Page 29 of Her Dark Seduction
Sawford pushed me forward and sat me next to my husband.
“Eat, wife. ’Tis good stew.”
Bile rose in my throat. With a trembling hand, I jabbed at a piece of meat with my knife. Holding it up, I tried to avoid looking at the thing on the table opposite me. On seeing the small lump of flesh impaled on the blade, my mouth went dry, and I dropped it on the trencher.
“I believe the stew is too poor a fare for her tonight.”
Mortlock’s words were directed at Sawford who merely nodded, though his eyes were on me.
“Perhaps my wife wishes to retire tonight?”
My husband eyed me as a spider, about to drain the lifeblood from its prey. Not recognizing the danger I nodded. “I would be grateful, husband.”
He gestured to Sawford again. “Make sure she is ready for me; and in my bed this time.”
“Aye my Lord.”
Heaven help me! Not only had my husband expected me to dine alone with him tonight but, also, lie with him. He continued eating, making casual comments about the taste of the sauce and the cut of the meat, while Sawford undressed me before laying me out on the bed, as if I were being placed on a sacrificial altar.
“Good, Sawford. Now leave us.”
Much as I hated Sawford, the prospect of being left alone with my husband terrified me. I looked up at him, unable to conceal the plea in my eyes.
“My Lord, might I suggest—”
“No, Sawford, you may not. Remain outside the door until I have finished with her.”
As the door clicked shut behind Sawford, my husband rose and slipped his nightshirt over his head. His form was bent and wizened. A lifetime of evil had ravaged his body from the outside as well as withered his soul from the inside. Yet, I could see he was aroused.
“I must thank your lover, wife. In delivering his punishment, I find I’m at long last able to enjoy you properly.”
At last Sawford’s warning became clear. My husband’s appetite for me was fueled by cruelty, death, and his relish over Percy’s demise. But I understood it all too late. Only when in a particular frame of mind, Sawford had said, would my husband wish to force his disease-ridden body onto a woman. I could do nothing but await my fate as he approached the bed.
****
When my husband finished with me, I wanted nothing more than to drive my knife into his heart. At first I had wondered if all men were the same. Would my body betray me and succumb to his whims, as it did when Sawford took me? But I felt only revulsion at my husband’s touch, as if maggots were crawling along my skin.
He called for Sawford to return me to my room. Though Sawford must have known of my humiliation, he said nothing. He pushed me through my doorway but came no further in himself. He merely ran his fingertips across my forehead before cupping my chin and lifting my face up. My eyes were wet with the tears I refused to shed in front of him. He showed no sign of seeing them. Instead, he leaned forward and brushed his lips against mine, then released my chin and closed the door, leaving me alone.
I ached for a bath to rid myself of my husband’s foul stench. But, if I ordered one, he would find out. Feeling dirty and degraded, I crawled into bed, wanting nothing more than to not wake up in the morning—or any day after.
****
The sound of crackling flames surrounded me. The smell of fire reached my nostrils and I heard the snapping sound of burning wood igniting, along with the chants of the crowd…
…witch, adulteress, traitor…
My mother’s voice broke through the chanting. At first she sang a lullaby, then she began to cry. Her cries sharpened, turning into screams. The crackling of the flames increased and the smell grew stronger. I wanted her to stop screaming—surely she must be dead by now. Her beautiful face came into view, smiling at me, but her eyes were no longer there. They had been replaced by black voids. Huge birds flapped around her, tearing strips of flesh from her face. The strips morphed into another face; Percy’s. The crows flapped around me, their beaks grew large as they reached my eyes, the beat of their wings whooshed in the air. I lifted my arms to fend them off and opened my mouth. The screaming became louder, the birds tearing at my own eyes while I was powerless to stop them…
I sat up, my throat aching while I gasped and sobbed, struggling for air. I was in my bed but it was dark. I opened my mouth to cry out but a gentle hand touched my arm while another covered my mouth.
“Shhh, you’re safe.” The voice in my ear was a whisper, unrecognizable above the pounding heartbeat in my ears, but it sounded like Maman.
A hand stroked my forehead.
“Here, drink this.”
The rim of a cup touched my lips. I choked as it was tipped into my mouth. I could not fight my body’s instinct to swallow and cool liquid ran down the back of my throat.
