A Sinless Betrayal - Cherie Benjamin (paper ebook reader .TXT) 📗

grasping my hands tightly in his. "It's both. I desire your flesh as much as I desire your respect and your love. I truly had no right."

I squeeze his hand into mine before dropping it back to his side as I pin my white silks into place with a blue pin. I sigh softly. "You get to have your way with any woman you like while I'm stuck in here, not allowed to speak to any man without your permission."

Now he's frowning. "I have a reason for that. Do you want to end up getting raped, Elizabella? I've saved you from that fate twice. My men cannot be trusted."

What he says is true, I cannot deny that fact. I am truly grateful for his protection, and I was also truly grateful for his protection at those times of my need. I exhale and nod my head. "But what of Black Bear? You wrongfully attacked him and now he's deathly afraid of me because of you. I don't like being feared." I blush a little, smiling at his bewildered expression. I don't think he finds it so funny.

He grits his teeth, his jaw crunching together. "I am always feared." He leans forward in his great, bearskin chair, and naked as the day he was born. "I am the ruthless king of the barbarian tribes of the western wilds. No man does not go to bed without having at least one nightmare about me."

I look up at him with interest. "It is your own fault. If you did not steal from the innocent kingdoms, perhaps they would not hate and fear you. Mayhap…they would learn to love you if you provided them with a protection of some sort. I suppose you could make an ally."

He stands with a humourless laugh and ties his breechcloth around his waist. "Allies? I have no tolerance for other leaders who call my people barbarians and spit on our names. I can understand how you feel about this matter, but I have known nothing else. I was born of blood and theft."

I move closer towards him. "Then let them know you are a good man. Let them know that you are a great king. I've seen it first hand. You've made me…change my mind about you."

He smiles at my last comment, but then his attitude changes and he humorlessly snorts. "I've got a thousand year reputation. Makes no difference whether I change now. I am still a beast in their eyes, and I shall at least uphold it."

"Abigor—"

He holds his hand up and shakes his head. "Don't." Then he tosses some dirty clothes into a basket and tosses it to me. "I have to go to a meeting. Do the laundry out by the river, and then put it back here when you are done. I should be finished with the meeting in a little over an hour."

I give him a look. "Am I your maid now? You found use in me while I was comforting you, but now you treat me like a slave, telling me to off and do your dirty laundry."

"You are not a maid," he insists, huffing like a child that's explained something over and over again. "But I've treated you like a princess for a very long time. It's time you do work. Even the harem girls work. Every woman in my kingdom works. And don't spit that 'my kingdom does not do that' back at me because I'm tired of you comparing measly Bellechester to my land."

I huff at him and pick up the basket. "I've no problem with doing the laundry," I tell him. "And I've no problem with upholding my womanly duties. I demand to not be ordered around."

He looks at me in shock at first but then breaks into a slow smile. "You are just like my mother; fiery, fierce, strong. I will be back soon."

Before I can shoot something back at him, he captures my lips. And all negative thoughts and feelings melt away in the passion. He breaks away from our kiss, and I follow him out the door without a sound, the basket of clothes tucked firmly under my arm.

We part in the hallway. He goes off towards the War Tactics and Strategies room and I go off towards the back of the castle, where the maids and servants walk out to take care of the gardens, the animals, and the clothes.

The river is where all women, title and all, go to wash their clothes or get a drink. The sun beats down on me, showering me with heat as my bare feet pad through the dry grass and dirt until I reach the river, to the shaded part of the forest. The other ladies are there doing laundry as well.

I kneel by Michelle, who is also washing clothes for Drinks of Waterfall. "Hello!" She greets me with a pleasant smile and a warm hug. "I haven't seen you in a while. How have you been?"

"Well," I reply. "But Abigor's been distraught over the loss of his sister. I can't blame him. She was a good, and kind woman."

Michelle nods and pulls a dark green tunic out of the river, lays it into a flat stone and scrubs a bar of soap onto it. She looks up at me and smiles. "Your necklace is very pretty. Did Abigor give it to you?"

My hand goes around the topaz sitting on my neck. I nod my head. I take out a pair of deerskin pants and dip them in the river. "Mind if I use your soap?"

Michelle shakes her head. "No, not at all."

I scrub the pants with the soap, lathering it in bubbles. Michelle dips another shirt into the water next to me. "You know, I've heard much about that necklace."

I look over at her with interest. "And what did you hear?"

"That it is the trophy necklace," Michelle replies. "Any woman who is lucky enough to get the topaz necklace is said to be very important to our king."

I breathe in and out very slowly. "Is that so?"

She nods her head. "Very so." She wipes the sweat off of her forehead and sighs. "I've been out here for an hour. Tristan has a lot of clothes."

I smile weakly. "Does he?"

Michelle nods her head. "I suppose it's better to have me clean his clothes than to have him be dirty." She clutches at her stomach briefly before leaning back down to pull another shirt out of the water.

I cast a side-glance towards her. "Are you all right?" I ask her. She looks pale in the sunlight, and incredibly weak.

She nods her head. "Oh yes. I'm very much okay." I nod my head, not asking any more questions. Soon I find myself through half the basket of clothes with sweat on my back and fatigue rising.

I reach up to wipe my forehead. Beside me, Michelle groans and clutches at her stomach. I frown at her. "You're not telling me something. Are you going to faint? You look pale."

She shakes her head. She squeezes a bundle of clothes and wrings the water out of them. "Elizabella, you must promise me that you will not tell a soul about what I am about to tell you."

This startles me. I sit back on my haunches and throw the clean clothes into the basket behind me. "Alright. I promise."

She sighs and grabs my hand. "I…I am with child."

I gasp rather loudly, causing Michelle to clamp a hand over my mouth. "Shh, my lady! You are much too loud."

I move her hand from my mouth. "And does he know?"

Michelle nods her head slowly. "Of course he knows. He sees every inch of my body, takes notice of every little thing…including when I missed my second month of virtue blood."

I'm anxious to know. "And…what did he say?"

She looks to the ground. "He was…he was nonchalant. It was like he almost didn't care. Oh Elizabella, I was terrified of what he'd say. If he'd stop loving me, or just throw me back into the harem. But he didn't, and that was what surprised me the most!"

I've heard terrible stories of women being thrown back to the harem when a man unintentionally made a woman pregnant. She would have to fend for herself with no support from the child's father, and the child would grow up without a father figure in his life. No, that isn't what I want to happen to Michelle or me.

I look down at her stomach. It protrudes a little, but not too much. "How far along are you?" I ask her. "You don't look very big."

"Evalyn said that I was about three months into the pregnancy," Michelle explains. "She said that I probably got pregnant around the time that we first got here."

I nod my head. It's probably guaranteed that I would be pregnant too if I'd allowed Abigor to take me when he wanted to. I lick my dry lips. "I wish you the best pregnancy. I'll pray to the Gods that Drinks Of Waterfall keeps you by his side…though I already know that he will."

She blushes and nods her head. She picks up her wicker basket and holds it in her arms. "Well, I ought to take this laundry inside. It was nice talking to you again, Elizabella. I wish you the best of luck with Dances With Wolves."

I nod my head and smile back at her. I finish washing Abigor's close, and then I begin to haul the heavy basket up the great grass hill to hang them on the clothesline. I set down the basket and hang the clothes on the twine rope that hangs across a few trees. I reach up to hand a white shirt onto the line when a heavy body collides into mine, knocking me to the ground.

I hear a gasp, and then I look up. It's Black Bear. "Na tuba," he gruffly manages out, offering a shaking hand (I'm sorry). I take it and stand up from where I was on the ground. I wipe the dirt off of my dress and look up at him. 

"Daidai de mana, da kuwa hadari," I say with a small smile. I look him up and down. "Ka yi kama kana cikin sauri." (It's all right, it was just an accident. You look like you're in a hurry.)

He nods his head. "Raye-Raye Da Wolves ba ya so in yi magana da kai. A gaskiya ma, sai ya ce zai kasha mu idan mun yi magana da kai," he says matter-of-factly. Then he folds his arms over his chest. "Kuma… kamar kana so in aka kasha su." (Dances With Wolves doesn't want me to speak to you. In fact, he says he will kill us if we speak to you. And…it seems like you want me to get killed.)

I frown at him, my fists clenching at my side. "Ina ne kawai da abokantaka! Ka sani, kai ne mutum na fari na sadu a nan abin da ya ba kokarin fyade da ni." (I'm only being friendly! You know, you're the first man I've met here that hasn't tried to rape me.)

This changes him slightly. "Me ya sa kake so ka zama abokai da ni? Mace ke ba ya so ya zama aboki na da sai dai idan tana son wani abu daga gare ni." (Why do you want to be friends with me? A woman's never wanted to be my friend before unless she wanted something from me.)

I frown, placing my hands on my hips. "Ina so kawai ka dogara," I explain. "Na yi maka alkawari ba za ta mutu idan kana da irin kawai a gare ni…da kai ne." (I only want your trust. I promise you won't die if you're only being kind to me…which you are.)

His brows furrow together. "Mu ne abokai?" (We are friends?)

I nod my head. "Na'am. Mu ne abokai." (Yes. We are friends.)

A distant shouting causes him to jump in his place. He gives me a look of kindness before he leaves.