Twist of Fate
Chapter One
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the Sevenwaters trilogy and I'm not making any money from this fic. The characters Kaie and Rowena belong to me
Summary: After Sorcha's brothers are changed into swans, one of the castle's servants finds herself locked in a battle of wills with the Lady Oonagh. If she fails, nothing will stop the bloodshed
Warning(s): Spoilers for the Sevenwaters trilogy by Juliet Marillier; spanking; original characters; strong violence
Author's Note: Some people might recognise this story, but it's been changed somewhat. The story will be written mostly from the POV of an original character, but also from the POV of Sorcha's brothers – just to let you know. Also, though this fic will follow most of Daughter of the Forest, it will be a probable AU towards the end
Kaie held her sister's hand, biting her lip as Rowena continued to be sick. She felt helpless, not knowing what she could do. "Shh... It's all right," she whispered. "It's going to be all right."
Rowena closed her eyes and slumped against Kaie, struggling to breathe. She barely stirred as her sister wiped her mouth with a damp cloth. "I'm going to die." She spoke quietly, with a pause between each word.
"You're not going to die." Kaie tried to sound reassuring, but knew she wasn't doing a very good job. "Don't give up, Rowena. You're getting better every day." A blatant lie; Rowena had been getting steadily worse.
Kaie was desperate.
"Don't cry, Kaie..." Rowena leaned her head against her sister's shoulder; her eyes squeezed shut as pain wracked her small body. Sweat ran down her face, but she was shivering violently. Despite Kaie's best efforts, she wasn't able to bring Rowena's fever down. Even cold water didn't help.
What could she do? It was just the two of them now; and she was supposed to look after her sister. Even if her father hadn't charged her with it, Kaie would have protected Rowena anyway.
"I'm going to get you help," Kaie whispered, coming to a decision. "Just hold on... a little longer, all right? I won't be long." She moved the last of the water so that it was within easy reach, and leaned forward to press her lips against Rowena's forehead. "I love you." She stood up and walked out of the hut, blinking back the tears which threatened to fall.
Outside in the village, everyone was rushing around. Kaie vaguely remembered that it was market day. Strange that she had forgotten something as simple as that. Still, perhaps it wasn't too surprising. And if it was market day, maybe one of the lords from the keep would be in the village... There was no way to know if they would even agree to help her, but if Rowena could be saved, she would do anything.
Kaie glanced briefly back over her shoulder at the hut, then shook her head sharply. If she went back to check on Rowena, she'd lose her nerve – and then her sister would die.
Slowly, Kaie moved through the marketplace, passing the stalls. Finally, she found one which sold medicines. It wouldn't be as good as some of the medicine she could get from the keep – but perhaps it would be enough. She just couldn't get caught, no matter what happened. Rowena's life depended on it.
Watching to make sure that no one was looking, Kaie edged nearer to the stall. In one swift move, her hand shot out, grasped one of the vials of medicine, and slipped it into her pocket. As she turned away, though, she felt a heavy hand come down on her shoulder.
Conor made a few notes on the sheet of parchment he was carrying and glanced around the busy village. He was already nearly finished with checking that the people had enough supplies to last them through the long winter, and had in mind to buy his sister a small gift – perhaps some seeds for her garden, or one of the carved wooden figures one stall was selling.
He'd almost decided on getting Sorcha some seeds, when his attention was caught by a commotion happening at one of the other stalls. Frowning, he started in that direction. He wouldn't normally interfere in those sorts of things, but it seemed like the mood of the villagers was about to turn ugly.
As he got closer, Conor could see that the people's ire was directed towards a girl of about his age – though it was difficult to tell, given how filthy she was; and the way her clothes hung off her body. His frown deepened as his gaze took in a body that was clearly suffering from having had little or no food for quite some time. Why had this sort of thing not been brought to his attention?
The girl's arm was grasped by the man in charge of keeping the peace; a man who Conor knew had been made rich and fat by living off the misery of others. As he strode closer, he could see that the man was leering at the girl in a way that made his blood boil.
"Lord Conor!" Anyon immediately stood up straighter, but kept a firm hold on the girl's wrist. "I have all of this under control. This girl took some medicine. I will take care of punishing her."
Conor turned his attention to the girl, who kept her head lowered, refusing to look directly at him. He reached out and placed a finger under her chin, tilting up so that she had to look at him. "My name is Conor," he told her. "Do you have a name?"
The girl hesitated, her eyes darting around like a frightened animal looking for a way to escape. Finally, she answered, "Kaie. My name is Kaie." Her voice was quiet, but calm and controlled as she continued, "I took this medicine because I am desperate, my lord. My sister is very sick. We have no money to pay for food or medicine, and are nearly out of water. Please, my lord..." She pulled her wrist free of Anyon's grip and dropped to her knees in front of Conor. "I beg of you... Please help my sister. I don't care what happens to me – but Rowena doesn't deserve to die."
"Don't listen to her lies!"
But Conor was already crouched down in front of Kaie. He placed his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes. "Tell me where your sister is." He kept his voice gentle, noticing how tired and scared she seemed. When Kaie would have stood up, he lifted her into his arms – frowning as he noticed how light she was – and glanced at Anyon. "I will take care of her from here."
Anyon looked like he wanted to argue, but a single look from Conor was enough to quell his protests. Kaie pointed towards one of the huts. "My sister's in there... Please put me down; and hurry!"
Conor pushed open the door, and stepped into the hut. When he saw the condition the other girl was in, he spoke sharply to the guard who had followed him. "We'll take these two girls back to the keep. You take the one who's sick, and ride as fast as you can. As soon as you get there, take the child to my sister."
"Thank you," Kaie murmured as the guard moved to obey. As if a great weight had been lifted from her, Conor felt her relax in his arms. He waited for the guard to leave with Kaie's sister, and then carried Kaie out, ignoring the way the villagers – and particularly Anyon – stared at him.
He'd forgotten about the seeds...
Once they'd got back to the keep – and left Rowena in the care of Sorcha and Father Brien, who'd been visiting – Conor took Kaie to some rooms, and then called a couple of female servants to come and get her cleaned.
"My sister..." Kaie said, gripping hold of Conor's sleeve when he would have left. "Will she... be all right?"
Conor looked down at her and gave a smile which – for some reason – reassured Kaie a little. "She's with my sister and Father Brien," he replied. "She will be fine, I promise." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Let the servants take care of you. I will go and get you some food and check how your sister is doing, I promise." Once again, he turned to leave the room.
"Rowena," Kaie whispered. "Her name's Rowena."
Conor nodded slightly. "I will check on Rowena and let her know that her sister's doing all right." He turned to leave a third time – and Kaie didn't try to stop him this time. She didn't fight as the servants helped her into a tub of water and started washing her body. She closed her eyes and let herself relax, finally allowing herself to believe that – just perhaps – Rowena would be all right.
By the time Conor returned to the room he had left Kaie in, one of the servants was leaving. "Lord Conor... I was just coming to find you," she said. "Kaie is dressed and ready to talk to you – though she's rather sleepy, so I would suggest you don't spend too much time with her." The servant's tone was rather severe – but Conor could tell that it was more out of a motherly concern for the girl than anything else.
"It's all right," Conor said, smiling slightly. "I just want to ask her a few questions, and tell her how her sister is – that's all. I won't keep her awake for too long."
The servant nodded, and opened the door, calling to her companion. They then both left. Conor hesitated briefly, then walked into the room, smiling as he saw that Kaie had been bathed and dressed – though she looked even thinner. He was holding a tray of food in one hand, and set it down in front of her. "You should eat something," he told her. "But slowly – you don't want to make yourself sick."
Kaie glanced at the food, but didn't touch it. She looked up at Conor. "My sister – Rowena. How is she?"
"She's getting better," Conor replied. "You're lucky that we were able to get her here in time. She should recover. She's already asking after you." He pushed the tray closer to her. "Eat. I told Rowena that you'll both be staying here. Once you've eaten and rested, you'll be able to see her."
After a brief hesitation, Kaie started picking at the food – taking small bites. Conor could see that she didn't have much appetite, but he knew that she needed to eat as much as she was able to without feeling sick.
Which wouldn't be very much.
"Why didn't you get a message here if your sister was that sick?" Conor asked – though he could guess at the reason. He just wanted to hear Kaie tell him.
"Anyon told me that it wasn't something people in the keep should be concerned with." Kaie lowered her head. "He said he'd get a message to you... but asked for all of the money I had." She sighed a little. "I gave it to him... and he told me that my request for medicine and help had been refused."
Conor narrowed his eyes. "No such message was sent here. I can promise you that, if it had been, you and your sister would have been brought here immediately." He considered it for a few moments. It looked like he finally had enough evidence to bring Anyon to trial – but he would have to proceed carefully. His father had been the one to appoint Anyon as the man in charge of making sure justice was done.
But first, Conor needed to take care of something else.
"Have you finished eating?" Conor asked, noticing that Kaie was just pushing the food around.
Kaie nodded, putting the tray to one side. "I'm sorry," she answered. "I just can't eat any more. And I'm sorry I had to try and steal the medicine," she added. "But... like I said... I was desperate. Though maybe I should have tried to ask you... I guessed you or one of your brothers would be at the village today..." Her voice trailed off, and she glanced away briefly. "Sorry. I just..."
Conor nodded slightly. "I understand that you were desperate – but you're right. You should have talked to me first before you tried stealing that medicine. You and your sister can stay here for as long as you need – but first of all, I think that you need to be punished. Stealing is a very serious crime – and unless I can tell Anyon you've already been punished, he'll insist on having you whipped or something similar."
Kaie flinched at the mention of being whipped, and clasped her hands together. "Punished?" she repeated, her voice trembling slightly. "Punished how?"
"I'm going to put you over my knee and spank you," Conor answered calmly. "It'll hurt – but that'll be the end of it. I'll be able to protect both you and Rowena. I promise." He looked deep into her eyes.
Kaie took a deep breath, and nodded. "If you think it's the right thing to do, I guess I don't really have a choice," she said. "What sort of thing do I need to do here?"
Conor sat down on the bed next to Kaie. "I was going to teach you how to read and write, and then ask you for help with my duties as the scribe here," he answered. As he spoke, he took hold of Kaie's wrists and gently pulled her over his knees. He raised her skirts and folded them over onto her back, before pulling her underwear down and resting his hand on her bare bottom.
Kaie tensed just slightly. Conor felt it as he raised his hand, and used his other hand to touch her head gently before he gave her the first smack. That first one was followed by more, and Conor continued the hard spanking. It didn't take long before he could hear the first quiet sobs, but he continued until Kaie just put her head down and cried heavily. Then, he stopped and rested his aching hand on the small of her back.
"Shh... It's all right," Conor said quietly, rubbing her back.
"I'm sorry," Kaie whispered tearfully. "Are things really going to be all right for me and Rowena?"
"Things will be fine, I promise." Conor helped her up and cradled her gently, feeling suddenly protective over her. "No one will treat you the way Anyon did, ever again. I promise."