It took some seconds for the intent of his decree to dawn on his withered bride. She climbed to her shaky feet, imploring him, “Ah, please no, sir. You take my pride, my hair, my self-respect, all that?”
He shook her off as she clutched his arm, while Caius grabbed the desperate woman with a firm hand. “If it takes robbing you of everything including your beauty, so shall it be. Besides, since we have the rest of your life to accomplish your surrender,” Mountbane went on, “what are a few months of abject degradation when eternity stretches before us? By the time your body has repaired from the bruises and your hair has grown to its full length, you will have succumbed.”
“No, I cannot,” she struggled with no results, but more frustration.
“Oh, but you can,” her husband countered. “And ga
