The Dying Rose (Completed)

Chapter 2: A Little Incident

I thought. But I barely know you.

He smiled at me, and if I hadn't been so confused, I probably could have gotten lost in his smile. But I couldn't understand this man. His apology and explanation sounded sincere, but I shouldn't be alone with him. Not without a chaperone. I didn't know anything about him. He started talking about the weather. I studied his face. It was tanned and had a few lines from being in the sun. There was a small scar across his left cheek. I wonder how he got it.

I noticed that he had stopped talking. "I see you have a scar on your cheek. How did you come by it?" I inquired innocently.

He chuckled. "In hand to hand combat. I was fighting a Coratonian soldier. I had him pinned to the ground when he kicked me off. I landed so hard it knocked the breath out of me. I couldn't move, and he pulled a knife from at his ankle." He paused looking at me strangely. "Well, anyway, he nicked my face, and it left that scar."

"But what happened that you managed to get up?" I asked, now thoroughly intrigued.

"It's not the kind of story that a young woman should hear." He said looking at the ground. "I apologize. Sometimes I forget myself around you. Your beauty is so bewitching."

I stared at him in shock. My sister, Oriabelle was the family beauty, with her golden perfection and crystal blue eyes. Even Petronille was prettier than I was, though she was 4 years younger than me. Everyone admired her flaming red locks. I was the least pretty of my sisters, and average.

"What's the matter Arabella?" Henri asked, breaking my thought. I realized my mouth had fallen open a little.

"I'm sorry," I laughed, covering my mouth with my hand. "It's just no one has ever called me beautiful before."

He smiled a mysterious half smile. "Well, you're beautiful, but not in the same ways as other women. Your beauty is in your simplicity, Arabella."

Oh. My simplicity.

I met his eyes, but instead of finding them full of pity, they seemed to burn like hot coals. I blinked twice, and suddenly Henri reached up and brushed a strand of hair out of my eyes. He tucked it gently behind my ear. I turned my face away from him, hoping he would take the hint and back away some. It didn't. He slid his hand down, and began to softly rub my neck. I tried to pull away, but he wouldn't let go of my neck and the harder I tried, it felt like my neck would snap. Finally he let go, and I fell backwards on the leaf strewn bank, hitting my head on a rock and briefly blacking out.

When I came to, it was all I could do to breath. Everything was spinning, and my head felt like it would explode. I lay there for a moment, still, and then Henri's face came into view once more.

"Oh Arabella. I'm sorry. You hit your head. Are you alright?" he asked, his voice full of concern.

I nodded a small nod. It hurt to move, but I couldn't get enough air to form words.

"Please, be more careful. I would hate for you to hurt yourself." Concern dripped from his voice. "Do you think you can sit up?"

I tried, but almost immediately lay back down. The whole world had spun, like it had when Papa would twirl me around as a little girl.

"You poor thing, you've hurt yourself. You should be more careful, Arabella."

I'd been fine if you weren't such a forward, pompous, arrogant... I thought. My voice didn't want to be heard, for when I tried to find words to tell him he was being too forward, they came out in a croak that was unintelligible.

He smiled and pressed his finger to my lips. "Shhhh... I've wanted to do this since I first laid eyes on you."

He slid his hand under my neck and cradled my head. And then, he leaned down and kissed me. At first it was soft and gentle, but after a moment I felt his tongue trying to slide into my mouth. I tried to pull away, but he just leaned in more. He grabbed my face and held it stationary between his enormous hands. Then I felt a sudden weight across my body. He had slid on top of me. His hands left my face, and then were groping me. I pursued my mouth tightly, hoping it would make him stop, but it did no good. His right hand cupped my breast, squeezing it, as his other hand tugged at the waist of my breeches. I was thankful I was wearing them, and not a dress. I tried to jerk my body out from underneath him, but his weight was so great that it made little difference. Finally, I bit his lip so hard I drew blood.

He flew backwards, and cried out in agony. I crawled backwards, away from him and the river, towards the shelter of the trees. Henri glared at me, his teeth bared like an animal after it's been branded.

"You little... How dare you!" he cried, lunging towards me. I turned and scrambled to reach the trees; maybe I could find a branch to defend myself.

But it was no good. He landed on top of me with a grunt. Grabbing a handful of my thick chocolate colored curls, he yanked my head back so that I could see the wrath pouring from the features that I had been admiring a few minutes before.

"You'd better be glad I'm a forgiving man, Arabella," he spat. "Because no one causes me injury and gets away with it."

He flipped my over on my back and pinned me beneath him. He gripped my head with one hand and forced my mouth open. Then he kissed me, his tongue exploring my mouth, violating me. It felt like he was prodding my soul. Finally he stopped. He kissed me on my lips once, and pulled back, a smile on his now angelic face.

"Now, how bad was that? If you would have just held still we could have avoided that little incident," he scolded as though I were a child.

I spat in his face, and was immediately rewarded with a hard slap in exchange.

His face flushed red. "You're fiesty. I like that."

He grinned as he ran his hand up my stomach and across the curves of my chest. I shoved it off of me. He stood and brushed the dirt and leaves that our tussle had stirred up off of his clothes.

"I recommend you clean yourself up before you go back home. You wouldn't want to hurt your reputation; it's already bad enough," here he paused, before continuing, "I hope you know I'm doing you a favor in pursuing you, Arabella. And you're going to repay me by being everything I tell you to be. You'll cook me supper every night, keep my home clean, keep me satisfied, and raise our sons. And if you challenge me, and try to make any claims about how I treat you, no one will believe you. You and your family are the village outcasts; I'm a war hero. So you need to get use to the fact that, as soon as I think enough time has passed, I'm going to ask your father for your hand. And when he says yes, you belong to me."

He walked past me, over the ridge of the bank, and through the sparse row of trees.

I collapsed, sobbing in shock. I realized that what he said was true; no one would believe me if I told about what had just happened. Except Rixenda.

I pulled myself together, brushing leaf litter and dirt from my clothes and hair, before washing my face in the river. I grabbed my book from its hiding place, and headed home. Tomorrow, I would go into town to buy bread and some other things, and I would pay Rixenda another visit.