Silence No More

37. Bend, Break Or Stake It All

Ah. So, no need to bring Patsy into this after all.

"You!" She stabbed the parasol at my poor husband. "I heard through the door what you were about to say! Don't you dare! Don't you bloody dare!"

If there was one thing that Mr Rikkard Ambrose did not take well, it was being ordered around. If there was a thing he took even less well, it was being ordered around by a woman who only reached his chin. He stepped forward, his eyes narrowing infinitesimally.

"Why wouldn't I dare? This—"

"—is not your decision to make! You will not let yourself be coerced into anything, or I will drag you by the ear to the nearest horse trough and dunk your head in it like when we were children, understood? If I have to force you not to be forced, I will! Do as I say, or else!"

"Um..." Clearing my throat, I couldn't quite keep my lips from twitching. Just a little bit. "Adaira, do you know the meaning of the word 'paradox'?"

"Listen here," Mr Ambrose spoke up, ignoring me completely, "you can't just—"

"Watch me!" Adaira cut him off, one-upping him by ignoring the both of us. Stalking towards her brother, she planted a threatening forefinger in the centre of his chest.

"You are not going to sell off your life's work to satisfy that greedy bastard's idiotic ideas of nobility and inheritance!"

"That 'greedy bastard'," came a steely voice from behind the desk, "is your father."

"More's the pity," she shot back without bothering to turn her head. "Did you hear me, Dick? Do not do this! Especially not because of me. If you do this, I will call you Dick for the rest of your life. Even in front of mother. Especially in front of mother."

A muscle in his cheek twitched. "That's below the belt."

Cocking an eyebrow, Adaira lifted her knee ever so slightly, her gaze resting meaningfully on her brother's crotch. "If you want, I can show you something that's really below the belt."

I couldn't help but grin, filled with pride in my student. Good girl! She had learned that move from me.

He took a step towards her. "Mind your manners! Have you forgotten who is the older brother here, Adaira?"

She took a step towards him, until they were almost nose-to-nose. "Oh, I don't think I'll forget who is the brother here anytime soon, Dick. Not so sure about older, though. I seem to remember how a certain someone came running to me when we were children to cry about getting his hand stuck in the cookie jar. That doesn't seem particularly mature to me."

"Says the girl who used to beg me to give her shoulder rides."

"Which you were quite happy to give, if I remember correctly, Mr Pony."

"You...!" He jabbed a finger at her, nearly skewering her nose. "You cannot talk to me like that, do you hear? Stop it immediately, or—"

"Or what? You'll neigh?"

"You...you—!" Mr Ambrose broke off, too enraged to get another word out, instead preferring to convey his displeasure with his sister by boring holes into her with his icy gaze. As for Adaira, she glared straight back at him no less coldly, not planning to be outdone by her brother in this time-honoured family tradition. For a moment, they just stood like that, locked in a staring contest filled with arctic silence—until they moved. Both flew forward at the same time and, an instant later, Adaira was held in a tight embrace, trying her best (and failing) to reciprocate by getting her arms around the marble monument that was Rikkard Ambrose.