Medieval 03 - Enchanted

Simon said. “My hell has come
to me on earth, and her name is Ariane.”

23
    F or the rest of the day Ariane sat in
her room and waited in dread for Simon to come and question her
about her lack of virginity.
    He did not.
    Simon went about his duties as Dominic’s
seneschal without so much as looking Ariane’s way. The chests
were locked once more, the keys were given into Dominic’s
keeping, and no one spoke within Ariane’s hearing about the
missing dowry.
    In fact, it was as though she did not exist.
    As though Simon did not care why she came to the
marriage without her maidenhead.
    As though he did not care about his wife at
all.
    And why should he ?
Ariane thought bleakly. I am his punishment. A
mortification of his body for his sin of lust .
    I am his hell .
    Ariane shuddered. The ripple of movement pulled
discordant notes from the harp she held in her lap. Broodingly she
looked down at the instrument, but it was her own dark thoughts she
was seeing rather than the intricate, beautifully inlaid wood.
    Aimlessly she walked around the room, strumming the
harp, seeing nothing of the color and luxury and warmth of her
quarters. Indeed, she felt more like a person in prison than a
highborn lady.
    But the prison was of her own making. Not by so
much as a look or a word had the lord or lady ofBlackthorne Keep indicated that Ariane was no longer
a valued guest in their home.
    Unhappily Ariane looked out one of the high slit
windows that ran down the side of her room. If she leaned into the
depth of the keep’s walls and braced herself on the chill
stone, she could see the sinuous ribbon of blue that was the River
Blackthorne.
    During the last of the ride to Blackthorne Keep,
Ariane had enjoyed the silver rush and chatter of the river. It had
reminded her of her own home, and the river that had been her
companion on many a warm summer day. She had sat on the bank and
played her harp, patterning her music after her own thoughts, the
cries of the birds, the wind, and the distant calling of
herders.
    It seems like a dream, now. I
was so innocent. So foolish. I trusted …
    Too much .
    A shout came from the bailey below, followed by the
sound of the keep’s stout wooden gate being opened. A
horse’s hooves drummed hollowly on the drawbridge, then
clattered over the bailey’s cobblestones.
    Ariane went to another window just in time to see
Simon exit the forebuilding and stride across the bailey toward the
knight who had just ridden up. The pale flash of the knight’s
hair, and the supple grace of his dismount, told Ariane that Sven,
the Glendruid Wolf’s spy, had returned to Blackthorne
Keep.
    Simon’s greeting was lost in the wind that
gusted through the bailey. Together the two men strode toward the
forebuilding’s steps.
    A cat the color of autumn bounded across the bailey
and launched itself at Simon. Without breaking stride, Simon caught
the beast, draped it around his neck, and petted it thoroughly
while he listened to whatever Sven had discovered.
    It seemed to Ariane that she could hear the
cat’s smug purring from four stories up.
    She told herself that she didn’t envy the cat
beingstroked by Simon’s long,
exquisitely knowing fingers. Yet in the next breath she admitted
that she was lying.
    Despite her brutal use by Geoffrey the Fair, Ariane
had learned to treasure one man’s touch, one man’s
caresses, one man’s hands moving sweetly over her body.
    Just one man.
    The man whose punishment she had become.
    My hell has come to me on
earth, and her name is Ariane .
    Ariane longed to explain to Simon how her
maidenhead had been brutally taken. But she was afraid he
wouldn’t believe her.
    No one else had.
    I want him to believe me as no
one has ever believed me !
    I am not like Marie, a whore
to lie down with every man and love none. I am a girl whose honor
was dragged torn and bleeding from her body. I am a girl who
screamed her betrayal to God .
    And I was not
believed .
    Why should anyone believe me
now? Even you, Simon, who has touched me as no one ever
has .
    Especially you .
    The harsh cry of the harp jarred Ariane from her
thoughts.
    Footsteps sounded down the hall, coming from the
staircase to Ariane’s room. She looked around almost wildly,
as though seeking an escape she didn’t really want.
    The steps paused at her door.
    Simon? Have you finally come
to me? Is this the hour when you finish what I could not on our
wedding night ?
    The footsteps went on to another room,