He’d heard the fireplace as he finished shaving. Then voices downstairs, although neither he nor Dionisia had been expecting company.
His pace slowed as he padded down the stairs and the conversation became clearer, now recognising the visitor’s voice as Zelda’s and feeling quite happily surprised that she and Dionisia seemed to be on good terms again. (He had done his best to nudge them towards each other from time to time to try and bridge their differences, but it hadn’t done much good, especially not when one was as good at nursing grudges as his sisters were.) Help, Zelda said, and as he rounded the doorway he was expecting to see some kind of injury - but even if he hadn’t seen the luridly obvious mark on her neck, Dionisia’s embarrassed look and reproach of shouldn’t have let him would have given him a fair clue.
How she had gotten that when she was supposed to be under the family’s careful supervision at all times, he didn’t yet know.
“Hello, Zelda,” Ari greeted, to announce himself, catching sight of Elliott dozing and being sure to keep an even tone in spite of the temptation to raise it. Pity. His eyes narrowed slightly, but he continued to feign pleasantness as he perched on the arm of a chair. “Cover what?”
Ari already knew the answer, but he was interested to see if she would try and lie about it.
His pace slowed as he padded down the stairs and the conversation became clearer, now recognising the visitor’s voice as Zelda’s and feeling quite happily surprised that she and Dionisia seemed to be on good terms again. (He had done his best to nudge them towards each other from time to time to try and bridge their differences, but it hadn’t done much good, especially not when one was as good at nursing grudges as his sisters were.) Help, Zelda said, and as he rounded the doorway he was expecting to see some kind of injury - but even if he hadn’t seen the luridly obvious mark on her neck, Dionisia’s embarrassed look and reproach of shouldn’t have let him would have given him a fair clue.
How she had gotten that when she was supposed to be under the family’s careful supervision at all times, he didn’t yet know.
“Hello, Zelda,” Ari greeted, to announce himself, catching sight of Elliott dozing and being sure to keep an even tone in spite of the temptation to raise it. Pity. His eyes narrowed slightly, but he continued to feign pleasantness as he perched on the arm of a chair. “Cover what?”
Ari already knew the answer, but he was interested to see if she would try and lie about it.
