Remembered (28 page)

But how?

He was due back in the Citadom in a couple of days, a
thought that gnawed at his insides. He remembered the pain of the five weeks
he’s spent away from her. The Citadom—a place he had once loved—seemed like a
miserable prison.

He remembered his father’s words.
‘There are other ways
to live a noble life.’
Yes there was, and there was only one life he wanted:
right by Annie’s side.

He would marry her.

The thought filled him with so much joy that he couldn’t
understand why he hadn’t thought of it sooner.

Twenty-four hours later—after working out all the details in
his head—he asked her to be his wife.

When those big brown eyes looked into his, so filled with
love, and agreed to marry him, he was the happiest man in the world.

The following day, they were wed in an almost empty little
room, Annie wearing a borrowed wedding dress.

When Kellus took her back upstairs and made love to her for
the very first time, he hardly believed the bliss he felt, the peace and
tranquility of laying in her arms, moving inside her, lost in a plethora of
erotic sensations. He knew for the first time that the universe was complete,
that this joy was a gift from the heavens. Feeling her heart beating as one
with his, He knew beyond any doubt that that was the way it was meant to be.

He remembered to be gentle with her the first time, having
heard that it can be painful for the female at first, and the second and third
time immediately following, much to the savage’s disappointment. Kellus felt
sure that the beast would have been sated, but he was very wrong. It’s flames
had only been stoked further. The savage wanted her torn apart with passion, subverted
to a mindless wench willing to do it’s bidding. He pushed aside the distasteful
thought.

Early in the evening, she left their bed to shower. When she
returned, she wore a blue and green, plaid nightshirt. Kellus scowled at the
offensive garment. “What are you wearing?” he questioned.

“A nightshirt,” she replied, confused by the inquiry.

Kellus sat on the foot of the bed before her. “Take it off,”
he demanded. “I’ll not tolerate you covered. As a matter of fact, I’m declaring
this room a clothes-free-zone. It’s now officially a law that I plan to
rigorously enforce.”

“Who made it a law?” she replied playfully.

“I did,” he answered. “I voted it into law myself, and I can
assure you that violators will be severely punished.”

Annie’s eyelids grew heavy. “Punished?” she asked, as though
she found the idea intriguing.

“Yes, punished,” he assured her.

“How are you going to get us dinner then?” she teased.

“That is the only exception to the law,” he said firmly.

“Don’t I get an exception?” she questioned.

“Oh, no,” he replied, shaking his head. “The beautiful Mrs.
Kir will have no such exceptions. The law decrees it criminally negligent to
cover such perfection.”

She giggled before him.

His face turned stern. “I’m serious, Annie,” he said in a
husky voice. “Take it off, now.”

She grabbed hold of the bottom of the nightshirt and pulled
it up past her hips, belly, and breasts slowly.

Kellus sat transfixed on the sensual scene before him.
Watching her strip for him was almost too much for the savage to bear. He
swallowed hard.

She threw the nightshirt into his face and stood stock-still
and naked.

Two pink nipples peeked out from behind a curtain of curls.
Kellus reached up and took them both in each hand, rubbing them with his
fingers.

She threw her head back and sighed.

Suddenly, the savage broke from it’s cage and Kellus was
powerless to stop it.

He grabbed her hips and spun her around, flinging her
roughly onto the bed. He gripped her thighs and crudely pulled them apart.
Within a split second, his mouth found her core. He lapped at it with his
tongue, holding her legs in place tight as she bucked and twisted in all
directions. He continued to lash at it, even as she cried and screamed.

His mind began to fracture, numbed from intense lust,
rendering him nothing but a witless animal.

When she finally came against his tongue, he knelt up
quickly and shoved into her, hard! She screamed again, a blood curling sound,
but it didn’t deter him. He wrapped his arms around her thighs. He battered
into her fiercely, pounding her with every ounce of energy he had, fucking her
mindless.

“Kellus!” she screamed.

“That’s it, scream my name!” he demanded.

Kellus would have been concerned that he was hurting her,
but Kellus was no longer there, the savage had overtaken him.

Her left arm was over her head, gripping the bedpost with
white knuckles, the fingers of her right hand trying to dig into the mattress,
desperate to find an anchor.

Steadily, and with each severe thrust, he saw what was left
of her innocence shatter.

The savage roared triumphantly.

In his final push, he gritted his teeth, flared his nostrils
and emptied every drop of himself into her. He saw her eyes roll up into her
head and her mouth gape open.

He withdrew from her and lay on his belly.

And as he caught his breath and felt his heart begin to slow
down, guilt flooded him. What the hell had he just done? Only hours ago, this
girl had still been a virgin, and now he was bashing her like she was a whore
for hire.

He kept his face turned away from her, afraid of what he
might see in her eyes. Had he scared the shit out of her? How would he explain
his repulsive behavior?

He felt a finger on the base of his spine, a feathery touch
that slowly slid up his back, sending a lovely sensation through him. The
finger rested at his neck. “Are you alright?” he heard her say.

He hadn’t quite expected
her
to be asking
him
that, but at least her voice seemed steady and void of disgust. “Fine,” he
answered.

A long moment of silence passed, and Kellus knew that he’d
have to face her sooner or later. He took a deep breath and turned his head
towards her. But what he saw at that moment, hit him like a sledgehammer to the
gut.

She was laid out in a straight line, resting on her side,
her head propped up on her right hand, her left hand resting gently on her
thigh. Her hair was swept to one side, running over her right shoulder and down
her arm, seductively.

He saw it immediately when he looked at her face.

His beautiful girl was gone.

Gone forever.

And in her place was the most stunning, desirable woman
imaginable.

He swallowed a gasp.

At almost six feet, three inches tall, Kellus had never felt
so small in his life.

His eyes stung, the way one’s would from gazing at the sun—the
human eye too frail to behold such magnificence.

A smug smile played on her lips. “What’s the matter?” she
asked.

“I…um…I…you’re beautiful,” he stammered.

She giggled; heavenly bells rang from her lips. “It’s like
you’re seeing me for the first time,” she laughed.

“In a way, I am,” he answered.

She tilted her head forward slightly and let her eyes gaze
down her naked body. “Oh, I suppose you’re right,” she replied, referring to
the fact that he’d never seen her naked before today. But she didn’t flinch,
didn’t feel a remote urge to cover herself up—so confident, so secure in her
utter perfection was she.

Kellus knew then that the savage had been a liar. It had
been a ruse, a trap.

The savage convinced him that if he took her innocence away,
he would own her completely, but the very reverse had happened. She laid claim
to every single part of him as if she’d opened him up and sucked in every last
piece, leaving him an empty shell content to worship at her feet forever, to
beg and plead for what tiny scraps of love she might throw in his direction.

Her smug smirk deepened. This was not the look of a girl,
but one of a woman, a seductress who knew that she held her man in the palm of
her hand, and could twist him around her fingers at any moment.

In that second, he realized the truth. She and the savage
had been in cahoots all along. They had conspired to set him up. No wonder she
felt so confident taunting the beast. No wonder she tried to coax it from it’s
cage constantly.

“I think you should go get us dinner,” she said. “I’d do it,
but as I’m forbidden to wear clothes, I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

“Of course,” he answered, trying to shake himself out of his
stupor. He jumped up and dressed quickly. He grabbed a coin purse from the
dresser and walked to the door. “But…” he said, turning towards her, “I have no
idea what angels eat.”

She laughed softly.

“I’m serious, Annie,” he stated.

“Just get me whatever you’re having,” she replied.

When Kellus walked into the restaurant downstairs, the same
host stood by the door, greeting people. “Ah, you’re the young man that was
married earlier today,” he said cheerfully.

“Yes,” Kellus replied.

“May I congratulate you on your bride? She’s quite
beautiful,” the man added.

“Thank you,” Kellus answered, beaming with pride.

“I wish you a long and happy life together,” the host said.

“Again, thank you,” Kellus responded. “I’m convinced that we
will have just that.”

 If he had known then how wrong he was, how terrible things
were about to go, he would have spent his entire fortune to keep her confined
to that hotel room with him, forever.

At first he thought she was playing some twisted game, but
after a couple of hours, he realized that something bad had happened.

He willingly went to feed the stray cat, knowing that it was
a flimsy excuse for whatever she had planned. He’d seen the devilish look on
her face and felt sure it had something to do with driving the savage insane.
She had grown rather fond of the savage. They were the best of friends. Always
she welcomed it with open arms—as well as open legs.

He whistled an upbeat tune as he headed back from the tiny
forest, so completely in love that his mouth felt compelled to make happy
sounds all the time.

His good mood lasted for about fifteen to twenty minutes,
but after that, when there was still no sign of her, anger started flaring up.
What the hell was she playing at?

By that night, mind-numbing worry and panic took over. He,
along with the twins, didn’t sit still, constantly opening and shutting the
front and back doors, looking around for any sign of her return.

Two days later—utterly devastated—Kellus found himself
walking out her front door. The twins looked to him constantly for answers and
guidance, but he just didn’t have any. Without much thought, he let his legs
move in whatever direction they wished, hoping only to feel a slight relief
from the pain.

Without being conscious of where he was going, he found
himself entering the living room of his family’s home.

His mother ran in to see who had come into the house.
“Kellus, why are you…” she trailed off, reading the destruction in his
expression. “What happened?” she asked flatly.

His lips began to quiver. He shook his head, unable to say
the words.

“Son, what’s the matter?” Her voice was laced with worry.
She walked towards him.

He slid down onto his knees, wrapping his arms around
himself protectively. “Mama!” he cried out—a term he hadn’t used since he was
eleven.

She knelt on the floor beside him and took him into her
arms. “I’m here, son,” she cooed into his ear. “Tell me what happened.”

The words ripped his throat like shards of glass on their
way out. “She’s gone,” he sobbed. He rested his head on his mother’s shoulder
and wept.

The following ten days went by in a blur. He spent the time
rolling in his bed, trying to find relief from the pain. He remembered hearing
someone say that Danus had been by to see him, but he refused visitors. Danus
told his family that a search party had been formed, so every day, he listened
intently when Danus came by to give his family an update.

On the tenth day, his world came to an abrupt ending.

He sat at the kitchen table, dirty and unkempt, with a beard
and mustache growing in, no longer caring about personal hygiene. Danus came by
to tell the family that the searches had been called off. He looked at Kellus
with overwhelming pity in his eyes. “They’re pronouncing her dead,” he said
quietly. “I suggest that you consider a memorial service.”

Kellus’s mind and soul tore apart.

He convulsed, rattled with bitter wails.

In a fit of insanity, he lunged at his dagger that sat on
the counter. Markum beat him to it. He begged and pleaded for Markum to let him
have it, to let him slit his own throat.

“Hide every single knife and weapon in this house!” Markum
yelled to his mother and sister. He grabbed Kellus around the shoulders and
wrestled him out the kitchen door. “Take a couple of deep breaths and think
about what you’re doing to them, to mother and Zifini.”

“I don’t fucking care!” Kellus screamed, trying to fight
Markum off.  “Let me go,” he said after unsuccessfully wrestling his brother.
He voice became low and broken. “I can’t…I can’t live without her, Markum,” he
sobbed. “Please let me go.”

“Afraid I can’t do that,” his brother replied.

After at least six more scenes of that nature, Markum tied
him in the barn until he promised to behave, but he would not make that vow.

Kellus didn’t know how long he’d spent there. The black days
came and went in a dense fog, his body too riddled with pain to care any
longer.

Somehow he found himself in the living room again, sitting
before Nordorum. Nordorum was telling him all the reasons why he should return to
the Citadom, but Kellus barely listened. Before him, he could see only her,
smiling at him, holding her hand out, gesturing for him to follow her. Every
fiber of his being wanted to, but he didn’t know how. “Where are you?” he asked
the lovely image.