The Raven (closed)

[KieranSoares]

"Lynndon Ghis," he answered with a kind grin, letting on a playful spirit in his heart, "better known as Boar t'the Scots. Yer in Inverlochly keep. An' who're you, m'dear lady?" He knelt at her side and carefully propped her up against a few more soft pillows. He moved her as if she weighed nothing, really.

"I heard th'shouts while I was out huntin'... Glad I came when I did. A pretty li'l rosebud like yerself doesn' deserve a fate li' tha'."

 

[heartofcourage]

Ghis. This was the man that was the new lord of Inverlochly. The one with the wife that was as mad as a hatter. Emma looked at him in shock for a long moment as he knelt and carefully propped her up against the soft pillows. She winced at the pain in her arm, letting out a harsh breath as he talked about coming upon the scene back at the loch.

“I wish you had come sooner. It would have saved me much suffering at the hands of his brother as well.” She said in a sad, sarcastic tone. Emma hadn’t known joy in a very long time, especially not since she had come back from London.

 

[KieranSoares]

"I wish I would'ave too," he answered her gently. "But yer alrigh' now, yer safe. Y'see... it's jus' me 'ere an' two 'ousekeepers." So his wife was gone... but where? "Y'stay as long as y'need to, an' I'll see yer safe at 'ome when y'want t'go." He rose from her side and went to the hearth to check on the stew. A proper lord with housekeepers who cooked for himself? It was simply unheard of!

 

[heartofcourage]

Emma regarded the man curiously, tilting her head to the side as she tried to figure out why he was cooking for himself. And where had his wife gone? None of this made sense. She pressed her head back against the pillows with a long sigh, staring up at the stone ceiling as she tried to regain her senses around her.

“If you are the lord of Inverlochly, why are you cooking for yourself?” She blurted out, looking at him with her clear blue gaze as she struggled to figure out who this man really was.

 

[KieranSoares]

"I like m'own cookin', m'wife was nuttier'n a squirrel so I divorced 'er an' sent 'er 'ome, an' m'housekeeper 'ave enough on their plates workin' round 'ere an' 'avin' families. Inverlochly ain' th'richest place, but it's a fine land." He smiled kindly over at her. But of course, Ghis brothers were known for being self-sufficient. Even Brogan did most things for himself despite his larger staff at his keep.

 

[heartofcourage]

“Oh…” Emma said softly, considering his answers. So, he had sent his wife away. That was the answer that she hadn’t been expecting. It was unusual for a man to simply put his wife aside, but the way that Boar smiled at her told her that he was much happier since.

She shifted on the bed, hissing at the stinging pain in her arm. How had Tavish gone so completely crazy, she asked herself, pausing when she remembered that he had released his seed in her belly. The very thought made her go pale and she was visibly ill, remembering the violent event like a bad flashback.

 

[KieranSoares]

Boar returned to her side, "Whoa, now, darlin', wha's th'matter?" He asked softly, seeing her suddenly pale and looking sick. "Calm down, don' be stressin' yerself," his voice was so kind, unlike Tavish or Dunham ever were. He tended to her in a way they never had, saw that she was safe and warm like they'd never done. The safest they ever kept her was stopping other men from having their way with her.

 

[heartofcourage]

Emma whimpered in fear, screaming as Boar came to her side and touched her. She jerked away from him, scrambling across the bed sheets before she fell off the other side of the bed. She hit the stone floor with a thud before she curled up in a ball and sobbed. She hadn’t cried in so long that she had almost forgotten how, but there she was, on the floor at the feet of this stranger, crying her eyes out.

“Leave me alone…” She said miserably, covering her face with her hands to hide from him. Men had only served to hurt her in the past. Her prince had. Her protectors had. Her brother had. This man would be no different.

 

[KieranSoares]

"Aw, darlin'..." Boar spoke gently, kneeling near but not coming too close to touch or frighten her. "I'm not 'ere t'hurt you, I jus' wan' t'help ya. Y'don' 'ave t'be afraid. Let me 'elp you, love. Y'need t'rest." But he didn't advance, trying to show her he meant her no harm. She'd never encountered such a man in her life.

 

[heartofcourage]

Emma shook her head, sobbing harder until she felt sick. She didn’t want him near her, but it seemed that he wasn’t going to go away. She had never met a man that actually wanted to help her. Not even her prince had wanted to help her when she had lost his child. He had looked at her as if she were lower than a bug and sent her back home. That had shattered her heart into a million pieces.

Against her better judgement, Emma allowed the Boar to come closer, wrapping his warm arms around her as she continued to cry. She pressed her cheek against his shoulder, feeling dirty and used all of the sudden. “He raped me.” She murmured softly, hiccuping as her tears started to come to an end. “And he spilled his seed inside me.”

 

[KieranSoares]

"Oh, sweet'eart..." He laid his head against hers, cradling her in a way that she'd never known in her life. "I can' fix what 'appened... but I know a few herbs y'can eat tha'll keep ya from carryin' 'is child if y'want 'em," he offered kindly, lifting his head and looking down at her with an expression that told her he truly cared what happened to her. A complete stranger cared where her own family and guardians and prince did not.

 

[heartofcourage]

“I can’t carry a child.” She said bitterly, turning her gaze from his as he looked at her with such an aching kindness. That wasn’t entirely true. She could carry a child, but she would never make it all the long months. She had found that out from an old healer she had seen after she had lost the prince’s child.

She didn’t like the way that he cradled her so tenderly or the way that he cared. No man in Emma’s life had ever done so and she didn’t like it one bit. Men would break her heart and Emma didn’t know that she could stand to have the shattered pieces broken yet again.

She felt a trickle down her arm and looked down, the bandages soaked with blood and dripping freely again. “Oh…” She said softly, oddly calm as she noticed that she was injured.

 

[KieranSoares]

"If yer sure..." He sighed, but as he looked to her arm, he scooped her up with ease, reaching for a damp cloth with a bowl of water beside the bed, wrapping it around her arm while he fetched more bandages and blood-staunching herbs. He soon returned and expertly bound her arm. Once he crushed the herbs and applied them, the pain faded and the blood slowed to a halt with a little time. "There... tha' oughta hold ya," he offered a smile. "Y'didn' say earlier... wha's yer name, darlin'?"

 

[heartofcourage]

Emma watched him work in a detached kind of way. She could almost pretend that this wasn’t her arm with the horrible stab wound and it wasn’t her blood seeping through the bandages. It made her feel good in an odd sort of way. Then he looked at her with a smile and asked what her name was. She sighed softly, staring at him for a long moment before she answered.

“My name is Emma. Emma Campbell.” She said softly, her eyes holding his as she gave her answer.

 

[KieranSoares]

"Emma..." He repeated with a soft smile, "Lovely name. Makes me think o' a flower." He was being honest and she could see he wasn't just trying to charm her. He was just sweet.

Boar rose from her side, and asked her with nothing but good nature in his intent, "Can I get ya anythin', sweet'eart?"

 

[heartofcourage]

Emma blushed as he commented on her name, her cheeks heating under his gaze as she lowered her gaze from his and shook her head. She did need anything. She didn’t want anything. She simply wanted to close her eyes and sleep for the next year. However, that stew did smell delicious…

“Maybe something to eat?” She asked him softly, almost afraid of voicing what she wanted for fear of being rejected.

 

[KieranSoares]

"Sure," he nodded, and walked over to the fire. He ladled a healthy portion into a glazed clay bowl and brought it back to her. He set it in her hands carefully, the clay surface warm but not hot. "Enjoy, an' let me know if y'want more." He went to go get his own and settled before the fire to eat.

 

[heartofcourage]

Emma took the stew in her hands, looking at him as he told her to enjoy. He went to get his own and kept his distance, sitting in front of the fire as he left her to eat in peace. She ate her fill, barely half the bowl before she felt her eyes closing. She let out a soft sigh, the warmth of the room seeping into her bones as she felt the bowl removed from her hands and the blanket tucked more securely around her body. Her blue eyes sleepily opened, taking in the sight of this hulking man caring for her. He was a strange man, she thought to herself before her eyes closed again and she sank into oblivion.

 

[KieranSoares]

Boar gladly cared for Emma for several days, making sure she had plenty of rest and regained her strength. No one had ever cared for her so. If she'd ever been hurt or sick- except in her time with the prince- she generally had to care for herself. Boar tended to her like a proper gentleman.

A gentleman... something she'd never known. Even the prince hadn't been so kind when she was carrying his child.

 

[heartofcourage]

Emma’s body grew stronger every day, but it took her mind longer to heal. She allowed Boar to tend to her, letting him do what he thought he needed to. Soon she was able to move around his home without an attendant and that is where she found herself that day. She was standing at the wide windows that overlooked the distant loch, the thick mist back to coat the landscape with mystery.

She wanted to be outside, to feel the mist on her skin, but she found herself unable to take that step. She was afraid, the idea that Tavish was out there weighed heavily on her mind. She knew he was dead, but she could still envision him stepping out of the fog like some kind of unearthly specter.

 

[KieranSoares]

Boar soon entered behind her, letting her know he was coming so not to startle her. He paused at her side, looking out over the landscape, then at her expression. "Y'want t'go fer a walk, Miss Emma?" He offered kindly.

Boar himself was about to go stir-crazy, he wanted to go out hunting, honestly, but a walk would be fine at this point.

 

[heartofcourage]

Yes, she thought as she continued to look over the landscape, but she shook her head. “No. I’m quite fine right where I am.” She said stubbornly, her eyes turning towards his. “You should go and enjoy the day though. Don’t let me be the one that stops you.”

 

[KieranSoares]

"... C'mon, I promise I'll keep ya safe," Boar pressed the issue carefully. "I know y'want t'go, I get tha' look on m'own face all th'time." He offered her his arm with a smile, "It's perfectly safe, cross m'heart."

 

[heartofcourage]

Emma looked at him with apprehension and she finally sighed deeply, knowing that a man like Boar would wear her down until she agreed to go. She finally slipped her good arm through his, keeping her injured arm close as she nodded and allowed him to pull her outside and into the crisp light of day. She looked around nervously, her heart pounding at the thought of being outside. Bad things had happened the last time…

 

[KieranSoares]

Boar walked along with a smile, taking her down to the loch and keeping close for her peace of mind. "D'ya like Inverlochly, Miss Emma?" He asked softly. "It ain' much... but it's 'ome an' there ain' a place I'd rather be, save Inverness maybe."