Wellstone

"Silence!" Ander yelled, his face purple with rage.

"No, Ander. No. Let them all know the true monster you are. Let them know the lengths you will go to to get what you want. I am not a thing, you cannot..."

Ander yanked her close and clapped a hand over her mouth. "Guards!" he hissed and there was commotion all over the throne room.

Two guards took her from him, but they did not gag her as he had. "Tell them Ander! Tell them how you tortured me! Tell them how you let a man hurt me and try to rape me just so you could get your hands on what you wanted! Let me GO! You would punish me for truth Ander!?! You small, petty man!"

She was still screaming and struggling as the guards got her out of the throne room. There were a lot of loud shouts and demands as soon as she stopped hurling her accusations.

Poppy seethed, but felt completely satisfied as she thought of the look of utter betrayal that had been on his face. The bone deep hurt and anguish.

She was put in a room with no windows. the door was locked as soon as she was pushed in. It was not a cell and that surprised her. There was a comfortable chaise lounge with a blanket that could double as a bed, a washbasin and a small table with a small stack of books on it. She wondered what the room was usually used for.

She was unusually calm as she sat down on the chair. She had resolved herself to the worst possible punishment when she had made her decision. Would she be hanged? Would he have her head on the executioner's block? Would he kill her with his own hands? It didn't really matter. If she had the means, she would end herself now, painlessly, but she did not, so she waited.

She did not have to wait long. Ander himself appeared, his face full of rage. His parents behind him looking livid, her father behind them looking terrified and the officiant last.

Ander jerked her to her feet. "Finish it," he demanded of the man.

"Ander," his mother pleaded. "She will ruin you! Do not do this!"

"Do it!" he yelled at the officiant.

The man began speaking, finishing the ceremony he had started.

"No!" Poppy cried, trying to pull away. "No! Just kill me! Not this!"

Ander spun her and pulled her against him, clamping his hand over her mouth again. "Hurry up," he demanded angrily.

Poppy looked at her father, begging silently for help. He wouldn't look at her.

The officiant finished the ceremony, saying a blessing over them, then bowed and stepped out, his face pale.

"Leave us," Ander demanded hoarsely, spinning Poppy again and shoving her hard against the wall to look down at her. Poppy heard them leave, but she could only look up at the furious and hurt man towering over her. "All of it," he began, but his voice broke. "All of it was a lie. You never cared for me?"

"You assumed I was an idiot, Ander. I saw right through you. You were so easy to manipulate and make fall in love with me, you are so predictable!"

"Stop!" he yelled, tears springing to his eyes. "You would risk dying to humiliate me so publicly? I hurt you so badly?"

"I had years to harbor my hate for you Ander. Years! A few months of your horrible version of love could never make up for that. I don't know what you think to gain by completing the ceremony, but I will never be a wife to you. Not willingly."

"We will see, won't we?" he asked angrily. "You are mine now Poppy. My Mouse. That is no longer fitting is it? A snake. Waiting to strike."

"Any animal will strike when cornered. Even a mouse. And how long did you have me cornered Ander? Did you really think my self esteem was so low that I could ever care for you? Ever?"

He growled through clenched teeth. "You are mine now Poppy. It is time for you to see to your wifely duties." He pulled her away from the wall and took hold of her wrist, dragging her out of the room.

"No! No Ander, stop! Please! Don't! You SWORE you would never hurt me!"

"That ended when you destroyed me!" he screamed, turning on her. "Stop struggling!"

He dragged her up a huge set of stairs, her yanking on her arm and fighting the whole way. He opened a door and threw her in hard enough that she hit the floor and rolled. He locked the door and pulled the key out.

"Get up," he demanded. "Remove your dress or I will cut it off of you."

"I will not," she said through her tears.

"I know it wasn't all a lie Poppy. I know it. I was there when you kissed me, when you held my hand, when you melted under my touch. I could see the love in your eyes. You may have planned all of this, put it killed part of you to do it. Do you deny that?"

"I hate you Ander. I am smarter than you are, that is all. I manipulated you and convinced you that you saw what you wanted to see. It repulsed me to touch you! To let you kiss me. I knew what you had done the second you showed up at the door that night to save me. You wouldn't let someone else have what you wanted. For that alone you deserve all of this and more!"

"Take the dress off."

"No!"

He jerked her up off the floor and dragged her back through another door to a bedroom with a huge four poster feather bed. He threw her on it, then pinned her down as he pulled his knife out of its sheath. She screamed in fear and outrage as he began slicing the dress off of her like he was skinning a rabbit.

"Be still or I may cut you too," he demanded angrily.

Poppy lay still, wide-eyed and panting. "Ander, just kill me," she pleaded.

He paused, looking down at her angrily. "Death is better than my bed?"

"Yes!" she cried angrily.

"Then you will be getting the pain you deserve for what you have done to me," he spat, ripping her dress the rest of the way open. He cut her corset and smallclothes off of her, then held her down, letting his eyes take her in. The anger left his face for a moment as something else took over. He took a shuddering breath. "You are mine now Poppy. My wife. Your body is mine as well. I will have you, willing or not. It can be nice for you if you let it. It's your choice."

"I will never give myself to you Ander. You will get nothing from me that you don't take by force and the moment I am able I will take myself from you as well."

"I will never give you the opportunity, if I have to keep you tied like an animal."

"Is that what you really want Ander? A pet? A pet who hates you?"

"No! No, I want the girl I fell in love with! My sweet Little Mouse! You stole her from me and left me with this angry, spiteful little creature before me!"

"No Ander! You stole my life from me! You stole my childhood, my school days and my happiness!"

"I tried so hard to make it up to you!"

"By making the man I was interested in pretend to try and rape me? You took him from me too and ruined me for love. You forced yourself into my life because you saw something you wanted and refused to let me say no! That isn't love Ander!"

"At first I wanted for you to see me as someone you could trust, someone who was sorry for what I did, because I was sorry, I am sorry. After... I was sorry for that too. I fell in love with you Poppy."

"No you didn't. You fell in love with the person I pretended to be for you. The girl who needed you, the shy girl who never felt safe unless you were close to protect me. The girl you got to come out of her shell for you and looked at you like the sun rose and set with you. It was ALL an act, I never cared for you. I knew what you wanted and I played that part. I am not that girl. I am the girl who hates you and has from the moment I laid eyes on you and your sycophant friends. You and your entitlement and disdain for people who don't have blue blood is disgusting."

"You won't make me angry enough to kill you Poppy. Just stop," he said sadly. "You can say whatever you want, but I KNOW you are lying about one thing at least. You may hate yourself for it, but you care for me. You couldn't fake the way your body reacted to me, that isn't something you have control over."

"Tell yourself what you need to," she said, tears in her eyes. She would never admit that he was right. She would never admit that as satisfying as it was, the hurt in his eyes had hurt her to her soul. He didn't deserve her affection.

"Poppy," he whispered, pressing his head to hers, tears streaming down his face. Her own tears refused to stop as he held her from above, his head on hers. She closed her eyes and tried to stop shaking. "Give me a chance. A single chance. You have paid me back, we can start fresh now."

"Never Ander. Never. I will never let you in. No matter what you do or how hard you try. Let me go, let me leave. Find yourself someone else. I don't want you."

"No? There is still one thing that you can't lie about my Little Mouse. The way your body reacts to my touch," he whispered with a triumphant smile.

"It was never Ander. It was an act."

He laughed then. "No, my love. No. You can't fake that. You can't fake the very real passion in your kiss, or the way my fingertips drew shivers and goosebumps, the way your hand tightened just slightly around mine when you knew I had to release yours, as if you didn't want it to end. It wasn't contrived, it was too instinctual. And the other things. The things you probably weren't even aware of, like how hard your nipples got when he kissed late into the night," he said with a smirk, sliding his hand down to caress her breast. "The way your body arched against mine when I was holding you close. The way your breathing quickened when I kissed your neck. Signs I know well but you are oblivious to because you have never been with a man in that way."

Poppy tried to roll out from under his hand, her cheeks coloring with shame. She tried to pull her wrists out of the hand he had pinned above her head. "You are wrong! Let me go and get your hands off me!"

"You know I am not wrong," he whispered with a chuckle. "You feel so good my Little Mouse. Look how your body responds to me," he said, pinching her hard nipple lightly. "You like this."

"I don't!"

"Your heart is pounding little love, you are flushed... Deny it all you want, we both know the truth. If I explore you, will you be wet for me? Will you be hot and wet and welcoming? Ready to take me into you?"

"Please stop!" she whispered urgently, fearfully.

"No little love, I don't think I will," he told her with a throaty growl. He sat up suddenly, releasing her hands. He began ripping her dress into long strips and she tried to struggle out from under him. He was sitting on her hips keeping her pinned into the soft bed.

"Let me up!" she demanded, beating on his thighs. He ignored her as he tore strip after strip. She finally stilled, watching him in terror. "What are you doing?" she demanded. He smirked at her, but kept working.

She began struggling again, more violently this time, bucking and heaving and trying to twist.

"I like that, actually," he said softly. "The way your tits bounce when you struggle. It was crass to say so before now, but you do have nice tits. Not small, but not too huge for your slight frame. A pleasant handful, a perfect mouthful."

"You can't say those things!" she cried, horrified.

"No? I can't tell my wife how lovely I think her body is? How pleasing she is to my eye? And if you think a few words are so awful, I can't wait to see what you think about what is coming next."

"Let me up! Please! Let me up! Ok, ok. I admit I feel something for you, I do, but I hate you more. Are you happy now? Let me go, please! Ander? Answer me! Let me GO! What are you doing?" she demanded as he began tying one of the long strips to her wrist. He caught her other hand as she tried to stop him and tucked it under his knee painfully. "You are hurting me! Don't do this Ander! Please? I will do as you ask, I will be a wife to you, just don't do this, please?"

"I don't believe you," he said lightly, pleasantly, as he secured her hand to one of the four posts. He released her other hand and began doing the same to her other wrist as she struggled and tried to free her other hand.

Panic was setting in and tears were flowing freely now. "You don't have to do this! We can talk about this! Please please please don't!" she wailed as he pulled tight on the makeshift rope, stretching her arms wide on the bed.

He moved down to sit on her thighs and looked down at her, his eyes roving and enjoying what he was seeing. His eyes met hers and his smirk was insufferable as he leaned up and thumbed her hard nipples as if to taunt her.

He moved down further and caught her knees as she tried to kick at him. "My sweet little love, I am going to enjoy this," he purred, his eyes going slightly glazed. He pushed her knees apart roughly and looked down at her exposed sex as she cried out again and squirmed and twisted in his grip. He laughed, low in his throat. "Oh my Little Mouse, look at you. You are perfect, and so wet for me. You are glistening with your need for me. I love it. Are you STILL going to deny it? Maybe I should make you come for me? Show you first hand how your perfect little body needs me?"

"Don't TOUCH me you arrogant pig!" she screamed angrily, her face going red in humiliation and anger.

He laughed again. "I think the words you want are 'yes please, show me'. I could gag you, but I want to hear you the moment you give in to me." He was still smirking as he moved down lower, then pushed her legs higher as he lowered her face to her sex. He licked her there, a long, slow lick and she wailed in horror and disgust.

"Don't! Don't DO that! Please stop!" she begged, trying to squirm away, fighting and struggling again.

He ignored her as his tongue explored her slit, her folds and then her little bud. She yelped as her body twitched. He licked lower and slid his tongue into her, listening to her whimper. She went still, her breath hitching, then seemed to realize she wasn't fighting and began again. It was half hearted though and he smiled as he moved back to her clit. He pulled her into his mouth, sucking gently and rolling his tongue around her. Her breathing quickened and she went still again as she shuddered.

"Stop!" she whispered. "Stop this please! Ohhhh! No no no no noooOOOoo!" She was shaking her head violently, trying to deny how it was making her feel. The pleasure was immense, overwhelming and filling her with a need she didn't understand. "Please," she whispered again, but it sounded more like she was begging for more, even to her. She needed... something. A release from this overwhelming need, from this overwhelming ecstasy. She heard herself moan and clenched her teeth shut, even as the rapture rose to a fever pitch. Her body tensed, her back arched, preparing for whatever was coming and then it hit her like a fire that had shot into an inferno, blowing up and spreading over her entire body. Bliss like she had never imagined rolled over her in wave after wave as her body bucked and her legs locked around him. When it finally ebbed and her body relaxed, she sank down, panting and staring wide eyed at the bed canopy. That had been...

She remembered suddenly where she was and who she was with. He rose up, triumphant with his insufferable smirk. His mouth, his chin, they were glistening with her excitement, her pleasure. He moved over her, his eyes hungry as he leaned down and kissed her, forcing her mouth open. She could taste herself on him but she didn't really care. She kissed him back with a need she couldn't stop, as much as she wanted to. He pulled her leg high, wrapping it around his hip and she knew she should pull away and tell him to stop, but she wanted what was about to happen. She wanted him this way. She had never known it could be like this and she wanted him.

She pulled back from his kiss as she wrapped her other leg around him and pulled him higher. She felt his manhood pressing against her as he chuckled and reached down to guide himself into her. "This may hurt just a bit my little love," he whispered.

She didn't care, she pulled harder with her legs, needing him. He pushed in gently, her sick wetness easing the way. He groaned softly as he pushed deeper, slowly easing into her. She felt a pain, sharp and sudden, but then he was past it, pushing further. She felt him hit an inner wall and the fullness was its own bliss. Her legs tightened, wanting to bask in that feeling a moment longer. He obliged her, pressing into her before easing back again. He went slowly for several more long strokes, then began moving more quickly. The feeling of need began mounting in her again, the beautiful ecstasy. She pulled him to move faster, wanting that release again, wanting that buildup. His hand moved to hold her leg under her knee, pulling it higher on his waist.

"Ohh, my sweet, beautiful Little Mouse," he whispered urgently as he thrust faster and harder. She knew now that he was chasing his own release, his own pleasure.

She urged him, her hips rising to meet his thrusts. "Yes!" she whispered, her voice husky with need. "Yes Ander! Ohhh yes! I NEED you, please please please... oooooh!"

Her body locked up again as she cried out as pleasure coursed through her again, rocking her body against him and around him. He cried out in shock as his hand tightened on her leg, then he was groaning too as he throbbed inside of her. She felt him shooting hot fluid deep inside of her and she moaned at the thrill of it. He had arrived with her, they had done that to each other.

He finally came down and half collapsed on top of her, trying to catch his breath.

"Please," she panted. "Please release me... I need to... please!" Still half dazed, he cut her hands free and she immediately took hold of his face, then pulled him down to kiss him. He had to pull out to move low enough, but he did so quickly and eagerly. He held her close against him and she pulled back, panting. She pressed her head to his. "Oh, my Ander," she whispered, moving her hands to his jaw to tilt his face to hers. She looked up at him, her eyes full of him before she let them deaden. "I will never love you," she said coldly, then raked her fingernails down his jaw as hard as she could.

He leapt back with a cry of shock and pain, but the damage was done. There were stripes of blood down both sides of his face.

She sat up and glared at him. "My body may react, the same way water ripples when you drop a stone in it. It doesn't mean the water cares about the stone. I will NEVER belong to you."

He looked furious as he spun to the basin to dab at the bloody furrows on his face. he yanked his pants on, then stepped out of the room. She heard him speak to someone, but she couldn't hear what he said. He came back in, glowering at her. He spun away and got dressed and by the time he was done, two guards and three servants came in.

She glared at them bullishly.

"Will you get up and dress or will I have to have them dress you?" he demanded.

"I will dress myself!" she hissed.

"Then do it," he shouted back and gestured to the light yellow dress hanging on a hook in the corner.

She got up and went behind the screen, but both female servants followed her. The male and two guards moved closer, but let her dress behind the screen in privacy.

As soon as she came out, Ander gestured and the guards took hold of her, bending her awkwardly as they affixed a thin leather collar around her neck. The moment it was secured, they pulled her arms back behind her head and fastened leather cuffs to her wrists before fastening them to the back of the collar. They let her go and she stood, struggling in horror as she tried to pull her wrists out from behind her neck. She fumbled for a catch, but there wasn't one. Just a small padlock. The guard handed Ander the key.

"We have a wedding feast to attend. Since you have proven you cannot behave, you will be displayed like the traitorous little wretch you are."