DIVERGENT DAUGHTER

Disclaimer: I do not own the Divergent Trilogy in any way. They are property of Veronica Roth

As I was being discharged, a kind Amity man was giving me instructions on the pills the Euridites were giving me to mature my eggs. Throughout it all, however, I kept my eyes trained on Eric, afraid to let him leave my sight. He was twirling a knife around in his hand with boredom but I had no doubt he was listening intently to every word that was being said.

"… And as for you, Eric, make sure she rests. This procedure won't work at all if she is emotionally or physically overwrought," He finished his explanation with his kind eyes on Eric. He nodded lazily and yawned stretching his arms above his head.

"Is that it?" he said. The Amity nodded and handed me a black case full of medical supplies that I knew I'd never be able to use on myself. I gave the kind Amity a blank stare as he wished me good luck. Eric all but pulled me out of the room and started walking me toward the part of the compound where all the Dauntless members lived. I imagined that as a leader, Eric had one of the highest apartment flats that had been carved into the rock. I wasn't disappointed. We took an elevator to the precarious top of the cliff. I saw that Eric had a glass-enclosed balcony that overlooked the chasm, so he could peer down on all the Dauntless almost as if he were their god. It made me sick to think about. He shoved me inside once we reached the door.

The floor was polished gray stone with metal support beams throughout the structure. He had a black leather sofa and black and glass furniture. The entire place oddly reminded me of the Erudite compound; so much for faction before blood.

Eric went to the sofa and perched on the very edge of it while watching me carefully as if he were afraid I'd bolt again. I just stood there as if glued to the floor my eyes absorbing everything in my surroundings for torture weapons.

"What?" Eric finally snapped looking annoyed. I snapped my attention back to him.

"How does this work?" I asked him.

"How does what work?" He asked leaning back on the couch, lacing his fingers behind his head. The fact that he looked so calm with all of this made me furious.

"This. How do we deal with this?" I asked him again, "How do we deal with living in the same space as one another, trying to have a baby together, having a family, when we don't even like each other?"

"I don't not like you, Tris," said Eric nonchalantly as if we were talking about the weather. "I also don't like you either."

"That's what I'm talking about! How do we make a family work if we don't even want to be together?" I asked angrily, crossing my arms over my chest. Eric let out a short laugh and stood up. He strode over to me and I continued to back up until my back hit the wall. He put his hands on both sides of my head and brought his face close to mine.

"In Erudite, matches were not a matter of love but of logic. If you worked well together and it made sense to have children together, then you got married and started a family," he explained. "My mother and father didn't love each other, didn't even love me, but we had a good home, food on the table, and I became a leader of a faction. So, I'd say that the Erudite knew what they were doing, wouldn't you?"

"No, I wouldn't. In Abnegation, you loved people. We knew love was selfless, like what it is to raise a child. How can you say that love isn't an integral part of a family?"

"And look where you are now, some trophy wife to a faction leader with no real skills of your own. It seems selfless love is dangerous if you ask me," he said his mouth beside my ear, his hot breath tickling it.

"I am not your wife," I snarled at him pushing him away. It felt like I'd tried to hit a brick wall. Eric laughed as he put his arms around my waist and drew me close to his body.

"Actually my little troublemaker, you are," he said in his smooth snakelike voice. I just stared blankly at him.

"What are you talking about?" I asked him flatly. He let go of me, strode over to his desk, and picked up a piece of paper lying there.

"Looks like someone didn't read what she signed," he said with a malicious grin as he handed me the paper. It was the consent form I'd signed; I finally began reading it. I skimmed over the scientific part that the Erudite had inserted and looked at the last paragraph, which outlined a Dauntless marriage contract between the two chosen participants. I threw the paper back at Eric.

"So what? I don't care what I signed, I'm not marrying you," I said stubbornly turning away from Eric and walking to the door. His arms wrapped around my waist and I felt myself slammed to the floor. He straddled my waist with his legs and pinned my hands beside my head. His grin made me think all of this was a sick game to him. I spit up at him.

Eric's face turned red as he wiped the spit off with the collar of his shirt. His fingers twisted into my hair and he snapped my head back painfully. I screamed and thrashed around but Eric picked me up by my hair and proceeded to drag me into another room, the pressure on my scalp forcing me to walk with him.

He pulled me into a plainly furbished room with a metal framed bed made with a silky black comforter and sheets. He threw me down on it, and pinned me while reaching behind him for something on the nightstand. It was a pair of handcuffs. I thrashed even harder against him but he simply cuffed my hands to the headboard.

He then proceeded to calmly remove my shoes and socks, and began unbuttoning my pants. I felt tears stream down my face as I frantically begged Eric to stop. I couldn't believe I was going to lose my virginity this way. I closed my eyes and tried to separate myself from my body. A sharp pain brought me back to reality.

Eric was removing a syringe with a large needle from my thigh, and putting a bandage over it. He then pulled my pants back up and re-buttoned them. The look on his face was evil.

"What? Did you think I was going to rape you or something, Stiff?"

"Go to Hell, Eric," I screamed at him. "I'm still not marrying you, no matter what you do to me."

Eric acted as if I hadn't even said anything as he took off his shirt revealing rock hard abs and other cords of muscle lining his frame. He shoved off his boots, and crawled into the bed beside me. He punched the pillow a few times before he laid his head on it and jerked the comforter up over both our bodies.

"Eric, I'm serious, let me go!" I desperately tried to pull my hands out of the handcuffs, but it appeared as though I'd have to break my thumbs to do so. It was better than just lying here beside a crazed lunatic. However, as soon as I almost had the thumbs broken, Eric was there making the cuffs tighter on my wrists so I couldn't move them a half an inch.

"Come on, Stiff, give me a break. This isn't exactly how I wanted to spend my honeymoon either, but I don't think you want to be bent over the bed, so I suggest you shut up and go to sleep before I decide I don't care."

"This isn't a honeymoon, Eric," I snapped at him, kicking my legs out at him. "I am not your wife; not now, not ever."

"Yes you are, Tris, whether you like it or not," he snapped at me, straddling me again, "The paper you signed acts as a marriage license. We don't have weddings in Dauntless. All we do is sign a marriage license when we want to get married and that's all there is to it. You are already my wife."

I felt like ice water had just seeped into my veins. I was already Eric's wife. I must have stopped thrashing around since Eric stopped pinning me down.

"All better?" he asked with an evil smirk on his face. That condescending tone did it. I snapped and slapped him straight across the face.

Since he wasn't expecting the impact, his head snapped to the side. I felt a moment of hollow victory before Eric turned his head back to me. The look on his face was murderous. I attempted to run from him but I didn't even get to the door before I felt arms as strong as steel bands wrap around my waist and throw me back onto the bed. Eric just stood over me staring murderously.

"The only reason that you aren't a bloody mess right now is that you're needed in top physical condition for the experiment to work. I just injected you with your hormone shot so you're on track to proceed. However," He said as he turned for the door "if you ever do that again, I swear to your pathetic God that I will make your life a living Hell."

"As if you haven't already…" He spun around and was in my face so quickly it made me catch my breath a little in fear.

"You think this is as bad as it can get?" He said with a maniacal smile, his eyes wide and shining. "Think again, Stiff, I can make your life much, much worse. Just think about that for a while. I'm going to go to the bar and get drunk for a while. You get some sleep, and when I come back I expect you to be a tad more compliant, alright?"

With that, he sealed his lips to mine in a quick kiss and laughed as I grimaced. He turned again and walked out the door. Just as he left, he called out the most bone-chilling sentence I'd ever heard.

"Hey when I get back, you can tell me how it feels to be Mrs. Eric Thornton."