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A RELUCTANT PASSION

Chapter 3

Rosegalaxia

Serena stumbled and righted herself with what little dignity she still possessed as the men's taunting laughter rang out across the courtyard. She lifted her head up high as she felt a prickling sensation along her neck. Her eyes looked around the courtyard until they encountered his. She shivered slightly at the rage still emanating from them; the rage which promised retribution as soon as he had her alone.

For now, he gestured to a man who stood behind Serena. " Brian, escort the lady up to the Wind Chamber. Make sure you..." He trailed off and twirled his fingers around.

Make sure you 'lock the door', Serena interpreted bitterly. She scowled. Her eyes clung to Darien's eyes as his servant gently gripped her arm and nudged her towards the steps which were in front of her. Turning around and lifting her head high, she set her chin and gazed straight ahead, a calm, serene mask on her face. As if she was a guest here. As if she wanted to be here.

Her heart thumped wildly in her chest when she saw, from the corner of her eye, the small smug smile her 'fianc' sent her way. Soon, soon, he would have her alone. And that... that lie he had told her about wanting to marry her. Huh! What a joke. She would be his mistress. His unpaid whore because he already owned her.

But what was done was done. What had happened, had happened. Now she had to think of the future and dwell no longer on the past. She would have to attempt to escape again. But this time she would have help. For the night before last, when Darien had thrown her into a tent, she had discovered four more girls sleeping there. They had been stolen from their homes and had been bought by Darien's men.

Raissa, Minta, Lilah and Amaryllis. Beautiful, gentle, innocent girls who would be innocent no more. Purchased like animals by men who had no concept of treating women gently- who had no respect for the other sex and viewed them as tools put on Earth, merely for their pleasure. It made her so angry when she thought of how helpless they were. Men had no right... absolutely no right to think they were the superior race. It just made her so mad! But no matter. Soon... soon they would see that some women couldn't be controlled.

Soon.

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Serena leaned against the wall and shivered as a gust of wind tore through the room. She could now understand why this was the Wind Chamber. And she could also see why Darien would put her in here- the great, insensitive brute that he was, he would have wanted to punish-

Her head snapped up as she heard the sound of the door opening. She stared, her heart in her throat, at the man standing in the doorway. Not Darien.

" Yes?"

The man who had escorted her to this chamber politely bent his head. " Lord Darien wishes for you to dine with him."

Serena had recovered from her fright and she gave the man an indifferent look. " Why are you telling me what Lord Darien wishes? What have I to do with his wishes?"

The man kept his head down bent. " My lord said that if you did not come, then he would come and fetch you himself. You will face punishment in front of the people of this keep."

Serena's brow rose. " He would humiliate me in front of his people? Me, the woman he claims to be affianced to? Surely not. My honour is his honour now is it not?" She sent a saccharine smile his way.

He uneasily shifted on his feet and finally lifted his head to look at her. She wasn't sure but she thought that she detected an amused gleam in his eyes. " Things are done differently in this part of the world my lady. Punishing one's woman in front of other people shows the man's authority and is a lesson to the other wicked women who would consider denying their masters what they wished."

Yes. They all thought women were tools, put on Earth for their pleasure. Would a day come when women were treated as humans and not as objects?

Serena sighed loudly and stood. " Well, let me not be one of the wicked women then. Let us go."

She walked towards the door and then stopped. The man had not made a move from the doorway.

She stared at him. " Is there a problem?"

He gestured towards her clothes. " I hope that you will not think me too forward but may I say that you are not suitably attired for attendance at the meal. Forgive me but I was sure that I had ordered a serving woman to come and assist you in changing."

Serena sighed again. " No you are not mistaken. The woman came and I sent her away. I am fine the way I am."

He stared at her dusty clothes and mussed hair, then let out a small cough. " You will shame my lord if you appear in front of his people that way."

She shook her head and smiled. " No. For you see, punishing one's man in front of other people shows the woman's authority and is a lesson to the other wicked men who would consider treating their women as things to be owned."

Evidently, he didn't know what else to say so Darien's servant bent his head towards her and swept a hand in front of him, gesturing her to come.

She went. What else was she to do?

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Serena sat in silence in her seat as conversation swirled around her. Darien laughed at something the woman seated near him said. He sat at the head of the table and Serena was besides him. What a strange culture these people had where two people sat at the head of the table.

She poked and prodded at her food with the small wooden spoon she had been given but even though her stomach was grumbling with hunger, she could not bring herself to eat anything. For she had to share her food with Darien. It was on the same plate. It was just too intimate to share food with a strange man. Especially a ruthless and cruel man like Darien. She just could not eat from the plate of a man such as him while others looked on. The men with their sly knowing leers and the women with their furtive glances. Her reasons might sound ridiculous but she just couldn't... it would be like admitting that yes, there was an intimate connection between her and Darien. And that she just could not do in front of his people. Besides all that, she was too nervous to eat. Night was fast approaching, and she sensed, so was her punishment. What was she going to do? How was she going to stop Darien from raping her? For surely that was what he was going to do.

She frowned suddenly as she felt the prickle along her neck and glanced up from where she had been studying the pattern of the clothe on the table. She looked straight towards the man who had been staring at her. He had shoulder-length black hair and from what she could see, he also had dark, dark eyes. He looked a lot like Darien but there was something different about him. Something... less harsher.

He continued studying her, regardless of the fact that she'd caught him staring. How rude some men were! She scowled at him but when he merely lifted a brow in her direction, she sighed and turned her eyes downwards again.

" Serena."

Her head snapped sideways and she jumped to find Darien's face so close to her own. She turned her face away and studied her tightly clasped hands. " Yes?" she muttered.

" You have not eaten anything. I advise that you eat your fill. The coming night is going to be a long one, and you'll need all the energy you can get."

Serena flinched slightly at hearing the reference to what she was going to have to go through. " I will not touch this food or any other food which I must share with you."

Darien was silent for a while but then he gripped her shoulder in his hand and jerked her around so that she faced him. " Why not?"

A sly grin slowly spread across her face. Her countenance was deceptively sweet and pretentious. She turned her face slowly upward, lifting her chin.

She stared straight into his eyes and replied in a deadly whisper, " I do not eat food that has been tainted."

Though she seemed confident, she was shaking inside.

Darien looked back at her, unsmiling. " You will eat the food that is on my plate or you will starve."

" Let me starve then." Serena turned her face away and looked down again. " Let me starve."

She could sense him looking at her but she didn't lift her head to look at him. However, just then her stomach rumbled. She knew that he had heard it also from the amused little huff he let out. So she turned her head and looked at him.

She gave a small, bitter smile. " I remember you saying to me that my comfort is of the utmost importance to you now that I am to be your wife. If what you said is true, then you will let me go up to the chamber I was given and you will send some-one with some food for me. For I will neither dine in this rowdy atmosphere nor will I dine on the food from your plate. I will not share your meal with you."

She held his gaze for a few more moments and then turned her head back again, but this time instead of looking down, she looked straight ahead. She looked at the man who resembled Darien, who was still looking at her and this time she did not back down and look away. She stared right back at him.

Let him find out that some women couldn't be controlled.

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So she did go up to the Wind Chamber. So she was given some food. Knowing the arrogant man Darien was, she could quite accurately say that the food probably came to her straight from Darien's plate. But even though she was still a prisoner of war, she had won her first battle. And it would not be her last.

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She awoke from her uneasy slumber as she felt the cool air on her exposed body. Her eyes snapped open and she snatched in a gulp of air and opened her mouth wide to let out a piercing scream. But before she could make a sound, a mouth covered hers and swallowed the sound she then emitted.

Her hands gripped his arms and attempted to pull them away from where his firm grip held her body down. She could see nothing except his dark face above hers, feel nothing except his hard body on top of hers and hear nothing but his harsh breathing. Oh dear God, Darien was here!

She struggled against him but he was unyielding, unmerciful; he continued to hold her down effortlessly. She desperately turned her head this way and that, and after succeeding in tearing her mouth away from his, frantically gulped in deep breaths of air. Her breath came out in sobs as she felt his mouth at the base of her throat, his tongue stroking against her rapidly beating pulse. His hands fondled her breasts, which were uncovered by the nightgown she had donned before getting into bed. A mysterious dull ache throbbed between her thighs in response to the way Darien fit her breasts in his palms and caressed the soft nipples.

She shook her head at the sensations she was feeling. Not panic. Not disgust. Something... else. Something which was not pain, but was in its own way, painful.

" No." She shook her head and pushed against his shoulders. " Please my lord, no."

His mouth lifted away from the base of her throat and skimmed across her jaw line. " Yes my lady, yes. You attempted to escape from me and deny my authority over you. Now I will bind you to me for all eternity; I assure you that this will be a lesson you will never forget."

So saying, his mouth dipped low again and his lips nudged her nipple, which had traitorously hardened and now stood upright.

As a bolt of heat shot through her body, she subsided against the bed and stared up at the ceiling, her arms lying weakly by her sides, her eyes filled with tears, her heart full of a feeling of hopelessness. What was Darien doing to her to make her feel the way she did? It felt as if her whole body was on fire, yet she did not want the flames to be put out. Instead, she wanted them... fed.

This thought frightened her so much that she, once again, tried to save herself. " Wedding me would be a more stronger and permanent bind than bedding me."

He pressed damp kisses on her breasts. Each time his lips connected with her skin, it was as if an electric current was generated and each bolt struck straight at the base of her stomach. Even though she pressed her lips together, little breathy gasps escaped from her mouth, making Darien laugh a little in triumph. He gripped both her hands in one of his and stretched them up above her head so that her body was more easily accessible to his hands, his mouth, his lips and his tongue.

" I will do both." He whispered, his warm breath fanning across her chest. " I will do both but perhaps not in the conventional order. You will learn the penalty of daring to defy me."

Serena gasped when he clamped his teeth around a small, hardened nipple and sucked ferociously. She moaned when his free hand, rough with calluses, swept over the soft skin of her belly, and down, down, across her sensitive inner thighs. Instinctively, she clamped her legs together but that didn't deter Darien. Giving a soft husky laugh and transferring his attention to her other breast, he roughly jerked her legs apart and swept both his knees in between so that she could not close them again.

And then... and then... he touched her.

Gently, gently, over and over again. Lightly brushing, stroking, caressing.

And all hell broke loose. Her hips bucked wildly, her head arched back and her arms pressed deeper into the bed.

Darien brought his hands to frame Serena's face and jerked it down so that he could look at her. He then brought his lips down to hers. Even though she was barely able to think, Serena guessed his intention and turned her head away. His mouth landed on the hollow under her ear. She lifted her freed arms and gripping Darien's hair in her hands, pulled, pulled as hard as she could. In retaliation to her action, he clasped her ear lobe in between his teeth and bit down causing her to utter a small cry of pain. He also widened his legs so that her legs spread further apart and plunged his fingers inside her.

Serena stopped breathing and her tear-dampened eyes widened at the invasion. Her feet pressed into the bed and she arched a little into his hand. Fear, pain and another emotion, the likes of which she had never felt before had overtaken her body. She turned her head and looked at Darien's triumphant face. Even as her body responded to what he was doing to her, she let out a weary little sigh and closed her eyes, unaware of the small tear which escaped her eye and trickled down her face.

Oh dear God what was this man doing to her? What powers did he have to make her feel like this? For even as she damned herself for responding in this way, her body balanced precariously at the edge of a vast precipice. She had the feeling that if she succumbed and allowed herself to fall over, then she would be changed forever and could never go back to being who she had been. Even as the warning resounded in her brain, fire erupted at the base of her thighs and...

And then... and then... he stopped.

He withdrew his fingers and lifted himself off her body.

Serena kept her eyes closed and shivered slightly as the cool air blew over her damp body. She could feel his eyes looking at her from where he stood at the side of her bed. However, she refused to acknowledge the fact that he was there. She relaxed slightly when she heard the sliding of fabric as he slid his belt and scabbard on. She realised that he was apparently done with her. But even that didn't prompt her to open her eyes.

She stiffened and her breath caught in her throat when she heard him speak. " You will be my wife. Resign yourself to that and let go of any hopes you have of freedom because let me assure you that I have no intention of letting you go."

He turned to leave and as she heard the door open, he spoke again. " If you do not want a repeat of this incident, then do not attempt to escape from me again. If you do, I will find you and I will finish what I have started, in front of my people, in a way which will make the experience far from pleasant for you."

So saying, he went and closed the door, locking it behind him. Serena kept her eyes shut as she heard the echo of his footsteps. Only when the footsteps had faded into the distance, she turned onto her side...

... and cried.

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The next morning, two servant women came into the chamber and awoke Serena up from her troubled sleep. She blinked and gazed at them, her vision blurred.

" What do you want?" Her voice emerged a harsh croak. She swallowed to try and ease the dryness of her throat.

The older woman bent her head and fingered the apron she wore. " Our lord has sent us to bathe and dress you."

Serena stilled, an awful suspicion brewing in her mind. " And why would I need your help to do that? I am perfectly capable of bathing and dressing on my own."

The younger woman shifted on her feet and shot the older one a nervous look. They both stayed silent and continued staring at the ground.

Serena frowned. " Well? Why do you not answer me?"

With a sigh, the older woman spoke up again. " We are to get you ready for your marriage."

Serena let out a disbelieving laugh and stared at them. " I hope you are joking."

But she knew that they were not. They were very serious. What was she to do now? She had thought that she would have a few more days in which to plan her escape more carefully but... apparently Darien had guessed what she might do if she was given more time. So he had arranged this wedding as soon as possible.

She covered her face with her hands and shook her head. Even though she didn't really know where she was, men were the same the world over. Once they had wed a woman, they had ultimate control over her. The woman's rights were ignored by everyone else. If she did manage to escape after the marriage, after she was Darien's, then she knew that it wouldn't only be Darien who would be looking for her. It would also be the law.

She shook her head again. God what was she to do? Perhaps she should just refuse to say her vows. They couldn't force her to say that she would obey, love and cherish her husband for all eternity or whatever other promises women had to make during a marriage ceremony in this part of the world.

Yes. Serena straightened up and gazed at the women with a small smile on her face. Yes. That is what she would do. She would just refuse to say her vows.

So she quietly let the women bathe her, wash her hair with scented water, dress her in a beautiful, white flowing dress, and take her to her groom. She entered a large hall where Darien, several other men and a priest stood. They got on with the 'ceremony'. Then, the time finally came after the priest had finished stressing the seriousness of marriage and the importance of doing everything to make it an everlasting relationship.

The priest looked at Serena and asked her, " Do you agree to take this man as your husband and to obey his every command and to look after his every comfort?"

With her heart pounding in her ears and her palms damp with nervous sweat, Serena stood still and silent. She could sense that everyone was looking at her but she ignored them all and focused on the priest. He stood there, with his hands clasped in front of him and his eyes on Darien's face.

Darien must have given him some sort of a sign because he turned his attention towards Serena and repeated his question... but in vain. Serena remained silent.

However, she let out a little gasp when Darien suddenly gripped her arm in a cruel hold and whipped her off towards another room, adjoining the hall. As soon as she entered the room, her eyes widened to see four girls, kneeling on the floor, with a soldier standing behind them, a sword aimed towards their necks. And Serena understood everything.

Darien must have realised that she wouldn't obligingly wed him. So he had devised a plan. An evil, heinous plan. She closed her eyes and wished she could close her ears as well when the sound of the girls' sobbing reached her. What was she going to do?

Her eyes opened and she stiffened as Darien positioned himself behind her and put his hand on her shoulders to keep her facing the girls.

He bent down a little and placed his mouth near her ear. " Well, what is your answer to be? Yes? And if so, the girls will be allowed to live. No? And if so, you will watch as their heads come off one by one. You will have their deaths on your conscience forever." He gave her a little shake. " Decide."

I'd like to say thank-you to my new editor Mizz Scarlet, for giving me great suggestions.

Also, let me say that Darien will not rape Serena. What happened in this chapter wasn't rape. It was Darien seducing Serena but as you've read, he stopped when he realised that Serena wasn't wholeheartedly participating. Darien's the hero not the villain. Okay? So no flames about that.