Orfilia had the grace to blush, realizing her blunder.
She waited shyly by the stable door, waiting for him to finish with the horse. When he was done, they walked to the castle door together. When he snapped his fingers to make the door open, Orfilia made a show of being impressed. She genuinely was, but played it up a bit to flatter him. However, she had no idea if it worked, since she couldn’t see his expression, and he gave no other sign of his thoughts.
“I will lead you to the breakfast room. I will prepare a meal, and we can dine together and talk,” he said, his tone carefully neutral. Orfilia was starting to sweat a bit. She had no idea if he was buying her lie, but she got the distinct impression he was suspicious of her. She wished she’d thought to do this before Ulva had, so he’d believe her more readily.
Orfilia followed the mage to the small dining hall after setting her bags by the door. She seated herself and offered him a warm smile. He seemed a bit nonplussed that she had seated herself, but did not comment on it.
“I will return soon with supper,” he said formally. Orfilia nodded politely, still smiling.
She waited patiently for him to return. When he did, he set a bowl of thick vegetable soup with a large slice of crusty bread and butter in front of her. The lycan was disappointed at the lack of meat, but did her best to keep that fact hidden.
“Thank you, it looks and smells lovely,” she told him.
“Thank you. I do not often get to share my cooking,” he replied, looking a bit fidgety.
“Well, Papa seemed to like what you served him,” she supplied, beating him to the punch. He lifted his head, and she got the impression he was surprised.
“Yes… he did. Your… sister… also seemed to enjoy her meal, although I did not exactly let her finish it.”
“Oh, yeah, well… that’s alright,” Orfilia said nervously, looking away. She tore off a bit of the bread and dipped it in the soup and began to eat. After a moment, the mage cleared his throat to get her attention.
“What do you think of the flowers?” he asked hesitantly, gesturing at the silver vase containing an arrangement of sunflowers and lavender.
“Oh! Well, it’s lovely. The yellow color of the sunflowers is so warm and, well, sunny, which is a nice change for this time of year. And the lavender smells like spring. I think they’re a good choice for the time of year, though few others would be able to have such an arrangement in midwinter.”
The mage seemed to relax a little bit. Unfortunately, Orfilia wasn’t done, and promptly stuck her foot in her mouth.
“I much prefer lilies though. I find them to be a far more elegant flower than these, and they come in such a nice variety of colors. There are even some lilies that grow in winter!”
The mage froze, and became very tense.
“You… You’re not her,” he growled, an edge of anger to his otherwise subdued tone.
Orfilia also froze, realizing she’d messed up. She felt the grip of a giant, invisible hand around her middle and let out a terrified squeak. He did not grip her as hard or treat her as roughly as he had Ulva. But he marched her to the door and set her outside on the stoop. He tossed her bags at her feet.
“Leave,” he commanded. He turned away with a flourish of his cloak, and the doors slammed shut behind him, making Orfilia flinch. With a resigned sigh, the redhead gathered her bags and went to the stable to saddle up the horse. She mounted up and headed home, dejected.
When she got home, just before dawn, she unsaddled the horse and began to groom her. While she was tending the horse, Calista entered the stable.
The silver-haired healer stopped short and gave her sister a bewildered look.
“Orfilia! What are you doing here so early?” she asked. Orfilia froze, then burst into tears and ran into the house, leaving her task half finished.
Calista watched her sister flee with dismay. She didn’t know what was wrong. She finished grooming the horse, since it would be wrong to leave the poor animal half-groomed. She noticed the mare was warm and a bit sweaty, like she’d been ridden recently. And then, she spotted Orfilia’s bags. Now, she was both puzzled and worried.
When she was done in the stable, Calista went looking for her sister. She found Orfilia locked in her room, and the older lycan refused to answer when she pleaded to be let in so they could talk. The healer was eventually forced to give up, as she had duties she couldn’t continue to put off. She was determined to find out what happened later, though.
Orfilia still had not come out of her room by supper time. Calista enlisted Ulva to help get her to come out. The two sisters banged on the door and insisted they wouldn’t leave, so Orfilia finally, reluctantly, unlocked the door and let them in.
Calista was very concerned to see Orfilia’s red, puffy eyes.
“My goodness! Lia, what’s wrong? What happened?” she asked, cupping her sister’s face in her hands.
Orfilia burst into tears again. Ulva poured her a glass of water from the pitcher by the vanity and sat her sister on the bed. Calista hovered by the two of them with a worried expression. Eventually, they got Orfilia to calm down.
“I went to the castle!” Orfilia blurted.
Calista’s eyes widened. “You what?”
Ulva pressed her hand to the bridge of her nose and her forehead and sighed.
“I tried the same thing as you, Ulva, but it didn’t work for me, either!” Orfilia hiccuped.
Now Calista’s eyes narrowed. She looked back and forth between her two older sisters.
“Ulva?” she glared at her sister, tone threatening. Ulva scowled back at her and elbowed Orfilia, who sobbed.
Ulva growled and threw up her hands.
“Fine! I’ll tell you!” she said, exasperated. She reiterated the tale she’d told Orfilia for Calista. Calista was mortified.
“Orfilia, you did the same thing?” she asked, putting her hands on her hips.
Orfilia sniffed and nodded.
“Y-yes. It wasn’t as bad as Ulva said. But he still figured it out when I said I like lilies,” she whined.
Calista pinched the bridge of her nose. She couldn't believe her sisters had pulled such a foolish stunt. She hadn’t realized they were so deceptive.
“Why? Why did you two do that?” she asked, sounding tired.
“I wanted to save Papa!” Ulva said, indignant. “And the salary he’s offering you is enough to save Papa’s company, too. I don’t want him to go to debtor’s prison, either! And I don’t want to live in a hovel in the countryside and lose my engagement because Connor doesn’t want to marry a beggar.” She crossed her arms and sulked.
“I also wanted to save Papa!” Orfilia said quickly. Then she sheepishly added, “And I might’ve hoped he’d fall in love with me and I could marry a rich duke.”
Calista dug her fingers into her eyes and heaved a ragged sigh.
“I don’t want anything to happen to Papa either,” she said. “I wasn’t planning to let him sacrifice himself. I’ve been trying to convince him…” she shrugged. Calista shook her head and left Orfilia’s room.
The two elder sisters exchanged glances, and hurried after her.
They found her in Fridolf’s study, summarizing what the two of them had done. She was as brief and charitable to the two as she could be, but Fridolf was still angry.
“You two put yourselves at such risk!” he scolded. The two girls looked away, ashamed.
“Papa,” Calista said, “you can’t sacrifice yourself. We need you. They need you. Think of the trouble they’ll get into if you’re gone!” she pleaded.
Fridolf shook his head firmly.
“No. It was my mistake, and I won’t let anyone else pay for that mistake!”
“But don’t you see? You are! You’re letting all of us pay for your mistake!” Calista insisted. Fridolf looked startled and a bit bewildered.
“What?”
“We all will suffer without you. We love you! It would hurt us to lose you!” Calista insisted, and Ulva and Orfilia nodded vigorously in agreement. “Sacrificing yourself would cost all of us, and it’s a price none of us are willing to pay. You can’t do it. He only wants to hire me to be his physician! It’s not like he’s using you to blackmail me into living with him so he can convince me to marry him or something absurd like that,” she said, shaking her head.
“But… but daughter, he’s a monster! A terrible mage! A human for moon’s sake! You wouldn’t be safe! If he found out you’re a lycan, he could kill you easily. You wouldn’t even be able to escape like you would if he were a normal man!”
“Oh, don’t be ridiculous! I can guard my secret well enough. He’s not going to hurt me, since I’m apparently his only hope to lift whatever affliction he has,” Calista waved a hand dismissively.
“He said he’s cursed,” Ulva supplied helpfully.
“Did he? I’m not sure why he thinks a physician would help with that. He probably just meant that metaphorically,” Calista shrugged.
“I forbid it!” Fridolf shouted, slamming his fists onto his desk, the sound making all three girls jump in surprise. “None of you are to leave the house until after I leave for the castle!” The senior lycan stomped out of the study and up to his room, slamming the door so loudly, it was easily heard downstairs in the study. The three sisters flinched, and exchanged glances.
“You’re still going, right?” Ulva asked.
“Oh yes, absolutely,” Calista nodded.
“You should probably leave the day before Papa would,” Orfilia suggested.
“Yes, we’ll cover for you so he doesn’t notice you’ve gone until it’s too late.”
“Alright. Thanks, sisters.”
The three lycans separated and went to their own rooms for the remainder of the night. Supper was forgotten.
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