Page 5 of Seduced

Poppy

She was kneeling on seeds again.

Poppy Wyatt loved seeds and flowers, everything that had to do with nature, really. She had a lovely garden at home, and all the neighbors told her that she had a green thumb, and sent over their gardeners to beg her for advice. They called her ‘aptly named’, but it just came naturally to her. Animals loved her too, and seemed to always follow her around, no matter how little she did to encourage them.

It had gotten annoying, honestly, but she would never say that out loud.

She loved everything to do with nature; except now.

The seeds, mingled with white uncooked rice, were digging into the skin of her knees and calves, causing so much pain that she wanted to scream. But she didn’t. More punishment would come if she did; she knew that from past experience.

She suffered in silence, letting her mind wander to green fields drowned in flowers.

She tried to forget the sharp seeds and grains of rice embedded in her knees, or how much her back and neck hurt as she knelt, absolutely still, in the chilled chapel, to atone for her disobedience.

Two hours later, her brother came to tell her that her penance was done.

“I have been lenient with you, Poppy,” he said, wrapping his long fingers fondly around the curls in his own hair. It was his pride and joy. “It should have been three hours for what you did, but I just love you so much. I spoil you terribly.”

She tried to stand up and immediately fell over.

“You never learn, do you?” her brother sounded disgusted.

He was standing by the door, all the way across a row of pews. He didn’t take a single step to approach or help her, which just went to show her how deeply she had wounded him with her actions. She hung her head, ashamed of herself.

“You always fall at the end of your penance,” he went on. “You need to wait for the blood to flow back into your limbs again. You are not a child, Poppy. I won’t help you anymore. I have done too much for you. Far too much. It’s time for you to grow up.”

Poppy knew this to be true.

She was twenty-one and no longer a child.

Once upon a time, she hadn’t felt quite so stupid and ashamed of herself. Which was strange, because she had been younger back then. Only sixteen years old and full of confidence. Her father used to say that she was like the sun, smiling constantly, even behind the clouds.

But she couldn’t remember the last time she had smiled in the last couple of years.

Her father had died, and her brother had been widowed. He was a vicar in London by that time, and had a good living, so he had kindly invited her to live with him and keep house for him, in the absence of a wife. A pious and respected man, her brother had vowed celibacy once his wife had died, and everyone in the parish worshipped him like a saint.

Poppy had been so happy to no longer be alone; her father’s sudden death had left her with crippling debts and the prospect of hiring herself out as a servant, just to survive. But her brother had swooped in and saved her from all that.

He was a good twelve years her senior, and she hadn’t really gotten to know him well when she was a child. He wasalmost a stranger, but they were both extremely moved at the idea of finally getting to know each other and living in the same household, like the family that they were.

But then, she had started disappointing him.

And he had explained to her that their poor, gambling, debt-ridden papa had spoiled her most sinfully. Not so her brother. He cared about her immortal soul, and he would not let it burn in hell.

She would have to do penance for every sin.

She had fought against the very idea at first; she had told him that it was preposterous, and she had refused to kneel on the rice for hours, repenting. She had laughed at the thought.

She wasn’t laughing now.

She couldn’t remember very well what had happened between the laughter and the kneeling. She remembered feeling hungry a lot, and then nothing for a few months. Maybe she had been sick? She had been starving for a while, but then she had been given food, and her entire outlook on life had changed. She knew what she must do now, with absolute certainty. She must be quiet and obedient, or suffer.

The choice was easy; it was barely a choice, in fact.

Poppy tried once more to rise to her feet and discovered that she still couldn’t. Her brother was long gone, leaving her alone in the cold church. He had blown out the candles, and darkness was quickly descending through the tall windows. Poppy looked down at her legs. She could barely make out the whiteness of her skin, and the seeds embedded in it. She picked at them with her fingers, but they were stuck too deep inside her skin.

Poppy sighed. She would have to go in with a knife again.

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