y Pot

o the silence like st

ent absolu

Not a flicker. Not a twitch. Her fac

t and blank and utte

d I don't know any shops by that name, Sister. Though if you're intere

ld up a hand

e deserves an award. A

The floorboards cre

here's no way she wouldn't r

nless I was completely wrong about ever

omething mo

ke a hawk. "You know-X Reader stories? Those self-insert nar

's eye

ely perceptibl

g in porcelain. "I don't understand what you're saying,

tch. Time to go

: Which Man Does Mar

le

deafenin

t tick of a clock somewhere. A dog barkin

ing in. All two thousand five hundred plus chapters of melodrama and questiona

f heaven, cut i

and frustrated. Her sweet voice cr

ried about who you're gonna marry! Y

ped mid-

er mouth, eyes goi

tc

so sorry, Sister, I didn't mean-I don't know what

dn't h

out la

ief and vindication and the sheer absurdity of everything. Here we were, two time travelers pretending to be charac

now. This is a

grovel, her expression shifting from panic

t Beatrice

ld now. Calculating. All traces of s

g this now. Cards

nd started examining her bookshelf, trailing my fingers along the spines of her

d lightly, "for someone w

am Ma

the Queen of England. Show's over, pretender. I'm in the

en confusion and anger. "Pretender? W

ng to salvage the

g to remove my shoes because apparently I was feeling petty. The coverlet

ce is done. Yo

shoes of

d. No sweetness. No trembling.

h

d-rabbit routine she'd been performing earlier. This was someone genui

A real

ossing my legs and pressing my shoes fur

p. The kind you'd make if someone had just i

es on t

trong for someone so delicate-looking-then immediately started fussing over

nse of basic hygiene-tracking

d her, f

there were i

t came here-that wasn't terror. That was strate

t wasn't surprise. That was satisfaction.

ith perfect timing-that wasn't nat

aying us all

you tran

ion came

hing the coverlet

b now. We were

room." Her voice was careful again, measured. Back to

ollowed the motion instinctively. "I'm not Beatrice. Well, I am Beatrice, but I was Beatrice Whitmore bef

like I'd grown a second head.

erately trying to get on my nerv

internally. Patience. You need infor

ou like you're five years old

y, her expressio

we're currently living in? The one with the four male

act. "I have not. I am illiter

h

weather or observing that the sky was blue. No

read. Chapter eight hundred something. After a lengthy subplot about t

t from outs

face. "Then how did you know ab

umiliate Beatrice by calling off their en

jaw tightening almost imperceptib

about James's plan. I know he didn't tell you anything about it-he woul

ched between us l

hink. Let her decid

ers dropping in a way that

ved this l