Near the causeway [Sunday early evening]

[pasunereveuse]

Well, this weekend had gone about as disastrously as it was possible for it to have gone. Celia's father had criticized everything from the school itself to her figure to the company she kept, and she was exhausted. Because, of course, not only had she had to endure her father's endless tirade about everything he found unacceptable here, but Celia

Comments

[vanityofmineart]

" -- and that castle. How you get any sleep with the dankness there, I'll never know," Hector was saying, drawing his coat around himself unnecessarily. "No wonder you're looking so...sickly. We'll have to fix that, too."

[pasunereveuse]

"Yes, Papa," Celia said quietly, because it was just easier to agree -- never mind that she felt healthier here than she had in years, never mind that she actually ate enough here, and she had freckles across the bridge of her nose from actually getting some sunlight.

Sure. She looked sickly. Anything to get him to leave, and let her pick up the pieces that he'd left in his wake.

[vanityofmineart]

"I have a performance in Milan next week," he continued. "That should be enough time to get you some new dresses -- something to perform in. You'll only be eating breakfast, from here on. We'll have them made a few inches tight for motivation."

[pasunereveuse]

He was speaking quickly and making assumptions, and Celia was falling into the old patterns of agreeing without thinking.

"Yes, P -- wait." But wait. Wait. "Something to perform in?"