(This chapter contains a rape scene, so please be careful if this could effect you).
I am sat on my bed, or is it someone else's, and the castle is silent. The sun has firmly set, the sky a deep blue, and I can see a few stars through my window twinkling in the distance.
The door to the room opens abruptly and a man I do not know strides in and grins a large toothy grin at me before slamming the door behind him, shaking a few of the picture frames on the wall. His beard and hair are greasy, his stomach round and protruding. His royal clothes are slightly stained from a night of gorging himself on a feast fit for the King he is soon to become, and it's a mix of drunkenness and desire I see brewing in his eyes.
I look down to avoid his gaze and that's when I notice the wedding dress I am wearing. White for the purity he was promised. It hugs me tight in areas a man would find joy at gazing upon, and flounces out at my hips as if I am sat on a cloud. Long silk gloves run up my arms and galant sparkling jewellery adorns my neck, pulling the gaze to my large chest.
His hungry gaze rakes over me as he takes slow, purposeful steps toward the bed, his eyes occasionally catching and lingering on certain parts of me. In all this silk and tule, I have never felt more naked.
I shuffle back slightly as he stops before me, but he reaches under my skirts to my legs and pulls me closer to him. His breath is thick in my face and I smell the heady stench of alcohol as it begins to stick to my skin.
He reaches behind me to my back and starts fiddling with the fastenings of my dress, in a few quick movements he has it undone and rips the bodice right off of my shocked body. I want to move my arms and cover myself from his gaze but I am stuck, frozen in fear as he begins to do the same to the skirts. He stands me up, swapping places with me, and lets my voluptuous skirts puddle around my ankles. He takes one of my hands to steady me as I step out of the skirts, before kicking them to the other side of the room. I stand before him, frozen like a statue, as his gaze yet again rakes over me. A cold shiver goes down my spin and I feel my throat constricting. I am now in a simple silk underdress, matching the gloves still on my hands, with pieces of lace adorning the edges. On my legs, longs socks stop just below where a lacy garter has been placed on my thigh, and white heals are still on my feet.
In another circumstance I might of enjoyed to wear something like this in front of my husband. But not with this man. His lecherous gaze still does not stray from my body, and his attention snags on that garter, then just a bit higher.
"Take those shoes off" he orders me and like a good pet wife, I obey him. "Now come here". I walk towards him, a robot to his commands and stop just in front of him. He grabs my waist and pulls me on top of me, until I am sat on his lap, straddling him. Until I can feel exactly how happy he is. Only more coldness blooms within me. He puts his face near my neck and takes a long deliberate sniff, his hands dangerously high on my thighs.
"It's been a while since I've been with one so young and pure like you." His eyes move to my breasts again, "we're going to have fun you and I." And without warning, he flips me onto the bed. I am still and in shock as he begins to hover above me. His gaze, yet again, raking over my body. It goes to the garter and he smirks. My blood runs cold.
He brings his greasy head, to my smooth thigh and takes the garter in his teeth, before pulling it down my leg and off at my foot.
My blood is hammering in my skull, and I begin shaking with fear. I feel like at any moment, my lungs could give out and I could stop breathing.
He takes the garter in his hands before saying "This is what I'm going to do to your maidenhead." And snaps the thin elastic.
I have no response to that, I just begin shaking even more. He laughs, a loud, ugly laugh. I can see all of his teeth, most of them rotten, and his saliva coats my face. I am too scared to wipe it off.
He reaches down to his breeches and unties the lacing. I think I've stopped breathing all together. I'm not ready for this. Somebody help me.
He takes great pleasure in reaching up between my thighs and tearing the flimsy piece of white lace which was my underwear, before thrusting into me. Pain splinters around me, and I am sure I go unconscious for several seconds. When I awaken, his sweat is dripping all over me and he is thrusting, again and again and again. It hurts so much, that that spot between my thighs has gone numb. I no longer feel like I am in my body anymore. I look to the side, anywhere to not look at him, and gaze back out at the stars through the window. And begin to count them. One. Two. Three. Four. Anything to not look at him. Twenty. Twenty one. Twenty two. And with every count, wishing that this would all be over. Fifty four. Fifty five. And then, as if my prays have been answered, he stills. Relief begins to blossom in my chest until I feel a hot liquid between my legs. I swallow in disgust, and try not to let it show on my face, but it must of because he begins to chuckle before removing himself from me and flopping down on the bed.
I look back out at the stars. I will never be able to look at them with the wanderlust I once did, and tears begin to fall down my face.
Within a few minutes he is snoring and I race to my bathroom. I do as good a job as I can wiping the liquid that has begun to drip down my thighs away, before nausea overwhelms me and I fall to the floor puking.
•••
I wake up needing to puke, and rush out of my bed, just making it in time to the bathroom, before last nights dinner comes back to haunt me. I don't know if this is morning sickness or because of the dream I just had. Coldness licks up my spine.
When I finally finish, I notice Natsu is at my side, rubbing my back, with a look of harsh concern written all over his face.
"I'm fine, don't worry, it's just because of the baby."
"You were crying in your sleep. And screaming no, nO, NO. I tried to wake you up, but it was if you were trapped in your head. It was horrifying to watch Luce."
"Natsu. You once said you would do anything to stay by my side." He nodded, not sure where this was going. "Well, I want you to do it. I want you to steal me away like a dragon. I've decided I want to you, and this baby. I don't care about duty anymore. I don't care about the risks. I want you, and this family, and I'm going to take it."
Shock flashes on Natsu's face, before tears start to fall. "I thought you'd never ask." He said, a huge grin spreading on his face.