Chapter Two
Part One:

They sat quietly in the carriage, not talking at all. Elisa fidgeted a little beside him, and William wondered what he will do with her once they get to Camington. No way will he bed with her; she was just far too young to suit his tastes... 'But why should it matter?' he asked himself. 'You know that if she was just a year or two younger, you'd have a hard time staying away from her.'
Finally she spoke. "Look William. We both know that I am too young for you, so I hope we can just be friends and nothing more." His tempers flared. How dare she set rules with him. Wasn't he the lord of the castle? Wasn't he the one who was provided for her? Wasn't he her husband? He intended to make that quite clear that she was in no circumstances to whether he could have her or not. "You are my wife and I will take you when I want."
She gave him a blunt look. "That's what you think!" she said, as she looked away from him. Now William was even more surprise. No woman had ever dared to speak to him like that before, let alone turn away from his presence. But that's not what surprised him the most. It was that he actually allowed it.

Elisa's Point of View:

How dare he! I can't believe said something like that! He is a supposed to be a gentleman, and person who is agreeable and fair. How fair is he when he forces a maiden again her will? I shifted again so that I was sitting farthest away from him. I could not help but let out a little growl which surprised him tremendously. So I was unladylike. You are allowed to be unladylike when you grow up with a man!
"Are you upset, Milady?" he asked. "Oh no. Why would I be upset when someone I am going to probably spend the rest of my life with has just about forced me to do what I don't want to?" I could feel him take my chin and lift it up so I was looking directly into his midnight eyes. "I will not touch you, Milady," he said it so softly that I could hardly hear him. Then he let go of me completely and looked outside the window.
"We should be almost there. When we arrive I will take you to your room and will leave you there to attend to your...sanitary needs. Then we shall meet at supper time." I nodded. "Fine with me." He looked annoyed. He was probably thinking that it didn't matter if it was fine with me or not; it was his decision. Well damn his decision! I sighed. Why why why why why did I have to leave my home? This Duke of Camington seemed to be annoyed at me constantly and I am already missing uncle and my maids and servants. We had grown to be such good friends...
When they arrived there, I was indeed led to a large gilded room where I was to stay and prepare myself for supper. After several long moments of wandering in the land of null, I decided upon something. 'He did not say that I could not go outside,' I thought to myself, and reached for the door. I walked outside and was immediately bumped by something; or someone.
I looked down to find a little girl about three or four years of age staring back up at me timidly. "Hello there," I said, " Did I hurt you, little one?" Then cute lass shook her head, and then gave me a bright smile. Taking the hand I offered her, she got up. "I am Lady Elisa Thorn. And you are, sweetie?" The little girl giggled, and then curtsied. "Nice to meet you, sister. I am Mary Mandrake, and I am William the Duke's sister. We are going to have so much fun together!" This caught me by surprise. I did not know that 'William' had a sister, not to mention such an adorable one.
Taking her hand once more, I grinned back at her. "Well little sister, would you do me a big favor and show me around this castle? I know you know all the great hiding places." She agreed that it would be a good idea and we headed off to explore. After showing me all the hiding places in the castle like I had asked, we wandered to the garden where I was astounded by the many assortments of flowers and trees, all of them beautiful.
Finally picking a weeping willow to sit under, Mary and I began to chat, mostly about Camington and her brother William, who turned out to be a decent person, at least from what I have heard. It was clear by the way Mary talked of William that she loved him, and he must love her too; who wouldn't love such sweet girl? Then she asked me to tell her a story. Rummaging my brains for stories I knew that would be appropriate to tell my newfound sister, I decided there were none and proceeded to make up one. Little did I know that Mary wasn't the only one listening to my story.

Part Two:

William scanned the room and groaned to himself. 'Where on Earth is she?' he wondered. 'Hadn't I told her to stay in her room? Where is she now?' He stalked out of the bedroom and called out to a maid he saw passing by.
"You! Have you seen the Lady Elisa?" The maid was scared, but she knew better then to show it in front of the duke when he had a temper. She didn't know for sure who the Lady Elisa was, but she knew that she had saw a lady going out to the garden with Lady Mary. This she told him. William immediately stormed off to the garden to find his sister and his bride.
But all his irritation dissipated into thin air when he saw them. His sister never looked happier and Elisa more beautiful. Mary was happily sitting on Elisa's lap while she told her a sort of story. Tendrils of the raven black hair fell across Elisa's face as she looked own at the little girl. She smiled and continued with her story. The sunlight played upon her features giving her a golden glow and making her eyes shine even more than before.
William came closer to listen to what she was saying. "There was once a girl who wanted nothing more than to find true love. But she was forced to marry this man she did not even know, and she was very sad," she said. He wondered…
"Will she be happy again?" "The girl wished upon a star to tell her what to do, and a fairy came, saying that she had to try and love her husband first. The girl tried her very best, but her husband did not love her back, even when she did fall in love with him."
"But why didn't he love her?" Mary asked again.
"Because… because he could not see her as she really was. He could not see her love for him. But don't worry. In the end he did, and they had a cute little baby girl, who grew up to be the prettiest girl in the land, and her parents never forced her to do anything." Mary beamed.
"Yay! I was pondering on how the story would turn out. I am so glad that both of them found true love." Elisa hugged the girl, and they both laughed. William had something to ponder himself. Was she really talking about them, or was it just a coincidence? With his new bride, he didn't think he'd ever find out.
He cleared his throat, and felt her immediately look back to meet his gaze. Was it just his imagination or did he see her blush at his appearance? Mary jumped up and greeted him with a loving hug, and he returned it. Then he motioned for Elisa to stand. "Come, we must go to dinner. You must be starving by now, after such an awkward trip. He knew she was surprised that he cared, and the truth was, he was too. She gingerly picked herself up off the floor and took the hand he offered, and all three of them walked towards the castle to the dining hall.
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While they ate, little Mary continued to ramble on about how great her new sister in-law was.
"…And she taught me how to braid my hair, and recognize the alphabets too!" William frowned a little. He knew that a lady was to be smarter than others, but he was not sure he wanted his sister to learn how to read. Most men these days do not favor women who were too smart for their own good.
Elisa looked at him slowly. She could not help but dislike him, despite the fact that she was now his wife. He seemed so cold to her, and she did not like what he said on their journey one bit. When they got to the dining hall, she sat on his right side while Mary was gestured to sit on his left. But she apparently did not want to tonight.
"Oh please brother, could I sit next to Elli? Pleeease?" William smiled at his younger sister even though he did not at all like the fact that Elisa was causing his sister to like him less. He really had a soft spot when it came to her, though.
"Okay, but only if your new sister does not mind," he look at Elisa, making it in his eyes clear that he did not want her to say yes, but she looked away from him to smile at the little girl.
"I would be most delighted if you will sit with me, Mary." So Mary skipped to her side and sat nest to her, grinning cheerfully.
'This girl is going to be hard to teach…' William thought to himself as he watched her calmly look back at him with a smile on her face.