Firefly by Piers Anthony

Author:Piers Anthony
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Unknown, Horror, General, Fantasy, Fiction
ISBN: 9780380759507
Publisher: Avon Books
Published: 1992-03-15T10:00:00+00:00

* * *

Teensa was absolutely stricken. She thought her father had unwittingly brought in the very worst person for this job! Now the beast would be able to complete his ravishment and make an end of her, so that she could never tell—and she was powerless to prevent it. She retreated to her chambers and gave herself up for lost.

But when the time came for the evening repast, the nobleman summoned her to the table. This was standard procedure, and she could not deny it. Her maid, knowledgeable in such things, assured her that it was best to follow the forms. She garbed herself appropriately and came down.

She was in terror of molestation, but the noble acted with perfect courtesy. The castle staff was impressed with his demeanor and his dialogue. He complimented her on her appearance, which was indeed outstanding; all that exquisite raiment could do for a woman, it did for her, evoking charms which had been barely apparent during her masquerade as a slops wench. The truth was that Teensa, stripped by circumstance of her self-abasement, was a lovely young woman.

Noticing that she had little appetite, he said to her: "It may be that thou art ill at ease in the absence of thy father. I assure thee that I am here to protect thy interests as his, and no harm will come to thee while I am here, while I live. This is a matter of honor."

"My thanks to thee," she said, not one whit reassured. She knew full well that he did not consider rape to be harmful to a wench. Few men did, whether noble or ignoble.

But to her amazement, it was so. The days passed, and the man made no move to molest her. He treated her always with perfect courtesy. There was no peremptory knock at her chamber door at night. She became fascinated, in the manner of a captive bird, and even allowed herself to be alone with him at one point, though with an exit handy so she could flee. Noting their isolation, he said: "If I have given thee offense in any manner, I sorely repent it, and would make amends were it possible. But I fear it is not." Then he turned away, evidently troubled.

Astonished, Teensa retreated to her chamber and pondered. She realized that the noble could not speak openly of what had passed between them, for that would be a confession of a crime that would require blood to amend. Yet he had in his fashion apologized. She realized further that he had not known her identity when he ravished her, and was now in an extremely awkward position because of it. It seemed that if she did not speak of it, neither would he, for it could not with honor be spoken of. It hadn't happened, as far as the castle was concerned.

Yet it had happened, and there would be an ugly reckoning at such time as her father married her to another noble. Her

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.