TW; brief scene of non consensual sex near the end

The sun was shining on yet another wonderful spring day. The flowers were coming into bloom; the cold mountain range warming with the welcoming rays. It was a pleasant change; winter always felt like it lasted too long up here. The three or so months we got of decent sun, I always wanted to last longer.

I would've been enjoying the wonderful surroundings if it was not for the tight grip on my hand.

"What are you staring at, Ailia?" Darius wondered.

I cleared my throat, turning to him with a fake, sweet smile. "Just admiring the flowers."

He hummed at me, eying my face for a sign of a lie. He had his hair cut just moments ago, the once longer blonde hair was now shaved at the sides and short on top. Darius was a handsome guy, and caught the eye of many people, but he was more than what he showed. Although we did not live together, we often had 'sleepovers' at his house. My mother had practically encouraged the bonding moment, a bad twinkle in her eye.

I had been 'courting' Darius for two years. His father was one of the three leaders of my little town, and he was two years older than me. We were supposed to get married when I turned eighteen, which was two months ago, but I convinced them to postpone it to June so I could have a summer wedding. Our families had jumped at the chance, taking my fake smile as eagerness to have a pretty wedding.

I didn't want a pretty wedding; I didn't want a wedding at all.

I wanted my job back, my freedom and privacy that I had as a teenager. The isolation and uncaring gazes back then were better than the scrutiny I received now. Being betrothed to someone as wealthy as Darius meant I had to look the part. No more working or hunting, no more bad hair days, and no more bad clothes.

From the moment I found out who Darius truly was, and before I lost my freedom, I began to save my spare coins whilst I could still work.

I couldn't stay here. I had to escape before we tied the knot. On the outside, we walked hand in hand with pleasant smiles as we wandered the town to admire the upcoming festivities. But his hand was too tight, my posture too stiff, and his smile too fake.

I had learnt what his expressions meant by now. It didn't take me long to see when Darius was about to lose his cool.

The first time I had seen him show his true colours, we had been courting for three months. It was the first time I 'slept-over' and the first time someone touched my private areas. I had resisted, and he did not like it. I was sixteen, and he was eighteen; an uncomfortable age gap for me, but no-one seemed to care. I had learnt to ignore it all.

I wanted to tell my mother, to seek guidance on how he touched me and made me touch him, but she would just call me foul words. Darius reassured me it was normal for couples to touch each other like that, so over time, I allowed him to do as he pleased. If I resisted, he would grow angry, and I didn't like it when he was angry. I learned that staying quiet was the only way to come out of it scratch and bruise free.

I remember the first time he gave me a publicly visible mark; a black eye. Before, he had stuck to kicking me or slapping, but this came when I had resisted sex for the first time. We'd only dated six months at that point. His touches had grown more needy until the day finally came.

The next day, I had come home. I tried to shield the bruises, but my sweet little Arabella noticed. As a freshly turned thirteen-year-old girl, she was smarter than she looked. My mother had overheard us, and I thought I saw an ounce of shock on her face, but she covered it up with laughing insults.

I had never wanted to get out of there more. And that is why I saved my money.

Our contract of marriage stated I could still work until our relationship blossomed; which ended up being only nine months. My mother received an amount for our companionship and would soon gain more 'for her daughter's hand' when we officially married. I wonder if his parents knew about the man they had raised. Would still allow me to marry him? Or were they the same? Were his mother's smiles just as fake as mine?

But then my mother found out about my secret hiding spot. And someone had stolen all of my money the moment she did. She checked my pay-slips, and one day, whilst I was out with Darius, she stole the lot. I had saved around one hundred coins, and she used it all on pretty things and wine.

Darius' hand pulling on my arm snapped me out of my reminiscent daydream. He caught me slipping. His deep brown eyes narrowed, and I chewed my lip, giving him a timid smile. If I stayed meek, if I stayed silent, he wouldn't hurt me.

"Yes, Darius?"

"You're daydreaming. I don't like it when you daydream."

I frowned, smoothing down the pretty blue dress I wore. "Sorry, Darius."

He huffed, tugging my arm to lead me towards a coffee shop. We sat at a table for two, opposing each other. I exhaled visibly once he was away from my side, feeling less on edge with the table in the middle. Darius insisted on ordering for me, as always. He liked the control; liked the way he was the one to provide and show it off.

Most women would love that from a man, but I just wanted my freedom. I wanted to make my own choices, to work, to be on my own, but in this cruel, post-war world, I was stuck betrothed to a man I hated. The man that kept me awake at night with haunting thoughts.

Once Darius ordered, I sighed down at the sight of the coffee in front of me. He had allowed me a coffee, so I knew I wasn't in too much trouble. Good days, he got me hot chocolate, bad days; I had water. Coffee was a good in between. I could work with coffee.

"How was your day?" I wondered, stirring the dark liquid with my spoon.

I sneaked a glance at him, unable to admit that he wasn't handsome. He was, and that's what confused me so much. A dashing man, with kind words; eventually he always calmed the rage of thoughts swirling through my mind.

And today, I had coffee.

He eyed me curiously over his newspaper. The local pages featured large, colourful print about the Spring Festival. That was two days away, and I was looking forward to it. The only thing I wasn't excited for, was the public face I would have to endure.

The Spring Festival and markets were something I looked forward to every year. The beginning of a wonderful summer marked the end of the shifters hunt. It started before I was born; the town creating a market to sell flowers, fruits and crafts. It grew to a celebration of life and the seasons, but mostly it gave us a celebratory moment to enjoy the end of the yearly wolf hunt. A time of safety.

The wolf's hunt was a time we all dreaded; when the town was tense. We were safe here, apparently, so high in the mountains away from any nearby packs and surrounded by high walls. The wolves never came here, so we celebrated the end of their gruesome hunt with a party of our own.

"It was fine." He grunted. "Finance books really. Ash came to help."

My curiosity piqued at the name of his best friend. Ash was the son of one of the other leading families in our village. With dark brown hair and kind brown eyes, he was often nice to me, and I enjoyed his company when he came over. Darius had his own place, one I stayed at every night this past month. Even though we weren't married, I may as well be living there. We have been together for twenty-six months now, not that I was counting...

"Ash? I bet that was a pleasant visit." I commented.

He raised an eyebrow at me, sipping at his coffee. "Indeed."

Conversation fell short after that and my shoulders sagged slightly when I realised he would pry nothing out of me. I should be used to it by now. His growing lack of interest was nothing new. I was just a female his parents practically bought to keep his image up. I don't know why they chose me, perhaps a good Samaritan thing, since my family was so poor.

After coffee, we left and Darius' hand came to rest on the small of my back. His fingers were gentle as they wrapped around my hip and pulled me into his side. A faint blush rose on my cheeks when nearby women giggled, eyeing the interaction. If it wasn't for the touching, I'm sure the shiny diamond ring on my finger gave them enough to talk about.

To the public eye, we had been dating for two years, and the ring appeared around the first snowfall. All for image, I reminded myself. He didn't really mean it.

I eyed him from next to me. His height was the same as mine, which meant I didn't have to look too far. Darius looked down at me with a pleasant smile, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he walked me back to his home. He led me through the front gate and up the neatly kept front path. He even opened the door for me before locking it shut behind us.

"Are you okay?" He wondered.

A small smile graced my lips, and I nodded to him, casting my eyes down at his intruding gaze.

"Yes, thank you."

His hand came to trace my throat, and my breath hitched when his thumb pushed under my jaw. He tilted my head back, and my blue crashed with his brown. I swallowed, his thumb pushing against the movement and his eyes followed. I froze as he held me there, his eyes burning into mine.

I knew what this meant.

"Good, because I want you."

I winced as he pulled me forward by the throat, his hand bruising as it pressed into my jaw. I allowed his mouth to devour mine as I tried not to concentrate on the pain he released on my skin.

I had done so well to prevent one of his physical outbursts, so I know I'd have to let him have this. I wanted to be make-up and bruise free for the Spring Festival, but with a harsh push against the wall, I knew this would not be so easy.

With haste, he was all over me. We didn't even make it up the stairs. His hands pushing my skirt to my waist and panties to the side as he forced me over the sideboard, so I couldn't move. I breathed heavily, fear building in my chest as he restricted my airways. My heart hammered in my chest, waiting for it to be over.

It was what good wives did.

With a grunting sigh of accomplishment, I felt him pull out and finish on my lower back. One thing that he never did was finish inside of me. I was happy that he didn't because we had no such thing as female birth pills anymore. We snuck supplies from the nearest districts. But it was the wolves' way of controlling the population; only they had a say in such a thing. We had the strange sleeve things that men use, but Darius complained they always hurt him.

He cleared his throat from behind me, his hand moving away from the back of my neck. I stayed there, awaiting his permission to raise, as he pulled out a cigar and lit it. How we didn't have birth control, but they allowed liquor and tobacco, was beyond me...

"Go. Clean up. I have guests tonight." He grunted.

I stood upright, ashamed of my body's natural reactions to such events. Darius always hated it when I got damp, complaining it wasn't as enjoyable for him as when it was tight. I wasn't sure what he meant by that, but it hurt his feelings, so I agreed.

Keeping my dress gathered in my arms, I hurried up the stairs. I made my way into my bedroom, grateful for the courtesy of my bed space. Stripping nude, I turned on the shower and climbed in quickly. My hair was in a neat bun today, tamed and primed, so I kept it that way for now. Washing the remnants of his pleasure from my skin, I sighed in satisfaction once I was clean of his touches.

I made my way out of the shower, wrapping up in a towel. Wiping the fog from the mirror with a cloth, I winced at the reddening marks that graced my neck. Across my jaw and down my throat, his hand left a large mark, one I hoped wouldn't bruise. Going by the ache in the right of my jaw, though, the hopes may not come true.

Wincing, I dried myself off, preparing myself for an evening of cooking and presenting myself to him and his guests.

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Ailia is an interesting character, and I cannot wait to show you guys her.

https://deafening-silence.co.uk