Till Death Do Us Part

A/N: Well, not much to say except "here's the next chapter!" Oh, and I need at least 37 or 38 reviews or I WILL NOT update!

I want to thank all my reviewers again! If no one had reviewed then I wouldn't have continued to write this! Just remember when you review to leave me some comments about how I can improve my writing ability!

To Storyjunkie: I took your advice and got rid of that Author's Note because you were right about it, but I'm not impressed with your little snide remark about you not liking interruptions. I couldn't care less. If you didn't want to read the Author's Note there's button called "Next Chapter". Your snide comment about "not drawn in" and "I'm leaving to reconsider reading this" is not appreciated either. Again, I don't care. I have a whole host of other people who adore this story.

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~Chapter V: Captured Heart~

Without going to the trouble of opening her eyes, Caecelija stretched, sighing with contentment. It was so very warm and cozy, and she felt like she never wanted to awaken. The thick aroma of incense didn’t help matters at all as it coaxed her to fall back into an even deeper sleep.
She rolled over, pillowing her face on a fat, silk pillow. Her body was draped with something heavy and soft. It was so much better than the cold, hard iron-cast bed she was forced to sleep on with its thin and gritty blankets.

What happened to me? Where am I? Caecelija pondered, her mind still thick with drowsiness.

Then she felt a pair of hands cup her face, bringing it into a chaste kiss.

Now she remembered what happened.

“You ass…” Caecelija growled, eyes drifting open slowly. She tried to push him away, but she was still very weak and tired.

“Such hurtful words, Ceci,” Luther murmured, brushing his lips against her own. “It would almost appear that you don’t care for me much.”

Caecelija was angry---very angry.

She wasn’t upset that he’d lied to her---technically he didn’t since she was the one who assumed that he’d been a merchant while the golden-haired man had never given her a conclusive response. She wasn’t even that upset that he was the most powerful asshole in the universe.

Caecelija was pissed over the fact that she could barely move. What did Luther do to her? She felt as though gravity was pushing firmly, yet gently, against her body. The thick smell of the incense was making her feel unreasonably tired.

“What’d you do to me?” she asked weakly. “Why can’t I move?”

The King of Ariadne looked questioningly at the nearly immobile girl for a second or two before closely examining her.

He lifted her wrist where it just dangled helplessly in his elegant hand as he checked her pulse; he waved a finger back and forth over her half-lidded eyes; and finally he leaned in close to her chest to check her breathing.

“Yes, it seems that my incense acts as a sedative to humans,” he replied casually. “It’s a special aroma from my planet. It’s supposed to be relaxing and it calms the nerves, but it seems it’s a little too strong for a human.”

“Oh…” Caecelija replied dully.

Luther waved hand toward the French windows at his left and they sprung open as a powerful gust of wind flooded the room. Caecelija shivered, but then the wind had ceased and the windows closed.

The powerful, foreign aroma had dissipated.

“Come on, Ceci,” Luther said as he removed his black, velvet cape from her body and lifted her from the sofa where she had slept all night.

“What’re you doing?” she demanded, still helpless---still weak.

“Hush,” Luther said simply as he sat her upright in a wooden-back chair. “Now, let’s see…” he proceeded to massage the girl’s shoulders.

Caecelija purred in contentment as Luther’s strong hands eased her bunched muscles, his fingers digging into knots.

“Does that feel nice, Ceci?” he asked rhetorically. “Though it seemed to act as a sedative on you, the incense appears to have paralyzed your muscles. Just relax, sweetling, and let me ease them back into mobility.”

Caecelija’s eyes closed.

“Don’t fall asleep,” he added.

It was hard not to fall asleep---not completely due to the incense, but because of Luther’s blissful ministrations on her small body. Luther’s hands were articulate and soothing---Caecelija could feel him easing her frozen into what felt like mush. She could tell that Luther had done this many times before, and she couldn’t help but feel a bit jealous. But of course Luther had had many lovers way before her. He was the King---he could have anyone he desired.

Caecelija wondered if Luther had meant what he said to her last night, if he really did want to be with her forever. But she was only thirteen, and had no idea about the concept of love. Surely she couldn’t be mature enough to make such a decision. Luther was the first person Caecelija had ever been with and even then she wasn’t sure if her feelings were nothing more than a school-girl’s crush. Now she was being asked to get married! Surely it took longer for someone to know whether they were in love or not…or did it?

On the other hand: why should she decline Luther’s proposal? Even in her child’s mind she understood what was being offered to her. Marrying Luther would be she would get to be queen (or would she be special like Luther and get the capital “Q” and be “Queen”?). Caecelija would no longer have to suffer the injustices that she had to go through in her life. The joke would be on everyone now! Her teachers and fellow peers that made her suffer (the matron and the orphans were dead so she ruled that out automatically). It was like one of those fairytale stories where the prince chooses the silly, little maidservant over the princess, and Caecelija was the maidservant. But did they really live happily ever after when the story ended? It was a hypothesis---one that Caecelija was willing to test. Would Luther love and adore her forever while she lived a life of luxury? Something told her that Luther would never consider tossing her aside.

Her limbs weren’t so tense anymore and she found that she could move them a bit more. Her golden-haired angel truly did have a therapeutic touch.

“Caecelija,” Luther said as he grasped her small hand and began tracing his fingertips against her palm, “I can’t understand your feelings if you do not voice them out to me.”

“Huh?” she looked startled. How did he always know when she was contemplating her own feelings?

He seemed to understand that last thought as well. “I always know when you’re thinking of me, Ceci,” he answered. “So, tell me, sweetling. Tell me your feelings.”

He continued to pacify Caecelija with his sweet touches as she said: “Where do we stand now, Luther?”

“Stand, Ceci? I thought I made that quite clear the night before. You have yet to answer my question.”

“What will happen if I say “yes”?” she looked up into his icy-blue eyes.

“I thought that was quite obvious,” Luther replied. “Are you not supposed to be the brilliant prodigy? What happens when someone accepts a proposal? They get married, of course!”

“I meant what’s going to happen to me? Everyone knows your reputation. The thought of you being committed to one person is pretty laughable.” Caecelija looked down at her feet. “I don’t want to be your wife only to take the back seat to one of your many mistresses…or your occasional male-plaything.”

“You’ve thought about this, Ceci,” Luther said, “and in such a short amount of time…”

“I’m not that stupid,” Caecelija countered.

“Of course you’re not for if you were, I would not have wasted my time with you.”

The little girl wasn’t sure if she should take that as a compliment or an insult. Then again, this was the high and mighty King. She supposed he hadn’t intended to hurt her feelings.

“I admit that I’ve never felt this way, Ceci,” he continued. “For someone like you to elicit such a feeling from the depths of my cruel heart must mean that I find you more than special. This is beneficial for the both us us. One: I marry you for both love and also to get out of what would have been a disastrous marriage with Princess Adelaide. Two: I can make you happy. You are much too young to truly understand the concept of what’s about to happen to you---much too young to perhaps understand what love is. I’m taking advantage of you due to your age, but when have I ever let something stop me from obtaining something that I desire?”

“I want to stay with you,” Caecelija muttered after Luther’s wordy speech. “You’re the only person that made me feel wanted.”

“Perhaps, when you’re older you’ll fall in love with me the way I’ve fallen for you, but I will just have to make do with what I have now.”

Luther ceased his touches on Caecelija. She could move again, although her muscles still felt a little stiff. He moved over to the French windows and stared out into the pale-grey sky. The snow from Christmas night had subsided covering the ground in a fluffy blanket of white powder.

“And what if I say ‘no’?” Caecelija asked cautiously. She had to ask---to know what we would do.

“I’ve destroyed your only home, Ceci,” he said absently staring at the snowy ground. “If you did decide to seek refuge elsewhere…I’d hunt you down. I would be prepared to level any place where you might hide. I may not even have to go through the trouble of doing that. I am the King. The humans would be more than willing to hand you to me on a silver platter to save their own lives.” He brushed a golden tendril from his eyes. “I would be lying if I said I wouldn’t do anything to have you. If I must, sweetling, I will force you into submission, but know now that I would never harm you. I have ways of making a person bend to me without hurting them physically.”

Caecelija clenched her teeth. Luther was a very scary man, and what he said scared her, but at the same time it was enticing. What things could he do to her that would make her bend without hurting her? That thought excited her, but as for why she did not know. She had never felt this way before.

“You’re thinking again, Ceci…” Luther said without even looking at her.

How did he always know?

“I’m keeping it to myself,” she said.

They were then interrupted by light rap on the door.

“Luther?” It was Futaba.

“You may enter,” he said.

Caecelija’s eyes were greeted by the dark-haired woman in a purple kimono that flattered her figure.

She was jealous at the woman’s mature beauty.

“What is it, Futaba?” Luther turned to look at his friend.

“I’ve contacted Lachlan; he isn’t too happy that---“

She stopped in the middle of her speech to look at the small little girl seated in the chair.

“Oh, look at her, Luther!” she squealed running over to Caecelija to dote over her like an over-bearing mother. “She’s adorable! She definitely has the Lolita seductiveness!”

She’s almost like Pennelo… Caecelija looked annoyed. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

Futaba continued to pinch her cheeks and sift those beautiful hands through her hair. It was odd. Caecelija wasn’t used to this kind of attention she just started receiving two months ago.

“Don’t bruise my fiancée, Futaba,” Luther said amusedly. “Finish what you were telling me.”

Futaba reluctantly let go of Caecelija.

“Well, I contacted Lachlan, and he wasn’t pleased with your antics,” she began once more, but in a falsely concerned voice. “My poor brother has suffered so much as that wench’s hand, and you, his best friend, have left him there while you played with Caecelija.”

“Lachlan is my tool,” Luther jested. “He will get over himself. Did you tell him that we would be leaving?”

“Yes, I did, but I’m sure he has intentions of murdering you for your treachery. “ Futaba smiled.

“Well, Lachlan will always be Lachlan, now won’t he?”

“Lachlan’s a friend of yours?” Caecelija asked meekly.

“Yes,” Futaba answered for Luther. “They are the best of friends, but your dear Luther has a tendency of using my older brother as a scapegoat so he can dodge certain responsibilities. Lachlan is constantly pretending to be the King, and he gets fed up with it, but always does my brother continue to do him favors. That shows that he really values their friendship.”

Caecelija looked at Luther. “You shouldn’t treat your friend like that!” she chastised. “He’s doing all these favors for you so you can escape your obligations! Don’t you do anything for him?”

“Oh, I do things for Lachlan,” Luther smirked.

“Things you can’t do for him anymore,” Futaba corrected.

Luther said nothing.

“Huh?” Caecelija looked confused, then finally understood the hidden innuendo and blushed.

“Lachlan isn’t going to be happy at all,” Futaba continued. “He’s lost his favorite playmate. At least if you’d chosen Adelaide you wouldn’t feel any guilt bringing Lachlan into your bed.”

“Lachlan has other playmates,” Luther countered, ignoring the red-faced Caecelija. “Hasn’t he that young human slave-boy Skye? He seems quite taken with him. Sleeping with Lachlan was merely my payment to him for his services.”

Futaba was about to speak when a girl with strawberry-blonde hair came crashing through the door looking disheveled.

“Pennelo?” Caecelija looked bewildered. “You’re okay!”

“Yes, but she’s so clumsy,” Futaba said with an amusedly look on her face. “As a bounty-hunter, one would expect her to have more grace, but I like her the way she is.”

Pennelo growled.

“You’re a bounty-hunter?” Caecelija questioned. “I thought you were a college student?”

“I’ll explain that to you later,” Pennelo said. “Anyway, I just came to check on you, but it seems like you guys are busy, so…”

“Oh no, it doesn’t matter, we’re leaving now, anyway,” Futaba said.

“Leaving?" Caecelija asked.

“Yes, my ship should be here by now,” Luther said more to himself.

“And it’s about time!” Futaba said haughtily. “Quite frankly, I’ve had enough of this dump of a planet!”

“Me and Caecelija are both from this planet!” Pennelo said scandalized.

“It’s a dump, Pennelo,” Caecelija said simply.

“You’ve just never been to the nicer places on Earth,” Pennelo retorted.

Luther merely left the room pulling out a sleek, silver device---a phone---from inside his robes.

“Come on, come on!” Futaba motioned to the two girls. “He’s calling his men to come and get us. Let’s go, we already have all of your things Caecelija.” Futaba paused and thought for a moment. “No, perhaps from now on I should call you My Lady or your highness.”

Caecelija found herself blushing again. She hadn’t even said “yes” to Luther, but he probably figured what her answer was anyway. Also, it was like he’d said only a couple of minutes previous: she didn’t have a choice.

Pennelo took Caecelija’s hand in her own and they followed Futaba out of Luther’s room.

The man seemed to be in deep conversation with someone, and Caecelija didn’t really pay attention to what he was saying. All she could do was think---think about her current situation.

I’m going to Ariadne. The thought had finally sunk into her brain. I’m going to Ariadne to get married and I may never come back to this place.
It wasn’t that she was sorry about it. She just couldn’t believe that she would be leaving like this. She had always told herself that when she was older she’d hopefully be able to fly far away from the tiny area where she lived---to another country---no---to another galaxy to become and engineer. She supposed her wish had come true, but the circumstances were far beyond what she could’ve ever hoped for. Maybe Luther would still let her invent on Ariadne. She hoped that he could provide her with special, foreign materials so that she could finally make her ideas a reality. If she remembered correctly, he was supposed to be the best when it came to engineering.

“Pardon me for a moment,” Luther said to the person with whom he was conversing, and then turned to look at Caecelija. “You’re thinking again, Ceci. Care to tell me later?”

That was the one thing that would most likely irritate her and fascinate her at the same time: Luther’s uncanny and annoying ability to always know when she was contemplating. Did Ariadnians have the ability to read minds?

“Yeah,” she replied half-heartedly. “Yeah…later…”

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