#the contrasting yellow to her blue ('the color of loss') her halo her glasses her hair clip her tears.......

[everlarkficexchange]

The Maiden and the Scoundrel

Author: @appleblossomgirl0305

Prompt: #63 Historical AU: Katniss has been engaged to Peeta’s older brother since they were children, but upon meeting a Capitolite, the groom-to-be breaks the engagement, leaving Katniss devastated and feeling rejected. To avoid more scandal and losing K’s dowry, the Mellark’s hurry to offer a new betrothal to their youngest son. Neither P or K are very happy about the new arrangement, P is a known womanizer and K is too puritanical. They gradually fall in love… make it as smutty as you like :) (submitted by @alliswell21)

Rating: M

Trigger warnings: arranged marriage, mentions of slavery, heavy drinking (drunk!Peeta)

A/N: I had the absolute best intentions to get this story done by the EFE deadline, but alas, it’s not finished. This is the first chapter, more to come. This was an amazing prompt and I have loved revisiting some of my favorite Jane Austen stories for inspiration. I have more in store for these two.

Betaing magic and much needed moral support by the incomparable @xerxia31. @alliswell21, thanks for this wonderfuul prompt, I hope I do it justice. @javistg, thanks so much for this fantastic challenge and opportunity to collaborate!

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The first time Peeta Mellark saw Katniss Everdeen his heart stopped. He was eleven years old and on his first train ride as his family resettled in District 12. He watched excitedly as his new home whipped past the window, trying to suss out the potential adventures to be had in his new stomping grounds. Out of nowhere, a raven haired girl on a jet-black horse swerved into sight as she raced the train. She was tiny and nearly airborne over the horse’s haunches as it flew in line with the speeding train. Both creatures, girl and horse, appeared completely wild; it was hard to tell which of the two was leading this charge of reckless abandon. The girl looked like freedom itself and Peeta vowed to himself that he’d meet her and make her fall in love with him, because, while he knew little of love, the erratic beating of his heart as she sailed by the window indicated that was already in love with her.

When Peeta and his family arrived at the station he frantically bobbed through the crowded building, peering through every window, trying to catch a glimpse of the wild girl on the horse. But she was nowhere to be seen. The Mellarks were greeted by Mayor Undersee and his daughter Madge, and Peeta could barely endure the customary niceties before he pulled Madge aside and asked her about the girl on the black stallion, half fearing he had imagined her.

Madge, a quiet, reserved girl with large midnight-blue eyes and pale, mousy everything else, smiled at him and said, “That’s Katniss Everdeen. She’s amazing. But,” and she squeezed his wrist lightly, but enough to pull his attention from the nearby window he was still craning his neck to see out of, “you’ll never catch her.”

Peeta shook his head and gave Madge a shy smile as he peeked at her from beneath his lashes, indicating he’d never dream of such a thing. But in his mind, he locked that image of the savagely beautiful girl poised as if to take flight from her horse’s back and thought, “We’ll see about that.”

xxxxx

The first time Katniss Everdeen saw Peeta Mellark, she thought he might be an angel. It was a split second judgement made as she galloped past his golden face pressed against the train’s window. She had never seen a boy that pretty before, with messy blond curls creating a halo over eyes as blue as the deepest part of her father’s lake.

The grin that lit up his face like the sun breaking through the clouds on an overcast day, nearly pinned her in place, despite the fact that she was challenging the train. She forced herself to refocus and spurred her horse into a faster gallop. Even as her blood rushed with her victory, she couldn’t seem to cast those sky-blue eyes from her mind.

xxxxx

Peeta saw her only a handful of times over the next year or so. He cherished each new piece of information he learned about her, each interaction, however indirect, like a treasure. He turned each encounter over and over in his mind like a precious stone that he polished until it shone.

He had seen the entire Everdeen family at the Fourth of July picnic, watched as their oddly symmetrical quartet of two dark and two fair heads bobbed through the crowd before they took their place on the lawn. He watched as Katniss’ father greeted every man he encountered with a wide grin and a hearty handshake or clap on their shoulder, while never letting go of his wife’s hand. Katniss stayed close to her parents and led her small, blond-haired sister through the throng. He stared at her so intently, he had to remind himself to blink. And at one point, she seemed to sense him and whirled around to face him, her eyes snagging on him like they were caught on a fishing line. He swore his heart stopped again.

The next time he caught sight of Katniss through the bakery window, she and her father walked, hand in hand, into the bank. He had run to the window, eyes fixed on the door to the bank building located at the end of same block the bakery was on. He was planning to hold a vigil there until his mother cuffed him for lazing about. But he dreamt of her dark braid disappearing around the doorway for months as he longed to see her again.

He got his wish that fall when Katniss and her mother came into the bakery. He was in the kitchen frosting a batch of sugar cookies when he heard his father talking about how nice it was to see Mrs. Everdeen. His hands were shaking as picked up the plate of cookies to take out to the storefront. He swore her eyes lit up as she took in the frosted cookies and he scolded himself for not making them prettier. If only he’d known, he would have made them perfect for her.

Katniss and her mother were such a study in contrasts. Her mother all pink and golden, smiles and soft blue eyes. Katniss was darker, quieter, sharper and so beautiful. And while she was nowhere near as jovial as her father, there was a twinkle in her silvery eyes that made Peeta desperate to know what she was thinking. Her mother made her purchase and the Everdeen women were turning to leave, Peeta had a cookie in his hand to offer her when his mother hissed at him to return to the kitchen. He was sick with disappointment that he hadn’t given her a treat, hadn’t offered her anything. But he vowed that the next time he saw her, he would give her a dozen perfect cookies

But the next time he saw her, cookies were the last thing on his mind. She was riding in a black carriage coming from the mayor’s commemoration of her father’s death. Katniss looked sick with grief, but her mother seemed barely alive, her eyes dull and vacant. Katniss’ baby sister was clutching their mother, but the older woman didn’t seem to notice.

While Peeta watched, paralyzed with worry for her, Katniss slipped out of the carriage and came to stand at the bakery window. She looked so small and frail, the wrongness of it shook him to the core. Given his state of anxiety, it wasn’t hard to believe he had accidentally burned the bread. His mother’s slap was a small price to pay.  Peeta was able to slip a loaf of bread into Katniss’ arms just before she returned to the carriage. Her eyes met his and he wanted nothing more in the world that to erase the pain he saw in them. But he had nothing else to offer her.

xxxxx

Katniss was baffled by the warm weight of the bread in her arms, she couldn’t understand why Peeta Mellark, a boy she hardly knew, had given her such a gift. Since her mother had retreated so far into herself that she was unreachable, Katniss was at a loss as to how to take care of her family. Katniss had come into town on her own to try to get the bank to help her. But considering that she was not only a child, but a girl, she was met with nothing but unhelpfully sorrowful faces and shaking heads. Nothing could be done. She was told to be grateful that her father’s uncle twice removed, Haymitch Abernathy, was willing to take ownership of the land and allow her and her mother and sister to live in their own home.

She hadn’t even realized that she was staring into the Mellarks bakery, until she saw him approach her through the window. He had gifted her the bread because she was starving, and she was starving, but what had caught her eye was a bright yellow dandelion frosted on a cookie in the glass-front case. It had reminded her of her hunting trips with her dad. And as she rode home, the warm loaf clutched to her chest, she began to formulate a plan.

xxxxx

The following year, Peeta’s mother was lamenting the rules of society and how unfair it was that a family as wealthy and successful as the Mellarks would need to marry into an established family in order to be accepted into society. He was daydreaming about rescuing Katniss from a tower, but even in his daydream he knew this was a farfetched scenario. Other than some fraternal wrestling bouts, he had few combat skills and he was pretty sure you couldn’t frost a dragon into submission. He was already mixing colors in his imagination to frost a giant dragon encircling a cake when his mother’s lament filtered through his reverie.

“What about the Everdeens?” he heard himself say. He was shocked when four pairs of eyes turned and fixed on him. No one ever took his suggestions for something this important seriously. He watched his mother’s pursed face as she chewed the idea, mentally masticating it for possibly. “They do need a man, with all those women ruling the roost,” she mused. “And, the Good Lord knows, we’ve got boys to spare.”

Lavender Goldsparrow was the last child born to the prestigious Goldsparrow Family. Her parent’s both perished in a tragic accident when she was seventeen. A month later, before a proper mourning period had elapsed, Lavender Goldsparrow married Jack Everdeen. He was an outsider, and entrepreneur, some even alluded that he might be a sorcerer for how utterly and completely Lavender Goldsparrow had fallen for him.  Within the year, their first daughter, Katniss was born and Mr. Everdeen had expended the Goldsparrow fortune to purchase the forestland and meadow that surrounded the historic Goldsparrow estate. When Mr. Everdeen died, he left his wife and two girls land rich, but cash poor. Their distant relative, the notoriously cantankerous and chronically drunk Mr. Abernathy stepped in to claim the land to keep the Everdeens from being displaced.

Peeta’s heart soared into his throat as he saw the opportunity crack open before him. He carefully began enumerating the benefits, supporting his mother’s pros and minimizing the cons. When she finally slapped her hand down on the table and pronounced it passable idea, Peeta was lightheaded with hope. It took him a moment to process the horror as the tides of his fortune reversed. His mother announced that she would write to Mrs. Everdeen immediately offering Peeta’s older brother, Rye, as a matrimonial match.

Rye looked nearly as pale and sweaty as Peeta felt as his mother pushed away from the table, heading for her stationery desk with renewed purpose.

Within weeks, the ladies of family Everdeen were sitting in the Mellark’s parlor. Peeta tried not to stare, but Katniss had emerged from the cocoon of young womanhood with more virtues than he could have imagined. He sipped tea and attempted to ignore her raven tresses, the elegant curve of her neck, the slight swell of her small breasts pressing against the dark green silk at the neckline of her dress. She sat ramrod straight and stared down at her clasped hands.

He felt that her beauty was physically wounding him and when their eyes met briefly in flash of silver and blue. It felt as if he had been burned.

Katniss’ mother readily accepted the engagement and Katniss took the news as if she were being sentenced to a firing squad. Peeta watched in despair as Rye and Katniss were permitted a walk through the gardens together. He watched from an upstairs window as they made a slow revolution around the garden. At one point Katniss stopped abruptly and demanded something of Rye. He nodded solemnly before they continued their stroll. When she linked her hand through Rye’s elbow, a sliver of Peeta’s heart died, like a petal dropping from a spent flower.  So this must  be what if feels like to have a heart attack, he thought to himself.

xxxxx

Katniss was pretty sure she was having a heart attack as that horrible Mrs. Mellark proposed the “mutually beneficial” alliance of their families. She knew they had little choice, that without a man to help run their affairs, their claim on their ancestral home was tenuous at best. Uncle Haymitch was not generally sober enough to manage his own affairs, let alone the Everdeen lands. She looked at Prim, the same age now as Katniss had been when their father died, and hoped that by making this sacrifice, Katniss would be able to protect Prim from a similar fate.

Katniss also knew that Mrs. Mellark was only interested in the Goldsparrow part of her heritage and that felt false. Mrs. Mellark wanted something that didn’t even exist. Katniss had never met her grandparents Goldsparrow, as they had died before Katniss was born. Regardless of her mother’s parentage, Katniss was nothing if not her father’s daughter. She felt the full pressing weight of his absence for the thousandth time. She could feel herself disintegrating, coming apart at the seams as Mrs Mellark droned on about marriage terms and her own assets, not hiding the business transaction this was.

Katniss closed her eyes, breathed in slowly through her nose and thought about real things, substantial things that kept her bound to the earth. She remembered the feel of her father’s large, callused hand in hers as the forest sang around them returning her father’s melody. She remembered the weight of baby Prim being placed in her arms for the first time as her mother explained that it was her job to help look out for her sister always. And she remembered the bread, the warmth of it seeping into her hollow chest, holding the spiraling emptiness at bay and the endless kindness shining through the crystalline blue of his eyes.

Since that fateful day when Peeta Mellark had given her the bread, creating a foothold for her to achieve independence, Katniss had built upon the knowledge her father had instilled in her and was a good enough hunter and farmer to keep her family afloat. But it was a tenuous state in which to live. As resentful as she felt that a husband was being forced upon her, she allowed herself to imagine that Peeta Mellark, with his warm loaves of fruit-nut bread, his easy smiles, and sky-blue eyes, could be an asset to her and her family. She allowed herself to glance up and meet his gaze, to search for that reassuring kindness she remembered so clearly. But the intensity she found when she met his eyes, felt like she’d been shocked and she glanced away just as Mrs. Mellark clarified that it was Rye Mellark that she would be marrying. She’d never even looked directly into Rye’s face before. She fought to quell the panic rising into her throat.

But as Rye led her through the gardens, he explained that he had no need for a wife and that maybe they could just try their hand at being friends first. He proposed that their marriage could be whatever they wanted it to be and that he had no desire to take over her estate, just to help her run it during infrequent visits from the Capitol where he preferred to be. She began to cotton onto the “mutually beneficial” idea.  As she linked her arm through his, she began to imagine how this version of her life might work out.

xxxxx

It was to be a long engagement while Katniss came of age and over the next three years, Rye visited the Everdeen Estate twice each year. The first time his brother set off on horseback, Peeta thought that the envy would burn a hole clean through his stomach.

At the first ball Katniss and Rye attended as an engaged couple, Peeta thought he might actually die of jealousy as he watched his brother place Katniss’ tiny hand through the crook in his arm. As he watched her smile at something Rye whispered in her ear. Peeta was tortured by her intricately-braided raven hair, her dusky skin that seemed to glow from within and made all of the pale town girls look washed out and blurry, the dark green gown that summoned the heart of the forest with her every regal step. Her glittering silver eyes seemed to contain knowledge he could never hope to possess, but he was willing to spend an eternity trying to unravel their mysteries. One look at his brother’s happy, open face and Peeta knew his obsession with his soon-to-be sister-in-law was completely futile. Worse, it was destructive. As he tossed back his third glass of cider, he realized that not only did he not feel happy for Rye and Katniss, he wanted to lash out at at them, to make them feel even a fraction of the pain he felt.

But now instead of slaying dragons, he would have to eliminate his own brother. The very notion was disloyal enough to turn his stomach. How had his life become this ratsnest of bitterness and resentment? He was afraid he would go mad with guilt and longing. He had to stop this.

So when Delly Cartwright hung from his arm and giggled into his ear that he was staring at his brother’s betrothed a little too openly, he readily agreed when she offered him distraction. The alcohol had made the world go pleasantly fuzzy around the edges as he kneaded Delly’s tits in the wine cellar. He decided then and there that he would learn to love everything that Katniss wasn’t. He would lust after blond curls and watery blue eyes, vacuous tinkling giggles, ample breasts and white thighs. As Delly’s petal soft hand closed around his cock, he vowed that he would ejaculate Katniss Everdeen right out of his system. There were worse ways to forget.

As it came to pass, the next few years were an endless parade of blond heads bobbing on his dick, pale-pink nipples sucked like hard candies, miles of creamy white flesh as it presented itself to his hands and mouth and cock. Once word got round that he was a generous lover, he quickly realized that it took almost no effort on his part to lure willing ladies to his bed, or more accurately, whichever pantry, cellar or deserted parlor presented itself. His flushed cheeks and glassy eyes from the liquor he drank like water seemed to be enough of an invitation for the Glimmers and Cashmeres of the world to pull him into the nearest alcove. And it all swirled together in a fog of girls and wine.

The few times he saw Katniss Everdeen, she acted like he didn’t exist. His family had taken to apologizing for his behavior as if he were an unfortunate pet that couldn’t seem to get the hang of shitting outside. But on those occasions when he encountered Katniss, in those brief seconds before she hardened her features and let her gaze slide over him, he could have sworn it was sadness and disappointment he saw mingled in her eyes. He always made sure to drink another glass of whatever there was and find a convenient distraction, preferably two, as quickly as possible.

xxxxx

Upon their introduction, Katniss had been sure that Peeta was the best of the Mellarks, possibly the best boy in the world. Now, as the rumors spread and his glazed, unfocused eyes met hers, she wanted to cry. It must of have been her grief that tricked her, the loss of her father that had blinded her to what he really was. Every time she watched him stumble drunkenly and indiscreetly into a study with a giggling blonde whose cleavage was already spilling out of her dress, something acrid and hot would claw uncomfortably in her belly. She would take stock of Rye, standing stiffly beside her and count her blessings for their uncomplicated union.

Then she would spend the rest of the evening counting the seconds until she could leave and employing every tool in her vast arsenal of defenses and self-denial to not watch the door behind which Peeta was debasing himself and his companion. And she would most certainly not allow herself to desperately wish he would return to the ball. And that those startling blue eyes would find hers through the crowd.

xxxxx

Katniss knew there was something wrong when Mr. Mellark rode up to their home. The Everdeen Estate was located a good distance from town and seldom received visitors. Rye was due in two weeks time for his biennial visit to officially assess the estate and review their holdings. In actuality, he spent his time visiting with the Everdeen ladies, more Prim and Lavender than Katniss if truth be told, and the surrounding landowners. Because of their betrothal, he was able to set up contracts with neighboring farms, which allowed Katniss to sell their surplus cotton.

They didn’t have a large cotton field, only the few acres they could tend themselves. Mr. Everdeen had refused to keep slaves, as did Katniss. Thresh wasn’t much older than Katniss when Mr. Everdeen found him in the woods with tiny baby Rue strapped to his back. Their parents and their master had been killed in a house fire and they were on their own, many miles from the only home they’d known. Despite the risk, Katniss’ father took them in. They earned their keep, but they lived their lives with as much freedom as was possible. They were more like siblings than anything to the Everdeen girls. The fact that Thresh had turned out to be the size of two normal men and strong as an ox, had been a major factor for them keeping the estate running.

As Thresh silently led Mr. Mellark’s horse to the stables, Mr. Mellark stood on their shabby veranda running his hat through his hands. Katniss was standing right in front of him, but he wouldn’t look at her. “Hello, Katniss,” he said to his hands, “is you mother home?”

Katniss wanted to shake him, to demand he just get it over with, to share whatever bad news had brought him here, but for once propriety won out. She turned abruptly and led him into the sitting room, needing to verify with her own eyes that Prim was alright. Because whatever was coming wasn’t going to be good, but as long as Prim was all right, Katniss could endure it.

Both blond Everdeen heads shot up as Katniss and Mr. Everdeen entered the room. “Mr. Mellark,” her mother exclaimed, rising halfway out of her seat, her needlepoint falling to the floor, “is everything all right?’ Katniss wasn’t the only one who expected the worst.

Katniss perched on the arm of Prim’s chair in a fashion she was sure her mother would chastise her for under different circumstances. Mr. Mellark was back to twisting his hat as he blurted out that Rye had broken their engagement and that he was terribly, terribly sorry.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Katniss countered, “Rye and I have an agreement.”

“I’m so sorry, my dear, but Rye has broken your agreement.” Katniss started to shake her head, but Mr. Mellark pressed on, “He, uh, he eloped three days ago. To the Capitol.”

It all started to fall horrifyingly into place. “With…?” Katniss started to ask incredulously.

“His best friend’s sister.” Mr. Mellark replied, giving his hat a final, perhaps fatal twist.

Katniss knew all about his so-called best friend. And if he had found a way to marry his sister, well then, that would make sense. She felt the room, the very world, drop away from her as reality of this betrayal settled in her stomach. They had had an agreement to let each other live their own lives. She wouldn’t interfere with his romantic exploits in the Capitol and he would let her hunt and run their land as she had been doing since her father died. It was all slipping away again. How could he have done this to her? Had he no honor? Didn’t he care for her or her family at all?

Mr. Mellark’s voice sounded miles away, but she knew she needed to pay attention. After several attempts at clearing his throat, he offered hoarsely, “We, ah, would like to offer our younger son, Peeta, in Rye’s place. I know it sounds a bit like horse trading, but it would hold our alliance.”

Mrs. Everdeen glanced nervously at her daugher, who had turned an alarming puce color and responded, “Thank you, Mr. Mellark. Let’s discuss this over tea, shall we?”

But Katniss was already out the door, running for the woods.