{Music Recommendation: Loneliness ~ Martin Czerny}
"I said move!"
Jenna gritted her teeth when her husband shoved her roughly outside the house. Her dress was ripped, her hair disheveled- proof that she had already seen hell earlier and was about to witness more.
"If you don't move, I'm going to get the servants to move you!" the man barked.
Jenna raised her hands, clasping them together. "Gerald...please, listen to me. I- I'm so sorry."
He wasn't listening. His eyes had lost all reasoning; he was going to kill her.
The man pushed her roughly outside, where the raindrops hit aggressively on the weak, fragile earth- just like Jenna, who tried to hide from her husband's fist that landed on her back, sending bolt shots of pain through her brain.
The sky was like that to the earth- one dominant and aggressive, the other nurturing and receiving. Receiving whatever was thrown at it...accepting because the sky was above it.
The same thing Jenna was told by her mother, to only receive and accommodate her husband with love.
"Now start bathing!"
Jenna stood under the rain, her blood and tears mixing with the natural water, washing away the sorrow that filled her castle.
Her own tears.
Rain....Was it the first tears of the sky? Or was it the anger of the sky toward the earth? Jenna couldn't ask as she stripped her dress slowly.
"Gerald...please, someone might see me. Please."
Jenna tried to find a conscience in the mind of a monster- the monster she had been sold off to by her family. And they tagged it a fanciful name.
Marriage.
"Start bathing! If you want to be humiliated, then I'll do it for you!"
He wasn't even listening to her. He couldn't even see her. Yet, she'd been told to love this man with everything in her.
Even if he didn't love her back...it didn't matter.
Even if he was going to kill her!
. . .
Jenna jerked up from her sleep, this time with a throbbing headache. There was a loud noise outside. She groaned, trying to move her body, but she couldn't.
Not that she was forcefully trapped, but...she was being protected. Cuddled like a child in soft warmth.
Jenna raised her face and saw the stranger now sitting beside her, and as for the noise she heard- it was raining Sköll and Hati.
"What..." Jenna tried to sit up, "are you doing?"
Rhane moved his eyes lazily and settled them on the lady. "Protecting Master."
"Pro-" Jenna shook her head, trying to get rid of the headache. "Protect me from what?"
The young man hesitated for a moment, then said, "Master was shaking."
"Oh," Jenna nodded. It must have been when she was sleeping. She hadn't meant to embarrass herself in front of a stranger she had just found, yet she was grateful because his body was so warm that she almost didn't know it was raining.
With the silence that now reigned in the carriage, a contrast to the heavy rain outside, Percy rushed down, holding a cloth over his head yet still drenched.
"My lady,"
Jenna pushed herself up properly when she heard her servant's voice. She didn't want anyone to misunderstand her present situation with this young man.
"Yes, Percy?" Jenna rubbed her arms gently, pushing the window open slightly.
Percy appeared in front of the window, struggling to keep his eyes open as the rain was making him blind.
"It's raining heavily, and the road is blocked. The coachman suggests we stop until it stops raining."
Jenna nodded. "That's fine, Percy. Get out of the rain now! There are warm clothes in the bag you packed."
She was used to this. Life as a merchant had never been easy, and most times, she loved it. The stress of the road helped her forget some dark times.
"Yes, my lady." The young man glanced at the stranger and frowned. "Is he going to sleep there with you? He should join us outside."
Jenna rubbed her brows. Percy was right. It wasn't right for a man to sleep in the same small space with her.
As much as he acted innocent, Jenna was still finding it difficult to trust him- as she should because he was just a stranger.
"Um...Anne, maybe you should—"
The harsh strike of thunder made Jenna flinch, and she recoiled, hiding herself in the first place that appeared safe.
"My lady, are you okay?" Percy asked, having also lost his balance when the lightning appeared.
Jenna, burying her face in Rhane's chest, nodded. When she moved back, she saw the white piece used to cover the stab wounds on his stomach.
"That's true! Percy, he will stay here with me. Remember, he is yet to recover," Jenna suggested, waving for her servant to leave.
Percy scowled at the stranger. "A man shouldn't be afraid of something that small. A real man wouldn't hide like a woman," the servant muttered, running back to the front before the next thunder could strike.
Jenna exhaled, slowly closing her window. The headache wouldn't stop. She could still see herself standing naked outside in the rain while her husband threw curses at her.
It wasn't going to be as easy as she had expected. Jenna had left, but her mind was still trapped in that manor. She was still ashamed of the things she experienced while living as a wife.
Jenna was sure no woman could ever say the same thing about their lives as a wife. The tales she had were far too embarrassing, and worse were the scars she left with.
Jenna sighed tiredly, pushing her head back, staring at nothing but listening to the rain.
Times like this, Jenna wasn't sure what she was actually doing with her life.
Taking risks like this one- a young woman on the road with men. If anything happened to her, nobody would believe a scandalous woman who had left her marriage.
"Master..."
The smooth, warm yet deep voice spoke, making Jenna turn her face.
"Is Master okay?"
Jenna's lips tugged at this. Was she really okay? Of course, she wasn't. She was a woman running. From what exactly? She didn't know.
"I'm okay, Anne. Are you?"
The young man nodded. "I'm okay if Master is."
"You're so adorable," Jenna smiled, reaching for his hair and ruffling it. When the young man gazed at her, Jenna's smile fell.
She realized the size of the man she was treating like a child.
"Oh no! Im- I'm sorry...I mean...I didn't mean to, I forgot," Jenna stuttered, afraid that this was the moment he would get his memory back and hit her for touching his head.
To Jenna's surprise, the young man smiled brightly, even in the dark.
Jenna had never actually taken notice of men smiling. To her, all men did was get angry and hit women. Of course, she was judging all men by her husband.
But at that moment, this man's smile looked like the most beautiful star- a strand of his hair falling on his face, his hazel eyes looking so bright.
To make it even better, he took Jenna's hand and placed it on his head.
Jenna flinched when he took her hand, but his hold was soft despite his hand being so large.
"I like it when Master smiles," he said, moving Jenna's hand on his hair.
Jenna blinked. She stared at his face and then his hair. Then she rubbed his hair gently.
"I guess I love it when Anne smiles too," she muttered, moving closer to pet him.