Thunderstorm and lightning (4)

Soft. I was lying in a soft bed. A warm, soft bed. It didn't quite feel or smell like the bed I had grown used to sleeping in these past few months though. In short. It wasn't my bed.

I turned over to stretch and rolled into something. Shocked and confused as to where I was, I pushed and scooted myself backwards only to be caught by a strong arm that wrapped around my waist and pulled me back. That arm and hand came in contact with my skin, making me internally shriek with panicked surprise.

Naked?! I was naked?! Why was I naked?!

Who was this intruder in the bed? Where was I?

I had a moment of disorientation, waking up expecting to find myself at home in my house or in my parent's house, only to find myself in a complete other place. It was strange. When I had first woken up, I had known roughly which world I was in but within a short few seconds, I had forgotten it all and thought I was back home on Earth. How had that happened? I hadn't been this disoriented before. I had always known where I was. Why was getting confused now?

"Calm down. Calm down," the duke's soft voice said, calming me down when I recognized his voice after a split second. "It's me. It's only me. You're safe here. Don't roll that way. You'll fall off the bed."

I froze in the man's arms while my memory of recent events cascaded over me, making my head hurt. The information dump made me feel tired.

That's right. I was married now. To this man. As his wife, he now had the right to touch me. I had agreed to this relationship. When I moved, I felt a difference down there.

Recalling what had occured during the wedding ceremony and how he had... we had...

I wanted to reject the idea and trample the memory in the dust before throwing it out the window. I didn't want to believe or accept that this was my life now. That I was no longer a virgin and that I had voluntarily given myself up to another. That I had given him permission to...

Ah, I couldn't bring myself to say it.

I didn't want to admit it.

We had consummated the marriage. Had sex. Become intimate.

My heart was screaming. I was rushing around in a panic in my head, bumping into all the memories I didn't want to remember. I didn't want to acknowledge any of this.

Whose idea was it to surrender to this marriage and not escape? Who agreed to it? Stand up and show yourself! I promise I won't kill you. I'll only beat you up until your mother would struggle to recognise you.

I was still frozen stiff and internally screaming when the bastard's hand began moving and stroking the bare skin of my back. My internal scream went up in pitch.

Bastard? No. I meant husband. Partner. Other half. Couple.

We were a couple. We had coupled.

Belatedly, the memory of the altar full of flowers, a misty rainbow hanging over it and the robe of wildflowers with the wildflower carpeted footpath came to me. We had made it all the way to the top of the mountain where there had been a super intense thunderstorm which had caused the mountain rock to melt.

Hey. Hadn't we walked into the clouds? We had met a man in the midst of the storm. I was sure of it. What had he said again? Congratulations? And then? What happened then?

"Misty? Honey? What's wrong? Are you still not awake enough? Wake up. It's alright. I'm here for you. Did you have a nightmare?"

The duke lay me back down and then rolled closer over me to get a better look at me.

"Honey? Why are you crying? What happened?"

A calloused finger carefully wiped away the tear that had inadvertently leaked from my eye.

It was really hard to relax when there was an iron pole poking at you, you know? Also, I was suddenly hit by a wave. An extremely strong and uncontrollable wave of homesickness.

I scrambled to think of something else. Anything else to distract me from the homesickness. This handsome, older man couldn't hide his age and wrinkles from me this close. Was he someone who just looked older or was he actually old?

"Misty, honey. Talk to me. Don't look like that. Don't look at me like that."

I turned my head away and swallowed, closing my eyes to try and get myself under control. The man hugged me and I felt his iron pole brushing against me, making my whole body shudder. Damn it. Was he even harder now? Why?

I couldn't help it. The fear that he'd do something to me again made my tears fall faster.

"Honey? Misty Glory - what was it? Wrong Woman."

"Rong Wumang," I automatically corrected.

"Wrong Womb-mung."

Ugh. I tried, but he didn't seem to be able to learn to pronounce my name properly. It was as if his tongue and throat were strongly opposed toward my real name.

"Just call me Misty," I grunted, giving up after several attempts and feeling him hug me closer so that his sensitive bit ended up brushing against my sensitive bit and resting between my thighs. I stiffened up again.

"My apologies," the duke brushed a hair out of my face. "I'm not doing it on purpose, truly. Your name is just very difficult to pronounce."

I had grown up in a society that couldn't pronounce my name properly anyway. What was new? I didn't mind that much. It was just that his accent and the accent of everyone here was different. This wasn't home. This wasn't Earth. I had no chance of ever seeing my parents or family or friends again. I'd never be able to go back to work and be an independent woman again. I hadn't minded being a boring little office worker. I'd been earning my own money. In charge of my own life.

But here, everything I did was dictated to me. I didn't have to worry for material needs, but that had come at the cost of my personal freedom. I was watched by the eyes of many strangers and guarded by people I didn't really know or trust twenty-four-seven. Here, I had to be the perfect wife and be on perfect behaviour at all times. How did people live like this? I couldn't live like this.

"Misty?"

The man moved, making our bits brush against each other again and making a shiver run up my spine. Damn it. I didn't want to do it right now. Least of all with this man. I wasn't in the mood.

But having felt me shiver, he began teasing me, trying to make me react again and stop trying to push or hold him away.

"Wife," he whispered, leaning close and lipping my ears. His breath tickled and his lips on the edges of my ears sent involuntary tickling shivers running repeatedly through my body. He rubbed himself up against me. That one word and his actions told me what he wanted to do. What he was asking.

"No," I mumbled, trying to escape from his arms and lips, feeling my eyes well up even more. I couldn't stop the tears them from streaming down my face. "No, please."

"Why? What's wrong?" he paused to wipe my tears for me. "Tell me. Can I help?"

"Home," I said in a thick voice and broke into a sob. "I want to go home."

"Ah," he wrapped me in his arms and stroked my head. Thankfully, kindly, he did nothing else and I felt some of the need go out of his iron rod. Unfortunately, it didn't go limp. "I'm sorry," he murmured, giving me little kisses. "I can't do anything about that, but we can try and make this your home from now on, alright? Just let me know when you're feeling homesick and I'll come and wrap you up in my arms until the feeling has gone away. Strong girl. Brave girl. I've got you."

In his arms, for some reason, the intensity of the homesickness seemed to lessen a little. Bit by bit, it began to ebb and recede. Enough for me to begin to relax and feel drowsy again. I fell asleep, feeling and ignoring the little kisses that the duke rained upon my face every now and then. His attention and care made me feel a little grateful that he had taken me in and was being so caring and respectful toward me.

Gradually, the iron pole grew harder and harder again, preventing me from actually falling asleep. Using my hand, I tried to shield myself, only to feel the iron grow into something closer to titanium and hear the man groan.

His kisses found my lips, deepening with with increasing desperation.

"I can't help you much with your homesickness," he breathed into my ear, "but I can certainly help distract you from it. Come, my good little wife. Do you know where we are?"

"Weren't we on top of the mountain?" I asked. "Who was that man? How did we get here?"

It had taken me a long time, but I finally recognised our shared marriage room in Vervain House. What had he said about this room? That if we spent the night in here, it would indicate an invitation to shared intimacy. I shuddered and the man groaned again, sliding his titanium pole between my thighs and making me shudder in a completely different way.

"I carried you back home after the wedding," the duke said with a frown. "You fainted after the ceremony was over while we were showing the wedding bands on our ankles. Although there were some unusual phenomena, everything continued as usual and we had the wedding feast, although you remained unconscious. What mountain?"

"We followed the carpet of wildflowers to the top of the mountain. There was a man inside a storm that melted the mountain rock and congratulated us on our marriage," I said.

"You were dreaming," he scratched my nose and kissed me deeply. "Come, now. I've been waiting for you to wake up all night. Allow me to have my wedding night."

"It's morning," I pointed out. I hadn't been dreaming, but then that meant that he had forgotten. At least , I think I was sure I hadn't been dreaming.

"Wedding morning then," he corrected himself and a soft, genuine smile spread out across his face. It was the first time - no, the second time I had ever seen him smile in a way that came from his true feelings. "Sweetheart, allow me to make love to you. Please?"

I hesitated, remembering what had happened on the altar yesterday. It hadn't been that bad. It's just that I felt reluctant for the man to touch me like that again, although I knew in my mind that we were married. In reality, I still hadn't come to terms with it and accepted my position yet.

"Remember how I told you that I'll do my best to be patient with you and respect you?" Duke Lissotrichous asked me, his hand cupping my cheek and his thumb rubbing circles. "Remember how I told you that my patience has limits? And how when we are in this room, there will be matrimonial intimacy?"

I nodded and then nodded again, albeit more slowly, starting to get an idea what direction this was going on.

"My good little wife, please fulfill your wifely duties. My patience wears thin. Although I can still withold myself, if you insist on stopping me, you will need to give me compensation."

"Compensation? What compensation?" my eyes lit up at the possibility that I might escape what was going to come eventually.

The change in my expression might have set him off. His lips suddenly crashed into mine and he hungrily devoured my lips and tongue until I was on the verge of fainting. I panted underneath his assault, unable to think clearly.

We had just been talking about something. The conversation had been unfinished. What had we been talking about again?

I melted under the passion and ferocity of his kisses. His hands began to roam and touch, asking my permission each time he found a sensitive area. With each nod, his smile deepened, but whenever I began to tense up, he would stop and kiss me until I lost track of everything again. Somehow, I couldn't bring myself to stop him anymore. It was as if my entire body was being lit on fire by him and I wanted him to touch. Touch me all over and make me his.

And then in the midst of it all, he paused, showing me a certain suppository capsule. I blinked.

"I'm putting this in so you won't get hurt," he told me. "It'll protect you in case I accidentally get a bit too rough."

I hesitated a bit too long, having trouble comprehending what he was saying or wanting anymore. It was as if my brains had gone offline.

"I'm putting it in," he told me with a few more kisses. "Nod your head and say, 'yes'. At the same time, I'm going to put in this other one that will make you feel it even more. So that you'll stop resisting me and will feel it more intensely. You won't want me to stop."

I nodded obediently and said what he wanted me to say. Did what he asked me to do. I was too dazed to quite catch on until his fingers and those suppositories were inside. I arched while he used his fingers to play with me and distract me while he waited for the medication to melt away.

His kisses stopped me from properly regaining my consciousness. I was completely at his mercy and he seemed to know it.

He had me dancing on his fingers in time to his rhythm until I felt apart and made him laugh.

"They're gone now," he said after checking for the umpteenth time and I moaned when his fingers reached so deeply inside. "I believe you're ready now. Aren't you?"

I nodded and he kissed me deeply again.

A rush and he was in, groaning as he pushed himself in to the hilt. I groaned with him at the sensation.

We panted, looking into each other's eyes, breaths entangled for a long moment, adjusting one to the other.

"How old are you?" I blurted in between breaths. "Why do you look so old?"

"You think I'm old?" he gasped with a bewildered, incredulous and slightly fiery gaze. "How old do you think I am?"

"Forty or fifty something?" my voice trailed off into a scream when he suddenly began moving.

"Thirty-two," he hissed at me while I continued screaming and crying at the intensity, begging him to slow down. "I'm not an old man yet and don't you forget it."

I wouldn't forget it. Not ever. With his age and perceived manly ability seemingly under question, he made sure I had learnt my lesson many times over before he was willing to let me go. And then, even then, he wouldn't let me get out of bed. I couldn't move by that time anymore either. As such, I was stuck. A victim to his whims.

At some stage, we had moved into the large bathroom. And there he tortured me even more, teaching me a variety of new things. I kept passing out from exhilaration and from fatigue, but that didn't stop him from waking me up for more. When I flagged, he put another 'exciting' pill in me and tested my endurance. I had never cried or begged so much in my life. Hopefully, I never would again.

In short, the wedding morning was one that lasted more than one day and went from the bedroom to the bathroom to the pool and back again. By the end of it all, I was convinced. Convinced never to come to the marriage room or to agree to do anything with him again and convinced of his prowess.

The duke only stopped because he had some urgent work to deal with. The maids entered to congratulate me and clean up all the messes my man and I had made. There was nearly no where we hadn't done it and nothing he hadn't tried.

My body felt like the joints were about to unhinged themselves and fall off. My back ached. My muscles were on fire from the long and fierce workouts they had been put through. I didn't want to move. Only wanted to lie in bed and sleep for a week.

I couldn't lie down. I couldn't sit and I couldn't stand. In the end, all I could do was wait for the fatigue to overwhelm me and hope that sleep would ease the pain.

I was surprised that the maids didn't disturb me after remaking the bed, cleaning me up and putting me back in the clean, silky sheets. I may have been force fed a few meals, but I was barely with it. My mind hadn't returned from the hole it had buried itself in from all those days of... intensive exercise.

At night, I woke to the duke's arrival and gentle insistence. He was never as fierce or rough again but what he did in my half awake state was even more irresistible. He seemed delighted with my responses.

****

"I know you've been abstinent all these years and that you have an iron will, et cetera, et cetera," said a familiar voice. The doctor's voice, I believed, "but your wife can't keep up with you. Her body and health are still weak. With what you have subjected her to, I'm not surprised that she's fallen ill. Look at some of these bruises. Look how swollen she is. Did you have to be so rough? That's your wife, man. Not some criminal. Have some self-control."

"She said I was forty or fifty years old," Duke Lissotrichous complained. "What man would be able to take that kind of provocation?"

"You know, you do look like an older gentleman," the doctor chuckled. "Such a misunderstanding is not incomprehensible."

"She's my wife. I refuse to allow her to misunderstand," pouted my sulking husband.

"In any case, give her a few weeks to recuperate. Better yet, give her more than a month. Don't be so hard on her. If you hadn't grown up before my eyes, I'd have thought the same."

"Some friend you are," Duke Lissotrichous grumbled, sounding like a child and making the doctor laugh again.

"You know, it's been years since I last saw you behaving so childishly. Congratulations on falling in love and refinding your youth. I wish you both many children."

"You..." the duke held up a fist in mock anger and then pointed at the door.

The doctor left, showing himself out and laughing at the man.

"You're awake," the duke smiled, sitting on the edge of the bed and stroking my head. "Would you like a bath? You haven't had one today yet."

I shook my head but that didn't stop my husband from picking me up out of bed as if I were merely a child, undressing me on the way to the bathroom. I beat at him with my weak fists and pinched him, but he only laughed. In the big bath, he sat me on his naked lap while he washed me clean. I could feel his arousal, but he did nothing besides wipe me down and then hug me while leaning back to relax.

"Let's just rest like this for a moment," he told me. "Just a moment."

He hugged me tight and I could feel my breasts getting squished up against his. It was an embarrassing sensation. I knew he had seen everything and touched me all over but I still found it awkward and embarrassing when he touched my skin and my skin was in contact with his.

His lips came in contact with mine and the soft jelly and marshmallow feeling of sweetness made me start to melt into his arms, despite all the alarm bells ringing at the back of my mind telling me to find a way to stop things before they went beyond his control again.

The man's aroused state did indeed heighten, but thankfully, he used me to jerk off rather than doing the actual deed. It was head explodingly embarrassing and high blood pressure inducing, however it was far better than being ploughed by the farmer sowing his seeds again.

My head felt like it had exploded multiple times and I had fallen into an empty daze where I no longer reacted to anything around me, making the duke chuckle and laugh, teasing me by pinching my nose or cheeks.

"Ah, what should I do?" he asked me in a warm and gentle voice. "You're so cute."

I wasn't cute. Not cute. Had never been cute.

I wanted to dive and burrow under the blankets, wrapping myself up so that he couldn't touch me anymore, but I was too tired to move. I felt exhausted even though I hadn't really done anything that I could think of.

"My wife is so lovely," the man poked my cheek and sighed, wrapping me up in the blanket and lying beside me. He hugged me tight. "I don't want to stop making love to her until she becomes pregnant with our babies."

Babies.

I felt my blood pressure rise again and felt my ears pop. I didn't want babies yet. It was entirely possible that I was already pregnant considering the number of times we had done the deed now. But I wasn't ready yet. Wasn't ready to become a mother.

"Wife, why are you crying? Misty, don't cry. Don't cry."

Damn it, he was getting hard again just from watching me cry. Was this stoic faced iceberg man a pervert?

I squirmed to get away, but shifting like this caused our sensitive parts to rub against each other. I froze and my husband groaned, pushing himself into me while I beat at him with my fists. It hurt. Didn't the doctor just tell him he had to stop?

"Just this last time," he told me, "and then I'll have you moved back to your own rooms so that I won't be tempted anymore."

I was barely conscious when he was done. He gently cleaned us both up and then carried me to my own wing, tucking me into bed with a kiss.

"Get better soon," he told me.

I didn't want to ever see him again.

It was several weeks before he dared to visit me. I turned my face away, still not wanting to see him but that didn't stop him from kissing me gently. He bent over my shoulder to see what I was studying and pointed out my mistakes.

I did my best to concentrate but his hands were running up and down my body, seeking entrance into my clothes.

"Concentrate," he rapped my head with his knuckles, continuing to teach me, while he continued to play with my body.

"How am I supposed to concentrate like this?" I complained, trying to brush his hands off and push him away.

He teased me for a while and then left. I heard he had gone to our shared room, but refused to go there as well. I didn't want him tossing me to exhaustion, too tired to even get out of bed so that the next evening he'd find me still there and toss me again. I'd stay in the safety of my own rooms, thank you very much.