The lamp had been extinguished hours ago, and darkness lay as heavily over her as Jason’s arm. Her eyes were opened, staring sightlessly up at the ceiling and imagining now the hairline cracks and marks that she had long ago memorized. She was waiting for the three words on which her nights had come to rely: “You may go.” But Jason kept putting them off tonight.
He had settled beside her and continued to trace his fingers slowly over her arm, a feather light caress that she deliberately kept from thinking about. She was tired but had grown accustomed to getting less sleep. Still, her eyes grew heavy, and she wanted nothing more than to return to the tiny little room that was hers.
Beside her Jason shifted, and she felt him move to lean over her, though she knew he could not see her any better than she could see him. The moon was hidden tonight behind a bank of clouds, the stars eclipsed, and there was nothing to reveal to her the expression on his face.
“Abigail?” His whisper pierced the night.
“Yes, Master?”
“Why do you still resist me?”
She froze at the question, each muscle going taut until she could have passed for a work of stone. “I do not, Master.”
He brushed the tips of his fingers over her cheek. “You still call me Master, when I asked you to call me Jason. You still get tense every time I touch you. You still enter my chamber every night as though you hope I will send you away.”
To that truth she had no answer.
“I give you pleasure, Abigail. You know it is true, as much as you may wish to deny it. Your body responds to my touch, even if your mind does not.”
Yes, her body was traitorous. It was a sin as dark as the night around her, but she would not make it worse by welcoming it.
His fingers stroked over her eyes, forcing them closed, then settled lightly there to keep them that way. “I want you to relax, beloved. I want you to be comfortable with me.” He paused a moment, and she tried to open her eyes, but he would not let her. “You will stay with me. I want you to sleep in my arms. I want you to wake up to my face. I want to consume your thoughts as you do mine.”
Her muscles sagged, but he surely knew it was more in defeat than acceptance. He would take from her the only time of privacy she had, and he would do so knowing very well what it was he was demanding. He would control her in what ways he could until he controlled her in what ways he wanted.
He ran his lips softly over hers. “Go to sleep now, sweet one. You can rise at your normal hour, and no one will know the difference.”
No one but her.
*
“I know.” Ester released a resigned sigh. “I will put it off no longer. First thing in the morning, Cleopas, I swear to you I will ask Abigail if she wishes to marry Andrew. I will not even wait for the meal. I will rise when you do and ask her immediately.”
Cleopas smiled and drew her close to his chest. “I know this has been hard on you, my love.”
“You have been so patient, my husband.” Ester snuggled against him. “And generous to even give me this choice, then to allow me to give it to Abigail. Most women have no such say in their marriages.”
Cleopas squeezed her shoulders and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “And we could have done the same with Abigail, binding her to a man of the city. I am sure you are right, that there would be many eager to take such a beautiful woman into their house, in spite of being an orphan and then a slave. But you do realize by now, do you not, that Abigail deserves more than a stranger?”
Ester let out her breath slowly and nodded. “When I told her of how you and I met and were married, of how we had come so quickly to love each other, she said she wished for that. I hope that you are right, and that with Andrew she will find it. Abigail deserves happiness.”
“She does. And Andrew knows as no one else could exactly how precious she is. He understands her, and he loves her. I think he has proven how much in his patience.”
Ester smiled, even chuckled a bit. “He has. The poor man, he probably despises me for making him wait so long.”
Cleopas laughed too, and kissed her. “Impossible. No one could despise you. There is no one in the world so lovable.”