Please enjoy this sample from the medieval fantasy erotic romance, "Spark of Hope," the first in the Monster Within series, by Cerys du Lys
~*~
Solace was a cook and a scullion maid, a seamstress and a servant. She waited on tables at the local inn when they let her, and she went out and picked herbs to sell to anyone who would buy them. She knew the very basics of alchemy and herbalism and could mix up medicine to cure most basic ailments. She liked animals and the woods and reading, though not in any particular order She was a little strange, but not too much, and overall her life would have been wonderful except for one thing.
Everyone hated Solace.
When she cooked, even if she tested what she made and did her best to ensure it tasted nice, everyone complained about the flavor. She could never seem to clean as good as anyone else, no matter how hard she tried. Her sewing was impeccable, without a stitch out of place, but most everyone always criticized her about this or that and no one offered her more than a copper coin for any of the work she did.
Men tripped her when she waited on their tables at the local tavern or made lewd comments about her and told her she was only good for one thing. Except, of course, they added that she wasn't good enough for them no matter what, but they had a horse in the stables she could spread her legs for if she liked.
She tried to ignore them, she really did. She wanted to be happy. Solace put on a front, smiling and humming to herself whenever anyone else was around, because she wanted to show them that she was just like anyone else. She wouldn't get angry or be upset or disappoint anyone or give them any reason to dislike her.
But still, they hated her.
They hated her when she was younger and when she grew up. When she was fourteen, a traveling man came into town and treated her nicely for the first time in her life, but only for a little while. In the evening when the man rented a room at the inn, she helped him and tended to his needs, cleaning his dusty clothes and doing a bit of mending in exchange for a warm place to stay that night. Later, he left for an hour to take a walk around town. When he returned he looked at her with a blank expression on his face and asked her to leave.
She still remembered it, his eyes lacking focus and his mouth slightly agape, not staring at her but through her. "Leave," he said. "Please, I don't want any trouble."
He did give her a silver coin, though. She kept it with her all this time, even now, seven years later. For some reason it seemed too precious to spend, as if it was something of a keepsake, a special memory. She begged and pleaded with the blacksmith to poke a hole through it(which he did in exchange for a week of hard labor). Then she scrounged and saved up for two weeks, performing arduous tasks for a fraction of their worth, so she could buy a leather cord from the tanner. It would have only taken her one week, but the man refused to sell anything to her for less than double its regular cost.
It didn't matter, though. Solace owned a necklace now, made from fine leather with the silver coin as a pendant. She wore it with her everywhere and refused to part with it. People offered her this or that in attempts to get her to sell it, but she refused them. Some even acted nice as a ruse, asking politely if they could see it, but she said no.
After that, some acted not so nice and she'd gained more than a few bruises, but it never went too far.
One man was nice to her after that, though. Nice enough, at least. He let her into the church basement, down to their library, where he let her borrow books in exchange for performing secretarial duties. She organized shelves and helped him rewrite sections if needed, or she delivered letters he needed sent. He paid her fairly, too, except the church didn't have much money to spare. Still, instead of coins, he let her sleep in the stables at night and borrow books, and he offered her dinner if the church had food to spare. When it was too cold, he sometimes snuck her into the library where she could huddle in the corner beneath blankets and hope no one came in and saw her. Mostly no one ever did, but if necessary she snuck through one of the basement windows and spent the night in the chill, wintry outdoors.
And that was enough. A little kindness was enough for Solace, for always. Just a bit to let her know that at least one person didn't absolutely despise her. With that knowledge, she survived until the next day, over and over, and even if someone spat on her and called her rude names, she continued to smile and hum to herself.
~*~
(You can find the rest of this story here: Spark of Hope: The Monster Within )