Short chapter but with any luck I should have the next one up in a day or two so yay for me! Hope you enjoy; much love for you all. Keva

xx

This couldn't be happening to me and I was still sure I was dreaming even as Nelly slipped the silk slipper onto my lifted foot. There I stood in the middle of the sewing room dressed in a deep purple gown, hair curled with flowers, and a light dusting of red on my cheeks. Not to mention the charcoal lines around my eyes and the red on my lips. The bodice of my dress was stuffed with old bits of linen to fill it out so I looked like I had breasts until they could sew me a dress that would fit better.

"Ah you look beautiful."

I looked over at my father. "Father look what your sister had them do to me." I pointed out pleadingly.

He just stared at me like he couldn't understand a single word coming out of my mouth. "What?" He questioned. "You look fine."

"But I'm a boy!" I yelled. "Not a girl! You can't do this to me!"

His eyes narrowed deeply and before I knew what was happening he had me bent over his knee, dress up around my waist, knickers pulled down, and his hand laid to my bare bottom. "Stop!" I screamed and struggled to get free only to have him hold tighter and hit harder.

I looked at the women pleadingly for help but they all had their heads downcast staring at the floor sadly. I knew then that in this house ALL obeyed the master or they too suffered the same fate and I was sure they each suffered it at least once.

My father continued to spank me until my bottom was burning near on blistering and tears were pouring from my eyes.

"Now," he stood me up before him and roughly pulled my knickers up. "you act out again and next time I will take a switch to your little ass." He straightened the skirt of the dress. "Do you understand me?"

I sniffled trying desperately to pull back my tears and shame and nodded at him as I stared at the floor.

"Good." He stood up. "Now straighten yourself out and come to the study where we will discuss plans for your wedding." He nodded curtly then turned on his heel and left the room.

As soon as he was gone Nelly and Elise wrapped me in their arms holding me tight and cooing that everything was okay. No everything WAS NOT okay everything was a nightmare but what could I do? Apparently I wasn't going to be able to just walk out of this castle and run away especially if I was to be wedded in a month.

"Mistress don't cry," Elise whispered in my ear. "just be good and when the right moment comes run and don't look back."

I could do nothing but nod as they pulled away from me.

"Alright let's get you straightened up and to your father before he comes looking for you." Nelly ushered me to the sitting table. "Don't sit." She ordered when I made to sit down.

"Why?" I sniffled as Elise wiped my face with a damp cloth.

"You just had your bottom beaten and unless you want more pain I suggest you stand as much as possible for the next day." She nodded knowingly at me.

"Oh." I whispered trying to sort all of this out and only being able to conclude that this was a dream. It just had to be a dream because I couldn't imagine my life being any worse than it was before coming here. If only Sebastian would have just taken me so we could run away together. What I really needed was to get word to him and see if he would come and rescue me.

"Is there any way for me to send a message to someone secretly?" I whispered when Elise finished fixing the charcoal around my eyes.

She sighed deeply and nodded. "But it's not easy nor cheap."

I frowned deeply at that. "How not easy nor cheap is it?"

Nelly fixed my hair and straightened my dress. "Depends on who you're trying to get a message to and how long it would take to get it to them."

That didn't ease my stress at all; in fact it only seemed to make it worse.

"Who are you trying to reach?" Elise questioned as she fixed my lip coloring.

"The man that brought me here." I nodded.

"Oh Sebastian." Nelly swooned. "Yes he'd be a hard one to reach but not impossible." She tried to comfort when I slumped in the shoulders. "Don't worry we'll see what we can work out but first you need to get to your father before he comes looking for you."

Elise gave me a small push towards the door. "Hurry Mistress and we'll talk some more later." She nodded.

"Okay." I nodded and shuffled towards the door not wanting to see the man a second time. However my only other option was to try and run for it which I was sure wouldn't get me very far. "Just play along and bide my time." I whispered to myself as I left the sewing room and headed for my father's study.

I lightly knocked on the door and entered when he answered.

"It's about time." He nodded at me and waved his hand towards the chair by the window. "Sit."

"If it's okay with you I would prefer to stand." I shifted nervously as I stared at the floor.

He sighed deeply. "For my reaction to you I apologize." He nodded. "It was uncalled for and I should have rated as such to you."

I eyed him carefully for a moment before giving him a small nod but not really forgiving him.

"So then let's get down to business here so you can understand your position."

I stared at him and nodded rather curious as to how this was all going to play out.

"Alright," he started as he leaned against his desk and crossed his arms over his chest. "here's how this is going to work. From here on out you are my daughter Cielly or Celeste, Celesta, or whatever name you want. Now before you go and start hating me for all of this you need to know the full story of events that brought you to this position."

He sighed deeply and crossed his legs at the ankles. "Firstly yes you were arranged to be married from the moment your mother was discovered to be pregnant." He nodded. "And yes it didn't matter whether you were a boy or a girl. So the day you were born Lord and Lady Chamber were here to bear witness to their future son or daughter in law. Clearly you were born a boy and so that day it was contracted you would marry their daughter."

"And now I'm not." I whispered rather confused by that part of this whole thing.

"And now you're not." He agreed. "You see their daughter died from a fever leaving them with their son Aleister. Therefore the agreement was called off and we were looking for a new bride for you."

I drew my brows even further wondering where this bride was.

"We never found one." He answered my silent wondering. "The reason we never found one is because it was soon discovered that Aleister preferred boys over girls and especially boys who were more on the feminine side." He waved his hand in my direction. "So the wedding was back on but I wasn't about to give my son over to another man." He sighed deeply. "That was until your mother signed a secret agreement with them for a large sum of gold." He shook his head. "It was more gold than I could pay back and once she had it in her hands she took you and ran. My options were either find you and fulfill the contract or turn over everything I own and become destitute."

"I don't understand." I drew my brows deeply. "If she didn't want you or anyone else to have me why sell me like she did?"

"I have no clue." He shook his head. "Your mother was never quite right in the head." He snorted. "I did not want to marry her but as it was we were arranged just as you are. So I had to fulfill my duties proper until she gave birth to my heir." He nodded at me. "It was contracted that I could end the marriage once she gave me a male heir. Once she did I began working with the church to end the marriage and eventually did after she took you and ran away."

"So did she just want me to use against you?" I stared wide eyed at him. "Just a means to an end and what about you?"

"As far as your mother goes more than likely." He nodded sadly at me. "As for myself you're my son and I love you."

I shook my head at that. "Love me?" I questioned wide eyed. "If you love me why do this to me?" I waved my hand down the length of my body. "Love should outweigh any agreement made and especially when that agreement was made without your consent."

"And it does." He nodded. "However the agreement was made and without the money to pay back the dowry for you I have no choice." He sighed deeply. "Son your mother took everything I had including your dowry and in order to stop this I have to pay that back and I can't."

"But you would if you could; right?" I questioned hopefully.

"Yes I would."He nodded at me. "However in the mean time were just going to have to let things go as planned until we can sort out a way to stop this."

"How can this go as planned?" I questioned completely confused by all of this and what I learned so far. "I'm a male and males can't marry other males legally; can they?"

He ran his fingers through his hair agitatedly. "How much you know about the laws King Edward the IX passed during his reign."

I shook my head. "Very little."

"Well it goes like this as per your circumstance." He sighed deeply. "The King was so in love with his squire that he executed his wife claiming infidelity just to be with the boy. However that wasn't enough he wanted the boy to be is wife and take up position as his Queen."

I drew my brows deeply. "But he was a boy."

"Exactly." He nodded. "So in order to make the boy his wife and Queen proper he worked with the church to create a law in which he could marry his squire. So long as his squire looked and acted the part of a woman and the majority of the public believed him to be a girl he could legally marry him. Well he spent months courting a young lady presenting her to his court and to the masses until everyone began talking about him marrying her. He did and young William became Queen Lilliana less than six months after he passed the new law."

"So this man I am to wed it will be a legal and binding contract?" I frowned deeply.

"Yes." He nodded.

"What about an annulment?" I questioned. "Surely there has to be a way to get out of it if all parties are not in agreement."

"In a sense; yes." He nodded. "The church in order to agree to pass this law had a few loopholes put into the agreement. First beyond everyone having to believe you're a girl the groom must have an heir prior to the marriage or within two months of the marriage."

I stared hopefully at him. "Does mine?"

"Yes his third future son or daughter will be born not long after your wedding." He nodded. "Secondly the marriage must be consummated the day of the wedding in front of four witnesses." His frowned deeply at that. "Which yours will be." He pointed out seeing the slightly hopeful look on my face. "Your in-laws will insist in order to consider the contract fulfilled completely."

I did not like that at all and apparently neither did my father for we both looked as if the world was about to end.

He sighed again and nodded. "However here is where you have the chance to get out of it."