‘Leesha!’ she heard Bruna cry. She turned to see the old woman bracing on her cane and struggling to rise. With a pained glance at her departing friends, Leesha rushed to aid her.
Leesha was waiting as Gared and Steave came sauntering down the path towards her father’s house. They joked and laughed, and their joviality gave Leesha the strength she needed. She gripped her skirts in white-knuckled fists as she strode up to them.
‘Leesha!’ Steave greeted with a mocking smile. ‘How’s my soon-to-be daughter today?’ He spread his arms wide, as if to sweep her into a hug.
Leesha ignored him, going right up to Gared and slapping him full in the face.
‘Hey!’ Gared cried.
‘Oh ho!’ Steave laughed. Leesha fixed him with her mother’s best glare, and he put up his hands placatingly.
‘I see yuv some talkin’ to do,’ he said, ‘so I’ll leave you to it.’ He looked at Gared and winked. ‘Pleasure has its price,’ he advised as he left.
Leesha whirled on Gared, swinging at him again. He caught her wrist and squeezed hard. ‘Leesha, stop it!’ he demanded.
Leesha ignored the pain in her wrist, slamming her knee hard between his legs. Her thick skirts softened the blow, but it was enough to break his grip and drop him to the ground, clutching his crotch. Leesha kicked him, but Gared was thick with hard muscle, and his hands protected the one place vulnerable to her strength.
‘Leesha, what the Core is the matter with you?’ Gared gasped, but it was cut off as she kicked him in the mouth.
Gared growled, and the next time she lifted her foot, he grabbed it and shoved hard, sending her flying backwards. The breath was knocked out of her as she landed on her back, and before she could recover, Gared pounced, catching her arms and pinning her to the ground.
‘Have you gone crazy?!’ he shouted, as she continued to thrash under him. His face was flushed purple, and his eyes were tearing.
‘How could you?’ Leesha shrieked. ‘Son of a coreling, how could you be so cruel?’
‘Night, Leesha, what are you about?’ Gared croaked, leaning more heavily on her.
‘How could you?’ she asked again. ‘How could you lie and tell everyone you broke me last night?’
Gared looked genuinely taken aback. ‘Who told you that?’ he demanded, and Leesha dared to hope that the lie was not his.
‘Evin told Brianne,’ she said.
‘I’ll kill that son of the Core,’ Gared growled, easing his weight back. ‘He promised to keep his mouth shut.’
‘So it’s true?!’ Leesha shrieked. She brought her knee up hard, and Gared howled and rolled off her. She was up and out of his reach before he recovered enough to grasp at her again.
‘Why?’ she demanded. ‘Why would you lie like that?’
‘It was just cutter talk,’ Gared groaned, ‘it dint mean anything.’
Leesha had never spat in her life, but she spat at him. ‘Didn’t mean anything?’ she screamed. ‘You’ve ruined my life for something that didn’t mean anything?’
Gared got up, and Leesha backed off. He held up his hands and kept his distance.
‘Your life ent ruined,’ he said.
‘Brianne knows!’ Leesha shouted back. ‘And Saira and Mairy! The whole village will know by tomorrow!’
‘Leesha …’ Gared began.
‘How many others?’ she cut him off.
‘What?’
‘How many other did you tell, you idiot?’ she screamed.
He stuck his hands in his pockets and looked down. ‘Just the other cutters,’ he said.
‘Night! ALL of them?!’ Leesha ran at him, clawing at his face, but he caught her hands.
‘Calm down!’ Gared shouted. His hands, like two hams, squeezed, and a jolt of pain ran down her arms, bringing her to her senses.
‘You’re hurting me,’ she said with all the calm she could muster.
‘That’s better,’ he said, easing the pressure without letting go. ‘Doubt it hurts anywhere near as much as a kick in the seedpods.’
‘You deserved it,’ Leesha said.
‘Suppose I did,’ Gared said. ‘Now can we talk civilized?’
‘If you let go of me,’ she said.
Gared frowned, then let go quickly and skittered out of kicking range.
‘Will you tell everyone you lied?’ Leesha asked.
Gared shook his head. ‘Can’t do that, Leesh. I’ll look a fool.’
‘Better that I look a whore?’ Leesha countered.
‘You ent no whore, Leesh, we’s promised. It’s not like yur Brianne.’
‘Fine,’ Leesha said. ‘Maybe I’ll tell a few lies myself. If your friends teased you before, what do you think they’ll say if I tell them you weren’t stiff enough to do the deed?’
Gared balled one of his huge fists and raised it slightly. ‘Ya don’ wanna do that, Leesha. I’m being patient with ya, but if you go spreading lies like that, I swear …’
‘But it’s fine to lie about me?’ Leesha asked.
‘Won’t matter once we’re married,’ Gared said. ‘Everyone will forget.’
‘I’m not marrying you,’ Leesha said, and suddenly felt a huge weight shift from her.
Gared scowled. ‘Not like you have a choice,’ he said. ‘Even if someone would take ya now, that bookmole Jona or some-such, I will beat him down. Ent no one in Cutter’s Hollow gonna take what’s mine.’
‘Enjoy the fruits of your lie,’ Leesha said, turning away before he saw her tears, ‘because I’ll give myself to the night before I let you make it a reality.’
It took all of Leesha’s strength to keep from breaking down in tears as she prepared supper that night. Every sound from Gared and Steave was like a knife in her heart. She had been tempted by Gared the night before. She had almost let him have his way, knowing full well what it meant. It had hurt to refuse him, but she had thought her virtue was hers to give. She had never imagined that he could take it with but a word, much less that he would.
‘Just as well you’ve been spending so much time with Bruna,’ came a whisper at her ear. Leesha whirled to find Elona standing there, smirking at her.
‘We wouldn’t want you to have a round belly on your wedding day,’ Elona said.
Regretting her tea comment from that morning, Leesha opened her mouth to reply, but her mother cackled and whirled away before she could find a word.
Leesha spat in her mother’s bowl, Gared’s and Steave’s, too. She felt hollow satisfaction as they ate.
Dinner was a horrid affair, Steave whispering in her mother’s ear, and Elona snickering at his words. Gared stared at her the whole time, but Leesha refused to look at him. She kept her eyes on her bowl, stirring numbly like her father beside her.
Only