Ilyin clawed at his back as the sensations became even more intense, thrusting her hips against his, and she realized she must’ve left some marks with her nails. Aden held her head so that she wouldn’t bang it against the wall as he pushed himself deeper inside her. Their breathing quickened and she felt as if she were on fire. He pulled back again when she was near her orgasm and kissed her, and then thrust in deeper than before. They climaxed at the same time, and her body shook from head to toe as his kiss took her breath away.

“Are you still scared?” he said, as he kissed the cloth over her eyes.

Ilyin shook her head and heard a small laugh as Aden kissed her shoulder. They stayed entwined for a short while and she opened her eyes in surprise as he became hard inside of her again; the night had just begun.

***

Bright light woke Ilyin from her slumber and she opened her eyes squinting to try and focus. The duke was gone and her hand touched where he’d lain. He must’ve woken up early, as the bed was cool. She felt like last night had been a dream and flushed at the memories.

“Are you awake?” She heard a maid ask. The maids of the Blue North had opened the door to come in and bowed as they held a nightgown on a wide silver platter. “We will change your clothes,” she continued.

The Blue North maids ran to her side, “Are you in pain?” One of them asked, looking extremely concerned.

She hurt everywhere, from inside her thighs to her shoulders. “A little,” she said. She raised a hand to tell them she was all right but flushed when she saw her body for the first time. Aden had left marks all over her body and even the maids seemed surprised. But she was a newlywed who’d spent her first night with her husband so why were they looking so shocked? Ilyin wanted to say that she would change alone, but the pain silenced her.

“I will bring you some medicine to relieve the pain,” a maid bowed after changing Ilyin’s clothes, and she tried to hide the marks by pulling the sleeves down as far as they would go.

“Oh dear,” she sighed, unable to bring herself to look at the mirror because she felt so self-conscious.

“Mistress, here is your medicine. It’s made from a rare herb called nened.”

The maids had returned quickly as if they’d already prepared the deep green potion. She didn’t want to drink it after seeing its unappealing color and it smelt ghastly, but she wanted to alleviate her pain so she closed her eyes and gulped down the slimy liquid.

***

Idith, the second-in-command, came running to the knights’ building from the main house. There were too many people for his liking in the main building demanding to congratulate the head of the Biflten’s on his marriage. While that was tradition, things were not going well at the moment. The bride was ill, and it wasn’t deemed life-threatening that these people needed to see the groom with their own eyes right now, so they had gathered in the first-floor lobby and were chatting away. Idith had run from the seventh floor of the main building to the knights building to find his master.

“Leader, it’s urgent news!” Idith yelled.

“Come in.”

Idith opened the door of an office in the knights’ building and saw Aden who immediately asked, “What is it?”

“News from the main building’s sixth floor,” he replied half out of breath. Only one person would interest him, and she was his bride, who would soon live on the seventh floor. “The mistress seems unwell. She has a fever.”

Ilyin had been fine yesterday. “What did the doctor say?” As Aden was a swordsman, a doctor resided in the manor.

Idith’s expression wasn’t happy. “He is still seeing to the wounded at the castle walls. It will take time to call him due to the snowfall.”

“Who is seeing to her?”

“Ted, the doctor’s apprentice.”

Apprentice? Aden had been the one to send the doctor to tend to the wounded. He only had himself to blame. “Let’s go see her first then,” he said, looking genuinely concerned.

62d67767f92eb560e77c9100