Page 39 of The Fighter who Needed Me
Persephone
Kent, England March, 1813
For the endless weeks that she had been here at Reginald’s large and lavish country house had grated on her.
Every day was the same. She woke, she ate -minimally-, and she bathed, but she never spoke.
Not once. Reginald would come in the room to try to speak to her, and she would not give the man the time of day.
No matter what Bruce and Kitty said or did to her, no matter what Reginald tried to do to her, she did not care.
She never spoke, did not get out of bed unless it was to use the necessary or to bathe and that was it.
She spent a lot of time sleeping, and when anyone tried to speak to her, she ignored them all.
She did not care what they wanted and refused to do anything that Bruce and Kitty wanted her to do. They were not her parents. She had no reason to listen to them.
And they hated that. Bruce knew he had slipped up when he gave her that small bit of information, and she had gone silent.
She was in too much pain and refused to give into their wants or wishes.
The only time that she did anything was when the household was asleep for several hours and she would get out of her bed and walk around, everywhere.
But only in her room. She wanted to be strong for anything that came her way.
And so far, she had. They would give her medicine, which she would keep in her mouth and as soon as they left, she would spit it out into the chamber pot.
She would not let anyone drug her again. Never again would she let them pretend she was sick because she was their inconvenience.
She would get out of here if it was the last thing she did.
Bruce, Kitty and Reginald all thought she was weak and that she would not escape the minute she had the chance.
They were wrong. The door opened to her room and she went still, waiting for the footsteps that were bound to come.
And soon enough, they did. Soft light footsteps, not of the maid but Kitty.
Kitty came before the bed and looked down at her, she had a pinched look on her normally perfect face and was scowling down at her.
Persephone fought hard to keep her face passive. Kitty gave a huff, “So this is how you are going to act? Like a spoiled, selfish child? We know what is best for you. And yet, here you are, the moment you had a small taste of freedom and you act like this. This is why we shouldn’t have let you have a season. This is why we should have left London the moment you got back. I knew this would happen.”
Persephone fought even harder to keep the emotions off her face and Kitty got even more upset. “You ungrateful child! We took you in when you had nowhere to go! No one wanted you! And we gave up everything to care for the child who was sick every single day! All we ask is that you repay us in some way. Is that too much? How dare you act this way? Reginald is getting ready to take back his offer of marriage. He does not like that you are being so childish. If he rescinds his offer of marriage you will regret acting this way, mark my words.”
Then she slammed out of the room after one last huff and Persephone was alone again.
Her entire life was a lie. From the very beginning. She hated Bruce and Kitty for not just telling her the truth.
For forcing her to be silent, for forcing medicines down her throat when she was not sick.
For forcing her to lay in her bed at all times until she stopped wanting to learn to walk.
For making her play in her bed with quiet toys because if they heard any noise whatsoever, she would be punished for it.
She was done with what they wanted. They took her from the only person who had ever loved her.
Hurt her maid that was trying to help her escape and killed the only person that taught her to have hope for the first time in her life.
She hated them. She would never marry Reginald if it was the last thing she ever did. He grew more and more impatient with her with each day that passed, and she was glad for it.
