The Sisters

The look on their faces was enough for me to know they hated the manor. As Verdi and Liza stepped out of the carriage, their own ladies in waiting a short step behind them, they looked around and wrinkled their noses. Putra prodded me with a hard jab, and I started forward, a smile plastered on my face.

“Liza! Verdi! It’s so good to see you both.” They looked at me, looking a little surprised as they came up to me. Liza pulled me into a hug, which shocked me more than anything. Liza wasn’t big on physical touch.

“It’s so good to see you, Hyran.” When she let me go, Verdi put a hand on my shoulder and smiled. That was as close as she was going to get to a heartfelt hug. “I’m so glad we made it in time for your birthday.”

“I appreciate it,” I said. “This is my lady in waiting, Anhelina. She’s been awesome at getting me adjusted. And this is Jurek, the head of house staff.” They both bowed, though Liza and Verdi looked uninterested. “Come on in. I’ll show you to your rooms.”

Liza snapped her fingers and her attendant went around the carriage, followed by Verdi’s, and grabbed their bags. I tried to hide my grimace. Her treatment of her employees had yet to improve over time.

The tour was short, filled with backhanded comments from Verdi and sharp, pointed jabs from Liza as we made our way to their rooms.

“The walls,” Verdi said. “They’re…interesting.”

“Oh, Verdi.” Liza chuckled, shaking her head as she looked at my half-finished paintings. “Hyran’s a married woman now, she can take it. Your lack of work ethic to finish your little projects has always been one of your short comings.”

“I know,” I said, trying to laugh it off. “I’ve just been busy. It’s only been a few months.”

“Liza had herself in control and caught up within the first month,” Verdi said, wrinkling her nose at the dining room. It was the only room with a finished mural. “We all had the same education.”

“Well, you know Liza. No one can compete with her. Even you.” Verdi gave me a sharp look. She hated being compared to Liza, being only a year younger than her, and having big shoes to fill. If she was going to be a bitch, I could too. Liza would be harder to handle.

“Your rooms.” Jurek’s voice was cold as she turned around, gesturing to the doors on either side of the hallway. “If you need anything, feel free to send your ladies to find me. My lady, may I have your ear for a moment? Kasi would like to go over the diner menu with you.”

“Of course.” Liza and Verdi were glaring at Jurek but keeping quiet. “Make yourselves at home. I’ll be back right after this.”

“Hurry up,” Liza said. “I have so much to tell you about our travels.”

They went into their room while I followed Jurek and Anhelina back to the dining room. The mural of wisterias I had been so proud of now seemed like a child’s finger drawing. The flowers were proportioned terribly, and the color mixing left the world to be desired.

I looked away and said, “What did Kasi need to know about the menu?”

“Nothing,” Jurek hissed. It was the first time I’d ever seen her so angry. She paced back and forth, muttering something under her breath until she said, “I just needed an excuse to get you away from those two.”

Anhelina looked more worried than pissed off as she asked, “My lady, are your sisters always like that?”

“Oh, yeah. They mean well.” They’d actually gotten nicer as we got older. Something about being in their thirties seemed to have calmed them down a bit. It was way worse when we were teens.

“I’m not so sure they do.”

I shrugged. “Even if they don’t, I’ll be okay. I lived with them for most of my life. This is going about as expected. If it bothers you so much, you don’t have to serve them.”

Jurek whipped around so fast I was worried she might snap her neck. “With the utmost respect, I can’t comfortably leave you alone with them.”

“Thank you for being so concerned. Truly, it means a lot to me to have people looking out for me. But I can handle them. I’ve made it this far; I can make it a little farther.”

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Jurek frowned, dialing it down as she took a calming breath. “As you say, my lady.”

I raised my eyebrows at Anhelina. She was generally passive, but I knew she could be violent with things she disliked. A week ago, she found how many ants tried to make their home in my art studio. Like a soldier on a warpath, she destroyed every single one and lectured me about snacking outside of the dining room.

She looked to the ground. “As you say, my lady.”

“Good. Jurek, can you make sure everything is on track? Anhelina, you can come with me.”

Anhelina was quiet as we made our way back, stewing. I could feel her irritation as we walked, though I knew nothing I could say would make her feel better. She was angry on my behalf which I loved her for, but this was different than an ant infestation.

“Hyran.” Putra leaned against the wall outside of Liza and Verdi’s doors. “I heard you were given the family treatment when they got here.”

I smiled. “Same as always. Where did you go?”

“Showed their guards where they’ll be staying and helped with the carriages.” He lowered his voice, looking at their doors. “Will you be okay? I know it’s been a while.”

“I’ll survive.” I had no other choice if I wanted this to go well.

“Not the answer I wanted, but it’ll do.” He turned to Anhelina. “Look out for her, please.”

“Of course,” she said. “I would never do anything less.”

“Such drama,” I said, knocking on Liza’s door. She shouted, “Come in!” and I gave Anhelina a ‘behave, please’ look before opening the door.

“Finally,” Liza said. She was splayed out on the bed while Verdi sat on the floor, flipping through a book she’d brought with her. “You ladies can leave.” She made a shooing motion with her hand, and her and Verdi’s ladies left, leaving only Anhelina in the room. Liza stared her down and said, “You, too, Annie.”

“She doesn’t like to be called Annie,” I said. “It’s Anhelina. And Anhelina if you wouldn’t mind stepping out?”

She stared down Liza for a second more before bowing to me and leaving.

“Bitchy lady you have there,” Verdi said.

“She’s normally quite nice.” I sat on the chair in the corner, finishing the sitting positions we’d had since we were kids. It put me a little more at ease than leading them around the manor. At least this I was familiar with.

“Well make sure she gets her ‘quite nice’ attitude back before dinner,” Liza said, sitting up. “It’d be pretty bad for her if she had to be replaced.”

“Anhelina isn’t going to get replaced,” I said, my tone coming out harsher than anticipated. I reeled it back in. “She does a great job, and I wouldn’t want to find someone to replace her.”

Liza stared for a moment before laughing. “My, when did you get a bite behind that bark? It’s nice to see.”

“Does your husband like that part of you?” Verdi said, wiggling her eyebrows. “Like the bite?”

Given what I knew about him, probably. But… “I don’t know. We haven’t had sex.”

“What?” They both sat up and Verdi closed her book. “What do you mean? It’s been four months, and you haven’t slept together?”

“He’s reclusive, like you said in your letter. I didn’t see him much until recently. And I want to get to know him before we do anything. It’d just be awkward otherwise.” With how things were going now I could see it being a fun time, but I still got too flustered around him to even try sneaking a kiss, let alone going all the way.

“It’ll only be awkward if you’re awkward,” Verdi said. She paused, cocking her head to the side in thought. “Which you are.”

“Maybe she’s still riding that Misra train and that’s why they haven’t.” Liza laughed at the thought. “It wouldn’t surprise me.”

“Have never and will never,” I said. “There’s nothing sexually or romantically appealing to me about Putra. But speaking of my husband, did you have any other opinions on him?”

“What about ‘boring foodie’ didn’t get the message across?”

“I would argue that only one of those is true, but I meant aside from that. You never hesitate to give an opinion.” I wasn’t excited about whatever critiques she had, but I was invested in getting it over with. The quicker she got all of her mean-spirited comments out, the easier it would be once we were around everyone else.

She sighed, rolling her wrists. “I’d have to meet him, I’d say. There’s nothing I can do with what I was told.”

“Yeah,” Verdi said, picking up her book again. “His family was nice to us as guests, but as your sisters, they were closed off. It seemed like they were hiding something. Or, at the least, ashamed of him.”

“Definitely ashamed,” Liza nodded. “His father even said so. And there was something his mother said that I kept thinking about. She didn’t say he moved out here. She said he ran out here. Shortly after he turned sixteen, apparently.”

“Really?” He never really talked about his family, but neither did I, so it never felt like I could ask. I wanted to know why his parents decided to marry him off, and why they agreed to someone like me. I was the youngest daughter of the lowest ranked viscount in Wisteria. They wouldn’t know about my curse, but those two things were enough. I’d been avoiding thinking about it since once my curiosity was piqued, it was only a matter of time before I started digging and I wanted to take it slow. Poking around when he wasn’t comfortable was a sure-fire way to make sure he didn’t trust me.

“You should ask him about it,” Liza said. She flipped over in bed, laying on her stomach as she said, “Regardless of general curiosity, it’s weird that you don’t know anything about him, and it’s been this long. You should figure out what you can. Who knows what other little secrets he’s hiding.”