Larkin

He laughed joyously and stood, pulling her up with him to wash up. "My love," he said happily. "Where would you like to go? What would you like to do? Ask it and we will go."

"Really?" she asked with a smile. "I am happy to stay right here with you my Wynter. There is only one thing I want."

"Name it."

"Yvette."

"You want her gone? I will send her away today."

"No. Not gone. I want her to suffer what she made so many girls suffer. What she prepared so many girls for."

He looked confused for a moment, looking down at her in surprise. "How much did she hurt you when you were in her care?" he asked softly.

Larkin looked down and away, her cheeks coloring. "I want her in the stocks, given to your men. I want her punished like so many girls she put there herself. It is hateful of me to be so bitter, but she deserves worse. Much worse. She is a cruel woman with no compassion or empathy. She needs a taste of what she did after her life of ease."

"If that is what you wish my love," he said gently. "I will see it done."

"May I come as well?"

"If you truly want to... little love... are you sure? This doesn't seem like you?"

"I am sure. I can forgive everyone else, I could have forgiven her even if she hadn't..." she trailed off, leaving it hanging, looking ashamed again. "I am sure," she said, resolved.

"Then we will dress."

When they stepped out, he spoke to his soldiers, then led her to the side foyer. He held her there, waiting until a soldier stepped in. He threw a cloak around her and led her out to the soldiers barracks. Right out front there were two sets of stocks and Yvette was in one of them.

Larkin pulled away from Wynter and strode up to Yvette, who was sobbing and begging Wynter to help her.

"Promise kept," she said looking down at the woman. She turned to the soldier standing there as Wynter caught up to her. "Be brutal with her. Do not give her a moments peace."

"As you wish my lady," the soldier said, looking down at Yvette like he had a job he wasn't looking forward to. The older, round woman wasn't their usual fare of young, pretty women, but Larkin hoped that meant they would be more cruel and harsh.

"Gag her," Larkin commanded as she turned away from the screaming woman.

Wynter followed her, putting a hand on her back gently. When they got back inside, she spun to him, sobbing into his chest. "It is less than she deserves but I still feel horrible! I am not that person! But I will not rescind it. Does that make me horrible? After all she did?"

"No my love. I have done far worse for far less. Hush now. Come with me. We will plan a trip. I will take you back to your home to see your family. Show them all the lady you are now. Ease their minds about your fate."

"You would do that?" she asked, her heart actually leaping.

"Of course my love. Let's go and see to the arrangements."

He took her home, traveling in the snow and let her stay in her village for over a week. Cotton was asked about, but she feigned ignorance, not wanting his family to lose hope. "Perhaps he got on with a guard unit, made a life for himself once he got out of here," she offered with a smile.

Her father and mother were happy to see her, but there were so many faces that looked lost when they looked at her. Parents of the other girls. She felt shame for being there when they were not, but it only built her resolve more.

Heading back to his estate was slower. They stopped longer and longer at each town, the trek through the snow getting harder and worse. Once they finally arrived back to his estates, they were snowbound. She spent much of her time in the library, curled up reading. He worked at his desk near her and she smiled at him often and would sometimes get up and go to him, kissing him and distracting him, pulling him to the fainting couch.

The snow finally melted and she began taking walks, working in the orchard and growing her own garden as he made plans for more runs to the old villages for more slaves. He had a map and schedule worked out.

When he kissed her goodbye, she pulled him close and held him tight. "Come home soon my love, I will miss you! Next time you have to promise to bring me with!"

"It is no place for you my little love, but I will hurry. It is a small run, these villages are smaller than yours. I only have four stops planned and there is no guarantee any of them will be worth it."

"Here. Take these for your trip," she said, handing him a basket.

"More of your rolls?" he asked with a smile.

"You said you liked them?"

"I do! I am pleasantly surprised at how well you cook and I love when you cook for me!"

"This skin has tea for you as well. Please be safe and come home to me soon. I worry for you."

He smiled again and kissed her one last time before he left.

Wynter never made it home to her. He got pneumonia from the spring frost, so his men had assumed, and did not make it to the second stop. They returned his body to her and she mourned him in public. In private, she stood over his bier, tears staining her cheeks.

"You were monster Wynter Bixby. A smile, a kiss, words, they never changed that. You tortured me, you murdered the people I cared for, you came close to breaking me. But you didn't. No. I beat you Wynter and I killed you. I kissed your mouth as I handed you what I knew would kill you. You did not beat me."

She left the chapel and went into mourning for over a week. She was Lady Bixby now and a ridiculously rich woman. The first thing she did was let most of the soldiers go. She kept two, the two who seemed the most kind. She sold the manor and everything in it, every single thing that Wynter left behind. She traveled to the port and bought every single slave being sold and boarded them on a ship. Almost everything remaining, she put into the efforts in Miovia to stop the slave trade, donating anonymously to all three different activist groups. She let the two guards go after that, sending them on their way.

She boarded the ship with the slaves and sailed back to the port where Wynter had branded her. The brand was her reminder of how much she had overcome, what she had fought and what she had won. She released the slaves at the port, giving them each enough gold to start anew in a place where slavery wasn't allowed.

She traveled back to the little lumber town and sat astride her horse looking it over.

"Simona!" a man called and she turned to him.

"Hello Samson. Is Sarah still here?"

"She is! Are you back? Is that man still after you?"

"He is dead Samson and I am a free woman now. What happened to the inn?"

"It was closed for a bit, till Olen cleaned it up and decided to give it a go. He's not much good at it and he's an awful cook."

"This place seems emptier than I remember."

"Some folks left Simona, after what happened. They thought this place was cursed now."

"There are refugees coming, but they are on foot. Some may stay. Offer them jobs if you can. And my name is Larkin."

She rode through the village and stopped at the inn. "Hello Olen," she said with a smile as the man jumped up from his chair and his ale.

"Simona! You aren't dead!"

"No, and my name is Larkin. Olen, I would like to buy this inn from you."

"You would?" he asked, confused. "Can't say I am sad to hear it, it's harder than it looks. No one here anymore and no one who is here comes in."

"I still want to buy it. It is... sentimental to me."

Larkin bought the inn. She cleaned it, fixed it up and reopened it, painting over the simple sign out front that read 'Inn'. 'Abel's Place'.

The freed slaves did come. Many of them stayed. Larkin went back to her simpler, happier life of serving the quiet logging men. At one point or another, every single man there asked her to step out with them and every time she thanked them politely and refused.

She had told Wynter no other man but him would ever touch her and she meant it.