Chapter 1
This is book two of a series. If you have not yet read Barbed Wire Butterfly Part One, please read that first as this book picks up where the first book left off and will not make much sense otherwise :)
I also will be putting an overall content warning, instead of individual warnings above the chapters. So please take into account this is the only content warning you will be getting.
Pease be warned this story will contain explicit imagery, crude language, scenes of violent nature, abuse, violent death, strong blood and gore.
Due to this, it is not suitable for any person below 18+ years of age. Reader discretion is advised.
And also thanks again for supporting me in reading my work :) I hope you enjoy ❤️
Someone had told her once that grief was the absence of love. That for it to exist, love had to have lived their once. Had she truly loved him, she did not know. Maybe it was just childish infatuation. A madness she had fed until it had consumed her and became an incurable obsession.
Well consider that obsession well and truly cured. It was hard at first. Being away from him. He had again left Court, fled from her after making she sure she kept her promise to stay.
Like a thief in the night, he stole away, taking any hope for their marriage with him.
Selfish bastard.
It hadn't got easier, she had just got stronger and as her infatuation for him dulled, so did her pain. A lot could change in just a mere six months. She certainly had. Axe had become a groundskeeper, alongside Ky, meaning that most of her disjointed little family now resided at Court, or at least on the Court grounds anyhow.
Meadow spent her days and nights in the hospital during the week and Axe and Ky travelled home to visit her on the weekends.
Strange to think that her name being called had changed all familiarity. It would have been easier to digest if it had been fate. A completely random event that set the dismantling of her family into motion.
But it hadn't been random. It had been calculated. By the devil himself. He'd picked her from hundreds, taken her from her family, forced her to fit into everything that was foreign to her. Tortured her, toyed with her, made love to her so intensely she still unwillingly revisited it in her dreams. And then he had destroyed her.
She hadn't seen him in those months he had been away, but she was extremely grateful for the distance no matter how much it hurt at first. She hadn't realised it being so close to him, but she had needed time to breathe. Needed time to come into herself, to stop clinging to him like he was the answer to every question, and pave her own way.
Surprisingly, although at first she had dreaded returning to the dining hall and other Court proceedings alone, she had found the ladies a little less frosty. Maybe it was out of pity, or just genuine concern, who was to truly know, but she had welcomed their white flag and tried to be a little more courteous in return. Most of them had left within weeks of each other, all falling pregnant and one by one returning home, while she remained, both childless and husbandless.
Then there was Josephine. At first Ordelia had been sceptical of her newfound kindness towards her, thinking it was some sort of ploy or trap. But it had been months now and she didn't seem as venomous as she once was. In fact, dare she admit it, Josephine could provide quite good company when she wanted. In a way, although she never out rightly admitted it, she almost seemed thankful that Ordelia had taken on the burden of marrying Ryker.
"He was a prize," she had told her. "One my father wanted for me more then I did."
Instead, Josephine had been picked by another. A giant of a man, with golden hair and a scar running through one of his striking blue eyes. He went by the name of Arran. Arran Volkov. A cousin to Ryker.
And if that same streak of cruelty running through the Volkov blood, extended to Arran, then Ordelia thought it would definitely be comforting to have at least one person who truley knew what she had suffered through. And so their friendship had blossomed, and all past grievances were put to rest, and buried beneath the pile of disgust and hatred they both felt towards the Volkov name.
One day, in a moment of true vulnerability Josephine had confided in her the real reason she was able to cope with such a cold marriage to a Arran. She had taken a lover. Originally, Ordelia had been slightly horrified at the revelation. But seeing the change in Josephine's demeanour when she spoke of her little secret, she couldn't help but feel happy for the women. She knew for a fact plenty of Guards did it all the time. So she supposed, why couldn't Josephine.
And so she found herself one warm summer evening, lapping up the last heat of the fading sun before the cool dusk air returned. Josephine lay one side of her, Juni the other. Being a maid, normally Juni would not have had such a luxury as sitting with Ordelia out in the open for all to see. But with Ordelia's new-found singularity, had come new-found confidence, and she had managed to strike up a deal with some members of The Order. In response to her good behavior, she wanted Juni to be afforded all the same liberties as any other woman at Court. She dined with them, walked the gardens with them, and gossiped with them. And in return Ordelia had been the perfect candidate for the campaign. Thankfully she had not been made to campaign with him just yet. These days she mostly found herself visiting all-girls schools, both Antrian and Coralucian, and feeding them nonsense about doing what was right for the people, and encouraging them to look to the opposite race for a future husband.
She had gotten pretty good at lying. Pretending all was well between her and Ryker, smiling and posing and waving just right. But she knew it was only a matter of time before the public started to pick up on the distance between them. Until then she enjoyed the company of Juni and Josephine. An unlikely trio. One that didn't quite fit together, but for some how they always found each other. A redhead, a dark brunette and a blonde, all lying staring at the sky.
"He's back you know. I saw Arran talking to him in the gardens yesterday, " stated Josephine.
Ordelia felt cold dread sink to her bones, knowing exactly who she was talking about.
"Do you think you will ever forgive him, Delia?" Juni asked, sitting up, picking at the grass around her. "You have been in an awful mood for months now. How I wish you would either move on and forget him, or forgive him."
Delia closed her eyes, trying to sink further into the grass. If only it were that simple. She couldn't forget. She couldn't leave. But neither could she forgive him. Either she would be breaking her promise to herself, or her promise to him. She was trapped. And he knew it.
If only she wasn't so honourable. Holding onto the Coralucian belief of never breaking a promise. Maybe she should be more Antrian. Less trustworthy.
"If only it were that easy," she muttered in response to Juni.
"Leave her alone," Josephine scalded Juni, in good humour. "She can't help herself. She's mesmerized by his di-"
"Don't you dare." Ordelia glowered, throwing her a warning look.
Juni giggled. "It surely couldn't be that amazing. You know....the lovemaking." She whispered, lowering her voice.
Josephine sighed dramatically, sitting up, cocking her head to one side.
"Oh Juni. Sweet, naive Juni. Never been touched by a man."
Juni flushed, fidgeting, her plucking at the grass growing a little more furious.
"I have so...been with men...just not...you know...like that."
Josephine lent over to her, brushing a stray auburn curl from her friend's shoulder, showing her she still meant well.
"Juni. Even if you had lain with a man. You truly hadn't had a proper man, until you have have lain with a Volkov."
She peeked mischievously through her lashes at the blushing girl. "They just know. They know every inch of the female body. Know what makes you weak at the knees. Know what makes you quiver and cry and scream their name in a way no one else can make you do."
Juni looked a little lost for a minute, a little flustered and sweaty, before she sniffed indignantly.
"They can't be all that wonderful if you feel you need to stray from your marriage vows to seek comfort in another man's arms"
Josephine's wicked gaze faltered for a mere second, a flash of sadness entering her eyes, before she smiled weakly.
"Well, I came to it I was much too whole to only be loved in halves. So I found another that gave me what Arran couldn't. Mavros gives me warmth and comfort. He doesn't slip into my bed chamber late at night, fuck me until I fear I can't walk, and then leave before I've even fallen asleep. Granted he may not be as pleasurable in the bedroom as Arran. But he talks to me, he holds me, he whispers the most sweetest of promises."
Juni groaned, rolling her eyes. "What sort of a world do we live in where it takes two men to truly meet the most basic of female needs."
Ordelia finally spoke, her annoyance evident from her tone. "I fear it's always been like that, Juni. The men can stray if they feel their wives are not performing as well as they should. Not meeting their every demanding need. Yet females have to suffer the bare minimum. Endure being treated as no more than a vessel for their seed to grow."
Josephine smiled, but a slight bitterness crept into her eyes, as she placed a hand over her womb.
"And what use is the vessel if it is broken inside? If it cannot do the one thing a woman is supposed to be able to do? Bear a child."
Ordelia immediately felt embarrassment wash over her, inwardly cursing herself for being so careless with her words. It had not officially been declared, but being that Arran and Josephine had been married for nearly a whole year, and been frequently intimate, but still not fallen with child, Josephine feared the worst. That she was after all barren, and unable to bear children.
"You can't place the blame solely on yourself, Josephine,' Juni said softly, placing a comforting hand on her friend's knee. "It could after all be just as much his fault."
Josephine's eyes grew dark, her demeanour brooding, nervously fiddling with the lace on her dress. Her fingers working fabric anxiously. Ordelia had seen her like this before. Right before she had first told her about Mavros. It was the tell tale sign she had something on her mind she wished to say, but was fighting with herself to keep it the secret it was supposed to be.
"Josephine?" She asked her, looking into her eyes worriedly. "What is it?"
The girl's eyes grew wide, sending a quick look around her.
"I'm not sure I should say," she whispered cautiously.
