"Y-you wouldn't hurt him for this little matter, would you?" she asked as she calmed down and looked up at his shadowed face that was staring down at her, his arms still wrapped around her body.
Belle saw the corner of his lips pull up into a smirk. "I will if you give me another reason to. I can travel to Aragonia and back again in less than a day, and you won't want to know what I will go there to do. Now, can we forget this happened and enjoy the night?" He arched an amused brow at her, making Belle's heart drop to her stomach as she recalled the so-called wedding night.
She hurriedly pulled away from him, her face flaming with embarrassment. From everything she had heard about this night, she was not ready to experience it with this man. The women whispering about it in Mr. Marchant's shop had said one would hate their husband's presence after it and be disgusted by the act. It was not an act meant for pleasure for any woman but torture. You would pray for it to end soon, Mrs. Blackthorn, the town gossipmonger, had whispered to her friends, and Belle had overheard them.
Now that she realized her husband would do the same with her, she swallowed hard and nervously clutched her dress. "I...I am not feeling well, My Lord, I—"
"Rohan," he cut her off with a tone of amusement. "Use my name when you address me, sweetheart. You looked quite energetic when you tried to go after the ring for someone who isn't feeling well, but," he sighed softly, "I've always been a generous man. I won't let you stress yourself tonight."
Belle began to sigh in relief and smile in her mind that he wouldn't push her for the wedding night ceremony. She was even about to part her lips and agree that he was indeed generous and even offer him a thank you when he continued to speak, causing the momentary relief to be replaced by dread.
"I will pamper you tonight, and you won't have to lift a hand. I will give you all the pleasure since you are feeling unwell. Take it as the first lesson in my plan to make you forget love and welcome lust."
Love could not always be the end of the road, and his innocent wife seemed to need him to teach her things that strayed far from her naive, innocent world. He quite liked a challenge, and she would be his new challenge. He would make her addicted to him until she forgot the name of her merchant.
Rohan smirked as he saw how pale she went. She flushed all over, and her faded nightdress, far more revealing, in his opinion, than what he had arranged for her, clung to her body due to the thin, worn fabric it had turned into over the years. As she stood in front of the light, the transparency of the material revealed the outline of her body. He could see she wore nothing underneath, and it made his thoughts stray.
A vision of her lying on her bed, her body naked beneath her dress, her arms outstretched to greet her lover. He swore softly as all amusement was suddenly wiped from his face at the direction his thoughts had taken. Instead of picturing himself taking her, he saw another man. A human with blue damned eyes.
Rage and impatience to stake his claim on her shook him, and without wasting time, he said, "Lie on the bed for me, Isa."
Belle felt her throat go dry at that strict command. A lump lodged in her throat, refusing to be swallowed, and her nails dug into her sweaty palms. She had been told she would not be forced into doing what she did not want in the agreement, but that did not include her wifely duty, as no one had talked to her about it, not even her mother. Apart from the whispers she had heard, she was completely ignorant of this aspect of marriage.
She'd heard most women say that a woman was not taught this aspect of marital duty until the day she got married. Her husband was to explain it to her, and most were not told at all—they were simply meant to experience it and learn through the process. Talking about it was taboo. All she knew was that a wife was to respect her husband and obey him. Even those who whispered about it were not nobles but middle-class families, and even then, it was spoken of only in hushed whispers among themselves.
Hearing it from the married women then was a fresh horror she had not anticipated, and she had no idea how she would react when it happened to her. She had even pictured herself in such a situation before, but only with a human—Jamie. She had believed she would endure the pain and discomfort he brought her as long as she could spend her life with him.
Now, however, she wasn't sure she was ready for this. She wasn't sure she ever would be.
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