desert and to your desert house.”

Sidhe nodded and recalled the portal spell that would move

herself and whoever was with her to the northern end of the vast

coastal desert. Then she was casting it and they were gone from

the tower.

No one saw them leave, and no one bothered to check on the

sleeping lady of the house.

He took her by the hand as soon as the portal opened on the

sunken pyramid surface in the hot sand, and began to lead her off

towards the grasslands near the human port city. Sidhe followed,

stumbling lightly. Her head still ached and her mind was dazed,

confused as to what was going on.

What did he want with her? What was he up to?

Part of her heart was glad to see him, ever so glad. The love she

felt for him was welling up in her chest. But right after it came the

guilt, the sense that she had betrayed him by allowing her kin to

arrange her marriage to a most powerful and wealthy wizard, in

order to create ties that would bind the man to her House forever.

Days ago she had lost this lover who now so angrily dragged her

over the dunes. He did not want marriage to her, but he wanted

her to marry no other in his place. He did not understand the

culture from which she came, and remained true to, one he and so

many others had abandoned so long ago.

The sun was setting over the desert, and a cool breeze was coming

in from the ocean to the east. The air was chill against her hot

skin, and she was thankful the sun was finally declining. Drow did

not do well in its penetrating glare. They wooed the night like a

goddess they could worship, and she could feel her mind clearing,

her thoughts becoming more lucid as the powers of the dark came

over the land.

The more she thought about this sudden journey, the more she

began to become afraid. His hand was gripping hers painfully, and

he was making straight for the little bungalow home she owned.

The one story building with its few large rooms was tucked

against the side of a cliff, well protected from any outside forces.

It was one of many such estates in the area, yet it was set apart

from the rest by a goodly distance.

No one outside would hear what occurred inside.

For a moment, Sidhe considered fleeing her lover’s grip. She

tested his fingers, and he only held onto her’s tighter, looking

back at her over his shoulder. Something in his gaze seemed to

dare her to try to escape his wrath.

Wisely, she chose not to do what he seemed to be challenging her

to do.

A patio of stone was carved into the cliff face, and he led her to it.

In the shadows, she could see a tall Northsman, a barbarian man

standing there in desert leathers. He had his back to the two

oncoming Drow, unable to see as well as they could in the

quickening twilight.

Her lover hissed, and the man turned around, nodding and

following the sound blindly. Then they were standing at the door

to her estate.

Sidhe looked at them both, and gulped.

“Open it!” her lover hissed.

And she did, giving the password to the magickal seal on the

door. As the door opened and the servants became visible, trapped

spirits bound to the house and to whoever owned it, her lover

pushed her hard and she fell to the floor.

The door closed behind the barbarian, sealed once more.

Sidhe turned slowly to the dark elf man walking arrogantly

around the main room.

“Dismiss the servants,” he said.

“We won’t be needing them for some time.”

He pulled off his gauntlets and she watched him, nodding to the

mindless beings and noting to herself that they didn’t truly

disappear when dismissed but hung around unseen. They had no

minds of their own, no wills and no thoughts, so in times past she

had not taken them into consideration. But now, suddenly, she

wished they truly were not going to stay.

The Drow male looked at her, then he laughed at where she still

lay half sprawled on the floor of the room.

“You are so pathetic,” he said, snickering.

But the tones in his voice spoke a dozen other things. She would

not be a woman if she did not acknowledge the hate and the pain

there. She gulped in the thickness of his anger, his disgust, and his

hatred.

All of which were directed at her.

He hated her. He was disgusted with her. And his wrath seemed to

hold no bounds.

Maybe he will beat me, she thought, eyeing the nearby windows

and their latches.

His cold blue eyes followed hers and he laughed again. Then he

nodded to the barbarian.

“Pick her up.”

Sidhe tried to struggle but the tall Northsman was many times

stronger than her. She didn’t have time to cast a single spell, or

even recall which would be best just now. The barbarian picked

her up in both hands, holding her tightly against his chest. The

Drow man walked into the back bedroom, and the barbarian

followed, carrying the struggle wizardess.

The room contained a great fireplace, always lit, for cool nights

just like this. Sticking out from one of the curved walls was a bed,

big enough for two but not the most royal or elegant of furniture.

The table nearby was also more practical than extravagant.

This house had once belonged to Ubique, and before her, a

barbarian lover she had come to have had owned it. He had been

Ubique’s first lover, first among all men. And when he had

married another, he had given Ubique this home with which to

begin to build her own fortune.

Once Sidhe had married one of Ubique’s own allies, the Drow

warrior had given her wizardess slave the estate, a pretense of

freedom or so it had always seemed to Sidhe. Ubique gave her

many things to remind her she was an equal in their House, but

she also did the small subtle things to show Sidhe that she was

still owned, and still belonged to someone else.

The recent marriage contract, for instance – important to Sidhe’s

sisters in Ubique’s guild, but of near to no value to Sidhe. She

appreciated Ubique’s choice of partner of course, just as she had

the last time. This time, her silly heart wasn’t involved, whereas

last time, when her husband had left her for another dimension,

Sidhe had cried big fat human-like tears over the high elf Ubique

had meant her to marry only for political reasons.

This time, Sidhe cried not for her future husband. She had fallen

asleep weeping drunkenly over the man who now glared at her

with a gaze so full of hate that it itched her skin all over and

caused her soul to shrivel inside.

The Drow male nodded at the bed, and the Northsman tossed

Sidhe onto it, the mattress creaking from the strength of his throw.

Sidhe stayed absolutely still, eyes wide and panic-filled.

“Did you miss me, my ‘love’,” the Drow said.

His voice was thick with venom as he sat in a wooden chair at the

table. He slouched slightly, his frame full of confidence and ire.

Whatever he had planned, he knew he wouldn’t get caught. And

he obviously had something very wicked in mind.

Sidhe gulped and looked up at the Northsman.

“This is my friend,” her lover said to her.

“He’s going to help me teach you a lesson. Do you know what

lesson I’m going to teach you?”

Sidhe looked back at the man speaking, and blinked. Then she

shook her head.

He looked away from her and began to pull off his armor until he

was wearing only his softer, more comfortable leathers. Then he

tilted his head, running a hand through his short white hair.

“Once upon a time, not so long ago, you gave yourself to me.”

His voice was hard as mithril, and yet as low and smooth as

poison in wine. And he wouldn’t look at her, his eyes ran over the

room, the fire, anywhere but at her.

“You said you loved me, and only me. You swore you had no

other lovers, that you gave your body to only me. And I believed

you, Sidhe.”

“But I didn’t! I still –“

“Silence, bitch!” he spat.

His eyes were on her now, and he was ready to leap out of his

chair, his fingers clenching reflexively.

She thought she could almost feel them on her throat.

He wanted to kill her, if not hurt her terribly. She put a hand to her

neck, and backed up on the bed.

As if seeing the fear in her eyes, and liking it, he squinted at her a

moment. Then he chuckled, sitting back in his chair and resting

one hand on the tabletop. His short nails drummed on the wooden

surface as he studied her.

“You are still mine. You will always be mine. And I’ve spent

some time thinking of how to show this to you. How best to

remind you of what you said to me, and what you gave to me.”

His eyes went to the Northsman, who was grinning wickedly

down at Sidhe. And as she followed his gaze, and looked up into

the face of the tall, solidly built barbarian, she cringed, her mind

reeling suddenly with her predicament.

“If you are mine, I can give you away at my leisure. I can do what

I wish with you, like property, like a toy.”

Sidhe looked back at him, her eyes clouding with tears now. Her

breath was lost in her lungs.

“And that’s what I’m going to do. That’s the lesson I’m going to

teach you. That you are mine, and I can, and will, do whatever I

wish to do with you.”

“Please, no, please don’t, gods no…” she whispered.

He nodded at the barbarian, who began to peel off his clothing.

Sidhe watched, looking from the tall paler man to her dark and

angry lover. He was grinning, and the madness in his soul was

evident in his eyes. Anger and hatred had gone wild in him and

driven him over the edge of sanity and reason.

Sidhe looked back to the barbarian, wishing she could sink

through the bed, but knowing if she made any attempt to escape,

she would likely be slain outright.

Maybe it won’t be so bad, she tried to say to herself to calm her

rising panic.

But as the barbarian undressed, his eyes gleefully on hers, the fear

within her grew.

He was tall, but all Northsmen were. As he peeled off his tunic, he

revealed a beefy chest and hard muscled stomach. His arms were

fat with corded muscle. His waist was heavy set, and his belly

slightly rounded from too much drinking and good eating.

Her eyes blinked open and shut as he continued to disrobe.

His legs were bare beneath his kilt of leather plates, which he

undid and dropped. Then he was lifting a foot to the bed to undo

his boots. His legs were as massive as tree trunks from the wood

that shielded Sidhe’s people from outsiders. And his member,

hanging limply between his mammoth thighs, was the thickness

of Sidhe’s forearm.

She gulped again, then started to back away in terror as the

barbarian’s cock began to thicken and throb, getting larger,

harder. Sidhe’s bottom found the far edge of the bed and she

twisted, trying to get away over the floor. But a hand found her

ankle and the barbarian was pulling her back onto the bed.

“You can’t escape, my ‘love’,” her Drow lover said, watching.

She looked at him, her face a mask of terror. But his eyes were

cold, calculating, and unfeeling.

“Make her suck you,” he whispered to the barbarian, a finger on

his lips as he watched almost impassively.

Sidhe struggled, but the barbarian had a grip on her hair now. He

pulled her head back, hard, then spun her body with one hand

against her hip, until she was on her back. He lifted her up by the

hair, and then set her back on the bed on her knees.

Her scalp ached from his grip, but he didn’t let go or give her an

inch of free reign. She saw his hand going to his cock, and felt the

grip on her hair tighten.

Sidhe closed her mouth, but to no avail. Soon, that massive

bulbous cock head was rubbing against her lips. She could feel the

oozing slime of precum there.

The barbarian was enjoying her struggles.

Sidhe put a hand on each of his hips, trying hard to pull away. She

squeezed her eyes shut.

Then the head of the cock was pushing between her lips, and the

barbarian was speaking a Northsman-tongued warning to her not

to bite, one she understood only by the relevance of the situation.

Into her mouth went the fat cock head, stretching the corners of

her lips tightly until she was sure they would tear.

How that cock head fit inside she didn’t know and could only

attribute it to the magick of the world that allowed ogres to rape

with wood elves, and trolls to rape humans.

Into her mouth the head plunged, and the barbarian snickered, not

even slightly satisfied. Sidhe beat her fists against his lower

abdomen, and he laughed at her. Then he forced her head further

down his cock until she could feel that fat tip at the back of her

throat, pressing against her tonsils.

The barbarian began to plunder her mouth, moving in and out in

small thrusts. She kept her eyes tightly closed as he cooed to her,

her fists working on his skin. She tried to claw him, but he didn’t

seem to notice at all.

The next thing she knew, he was cumming in her mouth. She

could taste the dreadfully salty seed pouring down her throat and

into her stomach, and she shook her head. As the cock became

slightly limp, not so painfully large, she tried to pull away. But the

barbarian held her fast to him, wriggling her head side to side for

extra pleasure.

From the chair, her lover laughed lightly. The barbarian released

Sidhe and let her fall to the bed as he examined his cock for teeth

marks. Sidhe lay there, panting, wiping at her aching mouth and

checking for blood.

“Interesting specimen, isn’t he?” the Drow male said.

“Funny how I came to know a man like this. But I won’t avail you

with the tale. You always hated how I would speak of my other

lovers.

“One thing you should know though, my dear Sidhe. This man

isn’t like ordinary men. Not only is he incredibly huge, but his

appetite is insatiable.”

Sidhe looked at her lover, then slowly, her gaze went to the

barbarian’s face. He was looking at her with eyes almost as

yellow as a plains cat. Then her own eyes began to travel

downward.

The barbarian was stroking himself, his fat fist going up and down

the shaft of his cock. And before her very eyes, Sidhe watched as

the cock became rigid and stiff, bigger than before.

Watching from his chair, her lover nodded at the barbarian’s

questioning gaze to him.

“Now you may truly have her, my friend.”

Immediately the barbarian grabbed each of Sidhe’s thighs.

Mercilessly, he pulled her to him, tearing at her netted leggings.

Sidhe screamed, forgetting that no one could hear her. The

barbarian’s thick fingers ripped her tunic from her chest and

stripped her of all her jewelry, even tearing her boots from her

slender feet. Soon she was naked, and she began to sweat as she

screamed at the man and tried to beat him off of her.

Then he was over her, grunting and laughing at her as he put a

hand in the middle of her chest. His other hand was guiding his

cock against one of her thighs, then dipping it into her privacy.

Sidhe felt the head enter her first, and that was enough to cause

her voice to pitch, a high wailing sound that echoed off the walls

and ceiling. As he forced more of his cock into her tight sheath,

the barbarian groaned in pleasure, and Sidhe screeched in pain

and agony.

She could feel his every ridge and vein, and could feel the

throbbing desire of the barbarian. Into her he pushed, forcibly

stretching her. Then he muttered something over his shoulder to

the Drow male.

“Nau,” Sidhe’s lover answered.

“Don’t worry about hurting her that badly. We are magickal

beings, whatever damage is done repairs itself almost

immediately, or within a few days. Isn’t that right, Sidhe? You

love big fat cock inside you, don’t you, my dear?”

Sidhe clawed at the barbarian’s chest, making him laugh. Then he

captured both her wrists and pinned them to the bed above her

head. Into her he drove now, until she could feel him breaking

through to her womb, where no man should ever go. At last, his

cock head settled there, he was buried to the hilt.

Sidhe couldn’t breath, the air was being crushed from her lungs

by his massive weight over her small frame. She tried to kick but

his hips had hers pinned, her legs spread painfully wide.

He began to withdraw, but he didn’t pull out all the way before he

was thrusting back inside her. Sidhe could feel the pain of his rape

of her womb, feeling the rim of his cock head pulling at her

insides. In and out of her he went, bouncing her on the mattress as

she screamed, again and again.

From the chair her lover watched it all, his eyes slightly

interested, but for the most part impassive and unemotional.

At last, the barbarian was cumming. He pushed up off of her body

until he was almost kneeling so he could look down and see his

huge shaft pushing in and out of Sidhe’s tight ebon sheath. He

grunted, and then came, throwing his weight onto her once more,

his fingers squeezing her arms and wrists painfully, almost

snapping them in his ecstasy.

Unable to breath, Sidhe‘s screams of agony died in her throat.

“Alright, get off of her before you kill her. I’m not done with her

yet,” the Drow male complained from the chair.

The barbarian stooped and licked at Sidhe’s face a moment, then

pulled off of her, lying to one side of her. His body was too big

for the bed, so he still had her pinned beneath his legs.

“Do you understand yet, Sidhe? Do you know who you belong to

yet?” As her breath came back to her lungs, she began to plead.

“Please, I know you own me. Please no more, no more. I’ll do

anything!”

“But Sidhe! We have done everything! We’ve done it every

possible way, every possible position, every possible fantasy! And

it wasn’t enough for you, nau. You wanted things I couldn’t give

you because me fucking you wasn’t enough! So I’m going to give

you everything, Sidhe!”

He stood up now, rushing to the foot of the bed, looking at her.

His face was so angry, so full of hate that Sidhe cried and closed

her eyes, turning over on her side.

The thickness of the barbarian’s cock inside her had made her

bleed onto the mattress. But the pain of his lust was nothing

compared to the ache in her heart when her lover looked at her

like that.

Her lover sneered at her weakness, his anger so tight in his body

that he was panting now.

“Again,” he said to the barbarian.

“This time, from behind.”

The barbarian asked something in a hopeful voice, and the Drow

male nodded, his lips curling wickedly as he stayed at the foot of

the bed.

Sidhe felt the barbarian take her by the ankles. Then, after a few

moments, she realized her humiliation wasn’t done. She screeched

and grabbed at the bed posts and head board.

The Northsman was turning her onto her stomach now, spreading

her legs as he kneeled between them. Sidhe could feel his fingers

flickering over her bloody crevice, fondling her broken cunt. Then

he was smearing the mix of blood and semen up and back, over

her anus.

“Nau!” she screamed.

But no one heard, and no one came.

Sidhe gripped the head board tightly, trying in vain to pull away.

But the barbarian only laughed, and her lover moved to one side

of the bed, his fingers gripping a bedpost so tightly his knuckles

went white.

Sidhe looked at him over her shoulder, freezing as she saw the

revulsion in his eyes. Then she began to struggle again, imploring

the barbarian to stop.

She felt his fingers parting her buttocks. She felt the heat of his

cock like a burning brand against her anus.

And then he was plunging mercilessly within, tearing at the rim of

hard muscle there. He was truly unrelenting as he drove into her

ass, busting her open with his shaft. He was so thick that surely

her tightness must have hurt him. But it was a pain he craved, and

he only went deeper, sheathing himself inside her completely.

Then he withdrew, all the way, only to plunge into her again. And

then again.

The Northsmen didn’t even have to put a hand on Sidhe’s

struggling frame. The heaviness of his hips against her buttocks,

his fat cock thrusting deep into her ass, had her effectively pinned.

Sidhe screamed and clawed at the bed’s wooden frame, refusing

to give up her attempt at escape. But still she found no quarter as

the barbarian man rendered her ass into a bloody mess, fucking

her with his complete brutal strength.

Next to the bed, her lover was hissing, in pleasure or in hate Sidhe

didn’t know.

Then the barbarian was howling in ecstasy, cumming at last,

filling her ass with his spurting juices. Sidhe felt as if he were

pouring lava into her core, and she could feel things breaking

inside both her body and spirit as he became thicker with his final

lust.

Then, by the will of the gods or by pure fate, the world went

black.

Pain woke her before anything else. Then she sucked hard inward,

filling her lungs with cool air. Hands around her held her tightly,

and she felt her entire body bruised and aching, coming awake.

Sidhe opened her eyes, and saw above her the purple haze of a

morning sky. The sun had not yet come up, and there were still

the last remnants of midnight clouds striding over the stars.

She looked around, not moving her head, only her eyes.

Her lover was near, holding her from underneath. She blinked at

him, then became more aware of her surroundings.

A pleasant cool feeling enveloped her, and she realized she was in

the ocean. He was using a rag to clean her wounds.

“I love you,” he said quietly, looking into her eyes.

“Do you believe me?”

Sidhe nodded, blinking at him.

“Good. Good girl. Come now, before you get a chill. Let’s go to

the house.”

He helped her out of the water, then, and she stumbled and had to

lean against him. All of her body ached. He picked a blanket up

off of the sand, and placed it about her crouching frame, holding

her against him. Then he lifted her off her feet.

As they walked through a nearby village, passing the communal

campfire, Sidhe caught sight of the barbarian man sitting and

cleaning off his cock. He winked at Sidhe, and she whimpered,

unable to tear her eyes away from his member.

“Shhh,” said her lover in her ear, nuzzling her.

“That’s all over, now. You’re mine, you see? I can do what I want

to you. Never make me angry again.”

Back in the house, he laid Sidhe on the bed. Then he licked his

bottom lip, opening up the blanket he had covered her with so he

could gaze on her naked body.

His fingers traced over the fingerprint-shaped bruises on her arms

and legs, dancing over the purple patches on her indigo colored

skin.

“I love you,” he whispered.

“Do you love me?”

Sidhe nodded, trembling from fear and from the cold chill setting

through her weakened body.

“Say it,” he asked her.

She blinked at him. Then she opened her mouth.

“I love you.” The lie came out so sweetly, so easily, Sidhe was

surprised at herself, and suddenly proud.

Then she carefully got up on her knees, next to her lover. She put

her lips to his mouth, and her hands around his neck. She kissed

him, deeply. Then she lay down, pulling him with her.

His eyes were soft with passion as she moved her fingers to his

leggings and released his cock. It wasn’t a barbarian cock, but it

was large all the same. She moved her hands over it, stroking it to

a firmness she knew he enjoyed. She played with his sack, and he

held himself up over her on his hands, watching her fingers

working over him.

Then Sidhe spread her heavily bruised thighs, now washed clean

of blood and cum. She spread herself for him, and guided his cock

into her privacy.

As he entered her, she winced, and he dropped over her body. He

wasn’t as heavy as the Northsman had been, but her ribs hurt from

supporting the great weight of her rapist only hours before.

The Drow male dropped his head into the crook of Sidhe’s neck,

nuzzling her as he allowed himself to slide slickly inside her.

Sidhe moved beneath him, forcing her aching muscles to push up

and take him even deeper in. Thankfully, he couldn’t reach the

depths of her womb like his comrade had, but that didn’t stop him

from trying as he began to piston himself in and out of her.

Sidhe forced her body to react to him, forced herself to think of

every time she had enjoyed his touch, his every gesture of love to

her. She made her cunt become slick with excitement, and he was

spurred on to greater action by the feel of her reacting to him.

“I have to have all of you,” he groaned, and Sidhe nodded, turning

over onto her stomach. She lifted her broken bottom up to him,

and he plunged into her already-healing anus, fucking her ass

mercilessly. He pulled out and thrust into her puss, then pulled out

and moved into her ass again. He trade from one to the other,

stroke for stroke, moaning all the while.

Then he turned her back onto her backside, looking down at her as

he stroked himself.

“I have to have all of you, my love,” he said, as if he needed her

to understand.

Sidhe nodded again, sliding down on the bed. And soon, he was

guiding his cock to her lips.

This was how the night had begun, she thought to herself. But

then she pushed the thought away, forcing herself to become calm

once more.

His cock head parted her lips easily, and she swirled her tongue

around the rim of him, tasting herself and the faint echoes of

diluted blood. Her lover put his hands in her hair, lifting her head

up to his cock and beginning to forcibly fuck her face.

“I love you, gods I love you,” he groaned.

Then he was cumming, filling her throat with his seed. He pulled

out slightly, and spurted over her face, coating her lips, her chin,

her cheeks with his warm semen.

At last, he was spent, and he fell to the bed. Sidhe lay very still,

resting her head against his shoulder.

“I can’t sleep here,” he said softly, and Sidhe nodded.

“I have kin to see today, and I’m so weary. My life, Sidhe, it is so

full of pain and hardship. You are the one thing I enjoy, do you

know that?”

Sidhe forced a smile when he looked at her, and she returned his

passionate kiss. Then she sat up, helping him to dress.

“You are the one island of goodness I know of, in all I do, each

day. I can’t be what you want me to be, I have to be myself. But

that doesn’t mean I don’t love you,” he said, putting a finger

under her chin.

Sidhe smiled, understanding at last, and all too well.

“Good, I will go now. I hope to see you soon, my sweet love.

Remember, no matter what I am doing, or who I am with…I am

thinking of you. Only you.”

He kissed her again, smiling happily now that he was completely

confident of her love for him, and completely satisfied.

As he walked out the door, the false smile dripped from Sidhe’s

face like melted wax. Her eyes filled with angry tears, and she

winced as she began to move around the house.

It took only a bit of new magick to change the password that

opened the door or any of the windows for the desert house. Then,

gathering her items, Sidhe summoned the servants. They looked at

her with mournful faces, and when they wouldn’t look her right in

the eyes, she wondered for a moment if they actually were aware

of what had gone on the night before.

Best not to think of that, she told herself.

“Clean this house. I don’t want a single remnant to be as it is now.

When next I come, I want to smell only cleaning solutions. Clean

everything. I want a new bed, new table and chairs, new

furnishings.

“Burn everything that is here that is here for practicality, and

replace it with something new.”

Wincing again, Sidhe called up the portal that would take her

home. Once in the woods her people ruled, the dark elf wizardess

limped into the tunnel that would lead her to the underground city

her kin had built. She slipped through the quiet streets unseen,

until she got to the tower in the city’s deepest quarter. And then,

she summoned all of her servants and minions to the main hall.

They gathered there restlessly, sensing Sidhe’s odd mood. She

stood up on the dais reserved for the lords and ladies of the house,

and looked out upon them all. She had even summoned her

network of spies and her most far reaching and most trusted

merchants and dealers.

“From this point on,” she said loudly, “I belong to no man. Within

my House, within my realm, my son is my heir, and my new lord

and soon to be husband is the only male allowed to access

my…assets. According to the contract I signed yesterday, I may

make public claim to no other lover. Thusly, no one else will be

welcomed into this tower, other than my children, those of my

guild, and my lord. No friends may enter unless they are

accompanied or expected by myself or my lord.

“Should you disobey me, see now the results of your

disobedience.” Sidhe shirked off the simple robe she had donned

while waiting for her household and minions to gather. And as

they looked over her bruised body, they gasped and winced, eyes

turning away from the wounds.

“These wounds are your folly!” she shouted to her servants.

“My body is my temple, and yours to protect! The wounds in my

heart and my soul, caused by this night, are my own punishment

for my weakness. But these bruises I bear are the result of your

lack of loyalty and caution! You bear them as much as I!”

Sidhe glared over the crowd, then dismissed them with a wave.

Then she went up to her rooms, and closed off the world.

The guard would double its efforts at protecting her now, she

knew. And the servants would heed her word about who was

allowed into the tower or any of her estates.

But only she could protect her heart…