30 Savarine Ward

Warning: Mentions of rape

_Savarine Ward_

Savarine felt something hard, but warm under her head. Her eyes blinked open, but shut at the light that filtered through the thin white curtains. Useless they were, weren't they? Slowly, she blinked her blue eyes open again, glancing around a room that was familiar to her own, but different. When she pushed herself up, she inwardly cringed, taking in a sharp breath from the pain that littered her face.

Her face had barely just healed from her training with her father, but now it felt worse. It was hard to make any facial expressions without an ache so powerful it made her close her eyes. She forced her eyes open to inspect her surroundings now. They landed on what she had been laying on. Eric's chest. He looked back at her, silently, a frown working its way onto his face.

"I slept in here?" She asked him, noticing he was still dressed as he had been at the event from last night. It must not have been a comfortable night for him.

"After I agreed with the guards that the both of you were too delusional to get any real information out of."

"Oh," The memories of last night's events came back to her now, and she found her body tensing, tears coming to her eyes. Her bottom lip trembled and along with that came the aching pain. It was swollen. "How bad is it?" She said, motioning to her face. 

"Its..." His voice quickly trailed off as he sat up and put a hand on her shoulder. He sighed and reached to the nightstand on the side of the bed, picking up a hand mirror. He handed it to her for her to inspect herself with.

She was silent, looking at her reflection. At her beaten face, purple and swelling. Her lip was busted, and her nose was swollen, likely broken perhaps. She had a black eye too, though it was not swollen too terribly. How many times had she been hit? She swallowed, trying not to make any expressions but her lip curled back and her brows betrayed her.

Warm tears found their way down her cheeks as she noticed her wrists, turning them over in front of her to inspect the bruises the prince had given her when he held them as tightly as he had. She let out a muffled sound- a sad one, dropping the mirror in the sheets.

Eric came to hold her now, resting the side of her head on his chest and rubbing her back. She clung to him and cried, not from the pain, but from the fear she had felt the night before. "Eric," She mumbled his name through her cries, clinging to her brother. "Eric I was so scared,"

Eric smoothed her hair back from her face, rocking her slowly. "What did he do to you, little sister?" He asked her in a low tone. Was he angry?

"He came in when I was sleeping- I thought it was Fenir drunk when he got on the bed," She whispered in shaking breaths. "Fenir has done it before," She said to him and felt Eric nodding. "I went to push him off, but- he caught me, and then he trapped me- he said things. Devrish is not sound," She told Eric as best as she could, clinging to him as if the prince would storm any moment.

"And then he hit you?" Eric asked her.

"Yes- but he also.. He was going to..." She went silent and shook his head. "I don't know much of what happened after he hit me a couple times. I know I grabbed the candle holder and hit him with it, and then I managed to hit him again before he took it from me. And then the hallway- and- and then,"

"Shh, shh," he whispered to her as he rocked her some more, not minding the tears that got on his nice clothes. "I'll kill him," He promised in a cool tone.

"You cannot!" She spoke up now, pulling herself form him to look him in the eyes with a worried look- well the best look she could manage with her face as it was.

Eric looked at her face with a frown, her brow was furrowed and it looked as though her brother was struggling to hold back his anger. "Look at what he as done to you... had he taken you?" He asked now, in a serious tone.

Savarine slowly shook her head. "I do not think so," She admitted.

Eric's eyes narrowed now. "What do you mean you do not think so?"

'I- I do not know! It all became a blur after he hit me all those times- I- I do not feel any different," She admitted to him.

Eric let out a small breath of relief. It was unwanted surely it would still hurt, but they had to be sure. "You will be examined by a medicine practitioner." he promised her.

"Alright," She agreed. The two were silent for a while, unsure of what to say next. Eventually, Savarine spoke again. "What will happen now?"

"Well, they will likely question you both today. I do not know if you will be spared, sister. You had taken his eye."

"I took his eye?" She said and went to run a hand down her face but froze. That would likely hurt, so instead she gripped the collar of her white nightgown, which she noticed now was brown with dry blood. Likely the both of theirs.

"Aye. When I got there, he was cursing you and promising you death, but when the guards arrived I believe he was too delusional to say anything. It would be an embarrassing story to say your eye was taken by a girl you tried to rape. Imagine a one eyed prince, a failed raper. I do not know if he would tell the truth in fear of that title. But if he is angry enough with you he might..."

"Oh gods," She mumbled out, closing her eyes and shaking her head. "What have I done?"

"Nothing. You have done nothing wrong, Savarine," Eric promised her as he took her hands in his gently. "You did not approach him to be friends, you did not climb into his bed-"

"But I have hurt him! I have taken his eye!" She said with more tears now. "He is going to hurt me much more badly. I fear he may even hurt Father, Fenir, or you!" She said to him, her face protesting her emotions.

"He has already hurt me in hurting you," He told her seriously. "I will kill him before he can do it again,"

Her hands came to his cheeks. "You must not say such things, Eric." She told him just as seriously, except her way of speaking was much more worried. "If someone were to hear you, you would be executed. You must not threaten the lives of the royal family,"

He gave her a hard look at first, but finally he sighed and nodded, pulling her hands away from his face. There was another long silence between them before there was a knock at the door that startled them both. Savarine turned to face it. "Do you know who it is?" She asked her brother worriedly.

"Might be the guards seeing if you are ready to speak of what happened." He told her as he stood from the bed and went to open his chamber doors. She watched at the armored figure on the other side spoke to her brother, suddenly there was buzzing in her ears again as her heart was beating out of her chest. 

Savarine was not even allowed to dress herself as she was led from Eric's room to where ever it was they were taking her. Her brother's comforts fell on def ears as they came to the throne room. She did not want to be here- she wanted to go back to Eric's room, perhaps never leave there.

The large wooden double doors creaked open to reveal the king on his throne, and a bandaged Devrish standing to the left of him. The queen was not here, nore were any of the king's other children. She had not even gotten sort out what it was that she was going to tell the court. Surely they would not believe her. Would it be better to say nothing? She looked at her brother for help but he had been led to stand off the side next to her father and other brother.

Jaque looked at her with wide, surprised eyes, and Fenir wasted no time in approaching her and giving her a hug. "Oh gods, what has happened to you?" He asked her in a worried tone. "You look terrible,"

Savarine shook her head. "I will tell you later, do not upset the court- go stand by father." She told him and he obeyed, going to stand by a worried Eric and their father. She glanced at Eric for help and he gave her a merely apologetic look in response.

"Savarine Ward," A loud authoritative voice spoke. With fearful eyes she turned to face the man, the king of Denheim and the Ashmore kingdom. "I've heard the story from my son, but I would like to hear it from you as well." He said now.

Savarine felt pale, suddenly sick at the thought of what she was going to say. Her eyes drifted to the bandaged prince who stood off to the left. One of his eyes was covered, and he glared at her with the remaining one. She avoided looking at him, anxiety swelling with the sickness. She felt as though she might throw up, or her heart might burst. What was she supposed to say to the king? What if it did not line up to what the prince said? They would surely believe his words over hers.

"I've been hit in the head rather hard... i'm afraid I do not quite remember last night's events too clearly..." She said now, trying hard to keep herself from mumbling.

The king narrowed his eyes thoughtfully before he spoke up, taking the bait from Savarine. Perhaps he too, knew it did not matter what she said to court. "You were being assaulted by your brother when prince Devrish found you. The boy said your eldest brother Eric, had you down on your bed, hitting you and attempting to rape you."

Savarine felt sick a the accusation, uncertain of what to say, but then the king continued. "Devrish said that you had invited him back to your chambers, and when he had gotten there, he had tried to help. But Eric attacked him. Eric was there, unharmed, when the guards arrived, and you were beaten at his feet."

The girl had to blink, shocked at all of this. Her words would only bring worse unto her if she defended Eric, but there was no way that she was going to agree to a lie as grievous as that."Does any of this sound familiar?" The king asked her now.

She took a deep shaky breath. "Familiar sure... but Eric would never-" "But Devrish said it was as he had seen, Eric was an attacker." She shook her head, biting the inside of her cheek hard out of stressed frustration. "It is not so, Devrish must be confused, Eric helped me when he arrived, which was after I defended myself from-" She paused knowing that she was putting herself at risk from the whole truth.

"From what?" The king pressed.

"From Devrish," She said in a distressed manner, too fearful to look at Devrish or her brother.

"From me?!" Devrish roared up suddenly. She flinched at the sound of his voice. A voice she would gladly never hear again. "She had hit her head far too hard to know what she is talking about."

The king raised his hand, a signal for Devrish to quiet down. He did as he was told and the king continued. "Tell me all that you remember then,"

This was the time to glance back at Eric. He simply shook his head, appearing willing to take all the blame. But she had already said too much, Devrish seemed the type to torture her for going against him in a setting such as this. She expected the worst.

"Eric is completely innocent. Devrish had come to my room and whispered unsound things to me, hit me, and tried to..." she faltered and the king gave her a pressing look, urging her to continue. "Rape me," She finished the first part. "I managed to hit him a couple times with the candle holder in self-defense and got to the hallway yelling for help. Eric showed up then, just before the guards." She explained now. 

"It was dark and I had not known I would take his eye," She said with tears coming to her eyes.

"She is lying! Why would I go out of my way to rape someone like her?" He spat. "Eric was there unharmed. He attacked me when I was trying to help! She's delusional. He took her to his room after that. Likely having his insestous way with her without interruptions."

"It is not so!" Savarine cried, looking back at Eric who was now being approached and gripped by the arms from guards.

"I was under the impression that your family was true and good. How could you lie in such a way to defend a monster?" Devrish asked her with that piercing glare.

Savarine said nothing more to him, keeping her eyes set on the King. Expecting her own punishment. There was a moment of silence before he spoke. "Eric Ward is to be imprisoned for the crimes of abuse, rape, and incestuous relations. If Savarine Ward wants to defend him more, she can join him in the dungeons."

She whipped around to face her brother who struggled against the guards that pulled him to the door. "This isn't right! I would not touch her in such a way!" he yelled loudly. His eyes caught Savarine, opening her mouth to speak but he started to shake his head. "Don't defend me, Savarine, do not! Do not put yourself at risk!"

Tears ran down her cheeks as Eric was pulled out of the throne room. Savarine turned to look at the king. It took everything in her not to curse and shout at him. The king gave her a pitying look. "Savarine will be attended by the royal physician immediately. If he finds her unsound, then she is free to stay here and accept treatment. But if she is sound and found lying then she will join her brother in the dungeon."

"Physician?" She asked aloud.

"Ahh yes, the medicine practitioners of court far surpass the skills of a normal practitioner, so we have given them a new name. A higher profession we have named Physician." he explained briefly, seemingly more interested with this story than he had been with the entire informal trial that had just transpired.

"The Physician will see to you now." He finished. 

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A/N: I figure some of my character names are hard to pronounce so ill explain them.

Nyka is pronounced similarly to the way Americans pronounce the brand name Nike. The A is a soft 'uh' sound. 

Byrne is similar to barn but the 'by' sounds as you would say 'bye'

Vienice sounds like the city in Austria, Vienna. 

Rhoswen sounds like Ross-when

Savarine sounds like Savage Wolverine. I know the explanation sounds funny, it wasn't intentional believe it or not. 

I don't know how to explain Fenir's name, imagine it as you must.

Jaque is pronounced Jack.

Devrish is like Devin Irish. I also don't know how to explain this. 

Ryus is pronounced similarly to 'rye' and 'us'.

Kehan may be the most confusing. The H is nearly silent. It sounds similar to Key-an/on (depending upon accent) or if that's confusing, simply kean. I'm bad at explaining things. 

Everan is complicated. Something along the lines of Ever and ran.

Valadae sounds like Valarie and day. 

If you have any questions about these names or any others, just ask!