Earning the Love of a Princess-Chapter 82: Worth Nothing

Camilla stood up and carefully stepped off the large boulder where she had been sitting, idly dipping her toes in the creek water. Her ladies had returned to the castle earlier but she had wanted to enjoy the tranquility for a few more moments.

She couldn’t stay out much longer - it was time to head back and get dressed for yet another dinner full of false smiles and backstabbing.

Stepping onto the dirt, she picked up her shoes to slide them on when she heard a rustling sound nearby. Turning around, she found Richard Bentworth stepping out from behind shrubs. He leered at her.

"Princess, what are you doing here?"

"Nothing. I’m just leaving." she said flatly. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Richard smirked. "Haven’t I told you before that you risk your reputation by wandering around unaccompanied? Anyone would think you planned this just so you can meet a man here in secret."

Camilla frowned uneasily. "That’s untrue. I’m just heading back to the castle now." She quickly turned to walk away from him.

"Oh? I think you wanted me to find you here, little vixen." He lunged closer to her and grabbed her arm. She shook herself free and stumbled backwards.

"What are you trying to escape from? Isn’t this what you’ve wanted all along from me?" The cold glint in his eyes made her shudder with revulsion.

"No. Just leave me alone." She started to walk faster, eager to put distance between them. He started following her.

"Don’t make me chase you, little tease. I never lose a hunt." He lunged to grab her again.

Fear welling in her chest, Camilla started to run.

She heard Richard curse and his footsteps as he chased her. Camilla tried holding her long skirt out of the way as she stumbled across the forest floor, barefoot. She had no idea what direction she was headed but kept running, too scared to look backwards.

Suddenly, she tripped over a tree root, which brought her to her knees. Ignoring the pain, she hurriedly tried to scramble to her feet and keep running.

At that moment, a heavy weight collided hard with the back of her. It sent her sprawling face down onto the ground and knocked the air out of her lungs completely. She felt Richard panting in her ear.

"I told you not to run. Now you’ve angered me."

He then flipped her over on to her back with such force, the back of her head hit the ground hard. Camilla lay stunned for a moment while Richard clambered onto her, using his greater height and weight to hold her in place.

Camilla was so stunned, her thoughts seemed to freeze. "Stop! What are you doing?" she cried, thrashing under his weight.

"Stop pretending you’re a virgin. Isn’t this what you let William do to you?" He sat stradding her thighs and pinned both of her arms over her head in his large hands. He squeezed his grip, making her wrists throb as if they were being clamped by a vice.

"No! I don’t!" What did William have to do with any of this? Camilla shook her head and her voice quavered as she started to shake with fear. "Please, Richard. Don’t do this."

"You mean Sir Richard!" He rumbled, smirking. "I’m a revered knight and the son of one of the greatest noble families in Islia. You’re just a nobody that belongs nowhere. So what gives you the right to act like you’re too good for me?"

"I didn’t! I’m sorry...l-I-" Camilla was stuttering now, willing to say anything to appease him but not sure what the words should be.

"Stop lying, slut." One of his hands let go of her wrists and started groping her chest. "All this time you’ve pretended to ignore me. But you knew you were leading me on, didn’t you?" He suddenly pinched her nipple viciously through her dress.

Camilla cried out in pain, starting to cry in earnest now. "No! Please..." she struggled to get the words out.

"That’s right. Beg me, like the worthless nothing you are. This is what you get when you tease a man for months."

She squeaked with terror as she felt Richard’s hand roughly pulling up her skirt. She wriggled and thrashed harder to try to escape when suddenly his hand was cupping her bare flesh, where no man had touched her before. Before she could react, she felt his finger push hard inside of her. Then a second finger pierced her.

Camilla screamed then, as loud as she could. She didn’t care if anyone heard or about her reputation. All she wanted was for the stinging pain to end.

"Shut up!" he hissed at her, grabbing her head across her forehead and smacking it down against the bumpy ground a couple of times.

Camilla started to see stars from the pain in the back of her head but kept on screaming. Then she felt her breath cut off entirely as Richard pressed his forearm across her throat.

She stared at him with wild, panicked eyes as she felt herself suffocating. Richard grinned down at her.

"I told you to shut up but you weren’t listening. Don’t worry, though. I won’t let you faint." He gave her neck another squeeze and laughed. "You women are much more fun when you fight back."

He finally lifted his forearm from her neck and she gasped. Camilla took huge desperate gulps of air, unable to scream. Richard kept laughing.

He continued thrusting his fingers into her repeatedly, the painful sensation mixing with her intense horror and humiliation. His sour breath was hot in her ear as leaned down and whispered, "You’re enjoying this, aren’t you? I can tell." He licked her ear and neck hungrily, then dragged his wet tongue to her cleavage.

Camilla shook her head again, almost choking on the sobs threatening to overwhelm her. How would any woman enjoy this?

"Don’t lie. All you whores are the same. You kick and cry and pretend you don’t want it. You all want it."

Richard then pulled his hand back abruptly and looked at it. They could both see blood on his fingers. Laughing, he remarked, "So, you really are still a maiden. I’m surprised. I was so sure you’d already given it away to Will."

Camilla could only keep gasping for air as the tears continued to spill down her cheeks. Her throat felt almost bruised shut.

Shifting his weight over her so she was still pinned down by his legs, he sat up somewhat and started unlacing his breeches. He grinned at her as he lowered his breeches. "I’m going to enjoy this even more now."

She shook with terror, trying to wrest herself away. She had to keep fighting, no matter how futile her efforts. Richard brought his knee down between her legs with his full weight behind him, using it to bruise her thigh and pry her legs open. Another hoarse, almost silent scream tore from her throat.

Suddenly, Richard froze. A faraway look crossed his face as if her were straining to listen to something in the distance.

Camilla could hear voices. Faint, faraway but definitely voices.

She went limp with relief and gratitude as Richard scrambled to a standing position, hastily re-lacing his breeches tight. He stood over her and cursed under his breath as he listened. "Hunters," he hissed in disgust.

He then glared at the trembling, tear streaked girl on the ground with cold fury and barked at her, "Get up. Clean yourself up and head back to court. You look like a fucking mess. And I don’t have to tell you to keep your mouth shut about this, you little slut. No one will believe you anyway."

With a swiftness that defied his bulky build, Richard slipped away and disappeared into the thick greenery.

Camilla waited a few moments, then lifted herself on her elbows. She gingerly sat up while pushing her skirts down to cover her legs. As she stood up on shaking legs, a stabbing pain rippled across her back. Looking down, she saw that she’d been lying on several sharp rocks.

Her knees threatened to buckle when the full force of what had just happened hit her. Despite the fear and the horror, she knew it could’ve been even worse if it hadn’t been for the nearby hunters.

Camilla stood up, braced against a nearby tree trunk. She was disoriented but she couldn’t just stay in the forest, could she?

So she started to walk slowly towards the court, using the sun, which was now hanging lower in the sky, to guide her direction. She winced as branches and the uneven ground of the forest floor stung her feet. She had no idea where her shoes were.

It could’ve been worse, she repeated to herself with every hesitant step. It could’ve been far worse. She had to hold on to that thought.

Eventually, Magdaline Castle came into view amongst the trees. Camilla knew she had to look as if everything was normal before the court’s avid eyes.

She ran her hands through her messy hair to smooth it and make sure there were no leaves or twigs tangled in it. She wiped her wet cheeks and smoothed down her long skirt, to look as presentable as possible. Then she walked as normally as she could across the southern gardens until she reached a small archway that lead to a secondary corridor. She stepped inside the cool, dark corridor, determined to sneak into her rooms before her tears started to fall again.

It could’ve been worse.