Give Me Your Riches: Chapter Seven
"You're awfully quiet today."
"Huh?" Sofia broke her gaze off of the window and turned her attention to Lucinda. The witch was casually lounging against an oversized pillow pressed against the upper level wall of her shop. It was one large room, sectioned off by well placed curtains usually drawn back during the day. The afternoon sun was streaming across the warm wooden floors, comfortably heating the room. Sofia sat on her own pillow with her legs folded under her in an entirely unprincess-like posture. Her teacup was clutched in both hands, her thumb absently running across the lip of the cup.
"I asked if you wanted more tea and when you didn't respond I said that you are awfully quiet today. What's going on?"
"More tea would be great, Luce, thanks. I think I need the caffeine."
"What's up?" Lucinda pointed her wand at the pot on the table and waved it over to Sofia's cup. It tipped with precision, filling her cup and then retreating to the table. Lucinda pointed her wand in the direction of the cup. "I could give you an extra bit of pep, if you want…" A mischievous grin lingered on Lucinda's lips and Sofia couldn't help but smile.
"No, thank you, just the tea is fine. I didn't sleep well."
A long, pregnant pause filled the space between the two. Sofia sipped her tea.
"It's Cedric, isn't it?" Lucinda blurted.
Sofia raised her eyebrows. The rest of her face remained purposefully hidden behind her cup.
"Oh don't look at me like that. I saw how he looked at you yesterday. He looks at you like that basically every time I see you two together and I definitely see how you look at him."
"For the millionth time, there's nothing between us." Sofia's tone was even. She was the picture of a well composed diplomat. She did, however, have to bite down the urge to ask precisely what look of Cedric's Lucinda was talking about.
"Exactly," the witch smirked, a gleam in her eye.
Sofia sighed lightly. "Meaning?"
"Meaning there's nothing between you. Meaning there's not even space between you. Meaning you're pressed riiiiiight up against him."
"Lucinda!" There was no hiding her blush this time. Sofia wouldn't have been surprised to find her toes as red as her cheeks.
Lucinda batted her eyelashes innocently. "What? Something I said?"
Sofia was helpless to retort. She took a long drink of her tea instead, draining the entire cup and continuing to clutch it in both of her hands.
"There's nothing to be embarrassed about, Sof. Cedric is definitely good looking in that dark, brooding, bookish sort of way. That's just fact." Lucinda indulged a sly smile. "I wouldn't mind your Potions Master stirring my pot."
Sofia couldn't even muster an admonishing squeak. Her jaw dropped open and she stared wide-eyed at Lucinda.
"You know, I'm not certain why I've never considered him before," Lucinda continued. "He's brilliant, worldly, and his magic is very impressive. Knowing he has all that power inside him..." She released a shivering sigh. "It's damn sexy."
"He's too old for you," Sofia said, finding her voice. She lifted her chin just the slightest bit in imitation of Amber's superior social skills. The strength of princess trained powers of avoidance flooded through her.
Lucinda waved a dismissive hand in the air and leaned back on her pillow, biting the tip of her wand thoughtfully.
"You say 'old' like it's a problem. Besides, he's not old, just older. Which, in this case, means he probably has some very fun experience under his belt." She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively in Sofia's direction. Lucinda put down her cup and tilted her head to the side. "This realization is just so striking to me, I think I'll traipse over to the castle now and see if I can gain an audience. You wouldn't mind, would you?"
Sofia's practiced exterior cracked and she bit her lip. "Well, i-if that's how you really feel..."
"I KNEW IT!" Lucinda exclaimed in triumph, cutting Sofia off. "You do like him."
Sofa groaned, leaning back and looking defeated. "But I can't, Luce," she admitted, softly.
"Why? Stupid Royal rules?"
Sofia nodded. "My parents would never accept him for me with my position as a Princess and his as our Royal Sorcerer. And then there's our Master and Apprentice relationship on top of all of that. Nevermind that he'd never even think of me that way."
"One," Lucinda held up her hand to count on her fingers, "with Amber taking on the crown, you can be exactly like your Aunt Tilly and renounce your title and become a Duchess-thingy or whatever she is. Two, it would be easier to count the number of Masters and Apprentices who don't spark into romantic relationships than the ones who do. Three, he already looks at you like you're the only woman in the world when he thinks no one is looking. I've caught the look at least once since your birthday ball last year." Lucinda crossed her arms and ankles and raised her eyebrow in a bit of a challenge. "Check and mate, my little magical princess."
"Fine," Sofia set down her teacup and crossed her arms. She wasn't certain if she liked how Lucinda so easily wormed her way around the barriers Sofia had built up in her head. "I don't outright reject the possibility. Good enough?"
"It'll do," Lucinda shrugged.
A long moment passed between them before Sofia added, "you're not actually going to go and see him, right?"
Lucinda couldn't help but laugh.
Relaxed again and blessedly blush free, Sofia poked at the plate beside her that held a biscuit. She broke off a piece and nibbled at it, getting a distant look in her eye. Lucinda cocked her head to the side.
"Now what, Sof? Come on, out with it."
"It's stupid."
"Not if it's bothering you this much."
Lucinda waited patiently as Sofia tried to articulate her worries.
"Last night," Sofia started, slowly and then picked up rambling speed, "my father got angry. I've never seen him like that, Luce. He yelled at me and sent me away to my room. He made me feel so small. I haven't felt like that since my father, my birth father died and I was so little then, I barely remember it. But I do remember feeling small. I didn't think he would make me feel that way."
"Why was he angry?" Lucinda asked, the teasing and lighthearted lilt gone from her voice.
"I don't know! That's the thing - I don't even understand why. I mean, if I had done something to deserve it then fine, so be it. But I didn't. I've thought it over. I thought it over so much last night that I couldn't sleep. I didn't break one rule, I didn't do anything wrong. He got enraged after I asked about this place in the gardens that I found yesterday. I guess it has something to do with that, but I don't understand what."
"And you're sure you didn't do anything wrong?"
"Yes!" Sofia sighed heavily and threw her arms in the air, letting them slap against her sides as they fell. "No. I don't know. I'm just so confused."
"Have you seen him since then?"
"I've been...avoiding him."
"Avoiding? That doesn't sound like you. Besides, how can you possibly avoid the King? He's at your breakfast every morning. And he's everywhere in the kingdom by the very nature of his job, at least until Amber takes over. And then she'll be everywhere just like he is now, just like his father was before him and back and back and back. He's unavoidable. You've got to face him at some point."
"Well of course I do. I'm just hoping that time will be delayed by a day...or three."
Lucinda fixed Sofia with an unbending look. "Sof, it's not stupid that you feel hurt and confused, but it is stupid that you're avoiding your own father. It's never going to get better unless you talk to him and figure out what actually happened. He loves you. I'm sure you two can work this out. It'll be in your best interest to clear it all up sooner rather than later."
Sofia looked confused. "Why?"
Lucinda's wicked smile returned. "So that you two are on a good footing when you confess your love for Cedric to your father."
Sofia threw a small pillow across the room and hit the witch squarely in the face. She fell back with an "oof!" and burst into giggles.
"You're more wicked than your mother gives you credit for."
Lucinda answered with a delighted cackle.
"Will you let me stay through dinner, at least? If I promise to face my father in the morning? We could run over and grab Ruby and Jade and have a girls night." Sofia said pleadingly.
"Sure."
"Really?"
"With one condition."
"I already said I would speak with my father tomorrow morning."
"Yeah, besides that one." Lucinda leaned forward conspiratorially. "You have to say to me, right now 'I like Cedric romantically.'"
Although it rubbed at her, Sofia would say what she had to in over to avoid her father for just a little longer. She summoned all of her inner strength to keep her face its proper color as she blurted, "IlikeCedricromantically." Lucinda nodded once, satisfied, and stood go collect Ruby and Jade. Before Sofia stood to join her, she allowed herself the smallest smile, happy to revel for once at the butterflies doing backflips in her stomach.
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Roland skulked beneath a dark awning outside his home. His body was leaning against the side of the house like it was solely responsible for holding the building upright. The sound of babies wailing could be heard even from outside. His eyes shut tightly against every infant cry. His dirt-encrusted hands clutched his hat and a wave of dread washed over him, followed immediately by a wave of guilt. This was the third day in a row he had come home late to screaming babies. But there was nothing for it. The sun had set and he had to go inside. Roland moved to the door and put his hand on the doorknob. He paused for one last, steadying breath and walked inside.
It took all of Roland's strength not to walk away from the unkempt disaster in his home. Used diapers were tossed by the door to be washed, giving the air an acrid, carrot-infused odor of excrement. Used dishes were piled impossibly high. No food was out for a meal, save for a heel of bread that had already been gnawed on. He looked about the room and found his wife on the floor beside the crib, her back pressed against the wall of the house. She looked utterly defeated as she quietly begged "please stop crying," again and again to the twins. They stood in their crib, clinging to the bars like tiny, trapped criminals and wailing as they tried to reach their mother who sat just beyond their reach. Roland rushed over to the crib and scooped up both of the babies. They didn't quiet, still squirming and reaching for their mother.
"Your hands, you have to wash your hands first…" she said absently.
"It's just earth, Ceres. It won't hurt them. What will hurt them…" Roland trailed off, trying to bite back his frustration. "They just want to be held and they want you. Just take Amber and then James will calm down long enough once she's calmed down and we can trade off."
"You're late. Again." Ceres' words were clipped now, Roland's presence seeming to have shaken her from an exhausted daze.
"Not by choice, and you know that." He allowed the bite in his tone this time, tired of having this same fight. "His Royal Highness is working us harder than ever. If I take time off before I'm dismissed, I could lose the job and then where would we be? They don't care that I need to leave to be here and they'll care even less if they send me away for being a poor worker."
Roland tightened his grip on both babies as they struggled to squirm out of his arms. In a panicked moment, James wriggled free and fell. Roland just barely caught him by his ankle and saved him from a terrible impact with the floor. Scared, James' crying began with renewed vigor. Amber now fought even harder to get down, to get to her brother. Roland collapsed to the floor with a hard thud and allowed Amber to waddle over to her brother to hold him. And they stood there, small arms wrapped around each other, wailing and inching closer and closer to their mother, who hadn't moved throughout this entire ordeal.
"GODS, CERES." Roland suddenly erupted. "JUST HOLD THEM, PLEASE!"
Ceres looked torn between crying harder than the babes and yelling back at Roland. Reluctantly, she opened her arms and the babies toddled to her quickly before the invitation could be revoked. They instantly quieted in her arms and silence finally returned to the house.
"You think I'm a terrible mother," Ceres said coldly.
Roland shook his head and sighed. "I think it's been a rough few days."
"I think I'm a terrible mother. I said it when I got pregnant. I said it nearly a year ago when they were born. They were born. Not he or she but they because the gods above have a cruel sense of humor. But I can't help the way I feel, Roland. Daunted and scared and hopeless and overwhelmed all the time." She paused for a long time, her stare penetrating into him. "So I need you to go. As terrible as I am with them, I can make it through another day. But I can't do it if you keep coming home and looking at me like you do." Tears trickled down from the corners of her eyes, but she kept her voice even for the sake of the pacified twins nuzzled against her chest.
"Cer, I…" Roland couldn't complete his thought. He didn't know what to say.
"I don't want you here, Roland. You can come back tonight or days from now but not until you can stop looking at me like I'm a disappointment to you."
"But that's not true, Cer. That's not fair."
"Go."
Roland got up to his feet. He stepped towards his family and leaned over. He gave each twin a kiss and paused beside his wife. She turned her head away from him in the smallest motion so Roland left, not kissing her goodbye and already feeling regretful for it as he crossed the threshold of his home, the home that he worked so hard to hold together.
Alone at dusk in town, Roland gave both lengths of the street a long look before deciding to walk back to the castle. He certainly didn't feel like talking, so visiting a friend was out of the question. And he didn't have money to waste on drink or gambling so the tavern wasn't an option either. He had never wandered the castle gardens at night and now seemed as good a time as any to look in and admire the beauty of his labors. Where else could he possibly go?
His foot had just crossed the entrance to the hedgerows when Roland released an agonized scream and woke up.
"DON"T GO!" he shouted out after a wordless cry, clutching a pillow to his chest. He was panting, sweating, and fighting back tears of panic. Roland started out across his bedroom hungrily, mentally clinging to the very real surroundings as he tried to cement himself back in reality. Moments later, Miranda's hand was absently stroking the nape of his neck.
"Shhhh…just a dream, Rolly," she said drowsily. "Just a bad dream...s'okay. I'm here." The words had barely left her lips before she had fallen back to sleep, her hand descending down Roland's back to rest peacefully at her side. Roland forced himself to lay back down but nothing could bring him to close his eyes. He couldn't risk the chance of being thrust back into his nightmares, his memories.
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A/N:
I am so appreciative of your reviews (and for sticking with me when I make promises I don't keep) and the non-verbal appreciation of views/follows/favorites.
Updated: 7/25/17