'
It was remarkable how Lord Ren, heretofore so intimidating and abrupt in manner and rule, could diminish before her eyes, how so large and powerful a man could become so fragile.
It lit a warmth that glowed in her chest, a softness... that she did her utmost to stamp out because it would only make working and living at Varykino harder.
No, she was happy here, she loved the house and her friends and Ullswater, it was all perfect, and she wouldn't do anything to vitiate her new life.
'
The cherry trees which had flowered in May, sending pink petals fluttering over the lawn like confetti, were now producing fruit, and after Rey had helped Poe in harvesting, Dopheld showed her how to make jam and cherry brandy. It was exciting to learn the process and Dopheld seemed to enjoy teaching her very much, he was such a sweet soul. It was a messy job to remove the stones from the fruit and by the time they were done, it looked a little like they had committed bloody murder.
'
Dopheld had gone to help Mr Hux with something after finishing their jam and Rey washed up before going upstairs to clean the billiard room, hall and foyer.
Poe, ever mischievous, informed her completely guilelessly that she was shipshape when she asked him if she had missed anything and so she went upstairs totally unaware that she had cherry juice smudged on her cheek.
'
The Aspidistra was thriving with the better light and regular watering, and Rey marked it up for another success in bringing things at Varykino back to life.
It's pot was made of hammered brass with repoussé Egyptian figures around the outside and an elegantly pierced decorated rim. It took a lot of elbow grease, but after a good buffing it shone in a most pleasing way.
As was becoming usual when she was sweeping or cleaning the hall and foyer, the newly repaired grandfather clock made her jump when it tolled the hour. By now she ought to have been used to it, but it never ceased to catch her by surprise. She left out a small squeak, then shook her head at herself and went to stand.
There was another surprise awaiting her when she turned around. Lord Ren, standing in the middle of the hall, leading her to gasp and jump again, feeling absolutely foolish even as she did so.
Trying to save face, she dropped into an awkward courtesy. "May I help you with something, Lord Ren?"
It felt as if she were asking him that question a lot recently, he seemed to be everywhere. Perhaps it was the warmer weather and extra sunlight?
"How did you wound your face?" his low tone sounded angry, his eyes glaring at her under heavy brows.
Rey blinked in confusion, "Wound my face?" she set down her things so she could pat her cheeks and blushed horribly when her fingers came away with a red stain. She was going to murder Poe.
"Oh, no, I apologise, Lord Ren, it is only jam, I thought I had cleaned it all." What must he think of her? Only children wandered around with food on their faces, naughty children.
His expression lightened and he wandered forwards to sweep his thumb over her cheek and then stuck it in his mouth.
Rey almost fainted.
"Cherry," he said, faintly huskily, "I take it Mitaka has made cherry brandy as well, then?"
It was just possible to collect enough of her wits to nod, though she remained mute.
"Excellent," he said, dark eyes never leaving hers, "Please inform Hux that I'm going out and won't be back till this evening." With a casual nod and a twitch of his lips that were stained darker than usual, he left her.
Several minutes later, she was still standing in the same spot, it was like her feet had sprouted roots, but she was fairly certain that if she tried to move, she may simply fall over.
Had the man no sense of propriety whatsoever? Even if he had been cloistered at Varykino since he was fifteen, those formative years growing up with Lady Solo as his mother would surely have taught him that you just did not behave that way! It was unconscionable! It was… it was lewd!
So why was her heart fluttering in her chest? Why was there warmth in her belly and bees swarming inside her head?
It was time for a cup of tea… and she was going to find Poe.
And murder him.
'
Before murdering Poe, she went in search of Mr Hux to relay Lord Ren's message. As she reached his office, she couldn't help overhearing part of a conversation between Dopheld and Mr Hux.
"It seems a little calmer recently, don't you think?"
"He is out there every night, Hux, you need to tell him he shouldn't stay so close to the house!"
Curious and curiouser. Rey had never enjoyed Alice In Wonderland, it had always felt to her like some sort of twisted nightmare, but that certain phrase was useful… and yet, she absolutely should not eavesdrop. It was a sin and always led to trouble.
She made a clatter, to alert them, then knocked on the door and popped her head in, (it wasn't fully closed, after all.)
"Lord Ren asked me to tell you he was going out and would be home in the evening," she said as unaffectedly as possible.
"Thank you, Rey," Mr Hux frowned, "Are you injured?"
Rey withheld a small noise of irritation, "It is just cherry juice, sir. I must have missed it, I will see to it now."
'
As Rey sipped her tea, she purposefully ignored what had happened upstairs and what she had overheard downstairs, and instead ruminated on how she should repay Poe for his deception.
Someone had once put pinecones in her bed at the workhouse as a trick, but there weren't any pinecones around at this time of year and besides, it would be inappropriate to enter his bedroom.
It is amazing how restorative a cup of tea can be, once she had finished her indulgence of a second cup, she had regained her equilibrium and had a plan.
She poured a cup of tea, adding a liberal amount of sugar and one other surprise ingredient, then skipped out to find Poe in the garden.
She found him lifting potatoes, "I brought you some tea," she called, "You must be thirsty!"
As she had planned, Poe noticed her still cherry-smudged cheek and smirked, standing and stretching his back before accepting the tea gratefully.
"Thank you, Rey, it certainly is warm today."
Rey made a general 'Hmm,' of agreement and smiled, "I must get back," with a little wave, she strolled away grinning to herself in triumph.
'
As she cleansed her face of cherry juice, it did occur to her that her little trick would be rather more obvious than his, but, it was done now and there was no way to undo it. When the honey is out of the comb, there is no putting it back. With a sigh and a shrug, she went back upstairs to finish her tasks, thankful that a certain dark lord wasn't in the vicinity.
'
Later, when Poe came in for the evening meal, his signature grin showed blackened teeth and lips.
"What on earth happened to your mouth?" Dopheld asked, alarmed.
Poe frowned, "What do you mean?"
Rey snickered into her hand but didn't do it quietly enough and they both turned to look at her with identical puzzled frowns.
"You should have told me about the cherry juice," she told Poe blandly.
Dopheld looked between them both, eyes narrowed, then he smirked a little, "You should probably go and look in a mirror, Poe." He turned to Rey as Poe hurried away, "So he didn't tell you on purpose, I take it?"
Rey nodded, "After I washed up I asked him if I'd missed any, and he said no. It was Lord Ren who noticed and informed me!"
With a deep, exasperated sigh, Dopheld shook his head, then grinned as an indignant squawk came from upstairs, "You put ink in his tea, then?"
"I did," Rey agreed with a small smile, though she was still a little nervous about how reckless the action had been.
They listened as Poe made his way loudly downstairs and rushed into the kitchen, "I cannot believe you did that!" he half-spluttered, half-laughed, "Touché, Rey Johnson, touché."
"You deserved it," Dopheld said, then narrowed his eyes at the other man, "No more now, pax please, we have enough going on here without you adding unnecessary dramatics."
Poe pouted, which only succeeded in looking utterly ridiculous, and Rey and Dopheld giggled like children.
'
Luckily for Rey, no trouble came of her trick on Poe, except for him complaining every time he came home from an errand over how people were laughing at him, and Mr Hux drawing her aside to ascertain which ink she had used.
Mr Hux's pale eyes had been warm with amusement, and he seemed satisfied when she told him she had used her own ink and hadn't pilfered it from his office or the library.
Poe's teeth stayed black for almost two weeks, much to everyone's merriment but his own.
'
Once more, Rey did her level best to avoid Lord Ren. She went so far as to get up earlier than usual, to tend to the library before breakfast in the hopes that it meant she wouldn't have to look in those dark, intense eyes or be in the overwhelming presence that was Lord Ren.
One morning, she woke up to find her crimson visitor had arrived. With a heavy sigh and anxiety crawling over her skin, she prepared for the day, trying to rack her brains into coming up with an excuse to stay below stairs for the next while. She had no wish of a repeat of last time.
It was uncanny, Lord Ren's sensitive sense of smell was alarming and deeply invasive. She had never come across any other person with the same ability, she could only compare it to a dog's.
It made her wonder, not for the first time, if it were related to his illness, or if it was something that ran in his family. It was sometimes said that the nobility were somewhat inbred (she felt awful even thinking such a thing of Lady Solo) so perhaps it could be explained that way?
Because she had risen early, she whirled through the three rooms in use with a quick sweep, dust and polish, decided it would be too warm for fires, then retreated downstairs.
There was plenty of washing to be done, so she spent the day taking care of that and ironing, succeeding in clearing the whole soiled laundry bin. While that was all to the good, it did mean she would have to find something else to do tomorrow as a result.
By the time she retired to her room, along with her cramps, she had a very sore back and dried out hands.
Among the other sundry items for sale at the Post Office shop, Paige made and sold some cosmetics and creams. Rey had previously purchased a little pot of cold cream scented with rose, and she took this out now, rubbing it into her hands with a pleased sigh.
'
Usually, her crimson visitor was accompanied by bad dreams or nightmares, but happily, Maz's Sweet-sleep kept them all at bay.
Toiling over the laundry combined with the debility she experienced whenever her crimson visitor was upon her, conspired to keep her sleeping passed her new wake-up time and she was even a trifle late down to breakfast.
As she so often thought, (in the privacy of her own head), being a woman was an awful lot of bother and inconvenience. It truly was a man's world, and yet God had decided (in his supposed infinite wisdom) to add to a woman's burden in the form of menses.
One might almost call it spiteful.
'
The day didn't give her any grace, for she hadn't been in the library for very long when Lord Ren entered.
She just knew his was there, he made no sound but the feeling of being watched crept over her shoulders and dragged up her scalp like fingers. With a will she continued laying a new fire, though why he was using it at all in the summer was beyond her and she could only surmise that he must stay up very late indeed.
When she was done, she stood to find him sitting at his desk, his fingers idling with a beautiful chased silver pencil. There was a sheet of paper in front of him and she wondered if he liked to draw or if he preferred for some reason, to write letters with pencil rather than ink.
Then she noticed his nostrils were flaring and she gave him the most perfunctory of curtseys and left the room without dusting.
Even though he hadn't made any comment, her cheeks still flooded with colour as she took herself off to her room to change her soaked napkin.
Having such an acute sense of smell really didn't excuse him for not at least attempting to be subtle about it.
The encounter put her out of sorts all day, and she reflected that perhaps he wasn't so very handsome after all. Besides, being handsome wasn't everything - Poe was fun, Dopheld was sweet and Mr Hux was kind, those were much better attributes in a man than having a beautiful face or strong shoulders.
Much better.
'
With that in mind, why did her subconscious return to dreaming of him again? If she were going to dream of a man, of such intimacy, could she not dream of a handsome stranger her mind conjured up for her? Someone unconnected to her daily life, that she could dream over and never pine for, because she knew he didn't really exist?
It was intolerable, this tenderness and affection, these gentle caresses and murmured endearments, because they had the bitter sting of being lavished upon her by a man who… who was so disgusted by her.
Of course even if he wasn't, nothing could ever evolve between them, it was more the humiliation of knowing how disparate their feelings and stations were.
With a muffled sob, Rey hid under her covers, blinking her stinging eyes as she cursed her dreams and how wrong they were.
'
'
A/N: I had Cruel To Be Kind by Letters To Cleo in my head (originally by Nick Lowe) for some of this… oh and then I Write Sins Not Tragedies by Panic! At The Disco. Weird day.
I am kind of overwhelmed that some many people are reading this, I love and cherish each and every review, so THANK YOU ^_^
