The Unwanted Wife by Butterfly Queen

Elizabeth sank back onto the bed, her body saturated with perspiration and limp with delight. Her tremendous release still sent wild spasms across her slender frame. Luca had separated and detached himself from her within seconds of their mutual climax and lay on his back by her side, his breathing heavy and rough.

Elizabeth rolled on her side to softly trace his firm face with her gaze, longing to touch and caress the smooth, soft and slightly brown skin but knew from experience that her touch would be rebuffed. His words, the ones that were usually said to shatter her after his climax, were still floating between them. Even after all these months, they stung more than they should have.

“Give me a son, Elizabeth…”

With just five words, he stopped the afterglow, destroyed the intimacy of the moment, and transformed the act into nothing more than a biological need. After eighteen months of the same, Elizabeth had finally grasped that things would never change. She hadn't abruptly reached this conclusion; instead, it had been creeping up steadily ever since he said the words the first time.

But Elizabeth had her own five words this time. They were words that had been on the tip of her tongue for months and should have been said long before now. She couldn't hold back those words any longer, even though it hurt so much to speak them. She sat up, naked, her body still shivering and hugged her knees to her chest. She wrapped her arms around her legs, pressed her head to her knees and watched as his breathing steadied, his own shaking was reducing slowly. He lay spread-eagled, likewise wonderfully naked, his eyes were close but she knew he wasn’t sleeping. She knew he would take a few seconds to calm himself before going for the shower, where she always envisioned him vigorously washing her fragrance and touch off his bronzed skin.

She could no longer control the words and they came from her lips with desperate honesty.

“I want a divorce, Luca .”

He tensed, every single muscle in his body became as rigid as a wound spring, before he turned his head to meet her watching stare. His eyes were closed and his upper lip twisted mockingly.

“But I thought you loved me, Elizabeth,” he taunted with exquisite malice and Elizabeth lowered her eyes, attempting to conceal the shaft of anguish in his words. When she was satisfied she had her emotions under control, she once again lifted her eyes to his dark glare.

“Not anymore,” she managed, hoping her lie sounded convincing.

“Hmmm…” it sounded eerily like the purr of a cat. “What happened to ‘I’ll love you forever, Luca’?”

“Things change,” she muttered.

“What things?” He shifted onto his side and pulled himself up onto his elbow, resting his head on his palm. He looked so much like a Roman warrior in repose, that her throat grew dry with desire. She swallowed heavily.

“F...feelings change…” she muttered haltingly. Again that low murmur of agreement from Luca but Elizabeth wasn’t deceived by his easy attitude; he was as tense as a coiled serpent. “I.I’ve changed…”

“You look no different,” he assessed, his voice still terrifyingly calm. “Still the same Elizabeth I married. The one who professed to love me so deeply, she couldn’t live without me. The one whose daddy made sure she received precisely what she wanted…”

And that was when he struck, without moving, without so much as altering his voice.

“The same timid little Elizabeth, who can’t even give me the only thing I’ve ever wanted from this pathetic excuse for a marriage.” She flinched but she refused to avert her gaze.

“A...all the more reason for a divorce,” she attempted for blasé but failed badly.