Chapter 5: Lady of the Manor
Author's note: I really hope you enjoyed Ch. 4 with its steaminess. A little more in this chapter but not much, gotta keep Darkness interested ^_^ In this chapter, Violet talks to herself a lot, but then again so do I so I hope it's not too farfetched of a concept. This chapter is a little bit longer than the last one as I'm bringing in another character from the movie.
When Violet awoke it was as if she was awaking from her coma all over again. She wondered at first if all that had happened had only been a strange dream. The red silk sheets that swathed her nude form and the curtains of sheer crimson fabric made her all too aware that it had not been a dream. She then wondered how long she had slept – it felt like days.
Sitting up while holding a sheet around her to prevent her nakedness from being exposed, she looked through the curtains towards the fire that was still burning. There was no sign of Darkness yet she felt him keenly, just beyond her sight in the shadows that bordered the room.
A shiver passed through her body but not from cold. She slid out of the bed, still wrapped in the sheet. Her bare feet made no sound on the cool marble floor. The only sound was the low crackling of the fire and the otherwise silence was eerie. When Violet's stomach rumbled in rebellion it sounded loud in her ears. Passing a hand over her belly she bit her lower lip, "I guess I'm hungry…I can't remember when I last ate," she said to no one in particular.
Turning again towards the fire, Violet was startled at a change in furnishings. Instead of just the two large chairs there was also a table laden with food on platters the size of shields. She stared at the appearance in awe before stepping forward.
Some of the food was unrecognizable while others looked like giant versions of dishes she knew from home. There were hams the size of dogs, mountains of black grapes the size of the palm of Violet's hand, honeyed figs that oozed with seeds and juice. Even the goblets of what smelled like warm spiced wine were so large it would take both of Violet's hands to bring down off the table. The metal plates and black glass goblets shimmered in the firelight in a way that dazzled Violet's eyes and yet, she hesitated.
Violet recalled the tale of Persephone and Hades. If Persephone ate the food in the Underworld, she would be trapped there forever. Eventually her hunger won her over and she ate six pomegranate pips. As if mocking her thoughts, Violet saw there were a dozen sliced pomegranates near the edge of the table, pips glowing in the light like rubies. "Well," she whispered to herself, "Persephone was a goddess and can live without food…I'll have to risk it I suppose."
Without climbing into one of the adjacent chairs, Violet meandered around the table and nibbled on the offerings. The grapes gushed in her mouth and tasted like wine, the pomegranate pips were sweet rather than tart, and the honeyed figs were delicious despite making her mouth and hands sticky. She avoided the meat, not able to wonder what it was exactly and not willing to try it – thinking of Lily telling her how one of the beings in Darkness' castle had tried to barbeque the gnomes as well as Jack. It made her stomach turn.
When she had eaten her fill, Violet's mind was occupied by her stickiness. Her hands were covered in honey and fruit juice as was her mouth and then there was a lingering stickiness between her legs she tried not to think about. Slowly, she wandered across the room towards the door she had found the night before. "Hopefully I didn't dream it. I could use a warm bath."
As she opened the door, sweet smelling steam rose out of the room. Within, the tub was filled with warm water the sent tendrils of steam into the air. To the side on a low table was a collection of luxurious towels in crimson. After ensuring the door was shut tight behind her, Violet removed the sheet, letting it fall to the side, and slipped into the tub.
A soft moan escaped her lips as the warm water engulfed her. For a moment all she did was lay there against the side and close her eyes.
Darkness watched. It had amused him to hear her speak to herself. The food was easy to procure for in his exile he was not alone and his kingdom was vast even though it was temporarily cut off from the human world. Watching the juice wet her mouth and fingers had almost been too much for him, causing fantasies of her mouth upon him instead.
He continued to watch from the shadows as she entered the bathroom. The scent of exotic flowers and musk from the bath oils, the way the silk fell from her body almost like liquid, and the moan she expressed when slipping into the water. He watched as her hands traveled, wetting her hair until it shone like black glass, sliding over her face and seeing droplets form on her long lashes, down her neck to her breasts. He froze as she caressed her own body and wondered what she did alone to herself, how an innocent like her would seek pleasure.
Violet looked up and found a crimson linen rage and a bar of strangely scented soap. Using these she wiped the stickiness from her hands and arms and began to wash herself, not knowing she had an enrapt audience. When she reached her pubis beneath the water, she bit her bottom lip. She could no longer prevent the images and knowing of what had happened the previous evening form her mind.
She wondered briefly if it had been rape but knew it was not. She had read books in which the maiden had been raped by brutal men, and they were no longer virginal maidens and sometimes did not survive the abuse or, if they did, they were disfigured in some way. No, she was not raped but she wasn't sure how she felt about her first sexual encounter.
A whisper in the back of her mind asked if that was not what she had wanted, had yearned for as she painted flowers making love to pillars, as she read poetry of lovers so besotted with each other they lay nights dreaming of their beloved. Had she not spent nights alone, caressing her own body and wondering what sensations other hands could elicit? She had to admit, the experience had left her body not only pleased but aching for more.
"But he frightens me," she whispered into the water. His strength, so evident, the glowing red of his flesh, even his horns and hooves all brought fear into her heart even though his touch was so gently and his kisses so passionate. She let her mind wonder to what passionate scene they probably created, his large red form arched above her, her white body hanging from his black horns as her thighs spread beneath his menstruations all emblazoned by a background of fire.
She closed her eyes as she remembered the ecstasy he had brought her to, the way his hands felt, the heat from him and the heat from her core burning, the feel of his mouth upon her. Slowly, as she remembered, her hands traveled over her breasts, each nipple already hard, down her belly and to her pubis. Her small fingers felt strange in comparison to her lover's but they knew their goal as one hand rubbed her clit gently at first then rougher. Her other hands spread her nether lips and inserted two fingers slowly. She ached and convulsed, not willing to admit what her body wanted – His touch, His tongue.
Soon she was arched back in bliss, her breasts coming out of the water, dripping and flushed and her head tilted back against the edge of the tub. Her mouth opened in a soft moan as she rubbed her two points of pressure she had previously found through months of experimentation and practice as she reached puberty.
Her mind brought images of last night, the feel of His burning flesh, his hands, his mouth, the way his teeth grazed her, the way his tongue filled her. "Oh," she gasped, remembering her previous orgasm. Finally, she felt her release coming and bucked against her own hands, a single word escaping her lips, "Darkness…"
After watching her settle back down from her orgasm, and finish cleaning herself, Darkness withdrew to the abyss to contemplate his new beloved.
Hearing his name on her lips had almost been too much. He had to practice every bit of self-control to not enter that room and take her there in the tub. He felt his own member hard and throbbing, wanting to engulf itself in her body. Now alone, he stroked it absentmindedly, imagining small pale hands encircling him instead.
Finally he smiled and called in a servant he had used before. "Give her everything she asks for, seduce her…like the last one."
When Violet finished, she dried off and wrapped herself in one of the blanket-like towels, not wanting to wear the sticky silk sheet from before. She entered the other room and wondered if there was anything she could possibly wear in this chamber as her chemise was nowhere to be seen.
Suddenly, a movement from the corner of her eye made her jump and lean back against the bathroom door. A figure, dazzling in its darkness, moved gracefully into the firelight. Violet, even in her shock, knew she had never seen someone so elegant in all her life.
It was effeminate in form and yet had no curves to acknowledge womanhood and its face was covered with the same black glittery fabric as its body. It wore a black dress with a large collar that reached upward like the queen collars of old. Long sleeves and skirt tails flitted about as it moved like the remnants of wings.
The dancer moved towards her in a graceful dance, but still Violet pressed back against the bathroom door. At first she was confused by its bowing and beckoning gestures but then a connection was made between the scene before her and her few experiences in a ballroom. "I…I am sorry but…I do not dance." She shook her head at it and clung to the towel around her.
At first the dancer continued to beckon then stopped when it realized that the girl refused to respond. After a moment it gestured across the room. Violet's eyes followed and widened as she saw that the table of food was gone and in its place a vanity that seemed to glow from its own light.
The dancer led and Violet followed to the vanity and both were bathed in a strange glow it gave off. Violet stared at it a moment and saw that it was festooned with piled and strings of precious stones; diamonds glittered like stars, emeralds dripped in silver, sapphires of ever color imaginable.
Violet admired the beauty of the stones but did not touch, no matter how the creature gestured for her to do so. "No thank you…I'd rather…have some clothes," she gestured to the towel that covered her.
The dancer seemed put off for a moment but then bowed and turned to a corner near the bed and gestured. There, where there had certainly been none before, was a tall wardrobe in the same black wood as the chairs and bed posts. The dancer went to it and opened the doors. Inside was dark but the dancer seemed to know what it was doing as it shuffled about and finally came forth with a dress that, simply in that it varied form the color scheme thus far, pleased Violet.
The dancer helped her into the dress, removing the towel and drying Violet's hair gently, and discarding it to the shadows where everything seemed to disappear. The dress fit tightly, like a glove, but was comfortably fit. The cut, an empire waist with a skirt that trailed the ground, lengthened Violet's form. The lack of straps made her feel bare but she was glad to see that though it showed how ample her bosom was, it did not let her breasts escape. The dress was in two sheathes of fabric, the first black silk, the second, outer layer a sheer fabric the same color of spring violets. The waistline was set with small gemstones that Violet wondered at, trying to find a name for but not able. They were the same color as her eyes if she were to notice.
Once dressed, she turned to the dancer and thanked it as she combed her hair with her fingers to prevent knots of tangles. The dancer saw her hands in her hair and gestured back to the vanity. There, Violet sat and the dancer picked up a brush made of black ivory and proceeded to release the princess' raven hair from its entanglement.
Violet looked at herself in the mirror with contemplation. Her skin, pale as milk stood out against her black hair and the dark dress. Her mouth looked dark red and she wondered if it was still bruised from the night before or simply stained from the pomegranates. Her eyes lowered to the jewels laid out on the vanity but had no desire to wear any of them and none seemed to match the strange purple-blue jewels set into her dress.
When the dancer finished with her hair, it attempted to wrap a string of sapphires around Violet's neck but the princess refused and backed away towards the fire. "No thank you, you've done enough," Violet excused. "I don't suppose you can talk, can you?"
The dancer raised its hands and then dropped them as if to show its inability to communicate. Violet nodded, "Didn't think so." She bit her lip then, carefully, climbed up into one of the large chairs adjacent the fire. "It feels like nighttime in here…I suppose it always does…" She spoke softly to the dancer for lack of anyone else to talk to. "At this time of evening, at home, Lily would come home and tell me all about the adventures she'd had that day."
Violet's voice held a sadness but she wasn't quite homesick, just lonely. Then again, she had always felt lonely, even at the palace full of people and family. It wasn't new to her, only peeked by the new situation. Her eyes gazed into the fire and a sigh escaped her lips. Finally, she realized that what she wanted was company, someone who would speak back to her. She looked at the dancer and tilted her head, "Could…could Darkness come here? If you asked him?"
Hearing his name in the abyss, Darkness stirred and followed the sound. A grin crossed his face as he realized that his beloved had called for him.