by D L Goddard
He stroked her skin lovingly. Pulling the camisole out of the way, he found it still caught on her shoulders. Savage grabbed a knife from his bureau and slashed the camisole pulling it free from her arms. She stared at him in horror; her body was naked to the waist. The look on his face made her tremble as he stared at her breasts, knowing that soon he would make her his. Then taking up a comfortable stance behind her, he flicked the whip landing it squarely across her back.
The pain was immediate and exquisite. Anya screamed in sheer agony. Never had she felt anything like this before. She felt as if someone had laid a red hot brand across her back. Anya almost passed out but unfortunately, she stayed quite conscious. She felt rather than heard the next stroke. If possible, it hurt even more than the first. Anya’s world became one of agonizing screams and unbelievable pain.
By the time her master had decided she had enough, welcoming darkness lingered on the edge of her vision. She prayed it would take her and let her have welcome release from the terror she was going though. But Lord Savage was not finished with his disobedient servant; he threw the whip down and stalked toward her. Pulling her petticoats over her backside, he shredded her undergarments then, grabbed her by the hips and thrust himself deep within without any preliminaries. Her screams had excited him so much that he just had to be inside her. He had watched her arch in agony as he played the lash across her lovely skin, and with each stroke landing on her back, her breasts were thrust forward … away from the pain she was experiencing. He slammed against her, being as brutal as possible, grabbing at her breasts and hurting her as much as he was able. Anya had thought her punishment was over; she was wrong … so very wrong.
Anya’s terrified screams rang through the entire house making the other women huddle together hoping and praying that they wouldn’t be next. None would interfere even though they all felt so worried for Anya. But, she had clawed his face and while most of the scratches would vanish with healing, one long scratch on his left side, from the corner of his eye down to his jaw line was going to be a constant reminder of Anya for the rest of his life. His face was no longer perfect and she was going to pay for what she had done. And from the sound of her agonizing screams, he was making sure she would never misbehave again.
Even down in his cell, the Beast could hear a woman screaming; the sounds tore at his heart. Then rage left no room for any other emotion as he recognized Anya’s voice. The Beast roared his wrath into the silence when the screams died. The deep throated roar reverberated throughout the mansion, stopping Savage in his tracks as he carried Anya toward her room. But as he heard the enraged animal, he changed direction and took her toward the noise.
He flung open the door and dumped her unceremoniously on the cell floor before swinging it shut and locking it once more. It all happened so suddenly, that the maddened Beast had no time to react. The Beast found he was alone with his lady who had been flogged and raped by the bastard laughing all the way back to his rooms.
He scooped her up as gently as possible and placed her on the now fresh clean straw bed. She moaned as the rough blanket rubbed her back adding to her torment. Rolling her more onto her stomach he stared at the blood and torn skin. He vowed that one day soon, he would personally tear the life from the sadistic heartless monster that had harmed the sweet young woman his heart had come to love. He had nothing to help her with, nothing to clean the blood that was already caking like rock on her abused skin.
Feeling totally helpless, he felt angry tears start in his eyes as he suddenly heard a light knock on the closed grille. Surreptitiously the cover was lifted and a pretty blonde woman with pale blue tear filled eyes shoved several bundles through the bars. He just managed to catch them before they hit the ground. He heard a whispered “Please … please help her.” He raced to catch the wrapped parcels before they hit the ground, but didn’t even get a chance to thank her for the medicines, before she swiftly disappeared back the way she came.
Looking at the mess of his lover’s body and the totally inadequate gifts he had in his hands, he realized it was probably all the woman could sneak to the cell before being caught. But there was nothing here for fever or infection, only just a solution for cleaning the wounds and a bundle of swabs. He finally found several tubs of ointment securely wrapped in cloth for putting on the whip marks, but even with the medicine, the Beast knew his beautiful lady was going to be scarred forever in more ways than one by this night’s terrors.
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Chapter Two
She didn’t know if it had been days or weeks of agonizing pain while she had been slipping in and out of consciousness. Screaming in her sleep while horrific nightmares haunted her and a monster hunted her down doing unspeakable things to her body while she remained helpless to do anything to stop him. She moaned and sweated groggy and vomiting while she felt gentle hands upon her; cool cloths upon her face and strong arms supporting her body. Her back was a fire inside her skin that seemed to rage out of control; endlessly burning her until she felt all that would be left was cinders and ashes.
The Beast had worked tirelessly caring for his beloved; an infection had set in the open ragged cuts and she developed a dangerously high fever that burned her up on the inside. She sweated and shivered unable to fight the infection and the abuse she had suffered. Her mind refused to accept what had happened to her and she wanted to fall into darkness and forget all about everything.
The problem was an annoying troublesome voice kept getting in her head, telling her to stay, to get better and to fight. She wished it would go away and let her just drift into nothingness, but still, the voice persisted. She felt she was forgetting something, but her mind was so confused and so afraid, she wasn’t sure she wanted to know anything.
She partly awoke once to find something shoved in her mouth and the order to drink repeated over and over. Obediently she drank, but she tried to spit it out. Again it was given back to her, telling her she would get better, and the voice was sorry for the unpleasant taste, but she had to drink to get better. So … she tried again. This time she did better, getting a mouthful of whatever she was supposed to swallow down her throat. Surprisingly, she felt a little better and she didn’t feel so nauseous. Something in the stuff she had obviously was supposed to be good for her vomiting, for which she was grateful; her stomach ached as if she had been punched repeatedly because of how often she had brought up what little she had inside her empty belly. Closing her eyes, she slept.
Each time Anya woke, she found she was offered something little to drink; she couldn’t have eaten because her stomach was so sore. But whatever was in the drink she was given each time gradually brought down her fever and ensured she healed. Slowly but steadily, Anya came back to the world of the living, even though she might have wished otherwise. Her head felt clearer but very tired and her back was surprisingly free from pain. She opened her eyes, trying to focus.
Anya found herself looking into the gentle smiling face of her Beast who obviously had been the one who had cared for her. Exhausted and elated at the same time, he bent and kissed her tenderly on her lovely lips. Realizing she was in the cell with him, she lifted questioning brows at her lover. He stroked her damp sweaty hair back from her face and shushed her telling her he would explain everything once she rested a bit more. It was her first time truly awake and she was going to need real sleep. Thinking she wanted to get up instead, she made an attempt to sit, but found herself so weak, she couldn’t support herself. The effort exhausted her beyond belief. Within moments and feeble protests … Anya slept once more … but this time, it was a true healing sleep.
The Beast let exhaustion take him for a moment. He had been nursing Anya for around a month, he thought. He had no real notion of the passing of time, only the awareness in his body. But he knew Anya had been very sick for a long time and several times he had come perilously close to losing her. Her fever ripped into her, making her vomit again and again until she only had yellow fluid left as she dry
heaved, hurting her stomach terribly as her body tried to expel the poison inside.
She sweated and shivered and spoke nonsense in her delirium and all through her fever and trying to heal her back, the Beast patiently, lovingly sponged her with clean cool water, tried to clean the infection, scoured the pus-filled and blackened flesh that sloughed away from the bleeding and dead skin. He had never seen anyone react in such a way to a flogging, but then he had never witnessed the sadism of Lord Savage before.
The Beast also had to tend to the horrific bruises and caked blood around her thighs and backside where his Lordship had brutalized her. The swelling and the black bruises were so bad that he didn’t think it possible their child had survived. It would be a miracle after the treatment she had endured at the monster’s hands.
But now … the fever had broken and her back had finally healed over and she was free of pain. And when the Beast had laid a large hand on her belly while she slept, he sought for the new life that should be there. He listened intently. When he finally heard the echo of life that all living things send out, he was so happy, he wept. Their child was still by some incredible miracle … alive. He had no idea how the child survived such trauma, but he was unbelievably pleased … somehow against all odds … the Beast was going to be a father. He sat beside the straw bed, his long legs straight in front of him, leaning against a cell support. Then, he closed his eyes and finally let weariness overtake him and joined his lady in total blissful … sleep.
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Chapter Three
Anya was back serving about a month after Lord Savage had decided to remove her from the beast’s cell. It was obvious even to him that the beast had feelings for the young woman and that wouldn’t do at all. Anya had not been allowed to go near the cell since then and she worried constantly about her beloved. She just hoped he would not do anything foolish to endanger himself. Somehow, she was going to free him and she had the inklings of a plan when her world was turned upside down.
It had been three months since she had first met the Beast and she was just beginning to develop a barely recognizable swelling. No one knew she was pregnant; she’d had no sickness and only really become fuller in the breasts. If anything, she felt fitter and stronger than she had ever been. She knew she wouldn’t be able to hide the pregnancy for much longer, especially from the other maid servants and one of them would let slip she was expecting. She wanted to keep it a secret as long as possible as she had no idea how her master would react.
She never looked at her back; never wanted to see what Savage had done to her. She knew one of the maids had taken her place that night, but none of them said a word; she hoped whoever of the young pretty women it happened to be was alright. She had been terrified of what Lord Savage had wanted her to do, especially as he had invited his newest hangers-on to partake with two of his regular cronies.
Her nightmares were a constant reminder of that night once her bruises had finally disappeared. She had always been afraid of her master, but now her fear had turned into complete loathing. She had finally lost her fear, it had become hard knowledge of what the man was actually capable of and because she had experienced his brutality first hand, she found her fear had become wariness and repugnance rather than being afraid. She appreciated the change in some way because now Anya knew if Lord Savage ever did such a thing to her ever again, she would have no hesitation in killing him, regardless of the consequences.
She had just finished laying the table for the evening, knowing her master was having a dinner party that night when she felt rather than heard someone behind her. She spun around to see two of the handsomest men she had ever seen, in their late twenties, or early thirties staring rather oddly at her. They were the exact opposite of each other in coloring, but their faces were identical. One had waist length hair so blonde it was almost white, including his finely arched eyebrows and long thick eyelashes with honey gold skin and the greenest eyes she had ever seen.
The other man was the mirror of his twin, the same long waist length hair, the same finely arched eyebrows and the same thick long lashes with one major difference. His hair was so black it was blue in the light, his eye brows and eyelashes matched his hair color completely. He also had honey colored skin, but his eyes were the bright blue of a hot summer’s day. They were both around six and a half feet tall, broad shouldered and well-muscled. In spite of their wonderful build they looked lean and lithe, like predators searching for prey. Put quite simply, they were perfect specimens of manhood, but there was something about them, it was as if they were so handsome that they were untouchable.
The fair haired man was dressed in a black frock coat and slim cut pants trimmed with silver and a white silk shirt. He wore an emerald almost the size of his eye pinned to a matching cravat and removed his top hat as she stood there. His brother was just the opposite with a silver suit and black trim with a blue diamond in his cravat. She took their hats and coats seating them trying to recall their names.
“Young woman …” The blonde twin addressed her courteously, “… may I ask you a question?”
Anya hesitantly answered yes, warily watching them. She could swear the dark haired twin was trying to sniff her, getting closer and closer until, faster than she could track him, he grasped her hand and turned it palm upward inhaling deeply. She struggled to pull away but her efforts were futile, she felt as if her hand was caught in a vice.
“Please stop struggling … I mean you no harm. But you have an oddly familiar scent clinging to you and I would be very interested to know how you came to be covered in it. In fact, it has permeated your skin.”
He tapped his chin as he looked down at the lovely woman who was stunned and not a little frightened. Without warning … he placed a large long fingered hand over the small swelling in her belly. Before she could say or do anything, he let it fall and Anya placed a chair between herself and the two brothers.
“About three months I’d say, carrying his child. Definitely not Savage’s get … so whose?”
The blonde was beside her in an instant and gripped her arms. “Who is the father of the babe woman and where is he?”
Anya was truly frightened by now … “I … I …”
Lord Savage entered the room with three other men who had obviously been smoking and drinking the master’s fine armchair port. He prided himself on his fine stocked liquor cabinet and only his very closest cronies received the benefit of his excellent palate.
“Ahhh … Anya my sweet, would you go and tell cook I’m ready for our entrees please. There’s a good girl.”
Anya was only too happy to leave the room and the appraising looks of the handsome twins. She could feel their eyes boring into her as she turned her back on them. Resisting the urge to run, she held her back straight and her head up as she walked purposely from the dining room. She could hear the murmur of good natured jesting and innuendo as she closed the door behind her.
She found out from the excited gossip in the kitchen that the twins were from Europe and spoke several languages, being highly educated and feted all over the continent. Apparently just having them in your home brought your social standing up to unprecedented heights and Lord Savage was thrilled to have them at his mansion. The excitement levels in the kitchen ran rampant. Even cook was giggling like a schoolgirl at how handsome and dreamy the twins were and the gossip flew about as the maids did their best to make their master look good. They knew if he was happy, he would be especially lenient with them.
It was toward the end of the evening when Anya brought in a fine Napoleon Brandy and cigars that she saw them again. Adam’s other guests had left. The hour had gotten very late and Anya wanted her bed; she was exhausted from the long hours and huge amount of preparation and tidying up that had to be done for tonight’s very special dinner. Hiding a yawn, she began to serve; Adam was alone with the twins Val and Mir. They were talking animatedly until Anya walked in. Immediately Val and Mir realized the maid was Anya, she felt the
handsome twins’ eyes on her once more; they made her increasingly uncomfortable as their eyes followed her around the room. It dawned on Lord Savage that the twins were more than a little interested in the lovely woman and asked her to wait one moment. Nervously, she stood, her eyes lowered, worried what her master might want.
“Gentlemen ...” He caught their attention. “… Am I correct in my assumption that you are interested in my servant?”
The twins looked at one another then, the dark haired brother nodded.
“Maybe we could come to some sort of arrangement … After all … we are friends are we not Adam?”
Adam almost purred at being called ‘friend’ by the twins. Val the dark and Mir the light as the twins were nicknamed, rarely called any man their friend, so Adam felt as if he had a great honor bestowed upon him. It had been said that they were of royal blood where they came from, but that they were on a quest to find something the royal family had lost. The twins had scoured all of Europe to find whatever it was they were seeking, and they would not rest until they had fulfilled their promise to someone of great importance to find it. Whatever they were searching for, it was said to be of immense value and all high class society was agog with speculation as to what it could possibly be.
But right this moment the twins had eyes only for the lovely enticing Anya. They were determined to buy her no matter the cost.
“Does your servant have a buyout price? We do have need of one for ‘certain services” the emphasis was placed heavily on the ‘services’ and Adam leered knowing exactly what they wanted. “We would also be happy to pay more than twice her price with a gift just for you thrown in … as just between friends shall we say?”