As she grew nearer, she could see that Thomas was directly behind Daphne. He was far too close for the sake of propriety.
Theresa could tell the exact moment that they noticed her approach. The two jumped away from each other suspiciously, confirming that they had been doing something wrong. Theresa narrowed her eyes and urged her horse closer.
Daphne looked particularly guilty, holding her hands awkwardly behind her back.
"Theresa," Daphne said shakily, pasting a phony bright smile on her flushed face. "Whatever are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same question," Theresa said, glaring at Thomas. She wondered just what he had been up to with her defenseless and innocent little sister.
"Nothing," Daphne responded quickly.
"Nothing," Thomas agreed at nearly the same time.
Theresa continued scowling as she moved the horse closer to the pair.
Daphne slipped back behind Thomas as if she were trying to hide, her movements awkward and her hands still clasped behind her.
"What's behind your back?" Theresa demanded, looking down at them. It was rather nice to be above everyone for once. She could see part of something long sticking out behind Daphne from her vantage point.
"Nothing," Daphne repeated.
"That's a whole lot of nothing," Theresa commented. Her anger at the situation had faded. Now she just wanted to know what Daphne was hiding from her. She nudged Misty May to the side.
"Is that a... Bow?" Theresa asked, surprised.
"No?" Daphne replied uncertainly.
Thomas sounded resigned. "I think our secret is out, Lady Daphne."
"You're learning archery?" Theresa was shocked. She would never have expected Daphne to be interested in something so common and unfeminine and improper.
Although, to give credit where credit was due, it also seemed like it might be practical. Even men of their class rarely bothered to learn to shoot a bow. Theresa wondered where Daphne had even thought to have an interest in such a thing.
Suddenly, Daphne started babbling with dizzying speed.
"I know that archery isn't really a thing that ladies learn and I know that I should have been embroidering or something but embroidering is a dead bore and I'm not very good at it and what's the point of it anyways!?"
"Then Sir Thomas was showing me around the castle and there was this specially designed bow and I know that it's really unheard of, but I asked Sir Thomas to teach me. You know he's been knighted and he knows all sorts of things like that."
Daphne finally took a breath, but then continued before Theresa could say anything.
"Don't be angry at Sir Thomas, it's really not his fault because I rather bullied him into it and he only did it because he agreed he doesn't want me to be defenseless if Francine comes and I'm sorry I hid it from you, but I knew that you would disapprove and I really don't want you to be angry at me, but I—"
Theresa decided to cut Daphne off before she asphyxiated. "I don't disapprove of you learning archery and I'm not angry," she said loudly.
"You don't? You're not?" Daphne repeated.
"It seems a good idea." Theresa admitted.
"Really?" Daphne asked doubtfully as if she believed Theresa was merely lulling her into a false sense of security.
"Yes, really," Theresa said, still feeling rather bemused. This was not how she though the confrontation would go in the slightest.
"I thought that you would disapprove because you were always such a frightfully perfect lady and—"
Theresa laughed at that. "You think I'm a perfect lady?"
"Well, perhaps more so before we escaped and you were transformed into a cat," Daphne allowed.
Theresa laughed again. "I don't know how much of that was me and how much was Francine."
Daphne nodded, "I don't either."
Theresa shrugged. "Well, I'm going to continue riding. Thomas, does this trail loop back to the castle?"
"It does," he told her cautiously.
"Thank you. I'll leave you to your practice," Theresa said, still feeling that the situation was too surreal.
She had not known what to expect, but this was the last thing she would have guessed of Daphne.
Perhaps they both had things to learn about each other now that they were free from the shadows of Francine's control and their true personalities were coming to light.
"Frightfully perfect lady indeed," Theresa repeated incredulously as she rode away, and then laughed.
* * * * *
Thomas and Daphne did not return until after supper had been served. Rather than sit in the small dining room alone, Theresa ate in the kitchen again.
When she was finished, she played another game of chess in the kitchen with Matt. She was pleased to note had remembered the rules well and seemed less reluctant to participate, although still far from happy.
Once they were finished, she carried the chess set into the small dining room where Daphne and Thomas were finally eating their late supper.
"Theresa!" Daphne said cheerfully when she walked in the door.
"How was archery?" she asked.
"It was great fun," Daphne said enthusiastically. She was clearly still pleased that Theresa was not disapproving of her activity.
Theresa did not understand why her sister was so surprised. Why would she disapprove of anything that might help them with the Francine problem, or even just defense in general?
"Lady Daphne is becoming quite proficient," Thomas added with a smile that was a shade too familiar.
Theresa smiled anyway. "I am pleased to hear that. After you are finished would you like to play a game of chess? Daphne? Thomas?" She tried to hide the gloating smile that was already beginning to surface.
"Sir Thomas," Daphne corrected with a mildly reproachful glance at Theresa.
"Sir Thomas," Theresa repeated obediently. It would be worth calling him that to get a chance to thump him good.
And in actuality Daphne was correct. Calling him Thomas without his title was disrespectful. She could call him what she liked in her mind but she would need to take care about what came out through her mouth.
One small advantage of being a cat was she had not needed to watch her mouth since verbal inability watched it for her.
"I would be pleased to," Thomas said, although he looked anything but.
Theresa smiled the wide grin of the cat who ate the canary. "I'll meet you in the games room, then."
"We will be there in but a few minutes," said Thomas carefully. His usual smug smile had been replaced by the expression of a man being led to the gallows.
Daphne nodded, with an odd glance at Theresa. She was obviously concerned with Theresa's good humor.
"I love my hands and I love chess," Theresa said by way of explanation and she left the room without a backwards glance.
Theresa waited in the games room as she said she would. When the door opened, she looked up to see her sister and Thomas enter.
Thomas nodded at her. "Before we begin, I must tell you that Lord Wildwood has made arrangements for our departure three days from now."
"You're coming?" Theresa asked in disgust, before remembering to take care with her tone.
No matter how much one did not like someone, one should never allow them to become of aware of the fact. The corner of Daphne's mouth tugged down in disapproval but she did not comment.
Theresa thought she looked just a bit like Francine when she did that but felt it would be better not to comment on that either.
Learning to school her own mouth was surprisingly difficult now that she was
"Yes, I am, my lady. As Lord Wildwood's apprentice and assistant, I often travel with him as he needs me to."
Daphne spoke up, "Sir Thomas is capable with both weapons and magic. We will be safer with him along."
"I see," Theresa agreed carefully, not wanting to aggravate Daphne further.
There was something disconcerting about her formerly placid sister acting so annoyed with her. "Then I should be glad to have you along, Sir Thomas," she lied, hoping to sooth Daphne's ruffled feathers.
It apparently worked, because Daphne spoke again. "Who shall play whom in this first match?"
Theresa hoped that Daphne's infatuation with Thomas ended soon. It was going to be tedious to deal with if things became more serious.
"How about you two play first?" Thomas suggested.
"That sounds good," Daphne agreed cheerfully.
Theresa nodded, although she would have preferred to crush Thomas immediately.
They set up the board. Daphne took black and Theresa took white. Theresa took Daphne's queen, Daphne put her in check. Theresa was forced to sacrifice her queen to save the king. She was surprised, Daphne rarely managed to take her queen. The game moved swiftly towards its conclusion.
Theresa barely beat Daphne. She was quite surprised. "You've improved," she said.
Daphne smiled. "It's like my mind gets a bit clearer every day," Daphne explained.
Theresa knew what she meant. Years under even a light compulsion spell kept them from being who they really were.
Theresa could not be sure when the magic had begun, but she was certain that Francine had slowly built up power to keep them in line as they had grown older. Each increase was so small as to barely be noticeable but was a great deal of magic in total. And she had not even known until the very end.
It was like an endless night shrouded in thick mist finally beginning to clear as the sun broke the horizon.
It made sense that Daphne improved more than Theresa, because she had been affected more drastically by the spell. Spending time in a feline body and mind had surely affected Theresa too.
"Shall we play, Lady Theresa?" asked Thomas.
"Yes," she agreed, realizing that she had been lost in thought for long moments.
The game with Thomas progressed quickly. Theresa ruthlessly took piece after piece. He seemed resigned to his fate, but it hardly dimmed her enthusiasm. Theresa recalled the annoying grin on his face when he had discovered that she had fleas as she checkmated his king.
"You win," he announced grimly.
Theresa knew it was not polite to gloat, but she did anyway, just a bit.
One of the advantages to being a cat had been that she did not need to worry about such things. Her cat half could not have cared less and their faces did not show expressions the way human faces did even if they did care.
The only thing that kept her from loudly reveling in her victory was remembering the helpful things that Thomas actually had done, such as teaching Daphne archery and healing Theresa's own ear.
She still did not like him, though. He seemed insincere in his attention to Daphne. If the knave hurt her sister, Theresa would see him pay.
"I think that I'm ready to retire now," Daphne said suddenly.
"Me too," Theresa agreed, although she was not really tired. She had already done what she wanted to do and she certainly did not want to be left to deal with Thomas alone.
"You worked hard today," Thomas said with an irritatingly warm smile at Daphne. "Perhaps we might play our match at a later date?"
"That sounds good. Goodnight, Sir Thomas," she said.
"Goodnight, Lady Daphne; Lady Theresa."
"Goodnight," Theresa repeated because it was expected.
Theresa and Daphne walked together towards their rooms.