Maxi vs. The Duke

Truth Be Told

"W-Who?" Riftan choked out. "Tell me who did this to you."

"It's not as simple as giving you a name," Maxi said gently.

"I don't care," Riftan spat, "if they are the most important person on the face of the damn continent. I will ring their throat slowly for laying their hands on you."

"It's more complicated than that," Maxi said.

"Then please Maxi, tell me so that I can understand," Riftan said.

"Hold me a while longer, please," Maxi implored as she once again buried her face in his firm chest.

He could never refuse her, especially when she sounded so sad and forlorn.

They held each other close until the last of the embers glowing in the ashes of the fire had burnt out.

Maxi let out a slow, tired sigh before looking up at her husband. He reached out and caressed her face, gently running his thumb over the dark bruises that outlined her injury. 

"I never thought I was good enough," she began, "I never wanted you to find out...how...how useless I am. I thought if I could earn my place then I could always stay by your side. That's why I often trained until I would collapse and I'm so sorry that it frightened you. I had to work hard because I thought I would run out of time to prove my worth to you. I wanted to be useful, become helpful so that you wouldn't cast me aside when you realized I was truly nothing but a worthless embarrassment."

"Maxi, you're not..you never had to..." Riftan struggled to comprehend her words and why she would see herself like this.

"He made me believe I was nothing." Maxi said quietly. "He told me how worthless I was over, and over again. That I was nothing and I would never be more than the dirt beneath his boot."

"But appearance is everything. He wanted me to be perfect so he tried to help my speech improve with corrective measures." Maxi said as she stared straight ahead as though in a daze. The truth tumbled from her lips unyielding now having been finally allowed to be free. "He had me read a poem or a short story, and when I would make a mistake he would strike me with a whip or his cane, whichever was closer."

Riftan listened intently but he could hardly believe his ears.

"How long Maxi?" he muttered softly, rage boiling beneath his tone.

"It started three days after my eighth name day when my way of speaking became noticeably worse." Maxi continued. "These lessons took place twice a week in his study. The healers patched me up after every session so that my skin wouldn't bear any imperfections.This continued until you returned from the dragon campaign. Had I known I could have cared for our home during that time, had I known I was allowed to escape, but he kept such knowledge from me and therefore I appeared to be a negligent wife who shunned her duties when you came to rescue me."

Riftan stood silent, slowly allowing her words to crash into him.

"The t-thing I hate is m-myself." she had once said to him. How strange her words had sounded then but now it became so clear.

Riftan wasn't quite sure what to feel at that moment. Shock, bewilderment, fury, confusion, and disgust nearly choked him. Before long one singular emotion outranked them all: unbridled rage.

"My father hurt me for many years. He continued to beat me during the campaign, after you and I were married." she said not bothering to hold back the tears that now spilled from her eyes. "He robbed me of any potential confidence I had in myself. He has always hated me, he still does. He is the one who struck me."