A couple of days later things did, in fact, start to get better.
But like most things, they got worse first.
"The rose garden?" I asked, as Margo helped me into my freshly mended dress.
"Master Kenric came to me himself! Since the weather has been mild, he said you may go and enjoy the rose garden for the afternoon! The Duke must have realised you've changed!" she chirped, then rushed over to rummage in my wardrobe for an appropriate shawl.
Yeah, right.
It was a nice thought, but I doubted the Duke would ever come around to me, even if I were the most graceful and well-behaved noblewoman in the Empire.
Still, after a week cooped up in my room, it would be nice to be outside.
On my way there though, I took a quick detour to the library to quietly and inconspicuously return the magic textbook I'd nabbed from Haydn.
That plan was put on hold as I came up to the large double doors of the library and noticed one had been left open just a crack. From inside, I heard familiar voices. Kenric and Haydn.
"Should we...come back another time, Miss?" Margo whispered, but I pressed a finger to my lips quickly and leaned my back against the closed door, peering through the open sliver into the library. I could just see half of Haydn at his messy desk, where he was lounging with two legs up over the arms of his chair, and Kenric standing with his back to me.
Between the two, Haydn was easier to hear.
"- what do you mean 'and'? And, nothing. I left her in her room and haven't seen her since. If you care so much, go ask her yourself."
"I'm asking you."
Haydn ignored him, and there was a pause, during which he flicked through some pages of his book absently, fiddling with an ink pen.
"Can you not look at me like that? So annoying..." he finally sighed, slamming the book shut when Kenric didn't take the hint.
"You're not telling me everything, Haydn," Kenric insisted.
"Don't talk down to me, Kenric, just because -!" Haydn cut himself off with a short, annoyed huff, and seemed to change his mind: "Since when do I answer to you, anyway? You're not Father, no matter how much you try to imitate him."
Kenric crossed his arms.
"I'm not imitating him," he said cooly, "I am behaving like a Duke's son. You should consider it. Maybe it would silence the whispers going around the Lyceum about you, or have you been too...preoccupied to notice?"
Haydn stood up at his desk then, and was partially hidden by Kenric's tall silhouette.
"I'm surprised you've been able to hear the rumours at all, considering you've got your head stuck so far up Father's - "
" - Haydn." Kenric warned.
"What?! Am I wrong? You walk around the house like you're already a Duke, but what do you do except run his errands and wait around for him while he's away, like the trained pet you are!?" Haydn yelled, throwing out his arms challengingly.
"...Father is a busy man, attending him is my duty as his -."
"- Wake up, you idiot, you really think he'll ever turn the title over to you if you're this stupid? You're barely his son at this point - you're his steward! His loyal hound! And hounds don't get noble titles, they get put down when they stop being useful!"
Kenric was quiet again; the tension between the two of them seeped out of the library like a venomous fog, pressing me flat against the door and weighing heavy on my shoulders. I watched Kenric shift his weight from one foot to another, and then fold his hands behind his back slowly, before finally speaking.
"Taking out your misplaced anger on me is childish," he chastised, so quietly that I had to lean in to hear him. "If you turn into the family letdown now that Evra's becoming competent, it's your own fault. It has nothing to do with my work for Father."
"Hah! Me, the letdown?! I don't have to justify myself to you, or to that egomaniac, so when you give your little report to Father, you tell him that he -!"
"- Careful..." Kenric interrupted; though his voice was a whisper, it shut Haydn up in an instant, "...be careful what you say about him in front of me..."
Haydn clicked his tongue in disgust, but I could see his entire countenance tense for just a moment before he threw his hands up in defeat. He didn't say anything else as he dropped back into his chair.
Since the conversation was over, I scrambled away from my hiding place by the door, and Margo quickly followed me down the hall to retrace our steps slowly back towards the library.
"Do they argue like that a lot?" I asked her quietly; Margo just nodded, nonplussed.
I frowned down at the cover of the book in my hands. Was this something I could use to my advantage? In the novel, there was a definite tension between the two brothers, but there had been no outright fights. Maybe they didn't want to air dirty laundry in front of young, impressionable Lily.
No, it's better not to start anything with them, I decided just as we got to the doors again. Kenric stepped out into the hall, nearly running into me. I did my best to feign surprise, and then dipped into a polite curtsy.
He gave me a particularly annoyed frown down his nose, but was otherwise silent, and left at a sharp pace.
I exchanged a glance with Margo, and then braved a few steps into the library.
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