Page 5 of If the Shoe Fits (Rainbow Tales #2)
Xander was humiliated but not surprised. Did he really think he could have a bit of happiness? It was as if his stepmother could sense it, sniff out his joy. Then she squashed it under her heel as she had once crushed his fingers when he was a boy.
Setting fresh logs onto the dwindling fire, Xander blinked back tears.
When he stoked the blaze with a poker, the rising heat helped to sear away his pain and dry his tears.
Leo would never return. Not after witnessing Xander's humiliation.
He was attracted to strength, and Xander had none when it came to his family.
Leo must have been so disappointed. No more than Xander.
After cleaning the hearth, Xander stood up, intending to go to the kitchen and see if Alma needed any wood.
But Hubben and Elmer stood in his way, arms crossed and smirks on their faces.
He glanced at them and then at the floor.
Xander had learned over the years that the best way to deal with his stepbrothers was to look meek and say nothing.
“My, my, my.” Elmer, dressed in a velvet tunic and satin pants, circled Xander, trailing a hand across Xander's back.
Xander stiffened. The worst of their abuse wasn't violence, like their mother offered.
It was taunts masked as tenderness. Xander could still remember the first time the brothers had stroked his hair after their mother had done something terrible to Xander.
Xander thought, for just a few seconds, that they might have sympathy for him.
That maybe he'd have true brothers who cared.
But then they had laughed. He knew they were as cruel as their mother, just in different ways.
Lately, their touches had grown more invasive.
Xander hadn't understood them until now.
Now that he'd been with Leo, he recognized the greed in their eyes and hands.
So, when Elmer's hand lowered, heading for Xander's ass, Xander jerked away and met Elmer's stare. “Maybe I should tell your mother how you like to fondle me when she's not around.”
Elmer gaped at Xander, shocked at the outburst and the direct stare. He took a step back.
“We don't fondle you!” Hubben recovered faster. He set down a tray of chocolates, licked his fingers, and reached for Xander. “Now, if I want to touch—”
Xander grabbed his wrist. “You think I'm bluffing.” He jerked Hubben forward, making him squeak.
“Go on then. Try to touch me again with your sticky fingers.
I'll break one, and when you go running to your mother, I'll tell her why.
She may still beat me, but then she'll go after you. And, Hubben, it will be worth it. I will smile through the beating, knowing that she will humiliate you afterward.” He shoved Hubben away and strode out of the room.
Halfway down the corridor, Xander realized what he'd done.
His hands started to shake. If they told his stepmother some lie about him speaking back to them or something like that, he'd get a thrashing anyway.
But it had felt good to finally stand up for himself.
The way they had looked at him—Xander would remember that forever.
It might even make the thrashing worth it.
Xander glanced back. His stepbrothers hadn't left the sitting room.
They weren't running to tell their mother about his threat.
Holy shit. Xander had been right. They had crossed some kind of invisible line by touching him like that—a line even his stepmother wouldn't cross.
And now he knew it. This meant leverage. He had something to hold over them.
Xander grinned as he entered the kitchen.
“Dear Lord!” Alma stood at the stove, stirring a pot. She lifted the spoon to point it at him. “You're smiling. You're smiling after dealing with them . What happened?”
Xander looked over his shoulder once more and then shut the kitchen door. “I just threatened my stepbrothers.”
Her spoon lowered. “You did what?”
“They've been touching me . . . strangely. I told them if they tried to do it again, I'd break their fingers, and if they said anything to their mother, I'd tell her why I defended myself.”
Alma gaped at Xander. “And they . . . what did they do?”
“Nothing.” Xander grinned. “I was right. My stepmother wouldn't like it if she found out how they've been touching me.”
“Xander, how do they touch you?”
Xander stared at Alma.
“Oh, dear lord! They've sullied you?”
Xander burst out laughing. “Sullied? I'm not a chaste maiden.”
“Stop that! This is serious.” Alma stuck the spoon back in the pot and came over to him, wiping her plump fingers in her apron as she did. Then she took his hands. “You can tell me, sweetheart. What did they do?”
“Alma, don't worry about me. It didn't get that far. Just a trailing hand over my arm, things like that. I only realized today that there was something more to it than nastiness. ”
“Oh, nastiness is at the heart of everything those boys do, even their lust.” Alma shook her head and squeezed his hands. “You're certain you're all right?”
“Believe me, I've endured worse from my stepmother.”
“That woman is a monster!” She sighed and let go of Xander's hands. “I think you should petition the King.”
“A servant petitioning the King about the way he's treated?” Xander scoffed.
“You're no servant! If you could just speak to the King, I'm sure he would do something about this. It's not right. You are the heir to this estate.”
“Yes, but no one knows that.”
“All of us know it!”
“I don't mean to belittle you, Alma, but the only ones who know and will attest to it are servants. Your word won't stand against hers. And I've lived as a servant for so long, without protest, that they will assume I'm what I seem to be. I have nothing and nowhere to go.”
“If you accuse her, the King must investigate. And then the truth will be revealed. There must be records of inheritance, Xander.”
“The King is not going to see me, Alma.” Xander opened the stove and checked on the fire before heading to the door that led outside.
“Then one of his underlings will. There must be someone who handles things like this. The nobility is always getting into disputes with each other.”
Xander paused in the doorway, thinking of Leo. Would he know about stuff like heirs and rights? Then he grimaced. Leo was gone for good. “I am not a noble, Alma.” He left before Alma could say anything else.