Free Singing Heart by Darlene Purcell

above her head with the brutal impact. She lay crumpled. Helpless at his feet. For good measure he kicked her in the ribs. Xzan emitted a low moan from feeble lips. She stared at him through glazed eyes. His voice came from seemingly far away.
    “ Don’t ever defy me again, you stupid bitch! I’ll kill you the next time. Don’t even think about leaving. You’re my property. It’s the law! Your father would side with me. You will obey me. Have my breakfast prepared by noon. Be ready to service me after I eat.”
    He maniacal laughter seeped in to her awareness as he strode into the library slamming the door victoriously. She couldn’t rise. So she crawled. Blood foaming salty in her mouth. Retching she left a red stream trailing behind her as she pulled herself agonizingly up one stair at a time. Her progress was slow. When she finally reached her room and caught her reflection in the floor length mirror she grimaced. Distorted by bruises and caked blood her features looked grotesque. She idly wondered if she would be scarred for life. It didn’t really matter. No one would ever look at her anyway. Even her own family didn’t care to come visit her.
    Too wounded to move another inch she collapsed there. There was no way she could do as he commanded. She lay waiting for him to come and finish her off too injured to care anymore. Miraculously Jonathan arrived. Brett departed within the hour. The older man’s mother had expired during the night. Overwrought with grief Jonathan had begged her husband to accompany him to his childhood home to bury her and see to the reading of the will.
    “ Don’t try to leave while I’m gone.” Brett warned her. “I’ll track you down and when I find you this will seems like a love tap in comparison to what I’ll do to you then.”
    *****
    She searched for him desperately. The flowers had all died. It was cold. Snow covered the ground. Unable to walk she crept grievously on her hands and knees unaware of the winter chill. Tears streamed unchecked down swollen cheeks. She couldn’t see her eyes were so turgid with abuse.
    “ Where are you? she cried faintly.
    Unable to go on she lay in a snow bank shivering with anguish. She was dying. No one knew or cared. Since she’s become Mrs. Brett Colby she was no one. Nothing.
    Then she felt him. Blindly she nuzzled closer as his arms enfolded her protectively. Safe, cocooned by the warmth of his body, she sighed in relief. Allowed herself to drift. When she died she wouldn’t be alone now.
     
    *****
     
    They were gone a fortnight. With the resiliency of youth her injuries healed except for the yellowish blotches left by lingering bruises. Brett returned to an immaculate home and a delicious hot meal. Xzan came to him submissively pleasuring him until he fell asleep in front of the fire in the library. Resigned to her fate life became a blur of repetition. Working herself into a stupor Xzan fell asleep each night too tired to think or care. Finding serenity only in her dreams.
    Her childhood companion had a mate and envisioning the couple, observing their intimate relationship, Xzan no longer tried to communicate with them. She had learned their odd customs, their language, but she was content to sit at a distance amid the newly blooming wild flowers simply basking in the healing rays of the sunshine, savoring her freedom.
    The man she had watched grow from a young boy who had rejected her for years except in moments of crisis began to come alone periodically and sit beside her. He joined her mutely puzzled by her lack of emotion. Aware of the death of her spirit.
    He couldn’t see the marks on her body. He could only feel her desperate need to escape. When the woman was with him, she never seemed to be aware of Xzan’s presence. She treated her lover like they were totally alone often doing things that weren’t decent in front of an audience.
    Xzan no longer watched in fascination instead turning her head away. He searched trying