Chapter 10: Small at last

He scooped up the pelt and dumped it into her arms, and she staggered under the weight and dropped it. It smelled like an animal, but different. Did demons have some kind of bear that resided in hell that they slaughtered when they wanted to impress women? Whatever his intentions were, this demon seemed to want to impress her. How could she use this? If only she could think through the fear that crippled her.

His eyes narrowed, and he looked from her to the dropped pelt. She had an awful feeling she'd just made a serious mistake. But she couldn't be bothered with the importance he attached to the pelt right now. She wanted to run, but the wall had closed up. If she couldn't run or fight, she wanted knowledge. That had always helped her through hard times.

She wanted to know about this first knowing. It had an ominous sound to it, and she feared she knew exactly what it meant. Probably the same thing breeder meant. Melisende took a few steps away from him, his evil red-and-black eyes tracking her every move. "What is this 'first knowing'?" The words alone struck terror into her heart. The fact that his eyes had briefly flicked to the bed with its sumptuous coverings for a barely noticeable moment, was frightening. What did he look like naked? Melisende almost screamed. What was wrong with her? How could she have these thoughts?

He showed her his teeth, and not for the first time, she wished she was as other women. She'd be able to faint and maybe induce some sympathy. Or cry copious tears, and if she could be a little smaller she'd appear so helpless, maybe he would pity her. It might even have saved her from being ravished. Or being bitten by those teeth.

Unfortunately, women of her size and practical disposition rarely elicited chivalrous actions from a knight. Until this moment, she had been well pleased with the fact that she did not faint or whimper in a way she'd always thought annoying. If she had known she would be kidnapped at her welcoming feast before her marriage, she could have made a plan to escape the knights who had accompanied her there.

"We will spend many hours in the sleeping place, and I will learn your body," he told her. He looked her over, his eyes resting on her breasts for long, taut moments.

Melisende had always been considered a sturdy woman. She'd been told, since she could remember, that she was too large for a woman, and that her family would struggle to make a good match for her. For a time, she had fiercely longed to be fragile and pretty like her cousins.

Looking up at this demon, feeling small and vulnerable next to him, was not as pleasant an experience as she'd thought it would be. Feeling small and delicate in a room dominated by a large bed and a demon calling her a 'breeder', would threaten to induce a faint for the first time in her life. The way he looked over her body was frightening and showed her exactly what his intentions were. Not that she'd had any doubts about that.

"No," she whispered. Her voice was the only sound in this unnaturally quiet room. At the abbey, even in her cell with its thick walls, she could hear noises from outside through her window. In this awful and at the same time beautiful room, it was deathly quiet. So quiet, she expected to hear the moans of the condemned at any time.

She was as doomed as those poor souls. "I will not spend any number of hours with you in the sleeping place." She tried to sound firm and not scared half out of her wits. He had slapped around trained knights as if they were mead cups. How was she, a large but still weak female supposed to defend herself against him?

He moved so fast, she only realized it when he picked her up and put her on the bed, and crouched over her before she could blink. His hands were warm on her skin, and those evil red eyes saw right into her soul.

"Please, no," she pleaded. Her body and her chastity and most importantly, her soul were doomed. This horrific demon would force carnal relations with her. Was this why he kidnapped her? Not to take with him to hell but to seduce her in his strange lair? Or would she be taken to hell because he'd seduced her?