Marcus
... My Forgotten Love ...
Chapter Four
Marcus choked on his emotions.
He remembered those precious days with such intensity, he sometimes wondered if this was all a nightmare, that he would leave this casket and find her laughing in the Great Hall, or sleeping peacefully in his bed.
Instead Maryann was laughing in the Great Hall, Maryann shared his bed, Maryann had birthed his son.
Marcus snarled as he recalled the day he had been forced to marry Maryann.
According to the crowds who had attended, Maryann had looked every inch a queen, wearing a white full length gown decorated with ornamental leaves and flowers. Her blonde hair curling naturally down her slim back.
All Marcus had seen that day was the look on his love's face when it fully dawned on her, he would have to consummate the marriage.
Maryann's father wanted to have her checked the morning after the wedding to ensure it had been done.
Everyone by this point had heard rumours of his affair with his father's wife and many had heard that the marriage between them had not been consummated.
Marcus had left his love, with pain in her eyes. He knew she would be strong and not cry, but it didn't help their predicament. He felt nothing for Maryann. He doubted he could even consummate the marriage without using his imagination that she was his love.
No! He wouldn't do that, however much he didn't want to marry Maryann he knew he had no choice, but he wouldn't even pretend that the passions he contained could be tapped by anyone else.
He knew Maryann's skin would feel wrong against his, he knew she would not smell right, or taste right. He would consummate this union in the same way he would feel about his marriage. Cold. Unfeeling. Passionless.
He had walked to the alter a cold man, the man his father had made him, the man he would always be with Maryann.
The night of their wedding was one of the worst of his existence.
He had bedded Maryann, but unlike his time with his love, there were no kisses, no gentle caresses, he whispered no promises of eternal love and commitment. His heart laid elsewhere.
His heart had already been given.
Maryann was nothing more to him than an obligation he had to fulfil.
As soon as he had consummated the union he had left her immediately, her thighs spread, tears in her eyes. He cared not.
He later remembered the confrontation he had had when Maryann realised she would no longer share his bed.
She had flown into his study, anger shining in her usually smiling eyes.
"Do you have any idea who I am? You refuse to share my bed is insult enough, but to share it instead with that whore…" She had not finished her sentence, he had not allowed her.
With his supernatural speed he had flown at her and slapped her, hard. She fell to the floor, sobbing.
"Never, ever, refer to her as a whore!" He grasped a handful of soft blonde curls to pull her face back so she could see his eyes now glowing with rage. "She is mine! Understand?! You don't want me in your bed, or do you?!" He had roared.
She had shaken her head and sobbed. He had been so furious he had barely heard her whisper "Im pregnant".
Marcus had stormed from the room, he could almost laugh bitterly at his luck, the one women he wanted to bare his child more than anything in the world had yet to conceive, but the women he despised just because of her existence managed to conceive due to a cold, heartless union.
Life was cruel.
He needed to get away, he needed his solace. So naturally he rode straight to her.
Unfortunately, his father was at the castle so he had to wait till his departure before he could finally embrace her.
He knew his father knew of their affair, but like many things since his mothers death, his father seemed not to care.
Marcus knew his love would hate how he treated Maryann but he couldn't help the way he felt, he couldn't describe it, he needed someone to blame for the cruelty of fate and she was the number one candidate.
She had smiled and embraced him, before giving him a impish smile. He would never forget the happiness he had felt when he had heard she was pregnant.
He had lifted her off the ground and swung her around. He had kissed her senseless, made love to her and laid against her belly whispering to their child growing within.
Whenever they made love from that day on he would coat her growing belly with tender kisses.
Their baby, at last!