Chapter 70 Misdirected Affections
She might as well be fluttering her lashes at a brick wall.
Finished
“Although my sister forgot to prepare any padding, the fault is mine for being careless,” Daisy said softly. “1 beg you, Mr. Campbell. Do not hold this against her.”
Charlie paused, saying nothing. She rather liked Sadie and had never considered blaming her.
“I have never, in all my life, heard of needing padding just to kick a shuttlecock,” Lillian snapped.
“What next, full armor and a helmet? Sadic warned you that your health was too fragile, yet you insisted. Now, a tiny scrape makes you whine. You share the same mother, but why are you worlds apart? Pathetic!
The pampered young lady displayed her temper with the easy candor of someone born with a silver spoon, never bothering to hide her likes or dislikes.
“It is all my fault.” Daisy sobbed, tears spilling unchecked. “Even in the womb, I could not compete with my sister and was born frail and sickly. But I never wished for this. I long for a healthy body too, to kick the shuttlecock as happily as Sadie.” She pressed a lace handkerchief to her lips and doubled over in a violent cough, shoulders shaking as though her lungs might shatter.
From behind Sadie, Lillian wrinkled her nose. “Goodness. With a cough like that you must have tuberculosis. I heard it spreads!”
Daisy went figid; only by digging her nails into her palm did she keep herself from glaring at Lillian.
“I am sorry to have worried you, Mr. Campbell,” she whispered, leaning against Charlie’s chest.
Charlie saw straight through the performance. She had inherited her father’s title by posing as his son, and at barely twenty, her refined beauty made young women quarrel for her favor. Yet, she could give none of them the future they imagined, and the knowledge weighed on her.
With a weary sigh, Charlie lifted Daisy into her arms. “Very well. I shall escort Miss Daisy down the mountain first.”
Sadie extended an arm to block their
way.
“Wait.”
Zephyr stepped from the room, dark eyes lingering on the scene. He guessed the young lady had grown jealous at the sight of her sister cradled in Charlie’s arms.
“Father and our brothers have told everyone since we were children that I stole your strength in the womb and left you weak,” Sadie said, her voice level.
“Yet, a nurse once let slip the truth. You fell ill only after our brothers took you out in midwinter to admire flowers and you caught a chill. I have never harmed you, so please stop repeating that lie.”
“Sadie, I have never blamed you,” Daisy wept. “Why try to shove the fault away?”
Sadie stared at her, unwavering.
Through the veil of tears, Daisy’s eyes flickered with something like surprise, as though she cou… not believe Sadie had uncovered the truth.
I cannot believe Daisy has always known that Adonis and the others planted the seed of my illness–and still, she wore that aggrieved face, making me fetch and carry for her, joining my brothers to torment me. After all that, she even
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Chapter 70 Misdirected Affections
enjoyed without shame everything they stole from me.
A wave of fury broke across the still surface of Sadie’s heart, and before she knew it, her hand slapped acrosS Daisy’s check.
Daisy clutched her face, eyes rounding in shock. “You hit me?”
Sadie’s voice was frosty. “Yes, I hit you.”
Tears streaming, Daisy looked to Charlie for rescue.
Charlie studied the tip of his own boot, determined to stay clear of the sisters‘ quarrel.
Refusing to swallow the insult, Daisy released a sharp scream and threw herself at Sadie, and at once, the two of them tumbled into a messy brawl.
Lillian, delighted as though it were a holiday, plunged into the fray waving her arms. “Stop! Both of you, stop!”
She sounded like a peacemaker, yet managed to step on Daisy several times.
Charlie’s brows knitted; he tried to pull Lillian away, but the three had knotted together like puppies fighting over a bone. Their maids hurried in to separate them and were promptly dragged into the scuffle.
Charlie shouted a few useless orders, then looked helplessly at Zephyr. “Commander Gates…”
With one hand clasped behind his back, Zephyr reached into the throng and gave a single decisive tug.
He fished Sadie out with unerring precision.
Her hairpins were gone; stray locks clung to the scratches that streaked her neck, and her eyes were rimmed scarlet while her chest heaved.
Disheveled though she was, she still bristled with spirit, a little wildcat flashing its claws.
The fighting girls broke apart, every one of them sporting fresh bruises.
Daisy had fared worst. Between Sadie and Lillian’s double assault, her gown was torn and, worse, her wig had been ripped off, exposing the ridiculous two–tone stubble beneath. Laughter rippled through the onlookers.
Cradling her head, Daisy fled in tears.
Charlie pinched Lillian’s ear, then gave Zephyr and Sadie a brief nod. “It is late. My sister and I should be going. We will remain in Dwarven City for some days. Allow me to buy you both a drink before we leave.”
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