Lady Eilean

Chapter 3

Father, after a brief glance up from his work, ignored us.

In turn, I ignored Alex, who was wincing in pain and making a grand show out of probing his injuries. Crossing my arms, freshly annoyed by him, I stared out the window behind Father's head.

"Eilean," Alex whispered, "Stop overreacting."

"Asshole," I muttered under my breath. "Stop telling me what to do, dammit."

"Is that the language of a young lady, Eilean?" My father asked, his voice deep and rumbling. It was terrifying. He did not need to look up from his ledgers to make me tremble. When I did not answer, he lifted his head at last. His mouth fell open as he took in the state of us.

"I don't feel particularly ladylike, sir," I quipped.

Father was too stunned to offer further correction to my impertinence. I still held the braid in my hand, the hairs untwining — a pink ribbon still secured the bundle. The front of Alex's shirt was stained a deep red and his left eye had swollen shut. Most of his face was now a sickly purple color.

Father pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head, doing his best to cover up a chuckle. "And I thought your brothers were bad," he said. "Do I even want to know what happened?"

"No," Alex blurted.

"Send him away," I demanded. "As a Lord in his own right, Alex has no genuine need to live with us anymore. He was fostered to our family for his growth and development. He's thirteen, now. Surely his education is complete. Or at least, by the look of him, he is a failure." I don't think I had ever said so many words in the presence of my father.

Father looked back and forth between us, his expression grave. The grim set to his mouth suggested that he would rather not play the part of peacemaker in the squabbles of children.

"Maybe it is time you returned to your own estate, Alex," Father said gently. "You seem to gain nothing from running wild through the castle with my daughter. No one can get any work done because of the messes you two cause." He leveled his gaze at me, proclaiming my guilt to be well known and disliked. "I don't think this situation is as beneficial as we imagined it might be when you first came here."

Though his judgment matched my own, Father's words hit me deep in my soul. I looked over at Alex, an apology nearly bursting from my lips. He hung his head in humiliation. Alex was alone — I knew that. I had always known that. No parents, no siblings, no friends waited for him at his castle on the coast. Only a mean-spirited grandmother with a pinched face and a quick temper. He would be an ocean away, in another world. He wouldn't be my friend anymore.

"Father," I started, ready to apologize and patch things up.

"Get out of my sight while I think about the best course of action." Father snapped, turning back to his work without another glance at Alex or me.

"But —"

"Now!"

Thus dismissed, we shuffled out of his office and I closed the heavy oak doors behind us. Without warning, Alex shoved me against them.

"Why would you say that? Why would you tell him to send me away?" Alex yelled, crying openly. Pain and betrayal shredding his pride.

My earlier thoughts of reconciliation vanished as I rubbed the spot where my shoulder slammed into the heavy iron knocker. "Because I hate you!" I pushed him back. "You cut off all my hair!"

"You punched me in the face!"

I pawed at the ragged ends of my hair and a sob overtook me. I started to cry, big, babyish tears rained down my cheeks.