Betty and The Beast Slayer (Book One: Deliverance)

Chapter Fourteen: Betrothed

I awoke, unable to move, but greeted by the gentle sunlight through the window. A gentle knock was heard upon the door, and I turned my head to see a woman emerging. She was an older woman with black hair and kind eyes. Something in her reminded me of my mother, the way the woman carried herself and her kind eyes. She reached for me, helping me roll to my side. There was blood dried upon the floor and I felt parched, exhausted, and defeated.

"Child," she said. "Are you alright?"

"My father..." I whispered.

"I know," she said. "My name is Grace, and I am a midwife. There has not been a child born in Deerfield in a long while. But I have learned how to care for the sick. May I help you."

I nodded and she went on to help me sit up, searing pain soaring through my body as those an iron rod had been dipped into a fire and then dragged across my back. A sense of dread washed over me as I remembered my fatherś wrath, betrayal flickering in my mind.

"I would like to take you to clean your wounds and dress you," she said. "I have some gowns made of soft fabric, and I can dress your wounds."

"Can you heal my soul," I asked. "I loved my father. He betrayed me, beat me."

"He meant well," Grace whispered. "It is how the world works. But there is a reason to celebrate. I hear you are betrothed to the handsome young man who visited the town last night. Samuel?"

I gulped, thinking of Roan's words. Perhaps Roan's vice was revealing the truth. He had promised I would feel great pain if I did not go with him, and then my father tormented me. Grace helped me through the process of cleaning my wounds, secondary exposure to pain and suffering. With each touch, it was as though I was branded once more with the lash of the whip. After what felt to be an eternity, she wrapped my back with bandages that seemed to offer some semblance of comfort. She dressed me and helped me to walk, escorting me downstairs.

In the morning the tavern was empty, seeming to be center for the travelers in the town. The smell of liquor and corruption filter through the air. My father and Samuel were sitting at a table, breaking bread, and laughing as though all was right with the world. My eyes met Samuel's and he glanced downward, seeming to know that he had sealed my fate. Perhaps he did not mind since husbands assumed similar power over their wives. Would I live my life in terror and shame? It appeared I had no choice.

Grace helped me to my seat at the table and smiled upon me.

"I will make you some porridge," she said. "You will need your strength."

"Betty," my father said, his voice calm now. "How are you feeling?"

"I am...alive," I stated, unsure what to say. I refused to meet his eyes.

"Your father and I have agreed that we shall be married tonight," Samuel said. "It is in your best interest to take a husband, someone to guide you. I will protect your heart, body, and soul Betty. I swear it."

"If I refuse," I whispered. "Shall I be scorned and abused?"

Samuel reached for my hand, taking my fingers in his soft grasp. I flinched at his touch, my body and heart recoiling in his presence.

"If you do not love me," Samuel whispered. "Not even a scrap of affection, I will let you go back into the woods this moment and find that man you have suffered for."

"I do love you," I said, regretting the truth of it all. Our eyes met now. "I only wished you trusted me or allowed me to explain myself."

"Women are beings prone to sin," Samuel said. "It was Eve that first took of fruit in the garden, drawn by the serpent. I believe you have good intentions, Betty. You cannot resist your own foolishness."