The Carbonized Heart

Writers: Heather
Date Posted: 7th August 2014

Characters: Rethisa, Everlow, Pevran
Description: Rethisa experiences further cruelty from her "family" but finds kindness does exist.
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 8, day 2 of Turn 7

Listless eyes took in the dirt beneath her normally well-kempt nails.
Her mind flashed back to the way her fingers had dug into the ground
as her husband ravaged her in front of the entire cothold. Her hand
traced up to the swollen corner of her mouth where Verlow had back-handed her.

Less than a Turn into her marriage to Verlow she had quickly learned
that he was heavy-handed when he was angry. The first time he'd beat
her she had ran home to Jade Harbor, to her father. Ethris had, of
course, sent her right back home to her husband where she "belonged."
Her marriage to Verlow was a contract that Ethris had no intentions of
breaking. Everything was always business to her father.

No, this was just another humiliation that she would have to learn to
endure. A garbled snore from the corner of the room punctuated the
silence. Rethisa glanced into the mirror at her husband's unconscious
form. Passed out. **Fecking drunk.** She thought darkly.

At least since he was passed out she was able to bathe in privacy. The
two women from the kitchen had kept their eyes averted from her as
they carried hot water into the room and poured it into the tin tub.
She turned and slowly began pulling off her clothing, which was now
mussed and held dirt stains from the herb garden.

He had violated the only place where she felt safe. The only place
where she felt like Rethisa of Jade Harbor. Now she simply felt like
some blade of grass pummeled beneath the heel of his boot. She didn't
look at the bruises on her thighs and hips from his biting fingers and
hands, because she knew that they were there. She had seen them before
and was no longer shocked by them.

Stepping into the hot water, she closed her eyes and sank gratefully
into the enveloping heat. When she closed her eyes she could pretend
that she was back home where she belonged.... But another punctuating
snore from her drunk husband dashed that daydream.

~*~

Rethisa skipped breakfast the next morning, too ashamed to show her
face in front of the family. She retreated to the stables while her
family was eating, giving her a few moments of peace. There was one
particular mare that Rethisa was always fond of, and whom she secretly
called 'Shadow in the Wind.' Verlow would scoff at that. He didn't
allow any of the animals to be named because he didn't want her
getting attached or 'coddling' them. They were for work, and nothing
else.

"Brute." She muttered as she snatched up a few sweet cubes from the
bucket by the door and retreated to Shadow in the Wind's stall door.

The mare instantly recognized Rethisa and nickered softly as she came
closer to the door. Rethisa smiled and stepped up on the bottom rung
of the gate, one cube in her outstretched palm. Shadow in the Wind
flicked her long, silky white tail happily and whisked the cube out of
Rethisa's palm with a feather light touch of her velvety lips.

A sound to her left made Rethisa freeze.

"Mornin' ma'am. My apologies, I didn't mean to disturb ya'."

Rethisa's heart slammed back into rhythm, air returning to her lungs.
It was only Pevran, the beastcrafter that tended to the animals in the
stable. She could tell by the flush on his cheeks and the way he
adverted his eyes from her that he had been one of the people to
witness Verlow's spectacle in the herb garden the evening before.

"I won't be long." Her voice was soft as she turned her attention back
to Shadow in the Wind, trying to forget the man's presence.

"Take all the time ya need, ma'am." His voice was soft and, she
cringed, sympathetic.

As she looked at Shadow in the Wind she had to fight the urge crawling
up inside of her to saddle the runner and ride to the horizon. The
idea of leaving and never coming back was so heady that she had to
close her eyes against its dizzying effects. To never have Verlow
touch her again? It would be a dream come true.

"Would you like me to saddle her for ya?" Pevran's voice broke into
her thoughts, as if he were reading her mind.

Rethisa fed Shadow in the Wind another cube, "No thank you," she
glanced at Pevran, appreciating the kindness in his blue eyes, "Verlow
does not like for me to ride." Since the first time she had ran away
from him to her father, Verlow had forbidden her to ever ride a runner
again.

Pevran nodded in understanding, "Yes ma'am." He turned away, she
thought to leave, but when he turned back around she saw that he had
snatched a grooming brush from the wall, "Perhaps you would like to
brush her mane out then?"

She blinked down at the brush that was being handed to her, and then
she looked up into the man's honest face. She smiled, "Yes, that would
be lovely. Thank you, Pevran."

"Think nothing of it, ma'am." Pevran assured her, holding her gaze for
a moment longer than was appropriate before ducking into the stable's
small office.

Rethisa hugged the brush to her chest for a moment before turning to
Shadow in the Wind, "Hold still girl." She lifted the brush to one
long strand of her milky white mane.

~*~

After she had spent as much time brushing Shadow in the Wind's mane as
humanly possibly, she returned the brush that Pevran had given her,
and then she left the stables. She struck off on a path that led
around the barn and up to the high pasture. There were no herdbeasts
in that pasture at the moment and she hoped that it would afford her a
bit more privacy. She was still not ready to face the other people at
the cothold.

"Running off?" A voice sneered.

Rethisa froze, her blood running cold. She drew herself up and turned
to face Verlow's oldest son, Everlow, the one who had come closer to
watch in the garden the evening before. He was twenty, only a few
Turns younger than Rethisa, but his height, and breadth gave him ample
advantage over her.

"No, I was just going to the high pasture for a walk." She said
coolly, hoping to keep the conversation short. Maybe he would leave
her alone.

Everlow advanced forward like a hunter zeroing in on its prey, "A
walk, huh? Well, if it is exercise you are after I have something
better for you than a walk."

Fear stabbed through her as she took a step back from Everlow's
advancing figure, "You know, I am suddenly feeling ill, I think I will
just head back to the house."

She made to walk around him, but Everlow lunged out and grabbed her
arm in a vice grip, "I don't think so, Step-Mother." He purred the
title into her ear.

Rethisa recoiled from his touch as she jerked her arm free of his
grasp and nearly stumbled in the process, "Don't touch me, Everlow. I
am your father's wife."

Everlow cocked an eyebrow, "So?"

"S-so?!" Rethisa stuttered, as if she couldn't believe that the reason
alone was not enough to make him stop.

"He told me to watch and learn yesterday. I guess I had better
practice." Everlow grabbed her again, this time turning and pushing
her up against the back wall of the barn.

She struggled against him, but his superior height and weight had her
effectively pinned. He ground his hips into hers as he grabbed both
her wrists in one hand and jerked them over her head, leaving her
exposed to his other hand. Searching fingers ripped open the front of
her tunic.

"Please don't." Rethisa cried as his fingers found her breasts, pawing
at them mercilessly through the thin shift she wore.

Everlow silenced her cries by putting his mouth over hers, kissing her
hard, his teeth digging in to her bottom lip as his fingers jerked
down her shift to roughly squeeze at her right breast. "Oh, you are
sweet, Step-Mother." He panted before plunging his tongue into her mouth.

"Master Everlow." The two words cracked through the air.

Rethisa gasped as Everlow looked up. She turned her head to find
Pevran standing by the corner of the barn, his once kind eyes were
hard, his jaw set.

Everlow's hand slid from her breast to tighten possessively around her
hip, "Get out of here, stablehand."

Pevran advanced forward, and Rethisa could feel the tension building
in Everlow's body as he eyed the other man uncertainly. They were
equally matched in height, but Pevran's age gave him the hardened
muscle that Everlow's younger body was still building.

"I think you are needed in the lower pasture, Master Everlow."
Pevran's voice brooked no room for argument.

There was a long moment where Rethisa was not sure if Everlow would
comply, but then he released her and took a step back. He looked at
her with brown eyes darkened by lust, "We're not finished here...
Mother." He sneered the last word before stalking off.

Rethisa wheezed as she finally drew air back into her lungs. Her knees
gave out and she slid down the side of the barn. Sobs wracked her
body. Why was her life like this?

"There now, miss." Pevran knelt in front of her.

She scrambled to try and cover her exposed torso, but Everlow had torn
the buttons from her shirt.

"Here." Pevran unbuttoned the vest he had been wearing and shrugged it
off, "Use this to cover yourself." His tone was gentle, as if he were
dealing with a wild animal.

**Maybe I am a wild animal?** She thought deliriously as she took the
offered garment.

"Thank you." She whispered quietly, her head bowed as she buttoned the
man's vest over her torn shirt.

He reached out with one long finger and placed it beneath her chin.
Tilting her head up, he smiled, "Any time, Miss Rethisa. I'll watch
from the barn yard while you walk inside, yes? Master Verlow is out in
the low pasture at the moment with the other boys."

Rethisa felt the overwhelming urge to cry again at Pevran's kindness.
Kindness did exist! Just not in her messed up "family." Using Pevran's
offered hand she got to her feet. Before she walked away she looked
back at the beastcrafter, "I would appreciate...."

Pevran shook his head, "Nothing happened here, ma'am."

Her lips twitched, "Thank you."

"Any time, ma'am."

Turning away from Pevran she looked across the deserted yard and
quickly hurried inside the cothold.

Last updated on the August 19th 2014

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The Carbonized Heart