The Heartwood Box: A Fairy Tale (36 page)

Damian looked furious while Derek glowered defensively, but both bent to one knee
.

“As you will, sire,” Damian said bitterly
.

Derek made a curt nod, and both left the
clearing
together.

When Genevieve a
woke, she was lying on her side
with the bright sun on her face, a pair of masculine arms wrapped around her
.
For a moment it seemed like the past two days had all just been a nightmare, but she could not keep back reality for long
.

The first thing she noticed was the scent was wrong
.
Instead
of Damian’s
sultry
oakmoss, the scent was of summer
: cut
grass,
thyme
, violet
s
, fresh earth
.

She opened her eyes to
discover
that she was not in her bed at all, but on the daybed in the conservatory, though she was wearing only a thin nightdress!  She turned over and saw that the arms did not belong to Damian, but to Donal, who was lying shirtless next to her, wearing a pair of loose linen trousers like those that Damian favored
.

He was smiling
.
“Fever’s broken!  You had us worried, little girl.” 

She tried to edge away, but the moment she moved, she was lashed by pain
—
it was from Derek’s spanking
.
The full horror fell upon her in a swoop: she was an adulteress, she’d deceived Damian with his own brother, no doubt Declan was on his way here to…

S
he couldn’t bear to think further
.

She realized Donal was speaking to her
.
“Genevieve
,
listen to me
.
No one is angry
with
you
.
You’ve done nothing wrong.” 

She let out a loud wail
.
“I betrayed Damian.”

“Hush, darling
.
Don’t say that
—
you didn’t betray him.” 

Now she was just angry
.
“You’re not listening!  I… Derek…
.
”
S
he couldn’t bear to say the words.

“No, Genevieve,
you
are not listening.” 

She snapped to attention
—
apparently it was not only his brothers who employed that iron tone
.

“Within our family, we do not consider it adultery for the bride to be intimate with her husband’s brothers.”

Genevieve
was silenced
.
It must be nonsense
.
She’d never heard anything so outlandish
.
Donal was trying to make her feel better, just like her parents used to
.
Perhaps they feared she might harm herself
.
“You needn’t lie to me,” she said finally
.

“I am not lying to you, Genevieve
.
I swear
it
upon Titania’s name
.
B
ut if you require further proof, I am more than happy to give it to you.” 

He rolled her over on top of him, gripped her hair, and kissed her deeply
.

“Are you ready to listen now
?
You know that only one of us can marry
.
It does not happen in every generation, but it is considered a special blessing if the bride is drawn to her husband’s brothers.” 

It took several minutes for the use of speech to return
.
When it finally did
,
she said shakily, “That’s insane.”

“Isn’t it
?
Completely and utterly insane, but honestly
,
Genevieve
,
you’ve spent time with my brothers
.
D
id you really believe them sane?”

“But that couldn’t be… you don’t…
.
That’s wrong,” she said lamely.

“You mean morally?” 
Donal
looked utterly struck by the notion
.
“Morally wrong!  Well!” 
H
e pretended to ponder and then said
earnestly
, “I should hope so!  Honestly
,
Jenny-girl, moral sex!
  W
here’s the point in that?”

He was too absurd.

“Are you going to start crying again?” he asked with boyish alarm
.
“Lords of hell, I never realized how much girls cry!
I thought you might shrivel up
with all that liquid pouring from your eyes
.
Finally I had to dunk you in the tub
.
Normally you’re pretty enough, I own, but all that sobbing has made your
face blotch something awful.”

Now she punched his arm.

“That’s my girl.
”
H
e chucked her chin
and
got to his feet
.
There was a pitcher of water with lemon slices on t
he table
, which
had
already
been laid for breakfast
.
He
poured a glass and brought it to her
.
She tried to sit up but groaned in pain
.
H
er entire backside still ached from Derek’s beating
.

“Tsk
.
It’s worn off already
.
On your stomach
!
  Now, little girl,” he commanded.

Genevieve obeyed instinctively, feeling that familiar squeezing between her legs
.
Before she could stop him, Donal flipped up her gown, placing his knee on her back so she couldn’t roll away
.
She protested in outrage as he started
lathering her buttocks with
ointment, but her protests quickly transformed
in
to satisfied moans as the pain disappeared
,
leaving a pleasing tingle
.

As he rubbed he said, “While I’ve got you in this vulnerable position, I would remind you that you made me a promise yesterday
.
D
o you recall it?”

“Yes!” she said through grated teeth
.
She’d promised not to hurt herself
.

“Good, because I will hold you to it, and if you even think of breaking your word, I would be happy to go to work on this lovely ass of yours.”  H
e gave her a roguish wink as he
help
ed
her up.

Genevieve
thought about dumping her water
glass over his head, but settled for sticking her tongue out at him, which just brought out that glorious smile of his
.

“There’s my girl
.
I take it you’re hungry
?
I promise, no tongue,
for now.” 
He gave her a lewd wink
.
Incorrigible!
 
“Instead, we have coddled eggs, Roderick’s special sausage pasties, and of course, fresh cherries!  But I assume you’re in dire need of a piss first.” 

She smirked
—
no one would ever accuse Donal of an excess of delicacy
.
When she stumbled trying to walk, he swung her up in his arms and carried her to the small water
close
t off the ante
room
.

“Should I help?” he asked hopefully
.
She slammed the door shut in response
.
“Spoilsport!” he called through the door
.

Honestly!

When she was done, he was waiting outside, looking for all the world like a dirty-minded little boy who’d been peeping through
the
keyhole
of his sister’s door
.
Genevieve didn’t have the energy to b
ecome offended at such nonsense
and didn’t object to his arm when he helped her back to the conservatory
.
She was truly famished and loaded her plate with two pasties and an egg, savi
ng the cherries for dessert.

“Good girl
—
you need to eat
.
Talk about pasty
—
you look half-dead
,
” Donal
observed as they both dug in.

“I’ve spent most of the last week locke
d in my bedroom or in a cave!”
she said over a mouthful
.
Good manne
rs were wasted on this brother.

He had the gall to laugh
.
“Be honest!  You were a pale thing the day I met you
.
”  That was true enough
.
Too many days spent hiding in her room
.
“It’s a good thing that I’ve decided you’re to spend the day in the garden.”

“You’ve decided, have you?”

“Oh yes
—
Declan has put me in charge of getting you better, so now it’s my turn to lord it over our bride
.
I advise you not to disobey me, Jenny-girl, lest I take a page from my brothers and chain you to the bed or take you over my knee.” 

He rubbed his hands together and made a wicked-sounding cackle
.
He was so ridiculous, it was impossible to get annoyed with him
.
Even her old hated nickname didn’t bother her
.
I
ndeed, for some reason she liked i
t when Donal called her that.

The daybed turned out to have wheels, which Genevieve thought very clever
.
Donal dragged it out to a spot in the garden that wa
s warm but not right in the sun
and then gave her a little push onto the bed
.
“Go on then, y
ou’re tottering on your feet.”

He made two more trips
,
fetching a small table, the cherries
,
and the pitcher of lemon-water, and then without waiting for an invitation joined her on the
day
bed
, his body flush against hers.

Donal’s well-timed humor had eased the first wave of remorse, but sitting in the garden, Genevieve was assailed by memories of that perfect morning she and Damian
had
spent chatting and joking on the grass
.

She tried desperately to hol
d back the tears
and then rolled to her side hoping
Donal
wouldn’t realize.

Donal just chuckled and said, “I don’t think so, little girl,” and pulled her to lie against his shoulder
.
She cried as quietly as she could, but soon h
er body was shaking with sobs.

After the first wave of
misery
tapered
off, he said evenly, “Are you done?”

“For now
,” she sniffled
.
“
I’m surprised you didn’t run for the hills
.
I must look a fright
.
”

“Hideous,” he responded amiably
.

Miserable as she was, she took comfort lying in his arms
.
Donal didn’t seem eager to judge her, and he didn’t pity her either, which would have been intolerable
.
She found the teasing way he treated her agonies infinitely more soothing than her poor mother’s anxious queries of what she could do to help or her father’s desperate promises that they would fix what was wrong
.

“You and I are going to figure all of this out,” he said cheerfully,
raising the back of the day
bed so it became a lounge chair
.
He
placed the basket of cherries between them to nibble on
.
“Let’s start with Damian
.
What happened that last day?” 

Genevieve wasn’t sure whether it was trust or desperation, but between bites of the cherries she found herself describing how she and Damian had lain out on the lawn while Damian told her all about their childhood, being raised by Declan,
and
Donal’s stealing tarts only to get pounded by Roderick the cook
.