That was when I noticed the small gap in the sheer curtain at the foot of the bed. A second later, Duncan rolled, and he was on top of me.
This was all happening too fast. Panic clawed up my throat. I could admit I was very attracted to the man, but I wasn’t ready for this.
He had yet to settle his weight on me and I felt ready to scream bloody murder. Though I was almost a hundred-percent sure it wouldn’t stop what came next.
His head dipped, and air froze in my lungs. He was close enough to kiss me when he said, “Trust me,” not much more than a whisper.
Then his leg nestled between mine and gave a little push, to spread mine apart. I shut my eyes tight, and I felt unshed tears burn the back of my eyes. I want to go home, I want to go home, I chanted in my head. I would have tapped my heels together three times like in The Wizard of Oz if he hadn’t settled in the open spot between my thighs. Every muscular inch of his body touched some part of mine.
He lifted suddenly and grabbed the fabric of my sheath. He pulled up, and I kept my eyes closed, as that was the last layer before I was completely bare. They didn’t wear undergarments in this time. At least I hadn’t been given any.
“This might hurt a little,” he said.
A tear spilled from my eye. I dreaded the sharp pain that was supposed to happen after his hardening cock poised at my entrance thrust forward. Instead, I felt the sharp sting of a pinch on my inner thigh.
My eyes popped open, and I gasped from the shock of it. It was the show they wanted as he pumped forward. His shaft slid over my mound without piercing the inner sanctum of my womanhood. Three more for-show-only thrusts before he barked to the spectators, “It’s done. You can go.”
His command left no room for disobedience. Feet shuffled over the floor until we were alone. When the door closed, he rolled to his back.
Neither of us spoke for a few minutes. I was waiting for him. He was possibly giving time for everyone to walk away.
When he did finally speak, it was with the same domineering voice, with less volume.
“Now tell me, who the hell are you?”
Eight
Clearly, I wasn’t in my right mind. A boldness I hadn’t felt a second ago bolstered me. “I’m your wife, or am I not good enough for you to fuck?”
Don’t ask me why, as I’d been tearful at the idea of him taking my virginity, yet I was now mad he hadn’t.
“Fuck?” he repeated.
I might have laughed at how the word sounded coming from his mouth, but I was still in the crazy-mad stage.
“Romp, bed, whatever.” I shrugged.
“Hump, rut? Is that what you mean?” he asked. I gave him a sharp nod of my head. “You are a strange woman with a strange accent. You’re not Rebecca. Who the hell are you?”
“You didn’t seem to care when you married me. But now you can’t lower yourself to bed me.”
“You aren’t my wife.”
“Am too. Everyone heard it. I said my name. You could have said no, but you didn’t,” I blabbed.
We glared at each other, me with the cover fisted in my hand just below my neck, as if that would somehow protect me.
“The prior dinnae ask me a question for me to say no.”
I guessed “prior” was the same thing as “priest” and shook my head. “Whatever. You said the words: ‘I take Elin as my wife.’”
“You’re a witch,” he sneered.
That stopped me because those were burning words in these times. I’d rather be hanged or decapitated than suffer being burned at the stake. “I’m not a witch,” I said, all my bravado gone.
“Then what is the meaning of this?” He pulled up his shirtsleeve and revealed what appeared to be half of a butterfly tattoo outlined in red and blue with intricate detail on his wrist.
I wanted to look at my own, but he snagged my left arm and yanked up the sleeve. And there, where I’d felt the tingling during the ceremony, was an identical half-butterfly tattoo. He placed my wrist next to his and together they made a picture of a complete butterfly that seemed to glow for a second. “This is sorcery.” He rolled out of the bed and stood. “I will not bed you. I will not give you bairns.”
The light was gone, and I couldn’t be sure it had been there in the first place. I glanced up at him. “Why? What does it mean?” As I waited for his answer, I focused again on the tattoo I hadn’t put there.
“It doesn’t matter what it means. It’s forbidden. You will leave this place at once.”