The Novice

Audrey was glad to finally collapse on her narrow pallet a small time later, worn from travelling and the strange events of that day. She curled up in a small ball, her thoughts a tired jumble.

It felt as though she had barely drifted off to sleep when she heard muffled noises coming from the hall. Turning onto her side, she pulled her pillow over her ears as she sought desperately to block out the sound and get back to sleep. The noises grew, and she lay wide-awake, agitated and flushed, feeling a yearning ache grow between her damp thighs.

Finally rolling off her pallet, she padded across the cold stone floor and drew back the curtain that afforded her cell a little privacy. The hallway was lit by the soft moon light filtering through the windows on the far end of the hall, almost full where it hung low in the dark cloudless sky. Her wide eyes latched instantly onto the source of the disturbance.

Tanned masculinity, naked and rippling, filled her vision. Strong muscular arms were planted on either side of a tiny nun pinned against the wall by his body, her gown bunched up around her waist as his hips bucked furiously against her. The woman gasped with each thrust as the man suckled at her neck, her fingers clawing at his broad back, her ankle hooked around his knee.

Audrey felt her nipples tighten and a low throb begin between her thighs. She stood motionless, her wide eyes taking in every thrusting motion of the firm cheeks. Slowly Audrey's eyes lifted to the woman's face, and moistened her lips. The nun's mouth hung open, her pretty features slack, her eyes squeezed shut.

As if of its own accord, Audrey's hand slid between her thighs, feeling the dampness soaking through her thin chemise.

"Oh, yes, yes," the woman cried.

The words seemed to break the spell that held Audrey entranced, and she stumbled blindly back into her cell on trembling legs. She crossed to her pallet and dragged her sheets over her, the image of the lovers' embrace burned in her memory. She lay gazing off into dark space for what seemed an eternity, her mouth dry, her heart racing. She imagined it was her being crushed against the wall by the stranger, her he was filling up as he bucked inside of her, her arms that clung to him as she threw her head back as she cried out her pleasure. Dear God, she thought, she must be cursed.

***

The peel of bells dragged Audrey from her uneasy slumber, and she lay blinking tiredly. The events of yesterday rushing back over her. The appearance of Beth urging her to wake telling her that it was time to bathe drove the last vestiges of sleep from her mind.

Audrey collected her small towel and soap and followed Beth's lead down the steps of the dormitory and along a small dirt path. Eventually the sound of rushing water greeted her ears, and she gave a gasp of delight as the green bushes parted to reveal a cascading waterfall spilling into a secluded rock pool, the crystal clear water sparkling in the early morning light.

Nuns bathed themselves, laughing and splashing each other, and Audrey blushed when she realised they were naked, the water glistening as it spilled over their bare shoulders and breasts.

She became aware of Beth undressing beside her, tugging her shift over her head and tossing it down on a patch of grass before splashing into the water. When Beth realised Audrey stood shyly by the bank, she turned and smiled warmly.

"Come Audrey, wear your shift if you like. Soon you will be used to our ways."

Audrey fingered her simple white shift with its thin straps that just reached her knees, before shrugging to herself and splashing into the water, soap in hand. It mattered little if it got wet, and she would feel better for its protective cover as she was too shy to strip naked before the other nuns.

The water was crisp and fresh, swirling around her ankles and knees as she slowly waded into its clear depths, feeling her way over the smooth pebble bottom. Soon it reached her waist, and she ducked beneath its surface before rising and sweeping her hair from her face with a gasp as her skin tingled from the coolness. Beth playfully splashed her, and Audrey splashed her back, unaware of how the thin material molded her gentle curves, or of the veiled gazes of the other nuns drawn to her young body. The delicious thrust of her tiny breasts with their hard rosy tips were clearly visible through the thin material, tantalising as they jiggled and swayed as she played with Beth.

Eventually she set about the business of bathing so that she would not be late for morning prayers, and she worked the soapsuds into her long, chestnut mane, beginning at the roots and slowly working down to the tips. She dunked beneath the surface, her fingers combing through the thick strands to release the suds to the water before rising for breath. She was squeezing the water from her mane, twisting it into a large coil over her shoulder, when she caught movement from the corner of her eye. Lifting her head, she gazed across the far bank curiously, her eyes sliding along the bushes until they came to an abrupt halt.

A tall man with hair like midnight caught back from a darkly tanned face as sinfully handsome as Lucifer gazed back at her. Her lips parted on a silent gasp, unable to move, unable to speak. Her wide eyes drunk in the full magnificence of him, clothed completely in black.

Her eyes moved over the supple leather tunic stretched across his broad shoulders and chest, down over the leather breaches that clung to his powerful thighs to rest on black leather boots, before sweeping back up to the masculine face watching her so intently. Her heart raced as she felt a strange heat wash over her, lingering between her thighs and making her breasts tingle. There was something strangely familiar about him, the line of his jaw, his brow, but her jumbled thoughts could make no sense of it as she returned his heated gaze.

She swallowed hard as she witnessed the silvery eyes drop to the creamy mounds with their hard tips thrusting against the clinging shift that left little to the imagination. He seemed unable to tear his gaze away from the sight of her breasts, rising and falling with her quickened breathing, the taut tips tightening impossibly harder beneath his molten gaze.

Some wicked part of her urged her to rise slowly from the water, to close the distance between them, and…

She moistened her suddenly dry lips as his eyes locked with hers, an insistent throbbing beginning between her thighs at the wicked images that crossed her mind. A blush crept over her cheeks and chest as she imagined him doing to her what she had witnessed in the hall the night before, his large body pinning hers, his shaft sliding up deep inside of her womanly heat as his mouth closed over her feverish flesh.

A seductive smile curved his lips, as though she had said her wicked thoughts aloud for everyone to hear, and horror washed over her at her wickedness. Her small hands rose to cup her breasts protectively as she swung away from him, presenting him with the curve of her back.

Beth stood but two arms length from her, but Audrey was unable to call out, to warn her of the danger. She was unable to stop herself from gazing over her shoulder, but even before her eyes had found the place where he had stood, she knew he had disappeared as the strange tension that had held her body in his thrall eased.

***

After the noon prayers Beth and Audrey slowly walked upstream from the waterfall, skirting and climbing over rocks, each carrying a woven basket as they searched for a hardy plant Mother Superior used in her poultices to reduce swelling.

Beth jumped across the stream at a narrow point to allow them to cover more ground, and Audrey seemed to fall further and further behind Beth as she took in the beauty around her. It was like they had passed into a different world, and she felt insignificant as she gazed up at the tall trees that seemed to reach to the heavens, streams of sunlight filtering through their leafy canopies.

She paused to tug up a plant nestled between rocks and deposited it in her basket, and as she was rising, she felt an overwhelming sense she was no longer alone. Dismissing it as wild imaginings, she nevertheless hastened her steps to catch up with Beth who had disappeared around a bend in the stream.

She had only taken two steps when she was dragged back up against a solid wall of muscle, a hand sliding over her mouth.

The basket fell to the ground from nerveless fingers as a large tanned hand splayed over the gentle swell of her belly, drawing her up even firmer against the solid warmth pressing against her back. She struggled wildly, her nails scraping the smooth skin of his forearm as she fought to free herself from his iron grip.

He muttered under his breath as he twisted her in his grip and forced her backwards until she felt the smooth bark of a tree pressing into her back. Her small hands pushed blindly against a broad chest as she sought to free herself, her hood askew.

"I mean you no harm," he murmured huskily, tugging back her skewed hood as his large body pinned her against the tree, crushing her soft breasts against his chest.

She stilled as her eyes locked with silvery ones, only to begin struggling anew as she felt a thigh pressing between hers, her eyes widening in shock as she felt the pressure against her secret place.

Slowly he removed his palm from her mouth, but before she could scream his lips covered hers firmly, silencing her protests. He tore the hood from her head and tossed it to the ground before his fingers tangled in her silky mane, tilting her face to his as his tongue glided along her lower lip before slipping into the moist depths of her mouth.

Audrey whimpered against his mouth as he deepened the kiss, knowing she should fight him but swiftly losing herself to the heady sensations flooding her. Her lashes fluttered close as he seduced her with drugging kisses, her small hands relaxing against his chest.

Slowly she softened against him as his mouth coaxed hers into soft submission, and the heat of him seemed to scorch her skin through her habit as held her prisoner against the tree, her body throbbing where his muscled thigh pressed against her softness.

She paid scant attention to the feel of his hands bunching in the material at her thighs, of the cool air wafting around her ankles and knees as she drowned in his kisses. She was breathless and needy, lost in the sensual heat he wove around them.

It was only as she felt the heated trail of his fingers up over her hips, dragging up her skirt with them, that some sense of reality began to intrude.

"No," she whispered as she tore her mouth from his, bruised and swollen from his forceful kisses. But he ignored her protest, his hands slipping up higher beneath her gown, up over her waist.

"I've thought of nothing but your delightful breasts since the moment I saw you standing in the stream, of how sweet they would feel filling my hands," he murmured huskily as he gazed down at her pink stained face.

She trembled as he gently cupped their small weight, moulding them in his warm hands, and her knees all but crumbled beneath the exquisite delicateness of his touch as his caresses gently teased her nipples into hard tips.

She was unable to gaze away from the molten silver eyes that seemed to touch some hidden part of her. "W-what is it you want from me?" she murmured breathlessly, feeling a shameful excitement overtake her as his fingers rolled and plucked the hard buds beneath her gown.

"I want to be inside you," he murmured, brushing his lips across hers as he pinched her nipples sending a quiver racing through her. She felt unable to control the wetness growing between her thighs as he played with her tender breasts. "To come into your slick heat, feeling it clenching around me as I move deep inside of you. And I know you want it too, little one."

She moaned softly as a hand slipped down over her belly to cup her mound, discovering her wetness. It was wrong, so wrong, she thought to herself as his fingers parted her lush pink lips to delve in her dewy folds. Yet it felt so right.

"No," she murmured unconvincingly as he gently stroked her. Her lashes fluttered close as a fire raged between her thighs, her hips arching against his hand, seeking, demanding.

"Your body can't lie, little one." His knee eased her quivering thighs further apart as his mouth pressed butterfly kisses over her cheeks and eyes.

Audrey shuddered against the body that held her pinned to the tree, feeling her body drown in sensations unlike anything that she had ever known as he worked his finger inside of her.

"No," she cried softly, pushing against his wide shoulders as his finger massaged the walls of her slick pussy as his thumb teased her nub.

"Open yourself to me. Let me into your soft heat," he murmured coaxingly as a finger slipped up inside of her.

"No, please, I-I can't… I'm soon to be a nun."

The gentle stroking of her lush pink flesh stilled. "You have never had a man?" he asked softly.

She turned her head, the silky curtain of her hair protecting her from his searching gaze. He caught her chin and gently forced her wide blue eyes to meet his.

The silence stretched out between them as she met his molten gaze, her lips softly parted.

"No." It was a breathless whisper, yet he heard it. He kissed her softly, tenderly.

His hand gave her one last possessive pat between her thighs before he reluctantly withdrew it from beneath her habit and smoothed the flowing material over her limbs.

"You body cries out for a man between your thighs. In time I will show you that your calling is not to God," he promised her huskily, gently tucking a chestnut strand behind the pink shell of her ear as he gazed down at her. "Tell me your name, little one."

She bit her bottom lip. If he went to Father Mathews to ask about her…

The corners of his lips curled at her silence.

"Ah, my beautiful dove will not tell me her name." A finger trailed down over the curve of her cheek to gently rub her soft lips. "I would know it for the pleasure it brings me as I dream of you, little one. But denying me will not prevent me from finding you again. And when I do, I will have you." His lips gently brushed hers. "But not here, like this, with your friend so close."

She trembled as he pressed one last kiss on her before striding away, and she leaned against to the tree, fearful her trembling legs would be unable to support her.

The word "Lukas " floated back to her, tormenting her.

***

Her first week at St Helen's passed relatively quickly, and Audrey was thankful of Beth's mischievous presence that smoothed out the transition. Audrey knew from her inquiring glances on the way back from to the hall that day that her sudden quietness had not gone unnoticed. She was thankful that Beth hadn't pried, for she did not know how to begin to explain Lukas.

Her face heated every time she thought of him and of what he had done to her, and she was still shaken by how shamefully little resistance she had offered.

She walked slowly to Father Mathew's chamber, apprehensive at having her weekly confession with the priest. Did she dare lie to him, or confess her wickedness? She had almost convinced herself that Lukas had been a figment of her imagination.

The door was open, and she hesitated in the doorway, her anxious blue eyes flicking over the golden head pored over a scroll.

Unbidden the image of Lukas came to mind… darkly intriguing. She could have moaned aloud at his ability to slip into her thoughts without warning.

Some noise must have given her away, for Father Mathews gazed up, pinning her with his dark grey eyes. Her wickedness must be plain to see as his eyes moved over her intently as he rose from behind his desk.

"Ah, Audrey. Come, close the door behind you."

She did as he bade and slowly moved further into the chamber, her heart picking up speed.

"You know what we must do at the beginning of each confession?" he queried, moving around to stand before his desk and folding his arms across his chest.

She shook her head in confusion, her wide eyes lifting to his.

"It would be remiss of me not to check your dedication, Audrey."

Her sweet face paled. Did he somehow suspect that she had allowed a stranger to touch her breasts and between her thighs?

"Come, stand on this footstool for me."

She followed his gaze to the large square footstool that rested in the centre of the room. Her wide blue eyes returned to his before darting away nervously.

Swallowing hard, she lifted her skirts with trembling fingers and gracefully climbed up onto the wooden surface to face the large oval windows through which the afternoon sunlight filtered. Her guilty mind never questioned his authority over her.

"Raise your habit," he ordered, and gave Audrey a stern look when she hesitated. "Do not make this more difficult than it needs to be, Audrey. Your old Mother Superior wrote good things about you, and it would dishearten her to learn differently."

Dropping her gaze, her fingers clasped her skirt and drew her habit to just below her knees.

"Higher."

Squeezing her eyes shut, she slowly exposed her trembling thighs to his intense gaze.

"Higher, Audrey. Do not make me ask you again."

She did as he ordered, tugging the skirt up to her waist and exposing the soft chestnut curls at the apex of her thighs, her head lowered.

"Shoulders back…feet touching the edges of the stool. That's it."

Audrey held herself still as hands circled her tiny waist before slipping down over her hips to gently caress her soft belly with his thumbs. She bit her lip, feeling strangely weak at his light caresses, her face stained pink. A moan escaped her as his hands moved around to cup her bottom, his strong fingers kneading the soft flesh as his warm breath stirred her curls.

She instinctively clenched her bottom together as Father Mathew spread her cheeks apart, and a shocked cry escaped her at the stinging slap he administered on her unprotected behind.

"Do not disobey me again, Audrey," he commanded softly.

She nodded quickly, biting her lip as a tremor raced through her.

He smoothed his hands up her inner thighs until they brushed against her lips. Her heart raced as he gently peeled them apart before his dark gaze, feeling faint and hot. Before she could think to protest, his leaned forward and his tongue darted out, tasting her soft pink flesh.

She gave a startled squeak, her fingers clenching in his blonde mane as she fought for balance. He lapped at her dewy folds, his tongue lazily circling her pulsing nub before gently sucking on her.

"F-Father…" she cried in bewilderment at the exquisite pleasure bursting between her thighs, her legs almost giving way beneath her.

Without warning he thrust a finger up inside of her, drawing a husky cry from her. She arched against his mouth as his finger worked up inside of her, stretching her around him.

"Please," she cried, drowning in the delicious sensations of his tongue stabbing her throbbing nub as his finger swirled inside of her. She was unable to prevent the soft moans escaping her as her young body opened to his caresses, feeling the moisture pool between her thighs. She shuddered against his mouth as her tight walls gripped the gently thrusting finger, her head thrown back. The tension between her thighs wound tighter and tighter, like a cord about to snap.

Her eyes widened in shock as she felt a finger pressing against the puckered entrance nestled between her cheeks.

"No!" she cried. She squirmed away from it, only to find herself impaled on a second finger as it thrust up inside her pussy. Her hips arched as he began to ease the fingers in and out of her as his tongue flicked at her nub, the threat forgotten.