Page 84 of The Saxon Lord's Unwanted Bride
A sharp shard of pain snapped across her face as he dealt a blow.
“I said, good evening my Lady whore!”
“Good eveningmy lord,” she snarled.
“Still defiant to the last,” he said. “Come, I have need of you.”
He led her to his chamber, her limping footsteps smothered by the sound of his boots against the stone floor. Closing the door behind him, he motioned to her gown.
“Remove it.”
She began to unlace her gown and he curled his lip into a sneer.
“Where’s the Saxon, now?” he sneered.
“I do not know.”
“He’s forsaken you,” he said. “I always thought he was unworthy of you—a foolish barbarian, who has tainted you with his filthy flesh.
He was trying to incite a reaction, but she kept her face impassive as she slipped her gown off.
“He was dim-witted enough to believed Jeffrey had incited the riots,” Ralph laughed. “He even believed your beloved papa was responsible!”
She ignored him but his hand squeezed her deformed arm until she winced.
“My father would never have done such a thing,” she said, aware of the punishment her momentary flash of spirit would earn her. “No Norman would.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,chérie. Those foolish Saxons believed I had their interests at heart. It was almost too easy to convince them that William’s hold on England was too weak to be sustained. They gladly joined me.”
“It was you?” she cried, “but Jeffrey…”
“Of all the men at Wildstorm, he was the one I could trust the most.”
“Trust? You betrayed him.”
His grip tightened on her arm, deformed bones scraping against each other.
“Have a care,” he said. “Need I remind you of the penalty for disrespect?”
The penalty was Alfred.
She must be strong—weather whatever Ralph had planned for her, if it kept Alfred free from harm—for the boy had no-one else, in this pit from hell. And she would not escape unless she could take Alfred with her.
She lowered her gaze, concealing the hatred in her eyes.
“Forgive me, my Lord,” she whispered.
He laughed softly, the smooth musical voice which, as a young girl she had once found so captivating. “I’m disappointedchérie—I’ve broken you in too easily.
He planted a kiss on her lips, and she shuddered in revulsion.
“Not completely broken in,” he said. “Good—I shall enjoy extinguishing your fire.”
She turned her head away he forced it back.
“Your fool of a husband will need his friend to console him after his whore of a wife abandoned him,” he said. “What better chance will I have to persuade him to rise up against the king?”
“He’ll never follow you into treason,” she said. “He understands loyalty.”
