Filiae - Lady Dimitrescu x Reader (F)

Part 6

'Has anyone seen Cassandra?:' Bela entered the library, looking around for her sister.

'Shhh, I'm thinking!' Daniela was focusing hard on your chess game.

'No, not since lunch.' you said, now getting bored with Daniela's thinking.

'What's happening with that girl? She's been very shifty lately. Disappearing at all hours of the day. Doing weird stuff in her room...'

'What weird stuff?' you queried absent mindedly.

'I don't know what she's doing, but have you not heard her at night?'

'Ahh... so that's her! I've heard weird noises... but couldn't figure out what it was.' you thought back to the other night, about a week ago, when you heard metal scraping. That explained why all the moroaicas were accounted for in the catacombs. You'd ruled out a possible person intruder as you were all able to sense non-mouldy folk. That poor idiot would have met their demise sooner than they'd found the first valuable item to steal.

'I think she's tinkering around with her blades.' Daniela had finally made her move. 'I saw her coming from the attic the other day, said she was looking for one of the books we have stored up there. I think it's only weaponry stuff there.'

'Anyways, if you see her, mom's looking for her. And try to finish that game this century, Donna is coming for dinner.' Bela disappeared into the hallway.

You and Daniela gave each other a look.

'Do you think she's bringing that doll?' Daniela looked disturbed. 'It creeps me out.'

'Me too.' you agreed 'She takes Miss Angie everywhere, so yeah, she'll be here for sure.'

Donna was the only one of mother's Council colleagues, or "siblings", that she somewhat liked. You couldn't quite figure out if it was genuine affinity or she just felt sorry for Donna, as she was also an orphan. Either way, Donna seemed to be a nice person, and for that you didn't mind putting up with Angie.

Cassandra showed up, barely in time for dinner, looking somewhat dishevelled.

'Where have you been?' Daniela wiped what seemed like soot off her sister's nose.

'Just busy.'

The three of you looked at her.

'Just busy?' Bela quipped.

'There you are!' Lady Dimitrescu came into the foyer, just as Donna was approaching the castle doors. 'Cassandra, what has happened to you!?'

Cassandra didn't have time to respond as a maid had just opened the door for Donna. Angie came running in.

--

You tossed around in bed away from the moonlight, struggling to sleep again, this time most likely due to having eaten far too much. Alcina lay asleep right next to you and you couldn't help noticing how beautiful she looked under the moonlight, but didn't dare caress her cheek and disturb her sleep.

You slowly and quietly got out of bed to pop into your bedroom and fetch the book you had been reading. Your room wasn't very far away but it wasn't in the same hallway, so you were quite grateful that it was a relatively clear night, which meant the moonlight was enough to light the castle, without you having to carry a lamp or a candle. You managed to find your book pretty quickly, but as you were leaving your bedroom something caught your attention.

There was that noise again. Metal on stone.

You hadn't checked what time it was, but it had to be pretty late into the night, maybe nearly morning. You made your way to Cassandra's bedroom, curiosity taking over.

As you were turning into her hallway, you heard a door downstairs close and immediately saw a swarm of flies materialise into your sister, right in front of you, also getting to her bedroom. Cassandra stopped dead in her tracks.

'Cass? What are you doing? What was that noise?'

Cassandra opened her mouth but didn't speak, instead she just looked at you startled. Then, from the corner of your eye, you saw a shadow down in the courtyard, evading a moroaica.

Carrying a huge metal hammer.

'What. The. Fuck!?' was the only thing you managed to say.

Cassandra pushed you into her bedroom. You nearly fell into her bed as she quietly closed the door and turned to face you.

'What the actual fuck?!' your brain didn't manage to process the information properly but you could get a good grasp of what was going on.

'Please don't!' Cassandra put her hands up, between you and her. 'Please, please don't say a word of this...'

'What!? What's going on? Are you out of your mind!?'

'Mom cannot know about this!'

If Lady Dimitrescu found out, Karl Heisenberg would be minced and fed to the moroaicas, and your sister would probably be shipped off to a convent in Siberia. With severe mental scarring. But the worst part is that she would have been distraught.

'You can't... this can't happen!' You were struggling to find the words. You wondered for a few seconds if Donna Beneviento was playing a trick on you.

'It won't happen again!'

'You bet your ass it won't!' you nearly shouted. 'Mom would be so upset!'

'I know... I know!' Cassandra whispered worriedly 'I don't know what came over me... Please don't say anything. Please!'

This was too conflicting. On the one hand if you told Lady D about this she would be devastated, it would completely destroy any cordiality between you and Cassandra but you'd have done the right thing. On the other hand not telling mom would preserve the peace, despite meaning you'd have omitted a pretty significant detail from her and you didn't like keeping secrets from her, A because she always found out and B because this is not how you were with each other, and it would be a shame to open a precedent.

As you reentered Alcina's room, you stopped to hear her breathing. Deep and steady. Any other evening this would have been calming to you. You sat in bed and opened your book, glancing at her to make sure she wasn't disturbed.

You attempted to read but the words were not entering your brain.