Rape of a Heart
The servants let him in without a question. He was known around the tower estate as one of the mistress's most recent lovers. They opened the portcullis for him without reservation, and did not look twice when he headed up the stairs to her chambers without saying a word.
She was spread out on the lascivious red cushions and bedding, still dressed, her face wearing the remnants of tears, her lips open in a soft sighing frown. As he leaned in close to her ebon skin, he could smell rum on her breath.
She had fallen asleep drunk after her engagement ceremony, her new fiancé departing for lands unknown for who knew how long. And she had cried herself to sleep.
The dark elf shadow knight slowly shook the wizardess by the shoulder. Her white hair covered her face like a mist as she turned her head and looked up and around. Then she saw him, and her blue skin paled visibly.
He put a finger on his lips and shook his head back and forth, cautioning her to silence.
Sidhe knew something was wrong the moment she looked into his impassive steely grey eyes. He held no emotion there, he was colder than ever. She stood up when he pulled on her arm, and put on her cloak when he handed it to her.
"Now," he whispered.
"Take us to the desert and to your desert house."
Sidhe nodded and recalled the portal spell that would move herself and whoever was with her to the northern end of the vast coastal desert. Then she was casting it and they were gone from the tower.
No one saw them leave, and no one bothered to check on the sleeping lady of the house.
He took her by the hand as soon as the portal opened on the sunken pyramid surface in the hot sand, and began to lead her off towards the grasslands near the human port city. Sidhe followed, stumbling lightly. Her head still ached and her mind was dazed, confused as to what was going on.
What did he want with her? What was he up to?
Part of her heart was glad to see him, ever so glad. The love she felt for him was welling up in her chest. But right after it came the guilt, the sense that she had betrayed him by allowing her kin to arrange her marriage to a most powerful and wealthy wizard, in order to create ties that would bind the man to her House forever.
Days ago she had lost this lover who now so angrily dragged her over the dunes. He did not want marriage to her, but he wanted her to marry no other in his place. He did not understand the culture from which she came, and remained true to, one he and so many others had abandoned so long ago.
The sun was setting over the desert, and a cool breeze was coming in from the ocean to the east. The air was chill against her hot skin, and she was thankful the sun was finally declining. Drow did not do well in its penetrating glare. They wooed the night like a goddess they could worship, and she could feel her mind clearing, her thoughts becoming more lucid as the powers of the dark came over the land.
The more she thought about this sudden journey, the more she began to become afraid. His hand was gripping hers painfully, and he was making straight for the little bungalow home she owned. The one story building with its few large rooms was tucked against the side of a cliff, well protected from any outside forces. It was one of many such estates in the area, yet it was set apart from the rest by a goodly distance.
No one outside would hear what occurred inside.
For a moment, Sidhe considered fleeing her lover's grip. She tested his fingers, and he only held onto her's tighter, looking back at her over his shoulder. Something in his gaze seemed to dare her to try to escape his wrath.
Wisely, she chose not to do what he seemed to be challenging her to do.
A patio of stone was carved into the cliff face, and he led her to it. In the shadows, she could see a tall Northsman, a barbarian man standing there in desert leathers. He had his back to the two oncoming Drow, unable to see as well as they could in the quickening twilight.
Her lover hissed, and the man turned around, nodding and following the sound blindly. Then they were standing at the door to her estate.
Sidhe looked at them both, and gulped.
"Open it!" her lover hissed.
And she did, giving the password to the magickal seal on the door. As the door opened and the servants became visible, trapped spirits bound to the house and to whoever owned it, her lover pushed her hard and she fell to the floor.
The door closed behind the barbarian, sealed once more.
Sidhe turned slowly to the dark elf man walking arrogantly around the main room.
"Dismiss the servants," he said.
"We won't be needing them for some time."
He pulled off his gauntlets and she watched him, nodding to the mindless beings and noting to herself that they didn't truly disappear when dismissed but hung around unseen. They had no minds of their own, no wills and no thoughts, so in times past she had not taken them into consideration. But now, suddenly, she wished they truly were not going to stay.
The Drow male looked at her, then he laughed at where she still lay half sprawled on the floor of the room.
"You are so pathetic," he said, snickering.
But the tones in his voice spoke a dozen other things. She would not be a woman if she did not acknowledge the hate and the pain there. She gulped in the thickness of his anger, his disgust, and his hatred.
All of which were directed at her.
He hated her. He was disgusted with her. And his wrath seemed to hold no bounds.
Maybe he will beat me, she thought, eyeing the nearby windows and their latches.
His cold blue eyes followed hers and he laughed again. Then he nodded to the barbarian.
"Pick her up."
Sidhe tried to struggle but the tall Northsman was many times stronger than her. She didn't have time to cast a single spell, or even recall which would be best just now. The barbarian picked her up in both hands, holding her tightly against his chest. The Drow man walked into the back bedroom, and the barbarian followed, carrying the struggle wizardess.
The room contained a great fireplace, always lit, for cool nights just like this. Sticking out from one of the curved walls was a bed, big enough for two but not the most royal or elegant of furniture. The table nearby was also more practical than extravagant.
This house had once belonged to Ubique, and before her, a barbarian lover she had come to have had owned it. He had been Ubique's first lover, first among all men. And when he had married another, he had given Ubique this home with which to begin to build her own fortune.
Once Sidhe had married one of Ubique's own allies, the Drow warrior had given her wizardess slave the estate, a pretense of freedom or so it had always seemed to Sidhe. Ubique gave her many things to remind her she was an equal in their House, but she also did the small subtle things to show Sidhe that she was still owned, and still belonged to someone else.
The recent marriage contract, for instance - important to Sidhe's sisters in Ubique's guild, but of near to no value to Sidhe. She appreciated Ubique's choice of partner of course, just as she had the last time. This time, her silly heart wasn't involved, whereas last time, when her husband had left her for another dimension, Sidhe had cried big fat human-like tears over the high elf Ubique had meant her to marry only for political reasons.
This time, Sidhe cried not for her future husband. She had fallen asleep weeping drunkenly over the man who now glared at her with a gaze so full of hate that it itched her skin all over and caused her soul to shrivel inside.
The Drow male nodded at the bed, and the Northsman tossed Sidhe onto it, the mattress creaking from the strength of his throw. Sidhe stayed absolutely still, eyes wide and panic-filled.
"Did you miss me, my ‘love'," the Drow said.
His voice was thick with venom as he sat in a wooden chair at the table. He slouched slightly, his frame full of confidence and ire.
Whatever he had planned, he knew he wouldn't get caught. And he obviously had something very wicked in mind.
Sidhe gulped and looked up at the Northsman.
"This is my friend," her lover said to her.
"He's going to help me teach you a lesson. Do you know what lesson I'm going to teach you?"
Sidhe looked back at the man speaking, and blinked. Then she shook her head.
He looked away from her and began to pull off his armor until he was wearing only his softer, more comfortable leathers. Then he tilted his head, running a hand through his short white hair.
"Once upon a time, not so long ago, you gave yourself to me."
His voice was hard as mithril, and yet as low and smooth as poison in wine. And he wouldn't look at her, his eyes ran over the room, the fire, anywhere but at her.
"You said you loved me, and only me. You swore you had no other lovers, that you gave your body to only me. And I believed you, Sidhe."
"But I didn't! I still -"
"Silence, bitch!" he spat.
His eyes were on her now, and he was ready to leap out of his chair, his fingers clenching reflexively.
She thought she could almost feel them on her throat.
He wanted to kill her, if not hurt her terribly. She put a hand to her neck, and backed up on the bed.
As if seeing the fear in her eyes, and liking it, he squinted at her a moment. Then he chuckled, sitting back in his chair and resting one hand on the tabletop. His short nails drummed on the wooden surface as he studied her.
"You are still mine. You will always be mine. And I've spent some time thinking of how to show this to you. How best to remind you of what you said to me, and what you gave to me."
His eyes went to the Northsman, who was grinning wickedly down at Sidhe. And as she followed his gaze, and looked up into the face of the tall, solidly built barbarian, she cringed, her mind reeling suddenly with her predicament.
"If you are mine, I can give you away at my leisure. I can do what I wish with you, like property, like a toy."
Sidhe looked back at him, her eyes clouding with tears now. Her breath was lost in her lungs.
"And that's what I'm going to do. That's the lesson I'm going to teach you. That you are mine, and I can, and will, do whatever I wish to do with you."
"Please, no, please don't, gods no..." she whispered.
He nodded at the barbarian, who began to peel off his clothing. Sidhe watched, looking from the tall paler man to her dark and angry lover. He was grinning, and the madness in his soul was evident in his eyes. Anger and hatred had gone wild in him and driven him over the edge of sanity and reason.
Sidhe looked back to the barbarian, wishing she could sink through the bed, but knowing if she made any attempt to escape, she would likely be slain outright.
Maybe it won't be so bad, she tried to say to herself to calm her rising panic.
But as the barbarian undressed, his eyes gleefully on hers, the fear within her grew.
He was tall, but all Northsmen were. As he peeled off his tunic, he revealed a beefy chest and hard muscled stomach. His arms were fat with corded muscle. His waist was heavy set, and his belly slightly rounded from too much drinking and good eating.
Her eyes blinked open and shut as he continued to disrobe.
His legs were bare beneath his kilt of leather plates, which he undid and dropped. Then he was lifting a foot to the bed to undo his boots. His legs were as massive as tree trunks from the wood that shielded Sidhe's people from outsiders. And his member, hanging limply between his mammoth thighs, was the thickness of Sidhe's forearm.
She gulped again, then started to back away in terror as the barbarian's cock began to thicken and throb, getting larger, harder. Sidhe's bottom found the far edge of the bed and she twisted, trying to get away over the floor. But a hand found her ankle and the barbarian was pulling her back onto the bed.
"You can't escape, my ‘love'," her Drow lover said, watching.
She looked at him, her face a mask of terror. But his eyes were cold, calculating, and unfeeling.
"Make her suck you," he whispered to the barbarian, a finger on his lips as he watched almost impassively.
Sidhe struggled, but the barbarian had a grip on her hair now. He pulled her head back, hard, then spun her body with one hand against her hip, until she was on her back. He lifted her up by the hair, and then set her back on the bed on her knees.
Her scalp ached from his grip, but he didn't let go or give her an inch of free reign. She saw his hand going to his cock, and felt the grip on her hair tighten.
Sidhe closed her mouth, but to no avail. Soon, that massive bulbous cock head was rubbing against her lips. She could feel the oozing slime of precum there.
The barbarian was enjoying her struggles.
Sidhe put a hand on each of his hips, trying hard to pull away. She squeezed her eyes shut.
Then the head of the cock was pushing between her lips, and the barbarian was speaking a Northsman-tongued warning to her not to bite, one she understood only by the relevance of the situation. Into her mouth went the fat cock head, stretching the corners of her lips tightly until she was sure they would tear.
How that cock head fit inside she didn't know and could only attribute it to the magick of the world that allowed ogres to rape with wood elves, and trolls to rape humans.
Into her mouth the head plunged, and the barbarian snickered, not even slightly satisfied. Sidhe beat her fists against his lower abdomen, and he laughed at her. Then he forced her head further down his cock until she could feel that fat tip at the back of her throat, pressing against her tonsils.
The barbarian began to plunder her mouth, moving in and out in small thrusts. She kept her eyes tightly closed as he cooed to her, her fists working on his skin. She tried to claw him, but he didn't seem to notice at all.
The next thing she knew, he was cumming in her mouth. She could taste the dreadfully salty seed pouring down her throat and into her stomach, and she shook her head. As the cock became slightly limp, not so painfully large, she tried to pull away. But the barbarian held her fast to him, wriggling her head side to side for extra pleasure.
From the chair, her lover laughed lightly. The barbarian released Sidhe and let her fall to the bed as he examined his cock for teeth marks. Sidhe lay there, panting, wiping at her aching mouth and checking for blood.
"Interesting specimen, isn't he?" the Drow male said.
"Funny how I came to know a man like this. But I won't avail you with the tale. You always hated how I would speak of my other lovers.
"One thing you should know though, my dear Sidhe. This man isn't like ordinary men. Not only is he incredibly huge, but his appetite is insatiable."
Sidhe looked at her lover, then slowly, her gaze went to the barbarian's face. He was looking at her with eyes almost as yellow as a plains cat. Then her own eyes began to travel downward.
The barbarian was stroking himself, his fat fist going up and down the shaft of his cock. And before her very eyes, Sidhe watched as the cock became rigid and stiff, bigger than before.
Watching from his chair, her lover nodded at the barbarian's questioning gaze to him.
"Now you may truly have her, my friend."
Immediately the barbarian grabbed each of Sidhe's thighs. Mercilessly, he pulled her to him, tearing at her netted leggings. Sidhe screamed, forgetting that no one could hear her. The barbarian's thick fingers ripped her tunic from her chest and stripped her of all her jewelry, even tearing her boots from her slender feet. Soon she was naked, and she began to sweat as she screamed at the man and tried to beat him off of her.
Then he was over her, grunting and laughing at her as he put a hand in the middle of her chest. His other hand was guiding his cock against one of her thighs, then dipping it into her privacy.
Sidhe felt the head enter her first, and that was enough to cause her voice to pitch, a high wailing sound that echoed off the walls and ceiling. As he forced more of his cock into her tight sheath, the barbarian groaned in pleasure, and Sidhe screeched in pain and agony.
She could feel his every ridge and vein, and could feel the throbbing desire of the barbarian. Into her he pushed, forcibly stretching her. Then he muttered something over his shoulder to the Drow male.
"Nau," Sidhe's lover answered.
"Don't worry about hurting her that badly. We are magickal beings, whatever damage is done repairs itself almost immediately, or within a few days. Isn't that right, Sidhe? You love big fat cock inside you, don't you, my dear?"
Sidhe clawed at the barbarian's chest, making him laugh. Then he captured both her wrists and pinned them to the bed above her head. Into her he drove now, until she could feel him breaking through to her womb, where no man should ever go. At last, his cock head settled there, he was buried to the hilt.
Sidhe couldn't breath, the air was being crushed from her lungs by his massive weight over her small frame. She tried to kick but his hips had hers pinned, her legs spread painfully wide.
He began to withdraw, but he didn't pull out all the way before he was thrusting back inside her. Sidhe could feel the pain of his rape of her womb, feeling the rim of his cock head pulling at her insides. In and out of her he went, bouncing her on the mattress as she screamed, again and again.
From the chair her lover watched it all, his eyes slightly interested, but for the most part impassive and unemotional.
At last, the barbarian was cumming. He pushed up off of her body until he was almost kneeling so he could look down and see his huge shaft pushing in and out of Sidhe's tight ebon sheath. He grunted, and then came, throwing his weight onto her once more, his fingers squeezing her arms and wrists painfully, almost snapping them in his ecstasy.
Unable to breath, Sidhe‘s screams of agony died in her throat.
"Alright, get off of her before you kill her. I'm not done with her yet," the Drow male complained from the chair.
The barbarian stooped and licked at Sidhe's face a moment, then pulled off of her, lying to one side of her. His body was too big for the bed, so he still had her pinned beneath his legs.
"Do you understand yet, Sidhe? Do you know who you belong to yet?" As her breath came back to her lungs, she began to plead.
"Please, I know you own me. Please no more, no more. I'll do anything!"
"But Sidhe! We have done everything! We've done it every possible way, every possible position, every possible fantasy! And it wasn't enough for you, nau. You wanted things I couldn't give you because me fucking you wasn't enough! So I'm going to give you everything, Sidhe!"
He stood up now, rushing to the foot of the bed, looking at her. His face was so angry, so full of hate that Sidhe cried and closed her eyes, turning over on her side.
The thickness of the barbarian's cock inside her had made her bleed onto the mattress. But the pain of his lust was nothing compared to the ache in her heart when her lover looked at her like that.
Her lover sneered at her weakness, his anger so tight in his body that he was panting now.
"Again," he said to the barbarian.
"This time, from behind."
The barbarian asked something in a hopeful voice, and the Drow male nodded, his lips curling wickedly as he stayed at the foot of the bed.
Sidhe felt the barbarian take her by the ankles. Then, after a few moments, she realized her humiliation wasn't done. She screeched and grabbed at the bed posts and head board.
The Northsman was turning her onto her stomach now, spreading her legs as he kneeled between them. Sidhe could feel his fingers flickering over her bloody crevice, fondling her broken cunt. Then he was smearing the mix of blood and semen up and back, over her anus.
"Nau!" she screamed.
But no one heard, and no one came.
Sidhe gripped the head board tightly, trying in vain to pull away. But the barbarian only laughed, and her lover moved to one side of the bed, his fingers gripping a bedpost so tightly his knuckles went white.
Sidhe looked at him over her shoulder, freezing as she saw the revulsion in his eyes. Then she began to struggle again, imploring the barbarian to stop.
She felt his fingers parting her buttocks. She felt the heat of his cock like a burning brand against her anus.
And then he was plunging mercilessly within, tearing at the rim of hard muscle there. He was truly unrelenting as he drove into her ass, busting her open with his shaft. He was so thick that surely her tightness must have hurt him. But it was a pain he craved, and he only went deeper, sheathing himself inside her completely. Then he withdrew, all the way, only to plunge into her again. And then again.
The Northsmen didn't even have to put a hand on Sidhe's struggling frame. The heaviness of his hips against her buttocks, his fat cock thrusting deep into her ass, had her effectively pinned.
Sidhe screamed and clawed at the bed's wooden frame, refusing to give up her attempt at escape. But still she found no quarter as the barbarian man rendered her ass into a bloody mess, fucking her with his complete brutal strength.
Next to the bed, her lover was hissing, in pleasure or in hate Sidhe didn't know.
Then the barbarian was howling in ecstasy, cumming at last, filling her ass with his spurting juices. Sidhe felt as if he were pouring lava into her core, and she could feel things breaking inside both her body and spirit as he became thicker with his final lust.
Then, by the will of the gods or by pure fate, the world went black.
Pain woke her before anything else. Then she sucked hard inward, filling her lungs with cool air. Hands around her held her tightly, and she felt her entire body bruised and aching, coming awake.
Sidhe opened her eyes, and saw above her the purple haze of a morning sky. The sun had not yet come up, and there were still the last remnants of midnight clouds striding over the stars.
She looked around, not moving her head, only her eyes.
Her lover was near, holding her from underneath. She blinked at him, then became more aware of her surroundings.
A pleasant cool feeling enveloped her, and she realized she was in the ocean. He was using a rag to clean her wounds.
"I love you," he said quietly, looking into her eyes.
"Do you believe me?"
Sidhe nodded, blinking at him.
"Good. Good girl. Come now, before you get a chill. Let's go to the house."
He helped her out of the water, then, and she stumbled and had to lean against him. All of her body ached. He picked a blanket up off of the sand, and placed it about her crouching frame, holding her against him. Then he lifted her off her feet.
As they walked through a nearby village, passing the communal campfire, Sidhe caught sight of the barbarian man sitting and cleaning off his cock. He winked at Sidhe, and she whimpered, unable to tear her eyes away from his member.
"Shhh," said her lover in her ear, nuzzling her.
"That's all over, now. You're mine, you see? I can do what I want to you. Never make me angry again."
Back in the house, he laid Sidhe on the bed. Then he licked his bottom lip, opening up the blanket he had covered her with so he could gaze on her naked body.
His fingers traced over the fingerprint-shaped bruises on her arms and legs, dancing over the purple patches on her indigo colored skin.
"I love you," he whispered.
"Do you love me?"
Sidhe nodded, trembling from fear and from the cold chill setting through her weakened body.
"Say it," he asked her.
She blinked at him. Then she opened her mouth.
"I love you." The lie came out so sweetly, so easily, Sidhe was surprised at herself, and suddenly proud.
Then she carefully got up on her knees, next to her lover. She put her lips to his mouth, and her hands around his neck. She kissed him, deeply. Then she lay down, pulling him with her.
His eyes were soft with passion as she moved her fingers to his leggings and released his cock. It wasn't a barbarian cock, but it was large all the same. She moved her hands over it, stroking it to a firmness she knew he enjoyed. She played with his sack, and he held himself up over her on his hands, watching her fingers working over him.
Then Sidhe spread her heavily bruised thighs, now washed clean of blood and cum. She spread herself for him, and guided his cock into her privacy.
As he entered her, she winced, and he dropped over her body. He wasn't as heavy as the Northsman had been, but her ribs hurt from supporting the great weight of her rapist only hours before.
The Drow male dropped his head into the crook of Sidhe's neck, nuzzling her as he allowed himself to slide slickly inside her. Sidhe moved beneath him, forcing her aching muscles to push up and take him even deeper in. Thankfully, he couldn't reach the depths of her womb like his comrade had, but that didn't stop him from trying as he began to piston himself in and out of her.
Sidhe forced her body to react to him, forced herself to think of every time she had enjoyed his touch, his every gesture of love to her. She made her cunt become slick with excitement, and he was spurred on to greater action by the feel of her reacting to him.
"I have to have all of you," he groaned, and Sidhe nodded, turning over onto her stomach. She lifted her broken bottom up to him, and he plunged into her already-healing anus, fucking her ass mercilessly. He pulled out and thrust into her puss, then pulled out and moved into her ass again. He trade from one to the other, stroke for stroke, moaning all the while.
Then he turned her back onto her backside, looking down at her as he stroked himself.
"I have to have all of you, my love," he said, as if he needed her to understand.
Sidhe nodded again, sliding down on the bed. And soon, he was guiding his cock to her lips.
This was how the night had begun, she thought to herself. But then she pushed the thought away, forcing herself to become calm once more.
His cock head parted her lips easily, and she swirled her tongue around the rim of him, tasting herself and the faint echoes of diluted blood. Her lover put his hands in her hair, lifting her head up to his cock and beginning to forcibly fuck her face.
"I love you, gods I love you," he groaned.
Then he was cumming, filling her throat with his seed. He pulled out slightly, and spurted over her face, coating her lips, her chin, her cheeks with his warm semen.
At last, he was spent, and he fell to the bed. Sidhe lay very still, resting her head against his shoulder.
"I can't sleep here," he said softly, and Sidhe nodded.
"I have kin to see today, and I'm so weary. My life, Sidhe, it is so full of pain and hardship. You are the one thing I enjoy, do you know that?"
Sidhe forced a smile when he looked at her, and she returned his passionate kiss. Then she sat up, helping him to dress.
"You are the one island of goodness I know of, in all I do, each day. I can't be what you want me to be, I have to be myself. But that doesn't mean I don't love you," he said, putting a finger under her chin.
Sidhe smiled, understanding at last, and all too well.
"Good, I will go now. I hope to see you soon, my sweet love. Remember, no matter what I am doing, or who I am with...I am thinking of you. Only you."
He kissed her again, smiling happily now that he was completely confident of her love for him, and completely satisfied.
As he walked out the door, the false smile dripped from Sidhe's face like melted wax. Her eyes filled with angry tears, and she winced as she began to move around the house.
It took only a bit of new magick to change the password that opened the door or any of the windows for the desert house. Then, gathering her items, Sidhe summoned the servants. They looked at her with mournful faces, and when they wouldn't look her right in the eyes, she wondered for a moment if they actually were aware of what had gone on the night before.
Best not to think of that, she told herself.
"Clean this house. I don't want a single remnant to be as it is now. When next I come, I want to smell only cleaning solutions. Clean everything. I want a new bed, new table and chairs, new furnishings.
"Burn everything that is here that is here for practicality, and replace it with something new."
Wincing again, Sidhe called up the portal that would take her home. Once in the woods her people ruled, the dark elf wizardess limped into the tunnel that would lead her to the underground city her kin had built. She slipped through the quiet streets unseen, until she got to the tower in the city's deepest quarter. And then, she summoned all of her servants and minions to the main hall.
They gathered there restlessly, sensing Sidhe's odd mood. She stood up on the dais reserved for the lords and ladies of the house, and looked out upon them all. She had even summoned her network of spies and her most far reaching and most trusted merchants and dealers.
"From this point on," she said loudly, "I belong to no man. Within my House, within my realm, my son is my heir, and my new lord and soon to be husband is the only male allowed to access my...assets. According to the contract I signed yesterday, I may make public claim to no other lover. Thusly, no one else will be welcomed into this tower, other than my children, those of my guild, and my lord. No friends may enter unless they are accompanied or expected by myself or my lord.
"Should you disobey me, see now the results of your disobedience." Sidhe shirked off the simple robe she had donned while waiting for her household and minions to gather. And as they looked over her bruised body, they gasped and winced, eyes turning away from the wounds.
"These wounds are your folly!" she shouted to her servants.
"My body is my temple, and yours to protect! The wounds in my heart and my soul, caused by this night, are my own punishment for my weakness. But these bruises I bear are the result of your lack of loyalty and caution! You bear them as much as I!"
Sidhe glared over the crowd, then dismissed them with a wave. Then she went up to her rooms, and closed off the world.
The guard would double its efforts at protecting her now, she knew. And the servants would heed her word about who was allowed into the tower or any of her estates.
But only she could protect her heart...