Claire just stood there, staring after him long after he had left.

Everything he said blurred in her head and she felt dizzy.

Slowly she sank into the chair, clenching and unclenching her fists.

He had gone too far.

The serving maid set the tray on the center table, proceeding to remove the saucers from the tray and took it with her.

But Claire noticed the woman’s inquisitive look before she left.

That’s when she realized she was crying. She wiped her eyes angrily. And the woman was probably wondering where the King had vanished to.

He was so adamant!

The day he would find out the truth... she would make him go on his knees and beg her for her forgiveness, she thought with a wry smile.

Claire gingerly reached for one of the cakes and took a bite.

They were very good, and just the right amount of sweet.

Aurora came into the room, her face dripping with sweat.

"Why did the King leave so soon? I thought he was staying for tea?"

Claire looked at her blankly before turning away without uttering a single word.

"Cakes!" Her sister squealed heartily and plucked one from the table.

Claire managed a small smile at her. "Where’s Arlan?"

Her sister froze mid action. "He said it’s better if he doesn’t follow me... he thinks it’s better to avoid you." Rory whispered, glancing at the doorway as she did.

Claire sat straighter. "Avoid me?" She found herself whispering as well.

Rory nodded, plopping the whole chunk into her mouth and struggling to chew.

"He felt so sad when you fainted and became ill in court just because of what his father did and he doesn’t want to be a burden to you even though he’s staying with us."

She blinked. "He told you all this?"

Her sister grinned impishly. "I forced it out of him. I told him I won’t ever talk to him again if he didn’t tell me."

Claire watched her, she seemed so proud of her influence over him.

But before they moved into uncle Jarren’s house, she and Arlan were practically strangers.

The way children got along so quickly startled her. But Aurora had always been a picky child, especially with the friends she kept. What then had made her take to Arlan so quickly?

Even she herself liked him after getting to know him, but it was all on the surface.

"I should speak with him."

Rory paled Instantly.

"Don’t, please. He’ll know that I told you."

"I won’t mention any of what you told me, I’ll just speak with him concerning... some things."

Seeing her sister biting away at nearly everything in the tray gave her an appetite, though little.

She pecked away at a single chunk of cake for over an hour before deciding it was time to go to bed.

Rory was full and was slouched against the chair, her breaths slow and heavy.

"Where would we sleep, Claire?"

She hadn’t even thought about their sleeping arrangements, she realized.

What was to be done about it?

"Where does Arlan sleep?" She asked.

Rory shrugged. "I don’t know. I never did ask."

She held out her hand to her sister and she took it eagerly.

The two of them strode down the hallway and up the stairs that led to the rows of bedrooms.

Her room had been the last one on the hallway and Uncle Jarren’s room and been directly across hers.

But she had no intention of staying in the same room.

One by one, they opened the other doors. Most of the rooms there were dusty from disuse and were inhabitable.

However, curiosity made her open the door to uncle Jarren’s room. Claire was surprised to find it unlocked.

Rory followed closely behind her, clinging to her skirt as if uncle Jarren would come out of the shadows and lunge for her.

The sight before her stole the breath out of her lungs and the candle she was holding nearly fell out of her hand.

She didn’t even wince when the wax dripped heavily onto her skin.

On the bed was the dress he had given her for the King’s ball laid out underneath the covers.

He used to sleep beside her dress?

Why?

Aurora reached forward to pull the covers away to get a better view but Claire placed a hand on her arm to stop her.

"Don’t. We should go." She turned and fled the room with her sister at her heels.

Her heart was thumping furiously as they burst into the hallway and slammed the door behind them.

The door across her caught her attention.

It had been her old room. What sort of shrine did uncle Jarren turn it into?

She reached for the knob without thinking and opened it.

When she glanced inside, she discovered that the room was well kept. Even a candle had been lit by her bedside as she always did and her vanity table was exactly the way she had left it.

It was as if it had been frozen in time - or someone made the effort to keep it exactly the way she had left it.

But why?

He was an insane man, she concluded. And even when he was dead, he still found ways to terrorize her.

"Would you sleep in here?"

"Of course not!" Her voice was high-pitched with fear as she responded.

"Isn’t there a guess room that has been cleaned?" Rory asked.

Claire gathered her close.

"All the guest rooms are not in service and... I don’t want to sleep in this section of the house. Maybe we can sleep downstairs."

Her sister’s eyes bulged.

"Downstairs?"

She didn’t bother answering. Claire started down the hallway, dragging her sister as if they would be caught by Jarren’s ghost if they lingered.

Funnily enough, she had never been afraid of ghosts and such. Not even when she was a child.

As they reached the drawing room, she snatched up the wrapped parcel Yeren had given her from the table she kept it and dragged her sister to the kitchens where the servants were having their own dinner.

"Sorry to disturb." She said, plastering a fake smile on her face.

Everyone at the table rose immediately, casting their gazes to the ground.

"Can a few beddings be moved to the one of the rooms downstairs? I... my sister and I are finding it difficult to settle into the rooms upstairs, you see."

Most of them stared at her like she had grown two heads.

"We can tidy the guest rooms for you, Milady, if you’d like." One of the maids said, as if sensing her real reason.

"Don’t bother, it’s already too late. You can do it tomorrow if you want."

The two chambermaids exchanged glances.

"It was never too late for the late Master. If he needed something done, he didn’t mind sending us to beat the carpeting at midnight. We can clear out the rooms for you." Said the other one.

"Be quiet, Maria!" The one who had spoken first said.

Maria coloured and looked down at the ground.

They still seemed very afraid of him.

But who wasn’t?

Even she was as afraid as them.

"I insist that you don’t do it this night. Just arrange a few blankets and beddings on the floor of the drawing room for myself and my sister and we would be fine." Then to assure them, she added, "We are not unused to uncomfortable circumstances, you see."

The maids moved out without arguing further.

And in no time, they had a makeshift bed on the floor of the drawing room to sleep on.

Both their guards came in to access the room and stood outside the door afterwards.

Claire left the room briefly to take a bath and clean herself up before joining her sister in the bed.

When she returned, Rory was fast asleep, buried underneath the covers.

She climbed in beside her sister and reached for the wrapped parcel she had been instructed not to open.

But when she did open it...

It was the necklace.

The same one she had given to the carriage rider for payment.

He got it back for her?