Katherine
'Dear Everett,
The ton, the ton, the fucking members of the ton…
They have eaten up the match father created like greedy thieves garbling up my discomfort with excitement, oh how I hate them.
No one has even stopped for a moment to ask if I am happy with the match. They expect me to be, considering the new Earl is pleasing on the eyes and handpicked by my father but I can't, because my heart still belongs to you.
I do hope you're alive and healthy and still think of me from time to…'
My bedroom door swung open, revealing my soon to be husband. In his black suit looking every inch of a groom while I sit by my bedside table in my night shift sending letter to the boy from my childhood.
"Excellent, you're awake already. I reasoned to come and call you down for breakfast before the maids have the table cleared away."
"Don't worry my lord, I have decided not to eat before the wedding. I would not have myself looking both bloated and unhappy as I stand before the congregation while I say my vows. I wouldn't give the other ladies a lot to talk about."
"Suit yourself. The wedding begins in two hours, ensure you are ready by then."
For a shot gun wedding, we had gathered more crowd than most weddings that had sent out proper invites had.
Cillian stood at the altar with his hands folded by his side. Mother had taken fathers place to lead me up the altar while he watched.
"Smile Katherine, even though you're doing this out of necessity."
"Like you did on your wedding day mother?"
She hesitated briefly.
"Like I did."
I looked up to find that we had gotten to the alter and stepped up to Cillian and the procession began immediately.
The rest of the service was a blur and all I remembered by the time Cillian was whisking me away from the church back home was the warm kiss he had placed on my lips.
We arrive home and I immediately head to my room to finish up the letter which I had been writing to send the Everett, to tell him about how late he was that I was now another man's wife.
I had barely finished the letter when I was summoned to lunch with the rest of my family again.
"I feel like the past week has been a dream." Shirley sighed dreamily as we walked around the garden after we had dinner that night.
"Now that you are married, I can do with my inheritance as I please."
"And what would that be?" Mother asked.
"Traveling around London of course. I'd live as a spinster unlike Katherine, who now has to start trying for a baby. Nonetheless, I am so glad that I shall get to be an aunt soon."
I froze at her words.
I hadn't thought that far since the day I accepted the proposal that I might be required to give birth soon and that would mean Cillian and I would…
"I've been meaning to talk to you about it for a while Kat about what happens between couples, especially on their marriage night." Mother said swapping places with Shirley so that she was the one walking next to me.
"Shall I excuse you both? After all I am to remain a spinster for a while and shouldn't know these things."
Before mother could disagree or agree with her words, Shirley trotted off happily, eager to be away from both of us.
"So?" I urged when mother made no move to speak.
"Yes. So, should Cillian come to you tonight for the consummation of the marriage, here's quite a few things you should know. The coupling between a man and woman can be likened to a key in a lock."
"A key in a lock?"
"Yes Katherine, your husband is the key with his… er… his…"
"Mother, if it causes you much discomfort to speak on the matter, then feel free to not speak of it. I'm certain Lord Stratford had more than enough knowledge for the both of us. He looks every bit of a rake who has gotten around."
For the first time since Cillian had arrived, he knocked on my door and waiting for a response before coming in. All week he had been barging in as if to remind me that he was now lord of the place.
"I see that you are dressed for the night."
"Yes," for bed and other things.
His large figure loomed over me as he stood at the edge of the bed. The nightlight was too dim to aid me make out the unique grey color of his eyes. They shone black like the heart he had, eager to carry out evil and revenge.
Gently but quickly, he undid the buttons of his waistcoat, dropping it on the floor and quickly tackling his shirt.
His body looked like they had no softness about them, just hard and chiseled like stone. The foot of the bed sunk as his knee dipped into it. I closed my eyes and listen to my breaths quicken in fear.
Suddenly, his hands were in my hair brushing it aside as he leaned in, his hot breathe fanning my face.
Mothers words rushed back to me as well as his declarations to hurt me that I had barely caught myself when a whimper escaped my lips.
His breathing stilled and his hands were gone from me in an instant. I opened my eyes to find him on his feet picking up the clothes he had taken off and wordlessly leaving.
"You're leaving?"
His hands stilled over the knob of the door and he angled his face towards me.
"I'm not having you against your will. It is abhorrent and simply unnecessary. Good night my wife."
For the first time since his arrival, I doubted if he was a black guard to the heart.