'

It happened while she was helping Poe in the garden. There was an overgrown spot in one corner which had contained spring cabbages but had been neglected for a while. Rey was pulling up weeds when she came face to face with a snake.

Whilst she had never seen a snake in the flesh, it was unmistakable, and her immediate reaction was to scream.

Before that moment, she rather thought of herself as the sort of woman who would react rationally to this sort of situation, but apparently she had overestimated her capacity for sense over instinct.

It was, (to her anyway), huge, with evil beady eyes and grey-green skin with black markings that only added to its alarming appearance.

Rey lurched to her feet as it hissed and lunged at her, only just missing by a whisker. With another scream, she turned to run, her legs got twisted in her skirts and she fell to the floor, managing to catch herself on her wrists and hands, her breath heaving as she struggled to find her feet, terrified that the snake would strike while she was down.

That was when Poe arrived, dramatically waving a hoe and yelling, which led her to assume that the snake was still at large.

Scrambling to her feet, she turned to find the snake attempting to climb the brick wall, and was greatly alarmed to see it was succeeding - did that mean they could climb houses and slither into rooms if you had a window open?

Loud footsteps on the path sounded and she turned to see Lord Ren and Mr Hux following after him.

Lord Ren reached her and took her arms, frantically glancing her over, nostrils flaring and eyes dark. "Are you hurt? What happened?"

Poe gestured to the wall, "Snake, biggun."

"Did it bite you?" Mr Hux asked with concern as he too came to look at Rey.

Rey shook her head mutely, still finding it hard to regulate her breathing.

"It's just a grass snake," Poe interjected helpfully, "No venom."

Venom? Rey swayed, it had not occurred to her that it may carry venom, she put a hand to her forehead, "I feel a little-" she swayed more violently and her head suddenly felt very hot, as if she were upside down and all the blood had rushed in.

There came the sensation of motion and she realised she had been picked up, her mind decided it didn't particularly care what that meant and she allowed her eyes to close completely, trying to steady her breath.

"It's all right, Sweetheart," a warm voice murmured, "I have you."

It was rather reassuring and she went limp, blacking out for a moment.

'

Her senses were revived by a cool cloth being held against her forehead and Dopheld's soft, concerned calling of her name. She blinked open her eyes to find herself lying prone on one of the camel back sofas in the billiard room. Trying to sit up proved to be a little premature as it made her head swim and she gave up the effort.

"Are you well?"

For some reason, her first words were, "There was a snake!" she realised how childish she must sound and blushed, "I think I'm just a bit dizzy."

Wincing, she glanced down at her hands - they were grazed from her fall, with earth stuck to her skin and beads of blood.

Dopheld's eyes followed hers, "I'll just get a bowl of water to clean them,"

As he stood, Rey asked, "What am I doing in here and not below stairs?" What if she soiled the velvet of the sofas?

"Lord Ren thought you ought to lie down rather than sit," Dopheld explained as he made for the door, he glanced back at her, "He carried you in."

Oh no, not again! With a will, Rey struggled into a sitting position, but leaned her head against the upright of the sofa, still feeling decidedly woozy.

The door opened and Lord Ren entered, carrying a glass with some amber liquid in, his eyebrows drew down in disapproval, "You should be lying down, Miss Johnson."

"I am sure I will be fine in a moment, please don't trouble yourself." Although she had tried to sound composed, she wasn't sure she had managed it.

His frown intensified and he handed her the glass, which after a sniff turned out to hold strong liquor. Rey shook her head and offered it back but he folded his arms.

"It is not a suggestion, Miss Johnson, I insist, whiskey is good for shock. Drink it down in one, if you do not care for the taste."

One glance at his face showed he was in earnest, and Rey had to admit she did still feel unwell. With a wince, she swallowed it, gasping at the way it burned as it went down, wrinkling her nose in disgust. When she looked back up at Lord Ren, it looked as though he was hiding a smirk by rubbing his chin. She was distracted from glaring at him by the sudden warmth hitting her stomach - it wasn't an unpleasant feeling, just odd.

"Now, lie back down," he commanded, "Just for half an hour or so."

Perhaps normally she would have felt vulnerable at the position, but the liquor seemed to be doing the trick, so she obeyed, though not completely flat, instead she propped herself up a little on the side of the sofa with a cushion.

Dopheld entered with a bowl and a cloth and nervously approached. Lord Ren moved aside but didn't leave as Dopheld gently cleaned her grazes, before carefully patting on a salve.

Against her will, Rey's eyelids fluttered closed.

'

When she opened them again, gradually and blearily, the light had changed and she realised she must have been asleep for a few hours - how embarrassing!

As she struggled to sit up, she discovered she had a terrible headache and neat bandages wrapped around her wrists.

With a small, pitiful whimper, she gained her seat, her head pounding like a drum.

There was a small noise, possibly a clearing throat and she looked up to see Lord Ren sitting opposite her on the other sofa, a book in his lap.

Oh, oh no, had he been there the whole time she was asleep? He never failed in making her feel ridiculous.

In a fluid, swift movement, he stood and walked over to her, "How are you feeling?"

With a rather dry swallow, Rey sat up straighter, "Quite well, thank you," she made to stand but the smallest of pressures on her shoulder put her back in her seat. Glaring made her head hurt all the more, but she couldn't help it as she looked from his hand on her and then back to him.

"What have I told you about telling the truth," he asked seriously, "What hurts?"

How in heaven could he know something hurt? Was she that obvious with her expressions? "Merely a headache, I assure you."

Lord Ren huffed as if he didn't believe her, "Go up to bed Miss Johnson, you clearly still need to rest."

Rey came to the infuriating conclusion that if it had been Dopheld or Poe, they would receive no such consideration - Lord Ren seemed to be labouring under the misapprehension that all women were weak and fragile. And that just wasn't true, not of common folk anyway.

"A headache will not prevent me carrying out my duties, Lord Ren. I am certainly well enough to help Dopheld with dinner." Before he could object, she determinedly stood up, ignoring the fact that she was swaying and her head felt like it was about to crack open.

"Miss Johnson," his voice came out low and deadly serious, it made the fine hair on the back of her neck stand up and a shiver zip down her spine, "If you refuse to go upstairs I will carry you up and put you to bed myself."

...Put you to bed myself, put you to bed myself, put you to bed myself, put you to bed myself… those words repeated in her head while she gaped at him, absolutely scandalised, but with a nervous fluttering in her stomach as her cheeks heated to what was surely a dangerous temperature.

"You cannot possibly be serious!" the words tumbled out without any thought but she didn't completely regret them.

"I assure you that I am, Miss Johnson," his voice was velvety and full of warning as he stepped closer, making her have to crane her neck to see his face.

"I am not a child!"

"I am quite aware," he said with an edge to his voice that she didn't understand, "But I will treat you like one if you continue to disobey me."

His eyes had become dark, almost all pupil, up this close she could count the beauty marks on his face if she wished, or touch his lips to see if they were as soft as they looked, or even reach up to run her fingers through his glossy hair.

It felt as if there was a sort of dynamism about him, he was like a storm, the same sort of chaotic energy but contained, trapped inside a man. She felt certain that one day the storm would break free, to consume everything, perhaps even her. What disturbed her the most about that thought, was that a part of her was actually curious as to what would happen, what being consumed would be like...

Whatever it was like, she would never know. With a flustered, exasperated huff, she forced herself to turn from him and made her way, slightly unsteadily, to the door. She could feel him following behind her, and was grateful when he stopped at the bottom of the servants stairs.

'

If she napped any more today it was unlikely she would be able to sleep tonight, so she took the time to organise her room and clean the grate so she could lay a new fire, then read some more of Pride and Prejudice. Mr Darcy was somehow growing on her a little and she didn't care how amiable Mr Wickham seemed, she greatly disliked him.

After perhaps an hour, she cautiously tiptoed downstairs, quiet as a mouse. The library door was open, so she crept slowly and silently below stairs.

"Rey!" exclaimed Poe as she entered the kitchen and Rey winced.

"Hush! Keep your voice down!"

Poe gave her a perplexed look which was echoed by Dopheld who was putting the finishing touches to the evening meal.

Rey waved her hand, "Lord Ren insisted I go and rest, but I am fine so I came down again."

"Are you sure you're well enough to be up and about?" Dopheld asked anxiously.

With a snort, Poe shook his head, "If she says she's fine, she's fine." he smiled at Rey, "I checked everywhere and the snake is long gone, you'll be glad to hear."

"Thank you, I'm sorry about all the fuss - I'd never seen a snake before today."

Poe patted her on the shoulder, "Normally they're nothing to worry about, but he was a biggun and bad tempered. Next time just shout at it and wave something around and they'll disappear on their own."

Next time? Goodness, she hoped not, for a while yet at least!

"Shall I make the tray up for Lord Ren?" Rey asked, trying to be helpful.

Dopheld, caught her arm before she could move, "It's best if you don't, in case he smel- I mean," he rubbed the back of his neck, looking uncomfortable, "You may arrange it differently and he'll know you're down here."

There it was, they knew about Lord Ren's preternatural sense of smell, and they were trying not to talk about it near her. She considered just speaking plainly and mentioning it outright, but something stopped her, somehow it didn't feel like the right time, however foolish that may sound.

When Mr Hux came to fetch Lord Ren's dinner, he frowned upon seeing Rey.

"I was given to understand you had retired, Rey?"

Blushing a little, because disobeying orders in front of Poe and Dopheld was one thing, but Mr Hux was a superior she was happy to be led by, Rey shrugged sheepishly, "I didn't need to rest, Lord Ren quite insisted. I am well enough to be up, I promise."

With a shake of his head, Mr Hux sighed resignedly, "Very well, but I suggest you stay down here till you retire, or he will be most displeased."

Rey felt a twinge of guilt, it felt like Mr Hux disapproved of her choice to come downstairs.

"It is not as if I am made of glass," she muttered once Mr Hux had departed

Dopheld pursed his lips and raised his eyebrows, "You fainted, Rey, when the master brought you in you were as white as a sheet."

Crossing her arms, she answered with the conviction that comes with hindsight, "If I'd been allowed to sit for a few moments in the garden, I probably would have been fine."

"Probably being the operative word, Rey, you can't know that!" Dopheld was being unusually argumentative.

"All right, I think maybe we should calm down, it's in the past so it hardly matters now," Poe interjected, for once being the peacekeeper.

Rey was having none of it, "And if it had been you or Dopheld? You would have been allowed to decide what was best for you."

Poe heaved a deep sigh, "But of course - women are more delicate than men, and besides, neither of us would have screamed just because we saw a snake!"

It was likely that she was never going to live this down, Rey thought as she silently and sullenly ate dinner. One silly mistake and she would be judged by it for the foreseeable future. Women more delicate than men? She would like to see a man endure the hardships of giving birth!

She spent the rest of the evening doing chore after chore to make up for her earlier idleness, and to prove that she was not weak or delicate. Her head hurt terribly by the time she went up to bed, but she felt that it had been a good and necessary demonstration.

'

The next day, Lord Ren started to slam doors and shout with ill-temper. It was definitely a pattern she could follow now.

It brought her thoughts, once again, back to the mystery of his malady, the idiosyncrasies of how it affected him… It made her think of the Lady of Shalott again, 'a curse is on her', could it be that Lord Ren was cursed? 'She knows not what the curse may be;' and did he know what curse it was? It seemed like he managed it, so he must know… not that Rey believed in curses, of course. It just… it was all so very peculiar, how his mood would change so markedly, how strange his symptoms were and how precise their duration - three nights, always three nights… but why? She seemed to remember reading somewhere that three was a sacred number that held a deeper meaning and was sometimes called a magic number… which led her to wonder about for what purpose everyone was shut away in their rooms? What happened to him during the night hours? What did he do? ''The curse is come upon me,' cried the Lady of Shalott,' was that the time when the curse was… visible? And he was afraid of being seen?

Or, was she being ever so foolish and allowing her imagination to run away with itself?

That was probably it, she decided - she was reading too much into the poem and thinking too deeply and too often of Lord Ren.

'

True to form, or perhaps rather to the calendar, the man in question stalked about restlessly from room to room as she worked, until she was tempted to snap at him to sit down or go out. Of course she did not, but it was a relief when she was able to retreat below stairs.

In the hopes of smoothing the edge of his temper, she made some more saffron buns. Not that he deserved them, but hopefully it would give her and her fellows a reprieve.

'

It turned out she was right, he was pleased with them, so much so that he appeared before they were ready. She and Dopheld were preparing dinner, and were interrupted by Lord Ren entering the kitchen as if led by the nose.

Rey only knew he was there because Dopheld flinched as he turned away from the stove top and almost dropped a pan of water.

"May we help you, Lord Ren?" Rey asked, as Dopheld looked incapable of speech at that moment.

With a vague wave of his hand, Lord Ren moved closer to the oven, a hopeful expression on his face, making him look rather young. "Are you making buns again?"

"Yes, but they will not be ready for some time, I will make sure Mr Hux brings you one as soon as they are ready to eat."

He nodded absently, eyes still glued on the oven and stayed where he was. Rey looked at a wide-eyed Dopheld who gave a subtle shrug.

It would be impossible for both she and Dopheld to concentrate if he stayed down with them, this was meant to be their space, after all.

With a sigh, Rey brushed her hands off on her apron and walked around Lord Ren to go and find Mr Hux.

What she had not expected, was for Lord Ren to stiffen as she passed him, and then follow her instead of continuing to loiter.

As they entered Mr Hux's office, he looked up, eyebrows raising as he took them both in - for when Rey had stopped, Lord Ren had kept going until he was very close to her back. The warmth of his body was palpable and the scent of him invaded her head... and she was certain he was smelling her, she could feel breath upon the back of her neck. A blush quickly formed and with wide eyes, Rey gestured out of Lord Ren's sight, trying to convey the issue at hand.

Mr Hux gave a small nod, then stood, "Kylo," he said, voice low and penetrating.

The feeling of Lord Ren abruptly stepping away from her, left her with mixed feelings, which she tried not to display. She dared not move and stayed still as Mr Hux walked around her and ushered Lord Ren out, speaking quietly to him as they went.

With a sigh, Rey unnecessarily straightened her apron and cap, and went back to the kitchen to pretend nothing out of the ordinary had occurred. She would think about it all later, when she wasn't so flushed and flustered.

'

'


A/N: Snakes are lovely, don't be mean to them. Even when they surprise you. (I'm saying this in England, where we only have four snakes, only one of which is mildly venomous. And generally if you are lucky enough to meet one, they will slither away unless you threaten them or try to pick them up.) Also, poor Rey, while Feminism began in 1848, it is still a small movement and hasn't reached the Lake District yet… plus, wearing a corset makes things like breathing deeply, difficult, I can personally attest to that and if you ever wear one too, don't run in it (if it's a real corset, not a fashion one and you have it laced properly) also, sneezing will hurt and if you get hiccups, TAKE IT OFF. You'll thank me.

Also, um, yeah, this chapter is maybe a little silly and I shoehorned in another bridal-carry, but I'm not even sorry.