Read Online The Whip by Karen Kondazian - Free Book Online

Charlotte. “Everything that goes into that horse, and everything that comes out is to be your responsibility. If he is difficult, if he disobeys…you, not he, are to be punished.”
    Charlotte could not take her eyes off the great black horse.
    “Now, I am nothing if not reasonable,” continued Miss Haden. “Be informed that you may return to us at any time, under condition that you deliver to me a profound and heartfelt apology for your unruly and disruptive behavior, and that you vow to dedicate yourself to the acquisition of the womanly arts.”
    “Yes ma’am,” Charlotte murmured, her eyes still transfixed on Beelzebub’s lustrous dark coat.
    Leaving Charlotte with the horses, Miss Haden walked out, inclining her head empress-like for Jonas to follow her. They stood outside.
    “Now Jonas, I expect you to do as I have instructed. Do not go easy on her. She is too stubborn, too rebellious, and too independent, for her own good. We must help her find her way.”
    “Yes’m,” said Jonas nodding.
    He was noticing something, a sound that wasn’t the wind, a tree branch, or the motion of an animal. He turned his eyes towards the sound without moving his head: he could just make out a shadow that didn’t belong. It might have been that of a boy or young man. It was stepping back into the woods. It was gone now. Miss Haden was still speaking.
    “Don’t be concerned,” she said, granting him a painful little crease of a smile. “She shan’t be with you more than a night or two. One taste of shoveling manure and she’ll be begging for a needle and thread.”
    “Yes’m,” said Jonas, inclining his head in outward agreement. Had Miss Haden been a reader of eyes, she’d have seen that he wasn’t so sure. In any case, Jonas was now looking over to where the shadow had been. He couldn’t see it now. He’d warn her anyway.
    “Ma’am, I…”
    “No complaints, Jonas. I trust that everything is clear and that there is no need for us to prolong this unpleasant conversation any longer. She is your responsibility. I am leaving her in your care, and I am leaving now.”
    “Yes’m, Miss Haden.”
    She swept off, pleased with her handling of it all.
    Inside the stable, Charlotte was walking around peering into the different stalls. It was so cozy in here she thought…the warm musky smell of horse and hay.
    Charlotte entered Beelzebub’s stall. Cautious, she approached him. She stood in front of the stallion, looking him in the eye. She raised her hand up toward his nose.
    “There now,” she said. “You’re not so mean, are you? Can I pet you?”
    The horse lunged his head down and nipped Charlotte’s hand hard.
    She cried out, falling backward into the hay.
    Jonas entered the stable, ran into the stall and kneeled down next to her. “Are you alright? What happened?”
    “He bit me,” said Charlotte, confused. She started to sob. And once she started she was unable to stop, her thin shoulders shuddering.
    He laid a gentle hand on her back and she winced in pain. He then noticed the tear in the back of her blouse and beneath it; he saw her back covered with angry purple welts. Jonas, who was past being shocked by anything other people did to the creatures in their care, knew what to do. He stroked her head comforting her, letting her weep.
    Unseen by either of them, Lee was standing in the shadows of the doorway, watching. Charlotte was laying her head on the groom’s chest. He was stroking her hair, murmuring something to her. She was sobbing in his arms. He was holding her close and she was letting him.
    In a furor of conflicting emotions Lee turned and ran away into the darkness.
    Jonas heard a sound and looked up, but seeing no one, he turned his attention back to Charlotte.
    “You will like it here, missy,” he said to her. The headmistress hadn’t even told him her name.

Sixteen
    It was dawn of the following day. Charlotte was dressed in some of Jonas’ old clothes, a wrapping of bandage around