A Noble Peasant's Heart

Based on the story of Guiscardo and Ghismonda from Giovanni Boccaccio's "The Decameron"

For the day one prompt, "Legendary Romances"

Haymitch Abernathy, King of Panem, had never in his life committed a ghastly act; he was known to be a kind and noble man, if not the most sober. He never had any children other than his daughter, Katniss, for Queen Maysilee had died during childbirth twenty springs ago, and he had lived alone with his daughter ever since then. Despite the fact that he loved his daughter unconditionally, he would have been much happier if he had not had her. When his daughter reached a marriageable age, however, he found that he did not have it in his heart to let her go. She was the only person he had; she was much too precious to him. Nevertheless, he eventually gave her to Gale Hawthorne, a son of the Duke of the Capitol. Unfortunately for the young couple, their marriage became short-lived when Gale died during battle, leaving Katniss no choice but to return home a widow. And thus Haymitch welcomed his daughter back with open arms, vowing to himself that he would keep her to himself this time.

Princess Katniss was the most beautiful and clever woman in the kingdom, with an unusual talent for archery and a most enchanting singing voice. She lived happily with her father in great luxury, but she soon realized that her beloved father had no intentions of finding her a second husband. Finding it immodest to question him about it, she decided that if the opportunity were to be presented to her, she would secretly take in a courageous lover. An abundant amount of men frequented her father's Court, some of them nobles and others not, and Katniss regarded each one with close attention, taking into account both their mannerisms and behavior. In this way, Katniss' heart was captured by a young man named Peeta Mellark, one of the bakers of the castle. She could not help but notice how despite his humble ancestry, he was a virtuously charismatic man with many noble traits, and the more she saw him the more she admired him, falling for him secretly and yearning for him desperately as time went on. Peeta was not blind to this, for he had watched her from afar ever since he was very young, and he was so deeply in love with her that he hardly ever thought of anything else that wasn't her. He often drew sketches of her and then snuck them to her through one of Katniss' women, usually Primrose, sometimes even including love letters and paintings. In return, Katniss would sing in the garden outside the kitchens so that he could hear her melodic love tunes as he baked.

One day Katniss came up with a plan so that they would be together. She knew that Peeta watched her every move, but that they could not be together in front of everyone because their love would be strictly forbidden and frowned upon, and she did not trust anyone with her secret. As she watched the sunset paint the sky with soft orange light, she wrote a note for Peeta, telling him to meet her in a hidden cave that was in the forest, hiding the letter in the hollow tree trunk where she usually kept her bow so that she could go out and hunt without being watched or criticized by others. She also knew that if she gave the letter directly to Peeta, someone else might see that she had given it to him, and her nosy maidens often read Peeta's letters to her.

When Peeta found the note, he was overwhelmed with joy and excitement. Katniss had sneaked into the kitchens that day, as had been her custom since she was a child, and had asked him for a cheese bun; he baked them for her knowing that they were her favorite. She then told him about her bow, and how she was the one who usually caught the squirrels for sport. Peeta had been surprised to hear this piece of information about her; he knew that she was a great archer, but he had had no idea that she actually hunted game. However, it suddenly made sense to him why they always seemed to have squirrels that had been shot straight through the eye; it was all evidence of Katniss' skill. His fondness for her grew even more, and she smiled at him and told him in a hushed tone how to find her bow, challenging him to seek it.

He took the challenge, and now here he was, following the letter that she had carefully written and was supposed to lead him to the cave. The cave was very close to the King's castle, hollowed out of a hill and with a small opening that was hidden with overgrown vegetation. Katniss had warned him in the note that he would need a rope to climb and descend from the ground to the cave, and Peeta prepared himself accordingly, running back to his lodging to retrieve the rope and a coat as protection from the thorns and branches. He tied a knot on the tree stump near the base of the opening, and used the rope to descend. Peeta landed warily on the cave, coughing and covering his nose at the moldy stench that seemed to lead to a hidden set of stone stairs. He climbed them and soon found himself in front of a locked door, which he was instructed to knock.

Katniss knew that the secret passage that led from her chambers to the cave had not been used in centuries, but Love had revealed this secret to her, allowing her to use it and see what was in front of her. It had taken her days for her small frame to finally push the door open, but when she found the cave, she instantly knew that it was fate. Now, as she unlocked the door for Peeta, she knew that it had all been worth it as she saw his bright blue eyes shine in delight.

"My lady!" he exclaimed in relief as he stepped into her chambers and she locked the hidden door behind him.

"Call me Katniss," she insisted as he approached her and wrapped his arms around her, having wanting to that for a while now, but afraid that others might see.

He then remembered this and released her, "But where are your maids?" he asked in a panic, wondering if someone would walk in on them.

"I sent them away with the excuse that I would be taking a siesta," Katniss replied complacently, "and I locked all the doors as well so that they would not disturb us," she added as his face lit up. "They agreed to not tell anyone if they heard anything."

He chuckled and lifted her chin with his forefinger, "You, Katniss, are the most extraordinary woman I've ever met," he said this so genuinely that Katniss was at a loss for words, and she opted to kiss him in lieu of a verbal response.

He took her in his arms instantly, leading her towards the bed as they deepened their kiss. His tongue brushed her lips, and she allowed him to part them open so that he could enter her mouth as he gently laid her down on the bed. Their tongues danced and swerved together as his hands roamed the bodice of her dress and she clutched his neck. She sighed against his lips as she felt the soft covers beneath her back. His mouth made its way slowly down to her neck, his tongue nibbling on her earlobe as he continued his route. She pressed him closer as she ran her hands down his strong, muscular arms. He pulled back to look into her eyes, his large pupils had turned dark with lust, his lips wet from their kisses. She then began to unbutton his coat and shirt beneath it, and he helped her until his chest was bare before her. She gulped as her fingertips traced the firm contours of his muscles, and he closed his eyes, losing himself in the sensation before leaning in to kiss her again, this time more insistently. The taste of his kisses was intoxicating; she hadn't been with a man in so long. They didn't speak, but rather silently agreed that they both wanted this, and after a few minutes of tugging and unbuttoning clothing and slipping off shoes, they were both undressed on the bed. Her eyes enlarged with desire as she took in the sight of his considerable manhood, and a hint of a smile played on his knowing lips. Her heartbeat sped up as his large, rough baker's hands delicately cupped her breasts, kneading them and making circular patterns on her erect nipples with the pads of his thumbs. She leaned her head back and gasped; no man had ever been so attentive with her. In return, she reached down, sitting up as she grasped his length in her small hands, and he moaned in response. She was fixated by his expressions, they aroused her even more as he gritted his teeth for a few seconds before his mouth fell open again, releasing animalistic throats from his throat. She stroked him steadily as he continued to explore her body, one of his hands descending down to cover the place between her legs, rubbing in synchronicity with her hands. She began to thrust her hips towards his hand until he obliged to slip two of his fingers inside her at the same time that his lips enveloped the nipple that his thumb wasn't circulating. She couldn't help but cry out in ecstasy. He continued his game as she continued hers, feeling each silky ridge on him as his fingers arched to meet her clit, thrusting in and out and making her cry louder and louder each time as his teeth lightly grazed each one of her nipples. Suddenly, she felt him tense at the same time that her walls tightened around his thick fingers, and a gust of white liquid erupted from his tip, drenching her hands and stomach. Her release had also seeped into him, and he took out his fingers and placed them into his mouth, sucking on them as he tasted her with leisure.

"You taste exquisite," he murmured mischievously.

She licked her lips nervously as she studied her lover. Then, she gingerly brought up her hand, licking the top of it, which was covered with his milky seed. It was curiously salty, but she decided that it could be worse. He groaned as he watched her taste him, then attacked her lips once more, their distinct tastes mixing into their mouths, his chest pressed into hers. He then picked up one of his clothing articles from the floor and used it to wipe the mess that they had made on the bed. She looked down at him and noticed that he was already hardening again, so she took advantage of this and wrapped her legs around his waist, feeling his hardness against her midsection. They both gasped as their oversensitive areas ignited when they made direct contact. She began to rub up and down on him, trying to stimulate her clit as he kissed her and cupped her rear with his warm hands, pressing them even closer together. They continued their frottage, her juices accelerating their speed as she glided smoothly on him. Soon, he was fully erect again and she was ready to take him in. "Make me yours," she hissed into his ear.

He growled like a lion as he laid her back down, hovering over her as he took his erection and placed the tip into her opening. She spread her legs wider in response, and he pushed himself in slowly and steadily, allowing her to adjust to him until he was fully inside her. He filled her to the brim, she felt overwhelmed and overstretched as her body tried to mold itself around him. "You're extremely tight, my lady," he said, sounding pleased as he began to move his hips. Her fingernails raked his back as he thrust in and out of her, taking himself out entirely before pushing in again, allowing her to feel the impact as he hit her bundle of nerves each time. Her gasps and moans were muffled by his passionate kisses. Once he stopped pulling in and out, he changed his rhythm by entering her torturously slowly, her impatience causing her to lift her hips towards him. He pushed her back down by the waist, his fingers pressing into her skin. He filled her once more, and this time he stayed inside her as his lips pressed to her neck and they moved increasingly faster. Their breathing was ragged and agitated, their breaths falling short as they kissed with fervor. She threaded her fingers into his short blonde curls, the unquenched fire between them becoming unbearably pleasurable as pushed into her. The friction in their bodies added to the heat, drops of sweat lingering down their brows. "My lady Katniss…" he sighed against her lips as he began to tremble with the effort of holding back.

"Come for me, my Peeta," she intoned encouragingly.

He did as he was told, climaxing inside her, his face unbelievably glorious as he finished and pulled out of her satisfied. He grinned at her then, his blue eyes a celestially bright night, his smile a merry sunny day. She smiled back and he caressed her face, his incredibly gentle fingers trailing down her body until they reached her midsection and found her pleasure center, pressing his fingers into it and rubbing it in tight circles as he made her come once more. She cried out his name so loudly this time that they must have reached the heavens, but she paid no mind to it. He made her body sing in an even more wonderful way than her voice could ever do.

"I love you so much," he murmured as he collapsed beside her, wrapping his strong arms around her waist as she placed chaste kisses on his chest.

"I love you too, Peeta," she replied lovingly, losing herself in his azure gaze. They were the beautiful shade of the sea after a ravaging storm, she thought.

He pressed her hand to his heart and said, "Feel, this? It's my heart beating powerfully for you, pumping loudly and rapidly, almost like it's about to burst out of my chest. That's how you make me feel, and it will beat for you always," he vowed.

"You will stay with me?" she inquired.

"Always," he repeated as he kissed her forehead. They spent a while longer together, kissing and holding each other until it was time for him to leave, and she opened the hidden door for him as he used the rope to slide down into the cave, and she locked the door again. He came back every night.

But fate become envious of them, and a terrible thing happened to the star-crossed lovers, for destiny was cruel to those who were joyous.

One day, Haymitch decided to visit his daughter's chambers, as he often did when he wanted to have lengthy conversations with her. His daughter was nowhere to be found, however, and thus he decided to take a nap until she came back. Katniss was out hunting in the forest, and Haymitch found the windows closed and the bed curtains drawn as he sat down on a stool at the foot of the bed, covering himself with the bed curtain so that he appeared hidden. Soon, Katniss came back from her hunting and went into her bedroom, locking the doors behind her, not knowing that her father was there. As it so happened, she expected Peeta that night, and she eagerly opened the hidden secret door to let him in. Neither Katniss nor Peeta noticed that there was an extra person hidden in the room, for they were too engrossed in each other and too enthused with their lovemaking. "Oh, Peeta!" Katniss exclaimed as he licked her delicate folds, which caused Haymitch to wake up, horrified at the sight in front of him. His daughter's gray eyes had rolled to the back of her head, and Peeta's jaw was buried in between her legs, her knuckles white as she tangled her fingers in his fair hair.

Haymitch considered performing an outburst, but for fear of shame remained quietly in the room so that they did not notice his presence, even though he was grief-stricken and aghast by his daughter's immoral actions. Katniss and Peeta continued their activities without taking any notice of him, and after Peeta finished causing her pleasure, she returned the favor by putting his manhood in her mouth, releasing guttural cries from the baker as she took him deep inside her throat. After that was finally over, Katniss turned around, bending over so that Peeta was entering her from behind, thrusting her so savagely that the headboard banged against the wall. Katniss reacted with earth shattering screams, shouting his name over and over. Haymitch wondered how it was that no one had ever noticed or heard them until now, unless of course the servants were protecting her. He thought about Katniss' maids, Delly, Madge, and Prim, and realized instantly that it must have been the case. Eventually, the lovers wore themselves out and laid down on the bed, kissing and touching until Peeta left through a secret entrance, but not before giving Katniss one last lingering kiss.

Shame and anger rose up through Haymitch as he watched one of his most faithful workers kiss his daughter so possessively. After Peeta was gone, Katniss left the room, and Haymitch took this opportunity to climb out through the window and into the garden. He would have his revenge, he vowed to himself as he headed back to his own apartment.

He then called his guards and ordered to have Peeta secretly arrested as he exited the cave. They brought Peeta to him, and when Haymitch set his eyes on him, he felt like was about to burst into tears. "Peeta, you have taken advantage of my kindness towards you. You have caused me great shame and outrage today, for I have witnessed your betrayal."

"Love is more powerful than you or I." Peeta replied in defiance.

Haymitch then sent him to be locked into a room, and have him tortured and beaten until he forgot who he was, until he forgot about Katniss' love. The following day, with Katniss still ignorant of Peeta's fate, Haymitch went into her room after dinner to talk with her about all of the things that had been roaming through his mind. He called to her, locking the room behind him, and allowed the tears to overflow as he cried, "Katniss, I thought you had virtue and modesty; I thought you acted purely. Never would I have believed anyone if they had told me otherwise, had I not seen it with my very own eyes! You took a man that was not your husband, and I would have never fathomed that you had such intentions. I will grieve about this every time I think of it for the last few years of my life, as I am very old now and do not have many years left," he said tiredly. He then continued, "Since you were so eager to cause such disgrace, I would have found it less insulting had you chosen a man with noble blood, perhaps Prince Cato or Lord Marvel. But instead, you have given me great offense by choosing Peeta Mellark, a lowly young man who was bred and buttered here in my Court out of simple charity. He was raised here so that he could bake loaves, not put one in your oven, Sweetheart," he said bitterly and mockingly as he raised a glass of wine to his lips; the King often enjoyed drinking when he was upset. "I am highly perplexed and disappointed by your poor judgment. I do not know what I will do with you now, but I will tell you that I had Peeta arrested last night and that he will suffer a terrible, imminent death. He will be imprisoned until then, and as for you, I am split between two decisions. On one hand, the love that I feel for you as my daughter is greater than any father ever felt for his child, and it bids me to forgive you. But on the other hand, I am highly offended by your foolishness, and this urges me to punish you despite my nature. Nevertheless, I will allow you to reply before I come to a final decision." He then bowed his head and wept violently, burying his face in one hand as he swiveled his glass with the other.

Katniss listened to her father and came to the heart wrenching conclusion that her secret love had been discovered, and that Peeta was in danger. This caused her such inexpressible grief that she wanted to shriek and tear at her hair and rake her father's face with her long nails, but her love was superior to that disgusting weakness, and she found enough strength within her mind to keep herself calm as she faced her father. She knew that Peeta was as good as dead, and she had no plans on continuing her life without him. Clearing her throat, she bravely and stoically prepared herself to respond to her father, wanting her message to be perfectly coherent.

"Haymitch, I will neither deny my actions to you nor beg for your mercy, as I am not equipped for either one. The former will not benefit me, and I do not wish to degrade myself unto the latter. Furthermore, I would not like to take advantage of your love for me, but rather use it to explain the truth to you and defend my good intentions with my words, and then support them with my actions. I will admit to you that I have loved and do love Peeta Mellark and will continue to do so for as long as I live, which will not be long, and if there is life after that then I shall love him then. I did not fall for him due to some foolish female weakness, but rather due to your selfish neglect of finding me a second husband and my allure towards his unsurpassable virtues. You, Haymitch, are made of flesh and blood, for do not think that I have not noticed your affair with Madame Trinket, and just like you, I am made of flesh of blood, not of stone and iron. Surely you know and remember the plight of the youth and the desires of the flesh, even if you spent most of your youth fighting in battle. Thus, precisely because of my youth, I am filled with amorous desires, which increased greatly during my marriage, as pleasure demonstrated to fulfill these desires. I could not help it, nor did I wish to resist it, and I fell in love. I tried to avoid causing you shame for as long as I could, and with the aid of the compassion of love and fortune, I was able to do so for a long time until you found out. I will not deny all of this, regardless of how your discovered it or whoever may have told you," Katniss told him.

She then continued as he listened intently, "Peeta was not a simple venture for me; I chose him carefully and deliberately out of all the others, and we have indulged in our love ever since then. Wrongly enough, you seem to assume that I tried to insult you further not only through my sin of loving, but also by choosing a man of low birthright. I can assure you, however, that that was not my error, but rather the will of Fortune, which tends to lift the unworthy and cast down the most worthy. You see, we all share the same flesh, and our souls have all been created by the same Creator, and from this it follows that we all have equal powers, virtues, and strengths. Virtue is the one that separated us, as those who dedicated themselves to virtue became nobles while the rest remained commoners. Thus, he who acts with virtue is a noble, and those who label him otherwise are the ones at fault for calling him ignoble when clearly he is not. I have found no man that is more caring, humble, loving, and considerate than my Peeta; he has more virtues than all of your so-called nobles combined. Simply consider all of their manners and behaviors, and if you look upon it objectively, you will see that this is true. Prince Cato and Lord Marvel are repulsive, violent, vulgar men, and your friends Duke Snow and Queen Coin are the most appalling, inhuman beings I have ever met. Peeta is the true noble, and all of the rest are peasants," she spat at him.

But Katniss did not stop there, and more words flowed out of her mouth, releasing everything she had kept in her entire life, "Ironically enough, I never took anyone else's judgment concerning Peeta's virtue and valor, save for your own words and my own eyes. Were you not the one who often praised him for his courage and strength, his loyalty and great deeds? I only accepted what you said and what I saw, and none of it was mistaken. If I was deceived, then I was deceived only by you. How can you say that he is a lowly man? This is a lie, for although it may be true that he is poor, you only have yourself to blame for leaving one of your most worthy men in such a state, for he not only baked in our kitchens but he fought for you in battle. Poverty may not take away nobleness, but wealth often does. Many of the royalty were once poor, and many of the shepherds were once rich," she pointed out. "But hesitate no further, Father. If you wish to do all of the cruel deeds in your advanced age that you abstained to do so in your youth, then by all means do so now, for I can assure you that if you do not give me the same punishment as Peeta, then I shall make sure to receive it myself. Know that I will never beg you for anything, nor deny my sin, if it is truly that. Now leave me and go weep with your women, and if you kill Peeta, kill me with the same stroke," she finished fiercely.

Haymitch listened to everything that his daughter had to say, but he did not believe that her threats were anything but empty. He then left her and decided to not cause her any direct harm, but rather to cool her scorching love with a different punishment. He often thought of his daughter as the girl on fire, what with her hot head and passionate words. Surely Peeta thought of her as this for a different reason, though. The thought angered him even further, and he sent out his guards to strangle Peeta silently and then cut out his heart and send it to him, and they did as they were told.

The next morning, the King set out to find a striking gold cup and placed Peeta's heart into it, asking one of Katniss' most trustful servants, Primrose Everdeen, to send it to Katniss with these words: "Your father sends you this to console you for what you most loved, even as you consoled him for what he loved most."

After Haymitch had left Katniss the night before, she had set out to find nightlock, squeezed the deathly berries, and distilled them with water so that they made juice, creating poison in case her fearful suspicions were met. Prim came and knocked on her door then, and Katniss met her tearful gaze as Prim repeated the words that the King had asked her to say. When she was done, she handed Katniss the gold cup, and as Katniss opened it and saw the heart, she knew instantly that it was Peeta's.

"Oh, Katniss, I am so sorry!" Prim burst into tears.

But Katniss turned to her bravely and said, "Gold alone is a fitting burial place for this heart; my father has done wisely." She then lifted the cup to her lips and kissed the heart within it and said, "Always, my father's love has always been tender towards me, and I thank him with honor for presenting me with such a princely gift, for my beloved Peeta vowed to me that his heart would always beat for me." She was then joined by Madge and Delly as well as Prim, and they entered her room in attempt to comfort her.

Katniss then closed the door to her chambers as she stood there with the heart of her dead lover and exclaimed: "Oh, Peeta, how fortunate you are to finally be free of the miseries of this cruel world! Nothing is missing from your funeral rites; you have been buried properly in gold by your enemy for your courage, and now all that you need are the tears of the one you loved the most during your life, and these you shall have as well, even if I promised myself to die a tearless and pitiless death. I will weep for you, and once I have wept myself dry, I shall your join soul, for what safer place to go than the one where the arms of your soul now inhabit? Surely they will accept me, because I know for certain that your soul loves me, and that everything we had was real." She then bowed her head as she wept and cried incessantly and painfully for him, allowing her tears to spill over the cup, her eyes an abundant fountain. She kissed Peeta's heart over and over again, and her women, Madge, Delly, and Prim, watched her pityingly as they cried with her and tried to comfort her as best as they could, but to no avail. Once she felt that she had cried enough, Katniss dried her eyes and said:

"O most beloved heart, I have performed all my duties to you; nothing now remains for me to do, save to come with my soul to bear company with yours."

She then took the vial filled with nightlock juice and poured it into the gold cup where Peeta's heart was wet with her tears, and fearlessly drank every drop. She then calmly lay down on her bed and placed Peeta's heart over her own, waiting peacefully and wordlessly for death to take her.

Having witnessing these events, Madge, Delly, and Prim, quickly sent word of this to Haymitch, but neither of them had noticed that she had consumed the poison. Haymitch, fearing what may happen, instantly ran into his daughter's room and tried to console her with sweet and gentle words as she lay upon the bed, but it was too late.

"Spare me your tears, Haymitch, for I do not want them, whoever heard of someone crying over what they wanted? However, if your love for me still holds, please grant me one last wish and have me buried in the same grave as Peeta. I know that you were upset with me for being secretly with him, but I ask you now to allow my body to lay openly with his wherever you have cast him, for you see, he promised me that he would always stay with me," she whispered.

Grief consumed the King, making him unable to reply, and as Katniss felt death approach her, she said, "Let me go, and remember that my love was real."

Haymitch instantly repented for his cruelty as he watched his only daughter die, knowing that it was too little, too late. He drank the rest of his life away as all of Panem grieved the fate of the star-crossed lovers, burying them both in the same grave.