Married to The Devil's Son (SAMPLE)

Chapter 2

We rode home in silence. I hated it because it made me nervous, and gave me time to think about what was waiting for me once we arrived. The wedding consummation. I had never even touched a guy before, father made sure of that, and now I would... I shook my head. You're scaring yourself, I scolded myself.

"Your Highness?"

"Yes?"

"Do you have another wife, Your Highness?" I asked. I shouldn't have. It was none of my business. Mother had told me to be careful not to ask a prince such questions, but I didn't care. I needed to know what was waiting for me once I arrived. He looked at me with a narrowed gaze. Now he would get angry, I thought.

"No, I don't" he answered slowly. I felt relief but why? Just because he didn't have one now, didn't mean that he wouldn't get one.

"But I have many mistresses" he finished.

Of course, he was attractive, and a prince, and a man. I wanted to curse, but he suddenly laughed.

"You don't seem to like that," he said. Why would I? But I couldn't say that, of course.

"It's not for me to like or dislike, Your Highness," I said. He didn't say anything to that. 

I wondered what his name would be.

"Your Highness?"

"You may call me Lucian when we are alone". Lucian.

The carriage stopped, and then a guard informed us that we had arrived. Lucian stepped out of the carriage and offered me his hand. I took it, and he helped me down.

The castle was grand and the garden even more luxurious, with green bushes and colorful flowers. 

"Lucian?" someone called and I turned my head to see who.

Four men in royal robes approached us.

"We came to welcome you and your bride," one of them said as they neared. 

"Is that so?" Lucian asked.

"Of course, we are brothers after all!" The other behind him smirked. Brothers? 

"Why don't you and your bride join us for dinner?" He suggested. "We would like take a closer look at your bride," and then he shot me a glance. 

Lucian walked up to his brother and stood a few inches away from him. It looked like he was trying to intimidate him. Clearly, his brother got intimidated and so did his guards who now had their hands on their weapons as if to attack anytime. But why? Aren't they brothers?

Looking at Lucian's guards, they also had their hands on their weapons. What was all this about? They didn't seem like brothers to me.

"Thank you brother, but I must decline," Lucian said in a polite tone, that didn't match the menacing look in his eyes. Turning his back to his brother, he took my hand, gripping it hard he dragged me through the halls of the castle. He was angry.

"Won't we greet your parents, Your Highness?" He came to a halt and his grip on my hand loosened. "My mother is dead," he said with no emotion. "and the King, do not worry about him, he does not matter," he added then started walking again, only this time he didn't drag me.

As we walked through the halls, Lucian still holding my hand two maids appeared in front of us. "Your Highness, My Lady," they greeted with a bow. "Your Highness, we shall prepare Her Highness?" They inquired. Prepare me for what? Preparing is what I have been doing my entire life. 

At first, Lucian didn't let go of my hand, but when the maids gave him a pleading look he released me and left without a word. 

The maids led me to a dressing room, where they helped me get out of my wedding dress and slip into a beautiful white nightgown and its matching robe, both made of silk. They took out the pins in my hair and let it fall down in waves. After putting some scents onto my skin, they served me tea.

"What's this?" I asked.

"It's a herb tea that will help you relax and it will decrease the pain, My Lady."

"What pain?" I said, but then realized what they were talking about.

They must have seen the horror on my face because I could see pity on theirs. Why did they pity me? Was he going to be rough with me? Well, he didn't seem like the gentle type from the way he gripped my wrist earlier. It was as if his hand was made of steel.

"I don't need it," I said and stood up straight. "Just take me to the chamber". They led me to our private chamber and sat me down on the bed. Adjusting my hair and gown they took one last look to see if everything was perfect. 

"We will inform His Highness that you are ready, My Lady," they said and left.

The worst scenarios appeared in my head and my heart pounded so hard in my chest that it was getting difficult to breathe. My hands started to sweat and my head began to spin. I waited for what seemed like hours but was likely just minutes. 

After the long wait, the door finally opened and Lucian stepped inside. Closing the door behind him he just stood there for a while, studying me with those odd eyes of his before approaching me slowly. 

"Aren't you tired?" he asked standing a few steps away. 

"I am, Your Highness." 

"Lucian," he corrected.

"Lucian," I repeated, in barely a whisper.

"Then we should go to sleep," he said and lay down on the bed. "I am tired too."

***

Lucian looked at the woman in front of him. She looked so frightened. He wondered if she was scared for the obvious reasons, or if she was scared because she had heard the rumors about him. Either way, he didn't blame her. Most people feared him, even his own father. He never dared to look his son in the eyes. Lucian always wondered what he had done to make his father fear him.

He knew he was different. He had even scared himself when he was a little boy, when he had discovered what he could do. When he, for the first time, moved an object with just a thought, or when he had wished his brother could burn, and then suddenly his brothers' clothes were on fire. Everyone rushing to help him get out of the flaming clothes. That day, he had been so scared, he ran to his room where he sat in a corner crying wishing he could talk to someone about it. But who? His father feared and hated him; he would just scare him even more, and his mother was dead. He wondered how she would react. 

His brothers used to play with him at first, but then when they got older and they started their training, they noticed he was faster, stronger and a better fighter. He was also a very skilled swordsman; his teachers always praised him. But his brothers, they mocked him, telling him to stop cheating. 'Cheating is what the Devil does,' they would say.

The maids had mixed feelings about him. They were as attracted to him as they were scared. Some of them liked the thrill, the danger. The young ones would give him seductive glances, but the older maids would warn them. 'Be careful,' they would say, 'tempting people and making them sin is what he does.' Some would listen some wouldn't.

The only people who didn't fear him or hate him were his men. His soldiers. They were tough men who didn't believe in rumors. They respected him. Still, they weren't his family; he could only talk business with them.

He looked at the woman now laying beside him. The woman who was his family now. She was laying so far out on the edge he was afraid she would fall down from the bed. She didn't even move, she was so stiff. Even though he told her to sleep, he could still hear her heart beating wildly.

She had surprised him earlier with her bold questions. He liked her so far; she amused him. He remembered the look on her face when he told her that he had mistresses. She was probably the jealous type. I guess I like jealous, he thought, smiling to himself. And when she played the flute, and when she had whispered his name. Now she was as timid as a rabbit. That, he didn't like.