Complexities

I understood what a loaded question this was. Van had let me control our joining, he'd considered what had harmed me even as he sated his ravenous hunger. All of which had been rare, unusual circumstances in my interactions with him.

But never, never, had he asked me to let him have me.

To consent to his taking of my body...

Especially not to let him make love to me. I knew I barely understood what that meant. My experiences with men had been very limited.

But does he?

Would he even know how to make love to a woman?

I considered what I had learned of lovemaking and realized that was truly not what we had ever done. There'd been shouting, sobbing and pleading. And though I knew of the highwaymen that took women in these woods, I'd seen barmaids with men who paid them coin and knew that the taking did not always have to be harmful.