Rumors

Writers: Suzee, Heather
Date Posted: 18th November 2013
Series: The Unwanted Sister

Characters: Arippa, Reven
Description: Trouble in Paradise
Location: Green Valley Hold
Date: month 4, day 2 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentioned: Yanley, Namrien, Coran, Relea, Corwal, Felyna

Arippa

Reven

Arippa had been miserable for weeks. She didn't know how Felyna did it
with Corowal. How should she just ignore his affairs. She shook her
head, she felt all bound up inside and longed for the day when she'd
she could talk to Reven about anything like their first month
together. She'd fallen in love with her husband and what should have
been joyful had instead turned to ash in her mouth. She just couldn't
ignore the continued rumors of his infidelity.

She dismissed her maid and wrung her hands as she waited. Not knowing
what exactly to say, she knew there was nothing she could do more than
ask him if the rumors were true. Arippa paced in her bedroom as she
waited for him to come to her as he did every night. Honestly, she
didn't know how he did what they were saying because he slept at her
side every night, all night. She didn't think his own bed had been
slept in at all since they'd arrived.

Finally she heard him coming down the short hallway and she dropped
into a chair to appear calm when he entered though she couldn't
exactly hide her nervous heel tapping the carpet.

Reven frowned as a sprig of his dirty blond hair fell in front of his
eyes. It really was time for a haircut, he thought to himself. His
locks were now long enough to comfortably brush his shoulders. He had
never allowed his hair to get so long before when he had been at Red
Rush. He supposed with the full duties of a holder on his shoulders
now that he had more to worry about than his hair.

One of those worries was his lovely wife. Arippa. Reven couldn't put
his finger on what exactly was wrong, and it wasn't as if she were
giving him the cold shoulder, she just seemed.. different, somehow,
than the woman he had known before they got married. Maybe all women
changed like that? He supposed some of them felt as if they didn't
have to try any more once they succeeded in securing a marriage. But
Arippa didn't strike him as that type.

"Good evening my love." Reven said with a smile as he stepped
into Arippa's bedroom. Really though, he spent more time in her
bedroom than he did his own.

"Reven," she said with what she hoped was a welcoming lilt to her
voice. "How was your day?"

Crossing over to Arippa, Reven paused and dropped a kiss to her lips,
"Long, but productive. How was your day?" He asked as he sat down on
the edge of the bed and began removing his boots.

"It was interesting." Not for the first time, she wished he wasn't so
sharding handsome and nice to her. Then she could be mad and give him
the cold shoulder but Faranth take it, she loved him. She took a deep
breath. Nothing was ever going to be resolved if she didn't speak her
mind, but first she had to know the truth.

"Are you having an affair?"

Reven's fingers stilled on the laces of his boots. For a moment he was
frozen in place as he tried to figure out if he had _really_ heard his
beautiful, lovely wife ask him if he was having an affair. He was so
taken aback by the unexpected question that he knew that his face must
be showing shock as he slowly looked up at her.

"Why would you ask me that?"

**Oh that wasn't good,** she thought. The shock on his face looked
like guilt to her so she closed her eyes and turned her head away. "I
heard the rumors," she said in a dead voice. "You're sleeping with
Relea and now you're going to make your brother marry her to stop the
rumors right? Is she pregnant?"

She couldn't help that last part. She'd felt guilty and sad because
for all the vaunted Amber Hills fertility she had yet to catch and was
feeling the fear her Aunt Yanley must have suffered for Turns. If she
couldn't produce an heir would he set her aside like Lord Golansin had
done?

Reven had heard the rumors circulating about himself and Relea, and he
had hoped that when Coran had taken the deaf woman as his betrothed
that it would put a stop to the rumors. He had never spoken with
Arippa about the falsehoods that were being spread, because he
believed that discussing gossip and rumors only added more fuel to the
fire. He had also, foolishly it seemed, hoped that Arippa wouldn't
hear the rumors.

The holder sighed and shook his head, "I am not sleeping with Relea."
His deep voice was firm.

"Okay, so you're not sleeping with her anymore... is she carrying your
child?" The last few words came out in a bit of a sob. She didn't know
if she could be in the same room with the woman if she was. Even if
Relea couldn't see her she'd see the belly swelling while her own
remained flat. Her whole world would be nothing but crackdust.

Reven felt the muscle in his jaw tic as hot irritation crept up the
back of his neck, "If she is pregnant it is certainly not by me. I
have not slept with another woman since the day we married." The
spoken words were brittle with barely contained anger. The accusation
stung his pride, especially since he had vowed to her on their wedding
day that he would take no other woman but her. The holder began lacing
his boots back up.

She remembered his promise on their wedding day, but suddenly her
vision seemed to scope down to a tiny circle that saw only the tic in
his jaw and her heart hammered in her chest. "Then why is the whole
Hold talking as if you were? What could have given rise to such a
rumor?" She was baffled by the whole thing. His anger at her questions
didn't do anything to calm her fear and the fact that he was lacing
his boots back up just made it seem so much worse.

"I am the holder, Arippa, there are always going to be rumors about
me. The only times I have been around Relea Coran has been present, or
I was picking up hats that I had made for my mother and sister." Reven
stood, "But if you can't trust me, then ask Relea or Coran." He opened
the door that connected their quarters, "I'll be staying in my room
tonight."

Arippa, who had been raised as a child of the Blood, had known from a
young age that her behavior had to be above reproach for that very
reason. That was why she had been so taken aback by the news when she
heard it. There were eyes everywhere that saw everything and
eventually word would circulate. Up until the moment she and Reven
were betrothed, she'd never been alone with a man not of her blood in
her entire life. Not even Namrien, the former holder and suitor for
her hand. "Perhaps you've forgotten my background. I understand how
rumor mills work." she said in response. **But I'm neither blind nor
stupid.**

Reven had been raised differently. There had been no thought he would
inherit and perhaps he didn't realize just how vicious gossip mongers
could be with the tiniest juicy tidbit. She didn't feel the need to
air their dirty laundry by asking either his brother or the young
woman for confirmation of Reven's innocence. Arippa rather thought his
angry reaction was more proof of his guilt at being found out then an
honest attempt to calm her fears. She sat still and tried to project
serene indifference. She clamped her jaw shut in hurt and reflective
anger as he opened the door.

Green Valley's holder stepped through the door to his quarters without
another word closing the door behind him with a soft, but ominous,
click.

Arippa waited a few heartbeats while a tear slid down her cheek
unnoticed. Then she rose from her seat and crossed the room. Her chin
trembled as she stood at the door listening for a moment and then when
she heard nothing, she locked the door and pulled the key out.
Woodenly, she placed it in a little box on her dressing table then
threw herself on her bed to sob herself to sleep.

Last updated on the March 26th 2014

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