THE THREE LIVES OF CHRISTINA THE ASTONISHING (#41)

As Told by the Holy Woman in Her Own Words
A Hundred or So Years after the End of the World

How the Duke tried to take my virginity but could not

The guards marched me out of the room, up a staircase, then down another long hallway to a spacious room with floor to roof windows overlooking the grey ocean. An enormous bed, the biggest I’d ever seen, faced the windows.
There they left me in the greatest state of upset I’d felt since before my first death.
Yes, I was a virgin, and the thought of being taken by force was much more horrible than the prospect of any kind of physical injury. Of course, I could smash the window and fly away, but what would be the consequences for my sisters? Matilda had told me all they’d gone through after my first escape. A personal insult to the Duke would surely provoke harsher measures. For their sakes I needed to stay where I was and take whatever came.
For an hour or more I waited, calling again and again on Giver to help me. Giver didn’t answer. Finally the door opened and the Duke came in by himself. Without even saying hello he walked straight up to where I sat on a wooden stool. Standing inches away from my face, he removed his jacket of white cotton with the tassels and flung it on a nearby chair. Preferring to look at it instead of him, I puzzled over the hand-lettered label sewn into the lining: “Property of Mendocino Unified High School District Marching Band.”
Now he was yanking down my nightgown again, but the flow of olive oil had stopped. He frowned. “Do that again,” he ordered.
“It’s something that happens to me,” I said, “not something I can command.”
“Never mind.” He started to undo his pants. Then stopped, frowning again. I was close enough to see he wasn’t aroused. After a moment he said, “Take off your clothes, go over to the bed and lie down.” With a heavy heart I did what he said. He took off the rest of his clothes and lay down beside me. He frowned again. Then he proceeded to place my body in all kinds of strange positions, but at no point did his sex respond. When he made me put it in my mouth, it lay there like a tiny dead sardine.
“What kind of nonsense is this?” the Duke cried finally, sitting up. “I should have let Aldrich chop off your head!” He got up and put his clothes on in a hurry.
“Lucky for you I’m a merciful man,” he muttered as the door slammed behind him.
I lay still and silently thanked Giver, but once again there was no answer.

(to be continued tomorrow)