Settle for nothing less

Kaoma got down on her knees and pleaded, "Please sir, do not let him marry me. I'm sure there is some other woman out there willing and eager to fill his bed, sate his needs and claim the role of Uncle Horace's wife but not me."

"Aa...ahhh…Are yo…you insane," Herbert stammered.

His face red from apoplexy that her words incited him until he took a deep breath and got control of himself.

"It's done. Lord Horace got the approval from the King and all your pleas will only fall on deaf ears."

Getting up from the floor to follow behind the giant as he walked away, she tugged at his sleeve.

Impusively Lady Kaoma demanded, "How could the King agree to this marriage without my consent?"

He paused midstep at the feel of her skin next to his, Captain Herbert all but towered over her.

She looked like a mouse overshadowed by an elephant.

"Lord Horace promised more gold and soldiers to aid the King's neverending wars to go back on his word now would be treason. Your Uncle loves his head too much to lose it for a young girl," he answered decisively then started walking again.

Frowning, she said softly to herself, "I don't think I have the stomach to go through with this."

But Herbert heard her and spun around sharply.

Any faster and he would have had whiplash.

He grabbed her arm to shake her and said menacingly, "if you have any wit about you, do as the master says and get yourself quickly with child."

His grip tightened and it caused her a great deal of pain. 

Tears came to her eyes but she forced them back unwilling to let Herbert know how much he truly scared her, more than Uncle Horace himself.

"I will do as you say, I will get myself with child, stop hurting me," she sobbed.

When she returned to her chambers her caretakers were waiting to help her get ready for her nuptials.

As Lady Hilda brushed her hair gently Kaoma asked of her, "Do you think Uncle Horace would let me and my sister leave this forsaken castle if I sign over all our properties and its entails after the wedding?"

For the most part Lady Hilda listened and then responded, "do pigs fly?"

Lady Gertrude snorted, was this all just one big joke to them, especially since their lives weren't at stake.

"Land is the least of your concerns, that old goat plans to rut with you and spill his seed in your womb in hopes that his watered down seed will blossom. That's asking for a miracle if you ask me."

Tsk. Tsk. Lady Hilda hushed her but even she could admit that Lady Gertrude said brazenly what everyone else had been thinking, "can that old bastard even get it up anymore?"

She ended her statement with broken laughter but no one else found it funny enough to join in.

The women were all too tense contemplating what the future had in store for them.

"I have an idea," Lady Hilda said conspiratorially, the other two lntrigued as they leaned in closer to hear, "we'll drug the bastard and he'll be none the wiser."

"You have a point," said Lady Gertrude rubbing the cleft of her chin in a thought provoking manner. "The bastard is half blind and already has one foot in the grave, I doubt he could even use his banana to smash her pumpkin, we just need to make him believe that he did."

Kaoma startled, "he wants to take my innocence, he will settle for nothing less than my maidenhead."

"I wasn't born at the back of a cow, nothing less than blood on the sheets will satisfy that old bastard and Lady Gertrude had plenty of experience slashing the throats of lambs," Hilda pointed at Lady Gertrude to emphasize her point.

Lady Gertrude nodded in agreement, "the blood just need not to be your own my child. If it's blood he wants, it's blood he will get. Blood is already on his hands for forcing this disastrous marriage in the first place."

Lady Kaoma had never felt so close to the old biddies until this very night.

Her heart overflowed with love for them because they gave her hope.

As a child she used to see them as brutal enforcers.

Always wanting to curb her wild ways and cease all the activities that were fun and brought her joy.

All in the name of seeing her turn into a proper young lady.

As she grew older she realized how stubborn and willful she was in her younger days and how much a stronger hand was needed to deal with her.

Her sickly mother Helen could not control her and allowed her to run reckless and wild.

Until she came to Castle Hellshire and met Lord Swift's former nannies.

To this day she doen't know how old they were even though they looked old and frail, they were very active and a vital part of her life.

Everything was a blur leading up to this moment when she exchanged vows with her uncle, a man she barely knew.

Her Uncle always sent his mouthpiece Horrible Herbert to enforce and carry out his orders. 

There were even rumors that Herbert was Uncle Horace's illegitimate child but to this day he had never acknowledged him as his son.

If it wasn't for her sister Sarika, she would have put up more of a fight and refuse to marry him. 

The fact that he was threatening them with foul means made her dream about killing the man at night.

Except he was always surrounded by his bodyguards.

Kaoma put out any thought of fleeing the castle, for she was sure that if she did so her younger sister would suffer harshly for it.

If only those in power were not corrupt and ignored her missives seeking help, if only women were not treated like second class citizens in this world. 

She hoped and prayed for someone to save her, to put a stop to the wedding between an eighteen year old and a man old enough to be her great grandfather but no one came.

She had to be strong for her young sister and whisper comforting words like, "it will be alright."

"Are you sure?" her sister would answer in return.

Knowing that the big sister she looked up to most in the world was lying to her but there was nothing that either of them could do about it.