Always, always, he would drag me out andfuckme, forcing those strange, ungodly convulsions out of me. I wassunkin wickedness, surrounded by its power.
How could I escape him?
And then one Sunday my husband told me we were going to church at St. Mary’s.
I could not help being excited. I knew we were isolated at Grayspires, butsomewherethere were other people. Other people who might help me escape.
I fumbled with one of the shapeless, gray gowns as best I could. I did not want to think about who had been in my room before me, or which long-dead Nightshade family member had left them there.
My own clothing and possessions that Gideon had promised to have shipped had never arrived, of course, so I only had these spare dresses. I was despairing of being ready to go, but luckily Mariam arrived just in time to slap my hands away and help me get dressed, then wind my thick hair into an updo.
Despite her muttered mumblings about useless little chits, I was able to make myself presentable by the time the carriage pulled up.
Ada was already inside, a smug look on her face.
“Get in,” Gideon said. “You may sit right next to my sister.”
It was a bitter drink to be forced to share space with his mistress.
“Is that why Grayspires is falling down?” I asked as I got inside. “God is judging you for sleeping with your sister.”
The smug smile slid from Ada’s face.
“You little brat,” she snapped. “You know very well I’m not really his sister.”
“Oh, really?” I asked, widening my eyes at her. “But my husband said you were. And he would never lie, would he?”
Gideon squeezed his big body inside and sat down next to Ada.
“Grayspires is not falling down.”
Oh, so perhaps he hadoneweakness. Grayspires.
“Lying is a sin,” I said. “I can’t sin on Sundays.”
His eyes flickered once, only once, as his boot landed on my dress. When I tried to pull it away, he only ground it harder into the floor of the carriage.
“Youarelying. And now because of your disrespect you may watch me fuck my mistress all the way to church.”
"Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion," I thought as Ada threw her leg over Gideon and climbed on.
That verse could only be about my husband, a restless, roaming man with ambition crawling underneath his skin.
But ambition for what? Why had a man with ambition married me? It wasn’t out of kindness.
Ada turned with a smug smile, and her wet cunny made a gushing sound as she ground down over his cock.
"What an odd little country gown," she said to me. “You look like a scullery maid in that.”
Instead of letting her goad me, I opened up the Bible I had procured from the Grayspires Library.
“The mouth of an adulterous woman is a deep pit, only a man who is under God’s wrath falls for her deception.”
Gideon bared his teeth at me as his hips thrust into his mistress’ cunny.
“I fear no God. I’ve already been to hell and back. You can’t frighten me, you little idiot.”
“You, Gideon Nightshade, are an evil man. And you will come to a bad end.”
