Rose in Chains
by Julie Soto
Contents
Chapter 8
Overview
Reighven and Gains parade Briony to a filthy bath, humiliate her, and steal her mother’s brooch before a forced medical exam confirms her virginity. Ordered to sterilize her, a young medic refuses and is punished, while an older medic covertly spares one fallopian tube. Briony is returned to the cell and wordlessly rallies the women by spelling “Not alone” with grapes, kindling hope and hinting at quiet resistance within Bomardi ranks.
Summary
Gains and Reighven unchain Briony, keep her collared, and force her to bathe under their watch. Reighven leers, drops soap into the tub, and steals Briony’s mother’s brooch, deepening her humiliation and loss.
They deliver Briony to a Bomardi medical room staffed by an older medic and a young redhead. After spells and checks, the medics confirm Briony is not pregnant and is a virgin, which Gains crudely values. When Gains orders sterilization, the redhead refuses and is crushed by his magic until the older medic intervenes, promising to perform the procedure.
The older medic cauterizes Briony’s left fallopian tube but, with her back to Gains, only pinches Briony’s right side and falsely reports the job complete, secretly preserving Briony’s fertility in one tube. Gains threatens the redhead, then escorts Briony back to the women’s cell.
Among the captives, Briony cannot speak due to Mallow’s spell but chooses to kindle hope. Seeing Velicity and Katrina in chains, she arranges grapes on the floor to spell “Not alone,” signaling that sympathy exists within Bomardi ranks and quietly uniting the prisoners around the possibility of aid.
Who Appears
- BrionyCaptive Eversun; humiliated in a forced bath, examined, partially sterilized, then inspires others with a silent message.
- GainsCapturer and escort; oversees exam, crushes the redhead’s heart with magic, believes sterilization is complete.
- ReighvenBrutal enforcer; leers at Briony, supervises bath, steals her mother’s brooch before leaving to check on Sammy.
- Older Bomardi medicLeads the exam; pretends to sterilize both tubes but secretly spares one, protecting Briony’s potential fertility.
- Young redheaded medicRefuses to perform sterilization; nearly killed by Gains’s magic, survives and is threatened.
- CordeliaFellow captive who greets Briony and gauges her condition on return to the cell.
- VelicityPrisoner chained to the wall with bloodied face; a focus of Briony’s resolve.
- KatrinaChained prisoner beside Velicity; tended by another captive for water.
- Mistress MallowOffstage authority ordering sterilizations of Rosewood-line captives; her policy drives the exam’s stakes.
- Sammy MeersReferenced captive (“Meers kid”) whose presence nearby heightens Briony’s urgency.