Penance

Today, out of all the other 364 days in the year, is the day everything goes wrong.

Crina wakes up in the morning to the sound of rain falling heavy on the roof and the sight of lightning flashing across the horizon. The wind outside slams against the manor with such force and the thunder is ear piercing and gets louder with every one. The young blonde can’t help but to cry. Everything leading up to this moment screams bad omens to her. She fears that her wedding day is going to be ruined.

First Cristian has been acting weird. She’ll see him leaving his manor late at night and not return til early the next morning. He will look worn down and messy. His tawny hair will be a mess and his blue eyes will be blood shot. She tried following him once, lost him in the forest right outside the village. She fears that he’s off looking for the man from the castle. Since that night, the night the man came to them, Cristian hasn’t been acting like himself. Crina feared for him, naturally. Despite everything, she truly did love Cristian and she knew he loved her; he just hasn’t been showing it lately.

Second, there have been bad omens surrounding Crina all week. Black cats,open graves, nuns and monks surrounding the village. Everything seemed wrong and off and it gave Crina a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. A feeling she couldn’t seem to shake. She knows this is an arranged marriage but the universe is telling her that she shouldn’t be marrying Christian.

And part of her, deep down inside, wonders if she should listen to the universe.

“Getting cold feet, Fluture?” A man’s voice behind Crina asks. Turning around, the bad feeling in her stomach jumped up into her throat when she sees the man from the castle standing in front of a mirror where her wedding dress is hanging from. She doesn’t know if she should be scared of the fact he’s in her chambers or the fact there is no reflection of him in the mirror. “You have no reason to be scared of me, Fluture. I come as a friend.”

“Wh-who are you?” Crina manages to stutter out. Her eyes never leaving the man’s in front of hers. And as he advances towards her, she can not move. She’s stuck like scared wild animal, knowing it’s fate of death.

“I’m Valentin Bathory.” He introduces himself with a bow. “I’m the one that’s going to save you.”

“Save me?” Crina’s voice is hysteric. “Save me from what?”

“Your future husband, Cristian.” He says it like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “Crina, you’re in grave danger with him.”

“Cristian is as harmless as a butterfly,” the tiny blonde scoffs. “He would never hurt me in a million years.”

“He isn’t your precious Cristian any more.” Valentin tries and reasons with Crina. “He’s changed. You can not tell me you have not noticed it before.”

“It’s just before wedding jitters,” Crina says, trying to reason with herself more than Valentin. “That is all. Cristian is nervous for today. It’s a big day for the both of us. He loves me, honest.”

“And you love him?”

“With all my heart.”

“You know where to find me, Fluture, if you need me.” Valentin takes Crina’s left hand and places his cold lips on top of it. A shiver dances up her spine as she pulls her hand away. “Soon, you’ll see that your precious Cristian is far from saving…”

Crina watches as the man in front of her disappears, leaving her to repeat his words over and over again in her head..

**

Valentin’s words kept with Crina throughout the day but she goes through with the wedding. Faking a smile, she marries Cristian. But she can’t help but to wonder what Valentin’s warning was about. Cristian seems back to his normal self as they celebrate their marriage with the village.

But once Cristian carries Crina over the threshold, things change. The smile that once was on Cristian’s lips fades and turns into a sinister looking smirk as he tosses his bride onto their bed.

“Cristian,” Crina lets out a nervous laugh as her husband climbs on top of her. She can smell the mead on his breath and see the dark look in his eyes. “What are you doing?” She questions as she tries to wiggle out from under him. “This isn’t you!”

“Crina, we need to consummate our marriage,” the sinister grin never leaves his lips as he pulls up the skirt of her dress. “They expect us to give them many, many heirs. You do not want to deny our people that, do you?” She can feel a hand ghost up her thigh, stopping at her undergarments.

She’s been dreaming about this night for weeks, but never thought it would be like this. She can just watch as he undresses himself, his now black eyes never leaving her grey. She’s frozen in fear as her new husband begins laughing as he violates her in every sense of the word...