Eve bit at her thumb absently as she looked into her teacup. Her eyes were glazed over, not even really looking at the drink. And she most definitely wasn't looking at the two parties across the table from her who were watching her with intense scrutiny.
"Eve." Seteth cleared his throat.
"I'm thinking." She muttered, just barely turning her head in his direction though her eyes were still on her tea.
"You are the only person outside of myself and the Archbishop who knows the truth about Flayn's blood." Seteth was fighting to keep his voice level, still deeply shaken by Flayn's disappearance. "If there is any possibility you've told anyone I need to know."
"You know how good at secrets I am." Eve finally looked at Seteth. "And if you're trying to insinuate that I had anything to do with this, you're wrong."
"You've made no secret of your disdain for myself and the Archbishop." Seteth responded with a hard glare. "And I know you are angry at Lady Rhea for moving your wedding date."
"I'm angry at Rhea." Eve shook her head. "Flayn's got nothing to do with that."
Eve looked down at her tea once more. She was absolutely certain she hadn't spoken to anyone about Flayn. Even Glenn wouldn't have known because it had nothing to do with Eve. She would have had no reason to tell anyone.
"I wouldn't hurt Flayn." Eve said softly. "She's family."
Seteth drew back at that with a small gasp. Rhea had explained to him that Eve knew the nature of who he and Flayn truly were, but nothing as to why she knew that. And though he knew Eve had been to the monastery years ago, he had never had any contact with her. He didn't understand the conflict between Rhea and Eve, he was just aware of it.
"Rhea?" Seteth turned to the Archbishop for confirmation.
Rather than reply to Seteth's questioning look, Rhea instead regarded Eve with narrowed eyes. Eve met the Archbishop's gaze with her own confident one, her chin angled up in defiance. Was Rhea truly so foolish as to believe Eve would have anything to do with Flayn's disappearance?
"I didn't bring you here to interrogate you, child." Rhea said finally, taking a sip of her tea. "I know you would not hurt Flayn."
"But you're worried." Eve said, watching Rhea closely. "Whoever did this knows about Flayn. So how much else do they know?"
"Precisely." The Archbishop nodded. "We are all of us in trouble."
"Rhea," Eve said firmly, "you know I will never agree with you. But I will never forget the pain of losing my parents and my brother. I will do what it takes to cling to what family I do have left; I'll do everything I can to bring Flayn back safe and sound."
Having said her piece, Eve got up from the table and moved to leave the Archbishop's chambers. Neither Rhea nor Seteth tried to stop her as she left, both knowing that she had been genuine in her remarks.
"Rhea, how much does that child know?" Seteth asked tentatively once the door had shut behind Eve.
"Eve knows the nature of who we are." Rhea replied rather vaguely.
"She said Flayn was family." Seteth's brow furrowed in thought. "Is she…?"
"No." Rhea shook her head softly with a smile. "Eve was born outside of Fodlan. But her mother was… someone very dear to me."
"Rhea, please." Seteth pleaded. "Who is this girl to you? I have made it known to you that I think she is dangerous given her defiance towards you. If there is a reason you keep her close, I must know."
"You have no reason to be worried, Seteth." Rhea comforted. "She is but an Aegir Hound—all bark and no bite."
"You cannot possibly know that for sure, Rhea." Seteth cautioned.
He could tell the Archbishop was sure in her assessment, but he couldn't help but worry. First hiring the Professor without his counsel and now having Eve come to the monastery. She was acting on knowledge he was not privy to, and it concerned him.
"You do not know Eve as I do." Rhea replied. "She did everything she could to keep herself from me, but never once did she consider leaving Fodlan. Eve has only ever wanted to live quietly and yet she agreed to become the future Queen of Faerghus because it was the only option where she could stay in Fodlan without having to join the Church."
"That does not guarantee that she will not one day turn her blade toward the Church of Serios." Seteth still didn't understand Rhea's reasoning. "Lonato was one thing, but the power of her Crest when turned against us could be dangerous."
"Betraying us, betraying the Church, would put Fodlan's balance in peril." Rhea continued, just as calm as ever despite Seteth's growing anxiety. "I do not believe someone who has fought so hard to remain in Fodlan would want to see it come to ruin. And I do not believe that Eve would ever do anything to put her beloved House Fraldarius in harm's way."
"That is simply speculation, Rhea, please reconsider this." Seteth found himself pleading once more. Any danger that was invited into the walls of Garreg Mach was one more thing that could potentially harm Flayn.
"Seteth." Rhea said firmly. "Just as Eve sees us as family, I see her as family. I have searched for her for years. And now that I finally have her back, I will not cast her away. She is not a danger to you or Flayn, I promise you this."
Seteth was still unsure of Eve's loyalties, but he trusted the Archbishop. If Rhea was so sure that Eve would never betray them, then he would have to believe her. Besides, he couldn't deny the fact that Eve had seemed genuinely troubled by Flayn's disappearance. And she had seemed so determined to see her back to the monastery safely. Regardless of her motives, if Eve could aide in returning Flayn to him quickly he would be satisfied for now.
Sylvain was surprised when Eve came knocking on his door that afternoon. She was supposedly on her best behaviour lately which meant no being alone with any man other than Dimitri. And yet there she was in his doorway asking if she could come in.
"I've got a lot on my mind right now. I…" She sighed. "I don't really want to be alone with my thoughts."
Sylvain, of course, let her in. He wasn't going to leave a friend in need to the dogs. He also reminded her that she didn't need to explain herself to him when she told him that Dimitri knew she was there and would come get her for dinner so that no one would be the wiser about her being alone with him.
They settled into his bed, Sylvain laying on his back with his head propped up by his pillows and his arms and Eve sitting cross-legged with her back to him. He listened patiently as she relayed to him Felix's plea for her to give him until the wedding before she cut him off. And Sylvain didn't interject when she rattled off why this was a terrible idea. The way she spoke, he knew very well that she had already come to her own conclusion. That despite how selfish and dangerous and ultimately more painful it was, she was going to entertain Felix's request.
"Do you love him?" He asked when she had finally finished speaking.
"How could I possibly know that, Sylvain?" She looked over her shoulder at him. "I haven't known him in this capacity long enough to love him."
"Both Dimitri and Felix have known you the same amount of time you've known them and they both love you." Sylvain shrugged.
"It's infatuation." Eve shook her head. "They've never been in love before."
"What will you do if you fall in love with him, then?" Sylvain asked.
He was genuinely curious. As it stood, Eve clearly had feelings for Felix. So, if she entertained those feelings for the next four months, there was the possibility that she would actually fall in love with him.
"I don't know." She admitted, hanging her head. "I think like with a lot of things I've just convinced myself that I'll deal with it when I get to it."
"If that's your plan, then that's your plan." Sylvain said nonchalantly.
"Yeah, some plan."
Silence fell over them and Sylvain watched Eve's back carefully. It seemed there was a lot more on her mind, but he wasn't going to pry. She hadn't pried when he didn't talk about what happened at Conand Tower.
So as he laid there, Sylvain reached out to gently trace patterns on Eve's back. He hoped it came off as a comforting gesture. At the very least, Eve didn't tell him to stop. And as he drew swirls between her shoulder blades, he could have sworn he saw some of the tension release from her posture.
"I've been meaning to ask." Sylvain mused as he ran a finger down her spine.
"Hm?" She muttered in acknowledgement.
"You've got that scar on your back." Sylvain remembered when he had first seen Eve without her clothes, and he had been surprised by the number of scars that marred her body. But none had been so shocking as the one that raged all the way from her right shoulder to her left hip.
"What about it." She didn't seem guarded at all, so Sylvain figured it wasn't a delicate subject.
"If you can transfer injuries with your Crest, why do you have that scar?" As he spoke, Sylvain walked his fingers down the path where he remembered the scar to be. "Or any of them for that matter."
"It's a reminder." She said, lifting her head to look up at the ceiling.
"A reminder?" He echoed curiously.
"That even I can be beat." She answered. There wasn't particularly any emotion to her voice, but that hollowness was more jarring to Sylvain than any sadness would have been.
"What happened?" He asked gently as his fingers continued to trail along her back.
"We were invaded from the south." Eve started. "They killed my father right before my eyes—twice."
"Twice?" Sylvain asked before really thinking about it.
"The first time, I was foolish enough to reveal my power to the invaders." Eve's voice was still unaffected by any emotion which was surprising given how passionate she was about so many other things. "They simply killed him again. But seeing the power of my Crest, they took my brother and mother captive. They threatened to kill them if I didn't comply with their wishes, knowing that I could revive them only once."
"I'm sorry, kitten, I didn't mean to bring up something like that." Sylvain sat up, placing a hand on Eve's shoulder and turning her so she had to face him.
"It's okay." She said. And he realised that though her voice was eerily calm, her eyes were wet with tears that refused to fall. "It's nice to not have to keep it to myself."
"So what happened?" Sylvain asked, concern creasing his brow. "Only if you want to talk about it."
"I was a pawn to the invading forces for two months while they ravaged our country." Eve continued, eyes glazing over as if she were living it all over again. "I loved my family, Sylvain. I would have done anything for them."
"I'm sure you did." Sylvain murmured, tucking her head under his chin as he pulled her into his chest.
Meanwhile, a rather narcissistic portion of his mind found pride in the fact that Eve would share this with him. No one else expected or believed any emotional depth from him, and yet he was the one Eve came to for comfort.
"I did everything I could to keep my mother and brother alive." Eve confessed. "I thought I was doing right by them. But in the end, they begged for me to kill them."
"Oh, kitten." Sylvain sighed, unable to form any other words of meaning.
"They sacrificed their lives— agreed to die if it meant I could go on living." Eve leaned further into Sylvain's chest as if seeking refuge there. "So I slipped them a poison made from flowers native to our region. It was a painless death. I made sure they were gone before I tried to escape."
"I'm so sorry." Sylvain wrapped his arms around her tightly. "That couldn't have been easy."
"I didn't even get the chance to mourn." Eve laughed bitterly. "For their sacrifice to be worth it, I had to be focused on escaping."
"How did you get out, then?" Sylvain asked.
"I wasn't physically held anywhere because my captors knew that as long as they had my family I wouldn't do anything rash." Eve explained. "So, all I had to do was leave. But very quickly they noticed my absence and sent whole battalions after me. While I was escaping, I got hit with a particularly strong spell. That's what gave me that scar on my back."
"I see." Sylvain murmured, almost sorry that he had even brought this up in the first place.
"It was the price I paid to live." Eve continued. "And I kept the wound as a reminder. So that I would never forget what was sacrificed."
"Now I feel like an ass moaning about how my Crest ruined my life when all I had to deal with was my brother being mean to me." Sylvain tried to smile in an attempt to lighten to mood.
"Crests are supposed to be a blessing." Eve sighed as she removed herself from Sylvain's arms to stand up and stretch as if deciding she had simply had enough of being sad. "But are any of us better off because of them?"
"Beats me." Sylvain shrugged, watching as Eve rolled her neck as she stretched her arms above her head.
"By the way." Eve stopped her stretching to look at Sylvain with a curious frown. "Why do you always call me 'kitten'? I never hear you call any other girls by a pet name."
"Well, at first it was just a fun nickname. Plus, it was fun to tease Felix because he'd get mad whenever I called you that." Sylvain admitted with a grin. "But to be honest now it's because I don't know what to call you."
"What do you mean?" Eve cocked her head to the side.
"Well, your name isn't Eve." Sylvain lowered his voice even though they were alone. "At first I thought maybe you'd appreciate being called your real name in private, but then I got afraid that I'd slip up and call you the wrong thing in front of everyone else. But now 'Eve' just doesn't feel right."
"Hm." Eve hummed, tapping her index finger to her lips. "Well, I think I like it."
Before Sylvain could respond, there was a knock at his door.
"It's me." It was His Highness' voice that came through the crack and Eve was the first to move to open the door for him.
"Dimitri." Eve greeted him with a smile that even Sylvain thought was convincing.
"Are you okay?" Dimitri's brow furrowed immediately, though, much to Sylvain's surprise.
"What do you mean?" Eve blinked, somewhat taken aback. "Of course I'm okay."
"You seem as if you were about to cry." He replied softly, half reaching out towards her face but stopping himself before he could touch her.
It was honestly frightening how well His Highness could read Eve. She was guarded and incredibly talented in masking her intentions. And though he didn't press when Eve assured him she was fine, it was clear to Sylvain that he wasn't persuaded despite how convincing her performance was. Anyone else would have accepted her smile and nods of assurance, yet His Highness seemed to see right through it all. And Sylvain found himself wondering whether Felix could understand Eve in the way Dimitri did. Or whether being understood in that way was even something she wanted.
(a/n: who has two thumbs and doesn't know how to properly end a chapter? this gal)