"A maid will be assigned to you shortly miss," the older man said with a smile before exiting the room.

Annalisa looked to Cecily with the worried look still plastered on her face. She knew she was looking to her for comfort, but she had none to offer. She did the best she could. "Well at least you get your own maid."

"I don't want a maid," she snapped at her. "I can take care of myself." She walked over to the window a looked out. The view surprised her. She had only seen one more beautiful in her life, but she had not been there in years, not since her father had died. He used to take them to a small creek a few miles from their house. It had been beautiful. She did not know if it was still the same since she hadn't been since he had fallen ill.

"Well," Cecily said at another attempt to cheer her up, "at least you get new clothes."

Annalisa turned to see the girl holding up one of the garments from the armoire. It was pretty, better than what she was used to wearing, but she was not interested. She turned back to the window.

"Cheer up Lisa," Cecily said. She walked over to the window next to the girl. "It won't be that bad. I'll be here with you. I'll be staying in Aunt Margery's room down on the laborer's floor. If you need me I won't be that far away."

She brushed a stray curl out of the girl's face and placed a hand on her shoulder. She felt awful for her. She knew she didn't know the full reason she was there, but her apprehension about the whole situation told her that she knew she wouldn't like that reason when she found out. She looked out of the window when the girl became more noticeably tense. Greg and James had just walked into the courtyard in full view. They could not hear what they were saying, but they watched anyway.

"He is quite handsome," Cecily tried again. This time Annalisa looked at her, but did not say anything before turning her attention back to the courtyard.

"Miss," they heard a timid voice say from behind them. They both turned around at the same time to see a somewhat pretty girl dressed in rather plan clothes. She wasn't ugly, she just looked plan. She probably would have been pretty if she put a little effort into something about her appearance. She and Annalisa looked as if they were about the same age.

"My name's Amelia," she announced. "I am your maid in waiting. Is their anything I can get for you?"

"No, thank you," she said. Before she could leave, Margery entered the room.

"Cecily, may I have a word with you," she said not even looking at Annalisa. This made the girl even more suspicious and nervous. It wasn't like her mother to share something with Cecily and keep it from her. Whatever she told Cecily she would tell her and vice versa. She watched intently as Cecily followed her mother out of the room.

Lisa grabbed Amelia's hand before she could leave behind them. The girl turned to face her. "Yes Miss," she replied.

"Amelia?" she asked making sure she had the girl's name right. The girl nodded with a smile. "Do you know why I am here?"

"Well Miss," she started shyly, "this is the concubines' quarters." She watched as Annalisa's eyebrows furrowed and a sickened look came over her face.

"Are you alright miss?" the girl asked with a look of concern.

She was silent for a while. "Yes," she replied half heartedly.

"Is there anything I can get for you? Some water maybe?" she asked after seeing the girl turn a little green in the face.

"No, I am fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," she said a little bit more harshly then she had meant to. It was clear that the girl was only showing concern, but she needed time to herself, time to gather her thoughts and process what she had just heard, if she had heard it correctly. She felt her face turn a little hot. She barely heard the girl telling her to send for her if she needed anything. She sat on the bed as she felt her knees get a little weak.

She could not believe what she had just heard. She had spent her whole life maintaining her integrity for her sake and for her family's honor. And now without even a second thought, her mother had given her away to the prince to be used for his own pleasures as he saw fit. She had been saving herself for her husband whenever he may have come along, but now all that had been stripped away from her without her even knowing. She wasn't to get married now, just used until he grew tired and saw it fit to dispose of her. Then she would never be able to marry after that because no one would want her.

She felt a tear rolling down her cheek, but did not have the energy to wipe it away. "Aunt Margery said she'll be back tomorrow to visit," she told her. "I can stay with you until dusk, but then I have to go down to the laborer's chambers. So what do you want to do?"

Her mother had left. She had not had the courage to face her after what she had done. She had known all along what he had wanted, but hadn't said anything. From the way it sounded, she had not even protested him. Then she thought about the way Cecily had been acting. She had to have known also. She felt anger rising in her.

"You knew," she said in an accusatory tone. Cecily's mouth fell open, but she did not say anything. She couldn't. "You knew and you didn't tell me. You came with her to deliver me to him. How could you?"

"I'm sorry," she admitted. "I didn't know what to do. She said this would be best for you, I didn't hav…,"

"Get out," she told her.

"Lisa, let me explain," she tired again as the girl walked towards her. She began backing up towards the door.

"Get out," she yelled. The girl knew it was no use in trying to talk to her when she was like this. So silently, she turned and left.

Annalisa closed the door behind her and fell on the bed and wept until she fell asleep. There was still a little light out when she was awakened from her sleep by Amelia.

"Sorry to wake you miss, but dinner is being served in the hall. You are supposed to join the other girls now."

Lisa nodded and rose from the bed. She would not have gone had she not been so famished. She followed the girl out of the room and down the hall to the dinning hall with about twelve other girls around her age. Amelia bowed out at the entrance of the hall and backed out of the room.

The girls were all chatting and giggling and did not seem to notice Lisa until one of them looked up.

"Hello," the red head said. "Are you new?"

'Great,' she thought to herself. It was the first day and she was already getting objectified by someone who's object she wasn't meant to be. She wondered when she would get 'old'.

She nodded anyway.

"I'm Geiselle," the girl said with a smile as she patted the seat next to her. She noticed some of the other girls giving her strange looks; one girl in particular looked like she wanted to kill her, but ignored them and took up a seat next to the girl. A plate had already been left for her

"As I was saying," the girl continued, "he was so gentle last night…."

Annalisa was about to dig into her food when she realized that the girl was going on about a recent night she had spent with the prince. She looked at the girl in disbelief. The way the other girls' eyes were glazed over with admiration told her that this was common place, to share about their bedroom escapades with him. They all seemed happy to be there, and she did not understand. How could they so willingly give themselves to him knowing that he would never marry them, and that they were only one of many. Her mother and her father had been together since before she was born and remained faithful to each other until his death. Even then, her mother still didn't take entrance in another man, and she knew that if the roles were reversed he would have done the same. That was what she wanted, love, monogamy, and commitment. But that dream had been shattered now. She slowly began to consume the food in front of them, trying to ignore the girls. She only started paying active attention when another girl, the girl that looked as if she wanted to kill her, began talking.

"Well, he will be with me tonight," she said boastfully. "He may have been gentle with you, but he lies with me after."

None of the girls had a response, and that told Lisa who pulled the highest rank in the room.

"That's Mary," Gieselle leaned over and whispered to her. "She's his favorite."

Lisa looked back at the girl, this time focusing on her looks rather than her attitude. She was a fairly decent looking girl, but Lisa wondered why she was his favorite. A lot of the girls in the room, Lisa thought, was prettier than she was. She even thought Amelia would be prettier than her given the clothes and make up that Mary wore.

"Do I have something of yours?" Mary asked in a rude tone as Annalisa stared at her. She realized she was staring and quickly looked away and back to her food.

"No," she answered quietly.

"You may be new," Mary said not satisfied with the answer and already having established a personal vendetta against the new girl, who she deemed a little too pretty for her liking "but I am still his favorite. You will not take my spot. You are just a second rate concubine like the rest of them. "

"No matter how much pride you have about it, you are still just a concubine," Lisa said in what came off as a condescending tone, but the truth was she was just expressing her hatred of the situation she had been put in.

The room grew silent and Mary and a few of the other girls scowled at her.

"Well then," Mary said as she stood to leave, "I guess we should leave. The little virgin girl thinks she is too good for us. We shall see if she still feels the same way after the prince has had his way with her."

Mary left the room and most of the other girls followed.

"You shouldn't have said that," Gieselle said.

"But it is true," Lisa said. "We are all just objects of lust to him. "

"Well I know that," Gieselle said, "but we take our job very seriously. We have nothing to be ashamed of. We are well taken care off and we are serving the prince who is to be our future king."

Gieselle saw a tear role down the girl's cheek, and suddenly felt sorry for her. She remembered her first days at the castle and how she had felt.

"Look, you'll get used to it," she said. "It's not that bad. He isn't that bad. Just don't upset him and he'll be nice to you."

Annalisa didn't say anything, she just got up and started to walk out of the room.

"Where are you going?" Gieselle asked.

"To bed," she replied solemnly.

Gieselle sighed as she watched the girl walk out of the dinning hall. She knew that she wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight. She had heard the prince talking to his good friend James about the girl, and knew that he was pretty happy about her arrival at the castle. And no matter how much Mary thought he was going to be spending the night with her, Gieselle knew better.

Lisa barely made her way back through the winding corridors of the palace, and after taking a few wrong turns, made her way back to her room. When she opened the door she found Amelia waiting for her with a night gown laid out on the bed and a bathing robe in her hands.

"I will show you to the bathtub," she said. She knew she had no other choice but to follow, so she did.

She found herself able to relax a little as the girl began pouring buckets of hot water into the tub with her. She closed her eyes and almost forgot about the predicament she had found herself in. She had almost fallen asleep, when Amelia woke her.

"Miss," she opened her eyes and looked up at the girl. "You must be finishing up now. The prince will be making his rounds soon. "

She sighed having been jolted back to reality. After finishing up in the bathtub, she changed into the long white nightgown.

"I will be in the maids chamber, if you need anything," Amelia informed her after accompanying her back to her room. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Lisa said quietly.

She did not know what to do with herself. Usually she would have lied awake talking to Cecily until one of them fell asleep, but she was alone now. She looked around the room, looking for something to busy herself with until she fell asleep. She spotted a small bookshelf in the corner of the room and walked over and picked up one of the books. She laid down on the bed and began reading it. She got caught up in the book and again had almost lost consciousness of her surroundings until she heard a noise at the door. She looked over and saw the door slowly opening. She held the book to her chest and sat up on the bed. She could hear her heart beating in her ears and thought that she was surely going to faint. It did not ease her anxiety when she saw a well dressed prince enter the room.

He was wearing fewer clothes than she usually saw him in and she could tell that he was dressed for bed. He was wearing a heavy clothed robe though and she could not see exactly how much he had on under it, nor did she want to. She hoped that he was just stopping in to check on her on his way to Mary's room. She stared at his chest as he walked closer, to frighten to meet his eyes with hers. He stopped when he was standing right in front of her as she sat on the bed. She shyly raised her eyes to look him in the face. He smiled at her and sat down on the side of the bed.

"We didn't really get a chance to talk the other day," he told her as he extended his hand to her.

"Annalisa," she said hesitantly placing her hand in his. He smiled at her and leaned forward to place a small kiss on her hand. She tried to withdraw her hand, but he held on to it.

"It's nice to meet you," he told her, then smiled, "officially."

She only looked at him and he could tell she was scared, so he decided not to make his move just yet. Instead he held onto her hand and picked up the book that she had laid down on the bed.

"I see you like to read," he told her.

She only nodded and looked away. He slowly let go of her hand and began to remove the robe he wore around him. He sat back down on the bed next to her and put his hand on her chin, turning her face back to him. He tilted her head so she would look him in the eyes. He was fascinated by her eyes, they were like none he had ever seen before. Sure he had seen girls with beautiful eyes before, but hers held a depth that theirs did not. He looked down at her lips and could not resist kissing her any longer. He slowly brought his face closer to hers and pressed his lips to hers. She tried to move away but he only tightened his grip on her face. He tried to snake his tongue into her mouth, but she kept her lips firmly pressed together. Not gaining any access , he moved his mouth to her jaw line and began placing small kisses trailing down to her neck. She tried to move away, but he snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her flesh up against his chest, the thin night gown not providing much of a barrier. She tried to push him off, but he was too much bigger than her. Her hands pressed against his chest trying to create some space between him and her, but when she saw that all of her attempts were futile, she let out a small cry of fear and hopelessness.

"What are you doing?" she asked as she felt the tears well up in her eyes.

He did not answer and she felt his hand raising up her night gown and his hands caressing the bare skin of her thighs as he continued to kiss and suck on her flesh.

"Don't," she cried out as she brought one of her hands down from his chest to his wrist to try to keep it from going further up her gown.

Her desperate cry made him pry his face away from her neck and look down at her. He saw the tears and fear in her eyes and became confused.

"You do know the reason you were brought here right?" he asked her.

She only turned away from him as a few more silent tears fell from her face. "It was not my choice."

He sighed and sat up giving her a little room to breathe. This made him a little uncomfortable, he knew it shouldn't have. He should have just taken her right there, but he had never had to take any of his concubines before. They all willingly offered themselves to him. He wanted her, but he knew it was a new situation for her. He would wait, but he would not wait long. He decided to go pay Mary a visit instead that night. He got up silently, retrieved his robe from the chair and left the room. She let out a breath she did not know she was holding as she heard the door close. She fell on the bed and cried. She wasn't sure if they were tears of joy after having been spared for one more night or tears of fear, knowing that she would not last much longer. She ended up falling asleep sooner rather than later, a little tired from the struggle she had put up against him.


"Well?"

"Well what?" Annalisa answered sharply.

"Oh com'on," Cecily told her, "you can't stay mad at me forever."

She did not answer. "Did the prince visit you last night?"

"Yes," she replied dryly.

"Well what happened?" she asked after seeing the girl was not going to elaborate.

"I denied him," she said curtly.

"You denied him?" Cecily asked in disbelief. She thought it was impossible to deny the prince, since she knew he would take what he wanted, let along deny him and still be allowed to stay in the castle. "And you are still here? He did not throw you out?"

"No," she said, "but I wish he would have."

"Well you do know that you cannot continue to deny him," Cecily asked. "He will eventually take you, if you do not willingly give him what he wants."

"I would rather him take me than degrade myself by offering myself to him."

"Well, what do you want to do today?" she asked. "I am tired of being inside and it is a lovely day out."

"I have to get changed before I do anything," she said after realizing she still had her night gown on.

"Well I'll be out in the court yard, come and get me when you are ready." Cecily opened the door to leave, but stopped in her tracks when she was met by a tall figure. Annalisa could not see who it was, but knew someone was there as the girl stopped as if startled by what she saw.

Her heart skipped a beat when she saw the girl curtsy, and give a polite, "Your Majesty."

Before she had a chance to react he stepped in allowing Cecily to step out before closing the door. She just looked at him not sure of what to say or do, and waited for him to make the first move.

"Just to give you notice, so you'd be better prepared this time," he told her. "I plan to pay you another visit tonight, and I do not expect to be disappointed this time."

He turned to leave, but she spoke up, figuring it was better to say something now than wait until that night. "I have not changed my mind."

He stopped then turned to look at her. She looked down to the ground avoiding eye contact with him. He was intrigued by her defiance. He would have been more intrigued if he did not want her so badly. He took a few steps towards her.

"May I ask why you are refusing me?" he asked with a small smile on his face.

"I told you, it was not my choice to come here."

"Very well," he said after staring at her for a while. "We shall do this the hard way then."

He was about to walk out again when she spoke up.

"That is funny," she started hesitantly. "I have heard many things about you, but no one told me how much of a coward you were."

This time his head whipped around at the girl's boldness. At first he was caught off guard and did not have words to respond.

"Do you know who you are talking to?"

"No, I do not," she told him, making him furrow his brows. "The prince I have heard of is a man, not a coward who has to force himself upon women who do not wish to receive him."

"I have not forced myself upon anyone…," he started and she interrupted.

"But you will," she told him finally raising her eyes to meet his. He was not dumb, he knew what the girl was doing. And though he wanted her badly, he still was not fully comfortable with the idea of taking her. But he wanted her, and he had never been denied anything in his life. He studied her a little while longer, before he spoke. He would give her a little more time to come around, but when he could not wait any longer, he would take her.

"Fine," he said. "I'll give you a few days to get used to the idea, but until then you are not to leave this room or have any visitors." Her mouth fell open and she looked as if she were going to protest at first, but decided against it. "I will be back in a few days to see if you have changed your mind."

He was about to leave, but stopped again and turned around. He walked towards her with a sense of purpose now. He grabbed her arms and pushed her towards the bed almost carrying her. He pushed her down on the bed and she instantly began trying to shield herself from him. He gathered both of her wrists and pinned them to her chest, keeping her from moving.

"What are you doing?" she asked fear evident in her voice when he pressed his body down on top of hers to keep her from moving.

"Making sure, you are worth the wait," he told her. She began to struggle more when she felt his hand again making its way up her gown. He tightened his grip on her and shot her an authoritative look, making her stop her movement. He had such a tight hold on her that it would hurt to fight against him anyway. She looked into his eyes as she felt his hand continue to go up her thigh.

"Open your legs," he told her.

"No," she said defiantly, but still evidently fearful.

He was no longer in the mood for playing games and he pried her legs apart and roughly pushed her panties aside. She let out a small cry when she felt his fingers brush up against her soft curls. He pushed a finger up against her, but was met with resistance. Again he tried to push a finger inside of her and a small cry escaped her as he succeeded. He did not push deep inside of her, and quickly withdrew his finger after confirming that she was indeed pure.

Tears trickled from her face as he let go of her wrist and stood up, heading towards the door.

"Your maid will be in shortly with breakfast," he told her without looking back at her. "Remember, you are not to leave this room until I say so."

She remained on the bed and turned to the wall, drawing her knees to her chest as she began to cry uncontrollably. She could not believe what had just happened. She hated him, and definitely was not going to willingly give herself to him.

"Miss," she heard a familiar voice say. "I brought your breakfast as the prince requested."

Amelia looked at the girl with pitty and sat the tray down on a small table next to the window. She did not know what had happened, but she could tell she was crying and after the prince had just told her that she was to deliver her meals to the room and no one other than her was to see her until he said otherwise, she knew that the events that had just taken place were not pleasant.

"Do you want me to stay?" she offered knowing that she would be the only human contact she would be having for a while.

"She was only met with a weak but demanding, "Get out."

She nodded although the girl had her back turned to her and quietly left the room.


A/N: Sorry about the abrasiveness of this chapter, but it is the umpteenth century... still not sure about the time period.