November 2, 1174
"Grounded?" Even among Riona's friends raised in the most stringent of households, the word was an urban legend. Yet, here she was, hearing it straight from the mouth of her comparatively lenient father. Her supposedly lenient father. God, what was his problem? Why did he have it out for her? He'd never been this way with any of her siblings! "What the hell? That's not fair!""No, it's not." A vein in her father's temple pulsed as if it were about to burst any minute. Too bad he couldn't see it. Maybe if he knew he was jeopardizing his own health, he'd start to see this rationally. "Seeing as you could have seriously hurt someone, it's downright soft. You're damn lucky to be getting off with just a month, and you'd better hope that I don't hear of any more troubling cases."
Like he would--and like the ones he had heard of merited the description of 'troubling'. The man wouldn't know harmless hilarity if it hit him in the face. "Christ, Father, it's nothing!"
"Nothing?" His brows furrowed to a point and his nostrils flared like a wild beast's. He was absolutely beside himself. What the hell? "Don't you realize what you've done? You tampered with an entire shelf of your grandmother's mixtures--and Aerina informs me that they were all sold before anyone reported a problem!"Riona snickered. "Really?"
"It's not funny!" His boot hit the ground with a heavy thud!. It was nearly a shock when she wasn't launched to the ceiling. "All over the shire there are now people complaining of toenails turning purple, eyelashes falling out, relentless drooling... hell, one man has been at the whorehouse for nine hours now and still hasn't gotten rid of his erection! Frankly, I'm astounded that you haven't killed anyone."
"Well, how was I supposed to know any of that would happen?" Her hand coiled around her arm and tightened. A loose nail hooked onto the embroidery but she didn't care. From the sounds of it, she would need things to do this month anyway--not that it was necessary. "It was common sense, all right? If you mix a heartburn remedy and a sleeping draft, shouldn't it--logically--ease heartburn and make it easier to sleep?"It had been a clever thought and she knew it, but her father didn't look impressed. So much for thinking he could at least appreciate a novel idea. "Look, you can speculate all you want about herbal remedies, but don't even think about trying anything without asking your grandmother first. You had no right to fuck around with her merchandise and she's probably lost several customers because of it. First thing tomorrow, you and I are heading down there and you are going to do any and every menial chore she can think for you to do, and then you are going to personally apologize to everyone who bought one of your experiments--and by God, you'd better be sincere about it. Now, do you have anything else to say for yourself?"
"Yes." Like she didn't have a hundred things to say--but she figured she'd better start with just one. "I can't wait to get out of this castle! Hell, I'll marry the next man who walks by just so I can get away from you and all your rules!"
"Oh? And what makes you think he won't have his own rules?" Her father placed his hand on her shoulder and lowered himself to her eye level. He'd looked furious before, but at this height, he looked downright livid. "He might make you a prisoner in your own house. He might not let you leave if it was burning to the ground. He may beat you. He may do worse. The worst I'll ever do to you is ground you and you know it."
Was he trying to guilt her? It was almost working. She was insulted. Time to bring out the crossbow. "You let all my siblings get away with murder.""Because none of them have ever pulled a stunt that could easily have been so." His scowl deepening, he directed his glare toward the door. "Go to your room. If you meet anyone on the way, tell them good night because you won't be seeing them again until tomorrow. I'll have one of the servants bring you your supper."
"What?" She was stuck in her room all night? Was this punishment just going to keep getting worse and worse?"You heard."
God damn. Lenient her ass. She almost wished her friends could see this. It would have been something to at least prove them wrong. "I hate you! I hate you and all your stupid rules! Go to hell!"
Her father rolled his eyes. "Just go to your room."NEXT CHAPTER:
6 comments:
Yes, I do plan on continuing with the Thursday rule, but I felt bad about not getting anything up last night, and I had this about half finished before I crashed anyway, so it wasn't a big deal to finish it.
New Orbis Umbra at some point tomorrow (although probably an obscure hour because I have to work during the day), and then Saturday's post will be the last of 1174.
I am laughing so hard I'm almost crying, now I am! Riona is so full of herself there's not much room left in there for remorse, even fake remorse. I'm not a bit surprised Severin let her have it. Not only did she harm other people, she trashed her grandmother's reputation. And she's resentful?
This one is going to either rule the world or bring it down.
Love, love this!!
She is certainly a stubborn little thing. She's right and nothing is ever going to change that, ever ;)
I think she's just waiting for her chance to rule the world. Or bring it down. 1175 is going to be her year, after all ;)
Thanks Beth :)
Teenagers! Posts like these make me so glad I don't have one of my own.
Severin was dead on with everything he said. She could have killed somebody. Heck, she might still kill somebody. There's got to be a reason why you're supposed to go to the ER if you have an erection lasting four hours or more, right?
And if Riona really wanted to learn more about herb lore, I'm sure Laveria would teach her. Er ... would have taught her, before she pulled this stunt. Now I'll be surprised if Laveria lets her into the shop.
Oy! Kids!
Nine hours?? Holy jebus that's.... I don't have words for what that is.
I can see Riona is going to have Naroni in a whirlwind. I think Sev' should assign her a chaperone (but knowing this story, she'd fall in love with him and run off somewhere!)
Morgaine: For the sake of keeping the story simple(ish), we'll say that nothing more serious than the nine-hour erection occurs. And we'll also say that the dude walked in on Ailede and one of the priests, and that killed his boner :P
(Now that I have said it, IT MUST BE CANON.)
But yeah, I don't think Severin was overreacting at all. Like he said, she lucked out with her punishment :S
I don't think Riona is all that interested in herb lore. She probably just got the idea and figured she'd try it out, just for the hell of it. I can't imagine she'd have the patience for herbs anyway :P
Chene: I imagine that would be quite the inconvenience, to say the least :S
Riona certainly has a knack for making things... interesting. And I wouldn't put it past her to fall in love and run off somewhere (and not necessarily in that order).
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