Once Upon a Castle - Jill Gregory [106]
Pulling Tressalara into his arms, he pressed a hot kiss against her closed lips and mocked her resistance.
“I look forward to this evening and many others. In time you will come to appreciate the, ah…benefits, shall we say, of being my wife. With your beauty and my will, we shall forge a formidable union. I will know how to pleasure you until you beg for my favors.”
She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “I would rather wed a pig!”
His breath hissed out in anger, and she tried to free herself from his hold. He jerked her face back and laughed, aroused to have her completely in his power. “It will be a pleasure to break you to bridle.”
His grip tightened. He was hurting her purposely, his fingers digging into her flesh, but she bore the pain stoically. She lifted her head defiantly, although her lips had gone white with pain.
Elani could stand no more. She leapt to her mistress’s aid. Before the soldiers could even draw their swords, Lector’s hand whipped out and struck the girl. Elani fell to the floor, dazed and weeping. He moved toward the door, then stopped and issued a challenge over his shoulder:
“Heed me well, Tressalara. Do not cross me! Even a princess is expendable.” With a laugh of truimph he swaggered out of the room, followed by his soldiers.
Tressalara helped Elani to her feet. The imprint of Lector’s fingers stained the girl’s face like a bloody hand. “How can a man with so handsome a face have a soul so filled with canker? It pains me to think he was once the object of my girlish admiration.”
Her maid-in-waiting wiped her tears. “He is a cruel man. You know what tales they tell of him in the villages now. He will do what he can to break your spirit. I shudder to think of what may be in store for you this night, highness!”
“Do not fear for me. I have a plan.” Tressalara lifted her gown’s train away from her back and slid out her jeweled dagger.
“Oh! How did you get it past Lector’s men?”
“I hid it in my garter. Not even they dared to search my person.” The princess’s face was cold as marble. “If I cannot save my people, at least I will rid them of this villain Lector! I will have his life’s blood before he has my maidenhead.”
“You cannot mean it. You will be tortured and put to death!”
Tressalara’s violet eyes darkened to black. She twisted the bracelet on her delicate wrist, a circle of gold and ame-thyst that matched her coronet, even down to the dragon emblem of Amelonia carved into the central stone. “What kills once can kill twice. They will not take me alive.”
Her intensity frightened Elani even more. “You must not go through with this mad scheme. Only think, you are the living symbol of Amelonia. Only you, highness, can command the powers of the Andun Stone.” Her face brightened. “Can you not use the crystal’s magic to overcome Lector?”
“Alas, even if I were free to discover where my father hid it, I doubt I could harness the Andun’s energy.” A look of savage pain flitted across Tressalara’s mobile features. She should have disobeyed her father and studied the sacred scroll without his knowledge.
“When I should have been studying the Dragonmaster’s teachings, I was out running through the woods like a wild creature. Now the kingdom will reap the harvest of my selfish folly. I must carry out my plan.”
But Elani would not be persuaded. “I have a better one. They did not discover the secret passage behind your bed. You could conceal yourself there, highness, and I would put on your gown and veiled headpiece and go to the chapel in your stead. Once the guards were gone, you could flee in disguise. Lector would not discover the ruse until the vows were exchanged and the veil lifted. You would have ample time to make your escape.”
“Yes, and let them kill you when they discover I’ve fled?” Tressalara took her lady-in-waiting’s icy hands in hers and smiled. “You are a brave and true friend to me, dear Elani. You will do both myself and the kingdom more good if you are alive.”
There was a great flapping