Her Maiden

Chapter Twenty-four: Secret

You turn in bed and feel pain radiate up your spine, pulling you back to the brink of consciousness.

How long have I been out?

You force your eyes open and sit up, wincing in discomfort as you do so.

The bedchamber is empty. A glance to the now empty bedside table confirms Miranda is gone. Hopefully long gone, you silently wish.

You slowly ease yourself down from the bed and walk over to the full length mirror.

Before you investigate, you notice your stitches are gone, leaving only the reddened trails of closed wounds in their wake across your stomach. You smooth your hands over the area, glad to finally be free of the irritating stitches.

Still though, your back is strangely achey. You might have assumed you had just slept funny, but it was definitely more than that.

You turn around and gasp, when you see the centre of your lower back is bruised a deep, mottled shade of purple. The bruise is large, almost the size of a handprint, though it's shape seems too abstract to have been the result of being hit.

You run your fingers across it and feel something - something like a puncture wound. An injection site, maybe? You couldn't be certain. All you know is that it hurts like hell when you touch it. Whatever she'd done, she'd made sure to make it painful, you think.

She's a fucking psycho.

You grimace, feeling flooded with anger for being violated like this and knowing that there was absolutely nothing you could do about it. Alcina certainly wouldn't do anything. She probably had a better idea of what Miranda had done to your back than you did, and she'll still have let it happen.

Because I matter less.

You decide you want nothing more than to be out of this room, out of this fucking castle and left alone, if only for a little while. You pick up your gown from the chair and step into it, pulling it up to your waist, when you hear the bedroom door open.

"Pet, you should stay in bed -"

You glance over your shoulder to see Alcina, entering the room, her face tense with concern as you watch her eyes trail down to the ugly mark on your back.

"Oh, that looks painful," she begins, stepping towards you to put a soothing hand on it.

You quickly do up the rest of the dress, concealing it, before turning to face her.

"It's fine, my lady," you manage, though the words catch in your throat like shards of broken glass.

She looks down at you, her golden eyes seemingly dulled with a tinge of dejection. You feel suddenly very guilty, though you know you shouldn't. Still, that doesn't make your heart twinge any less with anguish at the sight of Alcina feeling pushed away from you.

But you couldn't talk to her. You couldn't possibly try to voice your concerns. What did you expect her to do? She was in as difficult, if not an even more difficult position than you. You had to separate your anger for Miranda with the feelings you had for Alcina.

Otherwise, what would be the point in any of this?

"Honestly, I'm okay," you say, softly now, looking up at her and reaching for her hand.

She lets you take it, her brow relaxing a little, as though she's relieved.

You force a small smile, though really you could just as easily burst into tears as you gaze up at the woman you love, yet know will never be able to love you back in quite the same way.