The Dark King's Bride

by Janessa Anderson

  The latter part of what was said to him by a portion of his conscience that was linked to his passion, temptations, lusts and desires made a flame of anger begin to burn and quickly engulf his being. The mere notion of him treating Lily like a harlot infuriated him to his very core.

  How dare you speak of her in that way to me?! Daniel shouted at the part of his conscience that kept all of his temptations, silently. Lily is far more than a common whore, and I will not have you talk of her to me in that manner!

  Are you meaning to tell me that you don’t wish to share your bed with the beautiful woman sitting beside you?

  That is not what I am getting at, and you know that.

  You can’t lie to me, Daniel…I know what you really wish to do.

  Be quiet…

  You want nothing more than to lie her down on your massive bed…rip off the dress that is hiding her curvaceous and alluring body…and have a night of unadulterated, sexual abandon with her-

  I told you to be quiet!

  Daniel’s voice took on a more commanding and dark sound, suggesting to his passionate inner voice to silence its attempts to get at him. He didn’t wish to hear from it anymore at that time. There was something more serious on his mind, and a decision that had to be made at that very second.

  Breaking off the link to his inner voice, Daniel returned his complete attention onto that of the face of his royal advisor that was looking towards Lily and himself from outside of the carriage. He drew in a breath of air, and gave a nod of his head towards him shortly before speaking to him in a calm yet firm tone.

  “Very well, Richard.” Daniel said, “Tell the driver to go on the path that will take us to the castle so that we may get out of this storm.”

  “Very well, my lord.”

  He watched his servant close the door back into place before turning his focus to where Lily remained. His eyes found her exhibiting a look of nervousness upon her gentle face. The sight caused him to caress the side of her face in gentle strokes while he relaxed his arm, as well as the hold, he had around her.

  “It will be all right, Lily.” Daniel spoke to her in a soft, sensual whisper, wishing to soothe her concerns away with his voice. “We will weather out the storm within the stone walls of my palace home until it has passed us. After it is gone, I will escort you to wherever you wish to go to, personally.”

  “V-Very well, my lord.”

  “My lord?”

  “I-I mean…Very well, Daniel.”

  A faint smile danced across his face from capturing the effects of their brief encounter still having an impact on her thoughts. The fact that only a few moments of sharing a kiss with her caused her mind and actions to go berserk, briefly, gave him a secret delight. It was refreshing to be in the presence of someone as sweet and innocent like Lily instead of the usual company he had been keeping.

  He turned his head away from her, and looked towards the direction of his window on the door facing him in the carriage, and gazed out it through the cracks of his curtains that were flowing a bit due to the light breeze.

  Moving amongst the rain, Radcliff, a farmer that had come to visit with him earlier that day, rode on the back of a mule on the opposite side of the road, heading in the very direction they had come from. He was the type of man he strived to become: strong, protective, compassionate, hardworking and dedicated to his passions.

  The light sound of Richard making a clicking noise with his mouth caused his focus to break, and replace itself on that of Lily’s angelic face. He flashed her a warm, friendly smile to keep the concerns and nervousness away from her, wishing to only make her happy and content with his presence. Daniel slipped one of his hands into hers, and interlocked their fingers with one another just as his vehicle started to veer off the wet, paved road, and headed onto a new one that would lead them right to the impenetrable walls of his castle home.

  Chapter Five

  With the sounds of the rain hitting the rooftop of the carriage, silence echoed all around inside of the carriage, moving amongst Daniel and herself. Not out of force…but out of nervousness and uncertainty on her part.

  Say something, Lily…

  Her conscience’s whispering at her in hopes of getting her to break the quiet moment that had fell upon her caused her muscles to tighten up and put her on edge, instantly.

  You have to say or do anything, Lily, if you don’t want things to die right here and now between you two.

  I am quite aware of the silence and quietness that has surrounded us… Lily did her best to work up enough courage to either speak or tilt her head back, but found herself unable to do either one at the moment. It is just a little hard at the moment to break out of this shell I have fallen into.

  Why is that?

  I am not entirely sure about the reason…

  Perhaps it is the fact that you got close to losing your virginity to the very man that your family, as well as all of the people who live in and outside of town, serves and pays homage to in order to gain and win favor with him.

  Lily thought for a moment that her heart was fixing to suffer a panic attack due to the suggestion that was made to her by her ‘voice of reason’ that dwelt inside of her being. Her blood turned to ice while the area where her womanhood was nestled had started to tighten and grow a little wet. Swallowing a lump down her throat from noticing how she was feeling, Lily caught the soft sound of her conscience chuckling a bit before it spoke up.

  Hmm…It seems that I was correct on that assumption.

  Slowly, she registered a faint, warm sensation coming over her cheeks. It didn’t take her long to realize that she was blushing out of embarrassment from what her rational side had stated to her. Lily silently cursed at her conscience, scolding it for what it had done, while she tried to stop blushing to the best of her ability, desperately.

  “So…Lily…”

  The sound of Daniel’s deep voice speaking up out of the blue to her caused her to avert her eyes away from her lap and onto his face. She was grateful that the inside of the carriage was dark enough to hide the light blush shades on her cheeks. Pulling in a breath of air, Lily finally found the courage to speak.

  “Y-yes, Daniel?” She asked, slightly shaky.

  “Why don’t you tell me about your family?” He spoke to her in a way that was full of charisma and calming to the soul. Gazing upon her with his emerald green eyes in a similar fashion, he continued to speak to her in a gentle, tender manner. “I would like to know more about your life.”

  “Well…Um…I am the only child to two farmers who grow crops, hunt, fish or sew in order to make a living while I help out by singing in the square from time to time or telling stories to the children there.”

  “You come from a family of farmers, correct?”

  “That is correct, Daniel.”

  “How far out do you live in these woods? It can’t be too far if you were moving on the road a little while ago before the storm hit us both, or you are a fast walker and can make quick work of any path that comes across your way.”

  “Actually, our cottage home is several miles in the opposite direction of where your carriage is taking us to. You can’t miss the stone and wood well that my father had built by hand on the right side of the house while my mother’s garden that she grew with his help is on the left side.”

  “Is that so?”

  “Yes…”

  “Do you mind if I ask one more question?”

  “Not at all…Ask me anything that is on your mind.”

  Looking upon the face of her king, Lily started to notice an expression consisting of anxiousness and curiosity lingering just below the surface of his strong features. Her intuition was telling her that something was troubling him and that the question he needed an answer to could either go in a positive direction or a negative one.

  “Lily…Who are your parents?”

  For a moment, she found herself caught off guard by what he had to ask her. Lily couldn’t see or understand
why this was troubling him like it seemed to be since her parents were not the type of people to anger anyone. She drew in a breath of air, and, despite her confusion about the matter, spoke up to him.

  “My mother’s name is Marigold, Daniel, and my father’s name is Radcliff.”

  * * *

  All at once, Daniel found his body being ravaged by intense feelings of confusion and curiosity from the moment he heard Lily inform him that Marigold and Radcliff, the two farmers he admired the most out of those close by to his home, were her parents.

  How can this be? How can Radcliff and Marigold be her parents when they have never mentioned to me about having a daughter during all the times they have come to my home?

  “Is something wrong, Daniel?”

  Daniel snapped himself out of his thoughts and focused upon her from where he was nestled. Her noticed, fairly quickly, that her angel-like face had a look on her face to match his conflicting feelings. Inhaling a soft breath, Daniel released it shortly thereafter before speaking up.

  “Nothing is wrong, Lily.” Daniel replied. His deep voice had a twinge of curiosity still lingering on the surface of it from all she told him. “I just find something a little confusing. Perhaps you can help me with it.”

  “Very well,” Lily answered, “I will do my best…What has you feeling unsure at the moment?”

  “It is what you told me a little while ago that has me feeling a little unsure.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I am referring to you telling me about who your parents are.”

  “You mean Marigold and Radcliff?”

  “Yes…”

  “What is so confusing about that, Daniel?”

  “It is just…In all the times your parents have come to see me at my home…They have never mentioned about having a daughter to me.”

  Keeping his gaze focused on her, he noticed a brief look of shock form on her face before it softened to a more somber expression. His eyes watched her head start to bow a bit while she spoke up.

  “That doesn’t surprise me at all, Daniel.” Lily’s tone in her voice drastically changed from being calm to being more disheartened. “My father and mother have always kept me close by to them, never straying far, but it was when I turned twelve that things got even more severe.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “For the last eight years…My parents have not permitted me to be outside of the house once the sun would start to descent behind the mountains that are beyond our home.”

  Slowly, his frustration started to boil over inside once he heard the beautiful woman at his side inform him that Radcliff had been locking her inside of their home once it got dark out from the time she was a young child. He drew in a breath of air in order to calm his emotions, but found it not working at all as his voice revealed them out into the open at the fullest extent.

  “Radcliff has been locking you up in the same way that a horse in a stall is, keeping you from getting out and running free…Is this correct?”

  “Yes…That is correct.”

  That bastard…His mind flooded with thoughts of anger and resentment towards the very mortal farmer that had been inside his castle, and talked with him in a friendly manner. He has been treating this poor lady like his personal property, and having her to do exactly what he tells her to.

  Not only that, Daniel, The passionate side of his conscience said, interrupting his train of thought, in a coy and serious tone, but he has had her kept away from you since you started looking for your bride for the last two years. All this time…She has been at his home, hidden and kept away from you.

  It was that statement that made him realize something very important. This whole time he had been looking for her…Radcliff had been keeping her locked up and away from his sights for the past two years that he had spent looking for his future bride and queen. He could have been married to her at this point and, possibly, had an heir to his throne by this point.

  Radcliff has done a very grave error to me…He has kept his daughter from anyone marrying her and removing her from his home. I will admit that he has done a great job in keeping her a hidden secret…However…This time…he will not keep her away from me, and what I wish of her: To make her my wife and queen.

  The faint sound of the wooden doors on the gates to the front of his castle opening up outside of the carriage brought him out of his thoughts, and focused upon the attractive woman sitting beside him. He found her to still have her head down, and possessing an aura of sadness to her due to mentioning about how she had been treated like a caged animal. Becoming overwhelmed with a need to ease this from her, his hand gave hers a gentle yet firm grip, and slipped his fingers amongst hers better.

  “Lily…” Daniel spoke to her in a caring, gentle way with his deep voice that would ease her conflictions far from her mind while hiding his true emotions that were running through his own. “We are at my home now…Why don’t you take a look out the window, and see it for yourself?”

  Chapter Six

  Catching what her companion had mentioned to her, Lily eased herself towards the edge of the cushioned seat that she was sitting on. One of her hands reached towards the drape that was closest to her, and pulled it to the side.

  Stretching out before, a massive castle made out of black and dark gray stones stretched to the heavens with fearsome looking gargoyles on each corner of the structure.

  Oh my…goodness. I never expected the castle to be this large…I imagined it to be a lot less the height that it really is.

  Lily’s eyes widened with awe at the sight of the place she had been brought to in comparison to the very home that she had left behind in a huff. From her bedroom window back at her parents’ home, she had looked upon the castle on several different occasions when she was able to take in the night sky without her father finding out about it. The sight of it up so close to her though at that very moment made what she once thought of it to completely vanish from the thoughts of her mind.

  I am actually fixing to leave this carriage on the arm of King Daniel Willows, and enter a world that no many women of my rank get to witness first hand. This seems to be too good to be true.

  Your mother is one of those women, Lily. Her conscience interrupted her train of thought with its two cents. And I am pretty sure that you will be seeing her within the walls of his home in just a matter of time.

  Why do you believe that?

  I am sure that you are an intelligent woman that knows what I am saying, and trying to get across to you.

  Just spit out what you are trying to insinuate to me.

  Once your father gets home and your mother tells him about you running off, as well as the argument you had with your mother…They will be out here looking for you, and, more than likely, will end up coming here to ask for the king’s assistance in locating where you are.

  Lily took her rational side’s statement to heart. Her father would indeed be looking for her the moment he found out that she ran off once issuing the statement to her mother she would be spending her first night away from the house, and take part in the village’s festival. She never once thought he wouldn’t come for her when she left the home. Even if she was at the night event that was going to be taking place, Lily knew there was a high chance of her father coming there, and taking her home, kicking and screaming.

  I suggest that you prepare yourself for what is to come your way, Lily. Your father is coming, and there will be a battle between the man that just took you out of the storm to bring you to a world that, like you said, not many young peasant women have had the pleasure and privilege of and the man that gave you life and has kept you from the night since you were a child.

  Lily was fixing to retort back to her conscience when one of the front wheels of the carriage hit a bump in the stone path it was traveling on, and her body went to fall to the floor of the carriage. A soft gasp of air left her mouth just as her eyes found herself hovering over the floor of the vehicle. She lifted
her eyes up, and found the strong yet caring face of Daniel looking down at her from where she was.

  “Are you all right, Lily?” Daniel asked, using his strong arms to lift her back up from being so close hitting the hard floor of his buggy and place her beside him on the cushioned seats. “Did you hurt yourself at all?”

  “N-No,” Lily replied, nervous and softly, “I didn’t hurt myself at all, Daniel.”

  “I do apologize for not having warned you.”

  “Not warning me about what, Daniel?”

  “About the cobble road to my castle home…There is a spot in it where one of the stones sticks out more than the rest, and it causes any vehicle, carriage or cart, which is traveling to or from my home to bounce a little harder than it normally would.”

  “It is perfectly fine, Daniel.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I am absolutely fine about it.” Lily flashed him a warm, gentle smile from where she was nestled at his side in his luxurious carriage while her voice took on a tone to match the sound in his. “Nothing was hurt or broken…Everything is just fine as it is.”

  “I must agree with you on that.”

  “On that everything is fine?”

  “Everything is fine…now that you are here with me.”

  The compliment he had made to her caused her cheeks to warm up once more, and cause them to have a light red color dance across her normally really fair complexion. Every time he made a suggestion to her that was based on how she pleased him, physically, in her appearance, it seemed to make her insides melt right on the spot. Lily managed to flash him one more smile before she moved her eyes to the door that was closest to her. She watched it open up, and the hand of Richard to be extended in her direction with the rain coming down around him.

  “Allow me, Lady Lily.”