Got the most wonderful feedbacks and for that, I wish to say thank you. You people are really boosting my imagination, I'm even considering to upload two chapters by Sunday. Hope I can manage…
CHAPTER FOUR
"We shouldn't have agreed to this. Lola is not safe with this man by her side. I feel guilty for letting him pick her…" Mary's voice was trembling with emotions. She admired her best friend's courage and pride, but she also knew deep in her heart that Lola was torn with doubt.
"It's not your fault, Mary. You couldn't have possibly foresee this situation. You did it for France… our people will be safe for now" Francis tried to embrace his wife, but Mary turned around abruptly and glared at him.
"Our people? Our people is safe because we sacrificed the innocence of our friend… does that sound moral to you?"
"Innocence?" Francis' voice was dripping with irony and incredulousness, "Lola is far from innocent. She's stronger than you think, Mary. She knows that she's made mistakes and she accepts the price she has to pay…"
"She wasn't the only guilty one, Francis" Mary's eyes reflected the emotions she felt. She still felt hurt and lonely, but she had been willing to forgive both of them. However, Francis' behaviour was just outrageous. "She stands no chance against Narcisse and you know it. If anything happens to her, we'll be the ones to blame." There were tears in the Queen's eyes. "And I don't know how you feel, but if anything happened to my best friend, I wouldn't be able to live with it. And neither would you!" Mary knew that she had a point. Francis cared more for Lola than he showed. If she died, he'd be affected as well. He didn't want his child to be motherless. And neither did Mary.
"What do you suggest we do in that case?" he asked, looking like the young boy he actually was, lost and vulnerable. Mary swallowed back her tears.
"What can we do? As long as we don't have anything to prove that Narcisse is a danger to Lola's life, we can't do anything. She belongs to him now. There is no issue for her" Francis nodded, seemingly glad that they had settled the matter. But Mary wouldn't be able to find any sleep that night. She felt guilty for her deeds. What had she done?
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Lola's heart was racing. She looked at Narcisse, who was listening intently to the sounds outside. The howling of the wolves came closer and closer… if they smelled human flesh, nothing would stop them. Narcisse couldn't fight them all off on his own. They would die in this woods and no one would find them in time to save them. Lola felt like crying, but instead she grabbed hold of the hilt of her small dagger she kept close to her heart, in the inside pocket of her cape. She would fight for her life, she wouldn't let wolves get the best of her. She had a son and he needed her. The wolves were close now, Lola could hear them sniffing. Then suddenly, she heard a sword being drawn and then immediately after that, the growling of an animal and the anguished cries of the coachman, the snapping of bones and of teeth. Lola almost screamed in fear and couldn't hold back her tears any longer. She felt her end was close.
"We have no other choice now…", said Narcisse, a little shaken himself. When their eyes met, Lola saw a spark in those beautiful blue orbs: hope and determination. He would try to escape. "We do not have much time, therefore you must listen carefully. We'll step out of this carriage and run for the horses before the wolves have a chance to catch us or them. Lola, you must be quick, very quick. Hold onto your horse for dear life and let it do the rest. Do you understand?" Lola, despite being scared to death, nodded. There were still tears in her eyes, but she would do it. She didn't have a choice.
"Alright then…" Narcisse took a deep breath and prepared for what was to come. He put his hand on the door blade of the carriage and brusquely threw it open and vanished into the night. Lola followed him and held his dagger at hand, in case she needed to defend herself. Once outside, she saw the wolves focusing their attention on them and show their teeth hungrily. The coachman was no more than a heap of bones and bloodied parcels of flesh. She screamed and ran towards the two black horses that were pulling the carriage. Narcisse run a wolf through with his sword and cut the horse's harness with his blade. Lola did the same with the other horse and tried to hold onto its neck, but the beast bolted in fear of the wolves surrounding it. Narcisse was already on his horse and tried to keep the pack off Lola, slashing through the mass with his sword.
"Lola", he screamed, "come on we don't have time for this"
"I can't, she's too nervous she won't even let me touch her" Thereupon, Narcisse urged his own horse forward through the pack of snapping wolves. One of the beasts jumped onto the mare's back and sunk its teeth in her neck, causing the poor bait to neigh in panic. In a purely desperate movement, the horse bolted again and Lola only saw one of its hooves plunging with incredible speed and strength towards her face.
Suddenly, when she thought all hope was lost, a strong hand grabbed her arm forcefully and saved her from her horrible faith. Narcisse had pulled her onto his own horse's back and was now urging it onward, not ever looking back at the mess they were leaving behind. Lola saw only glimpses of the scene and saw that two wolves were still following them, while the rest of the pack was feasting on horse flesh. Despite how light-headed she felt, Lola held onto the horse's mane and felt Narcisse's strong chest pressing against her back.
"No matter what, don't let go", he ordered her, his eyes fixing the road and led the horse off the trodden, where it often tripped and jumped over massive tree trunks to get away from their pursuers as fast as it could. Lola looked back one last time and noticed that the wolves had abandoned the idea of hunting them down. She felt relief overwhelm her heart and not being able to cope with all the stress anymore, she lost consciousness.
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
"What do you mean, wolves? What were they doing so close to the castle?"
"We do not know, my Lord"
"Were there any recognisable victims?"
"All we found were left-overs, however my men believe that the wolves made only two victims, one of which was a horse. Only one man was killed by those beasts and if anything happened to the other people in the carriage, the pack has to have taken their food to some other place, but this theory is most unlikely"
"How so?"
"Well, even a pack of wolves couldn't drag two people more than two leagues without leaving evidence behind. My men checked the perimeter over a few leagues: no blood and no tracks were found. Either the coachman was travelling on his own, or the other passengers escaped on the second horse pulling the carriage"
Francis let out a breath of relief at the news. There was still a possibility that Lola and Narcisse had escaped the hungry wolves, however they couldn't be sure. Maybe one of them had been killed and the coachman had survived. There was no guarantee.
"Send guards to Lord Narcisse's manor, do not mention this incident to anybody as long as we don't have evidence that Lady Lola and Lord Narcisse haven't survived this attack. I don't want to worry the Queen or the others" The guards nodded their understanding and bowed to their king.
"Very well your majesty"
"And report as soon as you have information"
"At once, my Lord"
Once the guards had left, Francis plummeted into his chair and sighed. If anything happened to Lola in the woods he would never forgive himself and neither would Mary. This was probably the thing he feared most. However, the thought of his son growing up without a mother was too difficult to bear. Francis would hate to have to explain to his son that his mother had been eaten by wolves on her way to her new husband's home, a man Francis had forced her to marry. Francis realized that if Lola had actually died the past night, he would be the only one responsible for her death, although the wolves had been the real assassins. He had let Narcisse set off at nightfall, although he knew that it was dangerous.
"Lola please be alive. Lord, I beg you in my misery, please give me a sign, tell me that Lola is still alive I beg you! … I beg you"
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Lola's mind was blurred with incoherent thoughts. Her head throbbed painfully and so did her ankle. She didn't know where she was, but she did feel warm and cosy. Maybe all of this being chased by the wolves had been a bad dream of hers and when she would open her eyes, she would find herself in her own bed. Yes, this must have all been a very bad dream. Confident, but somehow a little bit shocked by the realism of her dream, she opened her eyes and immediately noticed that despite being in a bed, she wasn't in the place she had thought to be. There was an old woman at the side of her bed, who seemed to be brewing tea. When she noticed that Lola was awake, she looked extremely startled.
"Good morning…"
Instead of answering, the woman quickly made her way to the door and left Lola alone in the bedroom. Very well. She might have appreciated the company of someone, but apparently, that old lady had not wished to socialise. Lola looked around and noticed how big the bedroom was. It looked like the royal bedroom back at the castle. The bed was huge enough to welcome five people and the red sheets were made of the finest cloth. A fire was burning in the hearth and warmed the room nicely. The room was also furnished with a huge desk, on which lay many scrolls and used quills, as well as piles of books. On her right side was a wardrobe and a coiffeuse covered with a thin layer of dust. It looked as if it had not been used in a while.
Trying to rise from the bed was a very bad idea, for when Lola put her weight on her hurt ankle, she felt a bolt of pain shoot through her body that forced her to lay back down. Besides, she was still feeling dizzy and trying to get up too quickly had blurred her vision. She would have to wait until someone came into that room and told her what was going on. She was asking herself where Lord Narcisse was, if he had sent word to the castle of what had happened. Not knowing what else to do, Lola opened the drawer of the little bedside table and rummaged through it with curiosity. She didn't find anything interesting and wanted to close the drawer when she heard the door to the bedroom being opened. The old woman had returned and was going back to brewing the tea without a word.
"Could you maybe tell me where I am or what this place is?" No answer. "Please", Lola added after a while, determined on getting an answer.
"You are in our new home, Lola" Narcisse said, startling his young wife.
"Lord Narcisse… "
"I am glad to see that you have woken. You've slept a whole day and you looked very pale, I feared for your health" Her husband didn't look in any way hurt, which surprised Lola just a little. The woman next to her handed her a cup of tea, which Lola gladly accepted, before leaving the room.
"You promised me coin", she told Narcisse rudely.
"On the table. The ten coins I promised, no more no less. If I find anything missing, I will get it back, is this understood?" The woman didn't look pleased, but she nodded her agreement. Lola thought she must be the rudest woman she had ever met.
"Who was she?", Lola asked once the woman had left.
"The village's best healer", he answered, sitting next to Lola on the bed and covering her with an extra blanket, "Your sprained ankle needed tending that was above my skills to heal. I knew that there was a woman in the village that could help you and I paid a ridiculously high price so that she'd agree to serve me. Somehow, I don't seem to be very popular with the common folk there… "
"Thank you … I'll pay you back if you like" Lola noticed how stupid this must have sounded. Narcisse grinned and chuckled ironically: "Even if we hadn't been husband and wife, I wouldn't have needed you to pay me back. You're worth spending a few coins" Lola's cheeks reddened. She took a sip of her tea to hide it, and noticed that it wasn't tea at all, but a draught.
"Have you sent word to the castle?"
"Yes and I have sent a messenger by horse to carry it out. Lola I'm… I'm sorry for leaving at nightfall. If we met those wolves it was all my fault"
"The coachman… he…" Narcisse nodded, "Why didn't he try to flee?"
"Who knows? He might have been paralysed with fear… that's what happens to most people facing a pack of eight wolves"
"Eight wolves? We escaped a pack of… oh sweet Lord" Narcisse took her hand in his. Lola understood how close she had been to dying and there were tears in her eyes again that flowed silently down her cheeks. Before she could wipe them off, she felt Narcisse's hands cup her face.
"You're fine", he said, "You have nothing to fear anymore. You're safe here now…you're safe with me" Lola nodded and noticed how close they were. Their lips were mere inches away. She could feel her husband's breath on her face. Her eyes closed, trying to calm down. Soon after that, she felt soft lips press against her own. She almost instinctively opened her mouth invitingly, knowing that Lord Narcisse liked to kiss her that way. Her lips moved against his, shyly at first, and more confidently when she heard him sigh appreciatively. His hands rested on her sides and travelled further up, one hand cupped her breast greedily. Lola winced at the sudden touch, but didn't dare say anything. Her kisses became more hesitant and uncertain. She felt the butterflies in her tummy go wild. She had to admit one thing, Lord Narcisse was a very handsome man and very much her type and his touch aroused her. But she wasn't ready yet. How would he react?
"Please..."
"What are you begging for?" Narcisse's voice was heavy with lust.
"For you to stop" She heard him hiss and was almost convinced he would force himself upon her.
"You are my wife… we must consummate this marriage…"
"Yes I know… But I'm calling upon your understanding… please leave me more time. I do realize that… by refusing to consume this marriage I'd risked to be hanged or whatever you chose to do… but…"
"Hang you?" His look hardened, "Do you think so little of me?…"
"I… am just stating that it is a possible punishment…" Lola stammered uncertainly. She looked at Narcisse and noticed that he wasn't angry, but hurt. He smiled humourlessly. "I don't understand how you came to this conclusion… to the conclusion that I could kill you because of… this… to the conclusion that I will kill you if you don't do what I desire" He looked at her with the strictness of a father:
"Lola, you are my wife. I was able to choose who I wanted to marry, unlike you, I admit. I didn't choose you because I thought you would make a good puppet. I chose you, because I saw a fiery spirit in you. You are different. I don't expect you to follow any orders. And I didn't plan to impose rules on you. You better remember this" Narcisse rose at the end of his speech and made it to the door.
"If you need anything, I'll be downstairs…" Lola, feeling utterly mortified, wanted to apologize for her behaviour, but she didn't know how.
"Wait…" Narcisse stopped and waited for her to speak, but she really had no idea what she wanted to tell him. Thinking of her sprained ankle and of the pain, she spontaneously came up with a request.
"Would it be possible to have a bath? It might soothe the pain in my ankle…" There was a pause in which Narcisse seemed to consider the request. He faced her again with a small grin on his lips.
"Of course, Lola. I will fetch a servant…"
"No!", she said, looking at him with the ghost of a smile, "draw it for me!" Narcisse's smile grew wider at those words. Her boldness had been rewarded it seemed. Lola felt really proud.
"As you wish"