Wife duties

Flashback

“Take off your clothes.”

Amelia stared at her new husband in confusion and apprehension. She could not understand what had prompted such a sudden command.

When the wedding feast had finally ended, her personal servant had taken her by the hand and escorted her to the bridal chamber.

After helping her bathe and prepare for the night, the servants had left, leaving her alone on the bed until Ryder eventually entered the room.

She watched him in silence, her eyes wide with uncertainty. Throughout the wedding ceremony, he had barely acknowledged her existence, so she could not understand why he was suddenly demanding something from her now.

She knew, in the vaguest sense, that married couples were expected to share certain private intimacies behind closed doors, but no one had ever explained to her what those duties involved.

Her personal servant had only warned her that a wife was expected to obey her husband. She had been told to remain still and submit to whatever he asked of her, regardless of what he might do but having him order her to undress was something Amelia had never anticipated. Was she truly expected to obey without question?

“Do I have to take them off for you myself?”

Amelia drew in a startled breath when she saw him properly for the first time. His body was powerfully built, every muscle defined with the strength of a seasoned warrior.

His shoulders appeared nearly twice the width of hers, while his thick neck and broad chest narrowed into a firm, lean waist.

She had heard countless stories about Ryder being an enormous man, even among the knights, but seeing him standing before her was an entirely different matter. The sheer size of him left her overwhelmed, and her mouth suddenly felt dry.

A few strikes from her father had been enough to leave her in unbearable pain. If a man as powerful as Ryder ever chose to raise his hand against her, how could she possibly withstand it?

“Why are you looking at me as if you have just seen a monster?” Ryder asked coldly.

Amelia flinched at the coldness in his voice as he crossed the room in a single stride and stopped before the bed. His eyes remained fixed on her, sharp and questioning. “Do I disgust you?”

“I…I, um…”

Before she could gather her thoughts, he leaned closer. “How could a lowly knight like me ever satisfy the proud daughter of a lord?”

The bitterness underlying his words sent a chill through Amelia. She knew that she was completely at his mercy.

As her husband, he possessed the authority to punish her, and if he wished, he could have her subjected to whatever cruel discipline he deemed appropriate.

The realization that she had somehow offended him made her palms grow cold with sweat, terrified that she had already earned his contempt, Amelia lowered her gaze and forced the words from her trembling lips. “Come and fulfill your wife duties.”

Amelia wanted to ask what those duties were, but the question never left her lips. She fixed her eyes on his feet as his body cast a dark shadow over her.

A long, calloused finger reached down to lift her chin, there was something subtle in Ryder eyes, something she could not read.

“A marriage is annulled if it isn’t consummated,” he said. “Do you wish to leave me?”

She trembled uncontrollably. At any moment, she might drown in the dark depths of his eyes, but he only sneered. “Speak now, if you want me to leave.”

“I won’t stop once we begin.”

Amelia tongue clung to the roof of her mouth. Her father would never forgive her if she let him leave. She had never had any choice in this matter. She squeezed her eyes shut and began to unclasp her belt with shaking fingers.

She feared her father’s retribution far more than what shame she would suffer at the hands of this strange man.

Should Ryder fail him here, her father would not stop at a mere beating. He would punish her brutally, and in a matter of days, she would find herself back in this very room, facing a different knight. To her father, she was nothing more than a tool.

Ryder removed her jewelry, piece by piece, and set them next to the bed. A suffocating silence hung between them, punctuated only by the crackle of wood burning in the fireplace.

Ryder eyes bore into her as she pulled down the straps of her linen dress and removed her arms from the frilly sleeves.

The cold night air lashed at her bare back and shoulders not daring to expose herself further, she stopped and clutched the dress to her bosom but before she could hesitate further, Amelia knelt on the bed and pulled her dress down. “W-Wait…Wait!”

The dress slipped off her body before she could stop it. She clutched desperately at her skirt, even as Ryder impatience grew more palpable. “Keep your hands away.”

“W-Why are you…p-pulling…”

She gazed up at him, her eyes wide with confusion. His face was concealed in shadow silhouetted against the light, and she couldn’t make out his face which intensified her fear.

“Do you want me to leave?” Ryder asked. “Make up your mind.”

Amelia stifled a sob. She reluctantly lowered her hands and the dress slid to her waist. Ryder pulled it down further and flung it to the floor.

“There’s no turning back now.” His deep voice chilled Amelia heart.

As his rough, warm hands caressed her tense body, she pushed him away instinctively, only to end up more firmly in his embrace when he locked his arm around her waist. Her skin was now on his and for reasons Amelia could not explain, the heat made her shudder. “N-Not so c-close…”

He carried on as if he had not heard her stammering plea, and leaned forward to press his lips to her breast. Amelia eyes widened in shock.

Warm lips, sweeping across soft skin. A shiver coursed through her body at this unfamiliar sensation and he buried his face in her bosom like a newborn babe, her mind went blank.

“Relax.” With his calloused palm, he stroked her back, now paralyzed with fear. His damp breath left goosebumps in its wake.

Rubbing his chin on her soft skin, he slid a hand under the garment that covered her waist. His touch here startled Amelia, and her lips quivered.

She had never imagined that a man would one day intrude on this region of her body. “W-What are y-you....”

“Stay still, It will hurt if you don’t warm up.”

Amelia legs were caught in a helpless struggle. She had only ever exchanged a few greetings with this man, and now . . now, here he was, casually touching her most intimate parts. “P-P-Please! D-don’t…”

She grasped his thick shoulders, pleading with him. It was now his turn to quake and quiver. Her hands burned when she touched his firm, smooth skin, like she had wrapped them around a red-hot iron.

Ryder lips twitched but instead of words, Amelia received a rough kiss. She was still trying to make sense of what was happening when he removed the last piece of clothing from her body. She cried out in protest but even that was quickly swallowed up in a kiss.

“Damn it…” Ryder let out a series of curses and moans while Amelia gasped for air like a fish out of water. He was encroaching on parts of her that she had never even known she had.

She thrashed her legs, but they were soon weighed down by the bulk of his unyielding body because she was trapped like a helpless animal, caught between the jaws of a wolf.