Violetta stirred from her deep slumber, her body feeling heavy and sore, as if she had run a great distance or engaged in some strenuous activity. She blinked slowly, her vision blurry and unfocused as she gazed around her opulent bedchamber, the morning light filtering in through the grand windows. With a soft groan, she pushed herself up to a sitting position, her naked breasts swaying slightly as she moved.
As she sat there, taking stock of her surroundings, Violetta suddenly became aware of a dull, aching pain between her thighs. She looked down at her naked body, her eyes widening as she took in the sight of her reddened, slightly swollen pussy lips, glistening with dried remnants of her and Cassian's combined releases. Her inner thighs were streaked with the same, the evidence of their passionate coupling from the night before clear for all to see.
"Dio mio," Violetta gasped, her hand flying to her mouth as she recalled in vivid detail every sordid moment of their encounter. The way Cassian had taken her on the desk in her study, pounding into her with a force and intensity she had never known before. The way she had begged him for more, for harder, her body surrendering completely to his dominant, almost punishing pace. The way he had fucked her again and again, his stamina seemingly endless as he brought her to the peak of pleasure time and time again.
Violetta cursed herself, her cheeks flushing with a mixture of shame and lingering arousal. "Stupida, stupida!" she muttered, pounding a fist against her forehead. "How could I let myself lose control like that? To let him use my body for his own gratification, like some common whore?" She shook her head, her long hair tumbling around her shoulders as she berated herself for her wanton behavior.
"I allowed my emotions to cloud my judgment," she continued, her voice rising in pitch and volume as her self-recrimination grew. "I let myself believe his pretty words and empty promises. I let him fuck me like some desperate, lovestruck fool." Violetta finished, her voice breaking on a sob as the full weight of her actions crashed over her. She buried her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking with the force of her anguished cries.
Just as Violetta sat there, lost in her swirling thoughts of self-recrimination and lingering arousal, the door to her bedchamber burst open. She started, her head whipping around to face the intruder, her naked body instinctively curling in on itself in a futile attempt at modesty. There, standing in the doorway with a smug, self-satisfied smirk on his face, was Lucien.
His eyes raked over Violetta's disheveled form, taking in every intimate detail - the marks on her neck, the redness between her thighs, the dried remnants of coupling still painting her skin. Lucien's smirk grew wider, a wicked gleam entering his eyes as he stepped further into the room, allowing the door to swing shut behind him with a soft click.
"Well, well, well," Lucien drawled, his voice dripping with false concern. "It seems my dear fiancée has been a very naughty woman indeed." His gaze lingered on Violetta's breasts, still heaving from her anguished sobs, before trailing down to the juncture between her thighs, a wicked gleam in his eyes as he imagined the scene that must have unfolded there. "I must say, I never took you for a wanton harlot, Violetta. But it seems I was wrong."
Violetta's head snapped up, her eyes flashing with indignation as she glared at Lucien. She grabbed the silk sheet, pulling it up to cover her naked body, her cheeks burning with a mixture of anger and humiliation. "Don't you dare presume to judge me, Lucien," she spat, her voice shaking with barely contained rage. "You have no right to ridicule me, no matter who I choose to...to fuck." She stumbled over the last word, a fresh wave of shame washing over her.
Lucien took a step closer, his hands clasped behind his back as he loomed over Violetta's smaller form. "No right? I am your fiancé, Violetta. That gives me every right to expect a certain level of fidelity from you." His voice was low, dangerous, a clear warning underlying his words.
Violetta scoffed, a harsh, bitter laugh escaping her lips as she glared up at Lucien defiantly. "Don't delude yourself, Lucien," she spat, her voice dripping with disdain. "You are a fiancé in name only. Our marriage is nothing more than a political arrangement, a business deal struck between our families. You hold no power over me, no claim to my affections or my body." She lifted her chin, her violet eyes blazing with a fierce, unyielding light as she met Lucien's gaze head-on.
"Our engagement is not a license for you to dictate my actions or cast judgment on my choices," Violetta continued, her voice rising in pitch and volume as her anger grew. "I am a Duchess, a princess, a woman of strong will and independent spirit. I will not be controlled by anyone, least of all a man who has no true claim over me."
But Lucien was not to be deterred. In a flash, he lunged forward, grabbing Violetta's wrists and pinning them above her head, his fingers digging into the soft flesh as he held her in place. Violetta gasped, her back arching off the bed as she struggled against his grip, the silk sheet falling away to expose the creamy swells of her breasts once more.
"Let me go, you brute!" Violetta cried, her voice rising in pitch and volume as she thrashed beneath Lucien. But her struggles only seemed to amuse him more, a wicked grin spreading across his face as he loomed over her, his body caging her in.
"Ah, but you talk a big game, don't you Violetta?" Lucien taunted, his voice a low, mocking rumble. "All tough and strong, always putting on a brave face for the world to see. But in the end, you're just a woman." His grip tightened on her wrists, his fingers sinking into her skin hard enough to leave bruises. "A woman who can be easily taken advantage of by a man when he catches her alone and unguarded."
Violetta's heart raced in her chest, pounding against her ribs like a caged bird desperate to escape. She could feel the blood draining from her face, leaving her skin pale and clammy beneath Lucien's bruising grip. A cold, clammy sweat broke out across her brow, and she shuddered violently as a wave of pure, primal fear washed over her. Lucien's grip on her wrists was unrelenting, his fingers digging into her skin with a bruising force that made her wince, even as a fresh wave of panic surged through her.
"No, please..." Violetta whimpered, hating the way her voice trembled with fear, hating the way she sounded so weak, so vulnerable. Inside, her mind was a whirlwind of terrified thoughts, each one more horrifying than the last.
"Dio mio, he can't...he won't..." Violetta thought, her breath coming in short, panicked gasps. "Not here, not in my own bedchamber. I can't let him violate me like this, not after...not after what happened with Cassian last night." The memory of her own wanton behavior, of the way she had begged Cassian to fuck her, to use her, filled Violetta with a fresh surge of shame and humiliation.
"My body is already so sore, so aching and tender from our coupling," Violetta thought, a fresh wave of dread washing over her. "I don't know if I have the strength to fight him off, to push him away." She tried to buck her hips, to wriggle out from under Lucien's weight, but her movements were slow and sluggish, her muscles protesting the sudden exertion. "Dio, I'm so weak, so helpless. How could I have let myself get into this position?"
Panic surged through Violetta's veins as she felt the full weight of her vulnerability. Her body ached, every muscle and sinew protesting as she tried to struggle against Lucien's iron grip. The soreness from her encounter with Cassian the night before made even the slightest movement agony, her overtaxed muscles screaming in protest. Violetta's heart sank as she realized that in her weakened state, she was no match for a man like Lucien.
"And even if I weren't..." Violetta thought desperately, her mind racing as she searched for any means of escape, any way to talk Lucien down from this dangerous path. "Even if my body weren't utterly wrecked from last night's exertions, there's no way I could hope to overpower a man like him." Lucien was taller, stronger, and far more ruthless than she could ever hope to be. In a contest of physical strength, she would be no match for him.
Violetta's breath came in short, panicked gasps as she squirmed beneath Lucien, trying in vain to wriggle out of his grasp. But his hold on her was unyielding, his fingers like iron bands around her wrists as he pinned her helplessly beneath him. Tears of fear and humiliation stung the corners of her eyes, and Violetta blinked rapidly, trying to hold them back.