Sisters Three (Completed)

19. Brenna (2/4)

Aunt Nora called her dog to her and carried it to sit on one of Brenna's chairs. This seemed to signal the end to the heated section of their visit, and now they regained that icy and aloof mannerism that Brenna was so used to.

"Well, what is the story with the brother, then? Out with it," Aunt Nora said as she tugged a yellow ribbon out of the tiny dog's mouth.

Staring at her ruined hair ribbon, Brenna related the tale of Robbin's proposal and the promises he'd made in exchange for her help in raising the Glenfarrows an army. The aunts begrudgingly looked mildly impressed.

"He certainly has a cunning mind, that boy," Aunt Perta said.

"Mm, he's not a fool," Aunt Nora added. "He recognized an opportunity to help his country when his father was too pigheaded to even notice. Perhaps the boy isn't as useless as I thought. He shows potential."

Brenna swelled with pride. "See? I didn't make such a horrible match, did I?"

"He has no lands or name or title," Aunt Nora said.

"But his potential is unexpectedly good," Aunt Perta added. "He wouldn't normally be thought a good enough match for any lady of standing, especially the great niece of the former king of Ittal, but in this case I'd say he's nearly as good as his brother would have been."

"We'll still be able to live in the castle, at any rate," Aunt Nora said.

"Well, now that you've finally realized that my future husband isn't an imbecile, I'd appreciate it if you'd let me get back to my packing." She placed a hand on her hip and gestured toward the door.

"Saucy today, aren't we?" Aunt Nora sniffed, but rose from her seat and carried the horrible little beast with her.

"Oh, Brenna, I nearly forgot," Aunt Perta said, pausing on the threshold. "We want to impress the Anjeluunds and show them that Ittalan women are just as splendid as theirs, but we'd also not like to fall in bankruptcy. Rein in the spending, dear. We wouldn't want Robert to find out his future daughter-in-law is a pauper, even if she is marrying his more expendable son."

With these kind and tactful words, the aunts exited and took the grating yapping of their dogs with them. Brenna let loose a torrent of curses as soon as they were out of sight, releasing the frustration they always rose in her. They insisted on treating her like a simpering fool, when she was the one bringing them out of the obscurity they sank themselves into with their spinsterhood. What right had they to lord over her because Robbin wasn't born in wedlock, when they'd never even gotten a man to look twice at them? Brenna was fairly certain she was the one in the position to judge, not them.

She imagined the day she would live in the castle after the Glenfarrows defeated Revours and claimed their birthright. Afton's wife would be lady of the household, unfortunately, but Brenna would at least have more power than her aunts, and she comforted herself with daydreaming of all the ways she could make their lives uncomfortable. It brought a smile to her face as she planned out her vengeance, making sure that they'd know just how mistaken they'd been in thinking that she'd married lowly.

She'd begun folding her dresses carefully into scented tissue, not trusting the maid to do it properly, while she thought. She was so absorbed in her dreams that she hadn't realized anyone entered her room until she felt the other end of the bed dip as someone sat on it. With a start Brenna jumped to her feet, a yelp on her lips.

"Sorry, I thought you'd seen me!" Morna said, eyes wide and her hands raised.

"Lord, Morna, I thought you were an assassin or some such," Brenna said, sagging with relief.

"Assassins?" Morna asked, raising her eyebrows. "What have you done to deserve assassins?"

Brenna shrugged as she resumed folding. "I don't know. It just seems to me that no one in this world is happy about my engagement to Robbin."

Unspoken was the implication that Robbin, and Brenna herself, were included in the unhappy numbers. A marriage of compromise wasn't what anyone dreamed of. However, also unspoken was a comforting word from Morna about how that surely couldn't be true. Brenna's sister's silence irritated her for some reason, and she tore a leaf of tissue down the middle by accident.

"Aunt Nora is excited to visit Anjeluuund when you have your wedding," Morna said, steering to calmer waters.

"I'm sure both she and Aunt Perta are livid that I'm only brining you as my accompaniment until the wedding day. They'll have to wait a while yet before they bask in the attention that my Anjeluund marriage will bring them. Not that they'll ever admit that such an attention will exist."

"They'd set their hearts on being the aunts of a queen, and even if it wasn't your fault they're mourning that," Morna said.

Brenna frowned. "Of course my feelings have no place in it. It's not as if my dreams were shattered. It's not as if one of the most powerful men in the world called me nothing and said that I wasn't fit to even think of his heir."

"At least your heart wasn't broken," Morna murmured, almost so quietly that Brenna didn't hear.

"No, it wasn't by him, but I'll miss that crown just as much," Brenna remarked. She laid out one of her dresses, running a hand along its pink silk, and then looking up and shaking her shoulders. She didn't want to wallow in things that wouldn't come to pass. She was engaged and she should be happy. Forcing the melancholy thoughts from her head, she replaced them with a smile. "What do you think Anjeluund will be like?"

"Oh, I heard it's beautiful," Morna said. A faint flush of red colored her cheeks. "I think it's going to be a lovely place to live."

"I'll be glad to shake Ittal off my heels. It's pretty in its own way, but Anjeluund is so... vast. There's so much to it that Ittal could never meet. They've universities and museums and libraries. Everyone envies Anjeluund."

"And if the Glenfarrows win the war than you'll be married to the family that runs it."

"That I will," Brenna said, her eyebrow rising jauntily. She hauled up her skirts to her knees and jumped onto her bed, crushing the dresses she'd just finished folding. Suddenly they seemed unimportant and all she could think of was her new future, bright and hopeful. Leaning over, she grabbed Morna's hand and pulled her sister to her side, the two girls laughing as they bounced on the feather mattress and tried to touch the bottom of the canopy.

By the time they dropped, breathless and sweaty, to a laughing pile on the bed, the sun had slipped to its final decent for the day. The room filled with shades of orange, and the feeling of calm rushed over them. Brenna stared at the roof, her laughter slowly dying, and her hand still wrapped around Morna's.