Stealing a Breath

Arianna probably should have expected that her words would hang awkwardly in the air for a few moments. It was not exactly the simplest thing to respond to... After all, the two had just died (probably) to the act of treason, and here she was suggesting it all over again.

Lucia's face certainly seemed to express her bewilderment at the idea her sister was suggesting. She looked a little like a cat that had just been dunked in water, out of her element and not entirely sure what was going on.

"That's what you lead with?" Lucia said with a small scoff in her voice. In a move that Arianna had never been able to forget, the healthier sister rubbed the bridge of her nose and sighed. Otherwise known as the main fashion that the two sisters had communicated for 26 years. "You do not want to know what I was doing all those years that you decided not to acknowledge us. You are not going to start with an apology or an explanation for your behaviour. No, as always, you start with what serves you best."

Arianna opened her mouth to speak, taking a sharp and audible breath at the verbal assault.

Lucia faced her palm out in a gesture for Arianna to hold her tongue while Lucia gathered herself. Taking a deep breath before letting it go, she deliberately untensed and let her eyes drift shut for a moment.

A beat of silence later, Lucia took another deep breath, lowered her hand, and spoke. "Very well. And who do you propose lead the empire, if not for the Crown Prince, whom you may recall is an only child, Arianna?"

Gold eyes flicked back up to meet her sister's, another beat of tension hanging in the air. "I was..." Arianna whispered, automatically shrinking in on herself, her smaller body not as well trained to maintain poise. "I was hoping we could plan together." Her voice was soft, not simply from her size, but from the weight of her unshed tears, thick in the back of her throat.

Another moment of silence hung in the air, neither sister satisfied with the other.

Lucia was frozen because she did not want to make her sister cry, and yet she felt her complaints were fair.

Arianna was gripping the skirt of her dress with clenched fingers. Again, she thought, again, her sister had decided Arianna's feelings and acted as though she were better than Arianna.

The quiet stretched in the air until a loud bang was heard from the hallway. Both girls snapped their heads to look towards the doorway, although the following sounds of people calling out for help cleaning and asking if someone was okay made them relax again.

Arianna turned back to her bowl of now cold stew, pushing it around with her spoon for a second before taking a fortifying breath and straightening her shoulders.

"I was- I am so angry. More than that though, I was tired." Looking up at her sister, Arianna sighed. "Can you imagine what it is like to be in constant, unending, pain? To wake up every day and wish that you had not?" Arianna was putting on a brave face but her fingers still worried at the edge of a ruffle, tracing and retracing patterns.

Lucia took in a sharp breath at her sister's admission.

"You want me to ask about your life. What do you actually know about mine?" Arianna said frankly, looking her sister in the eyes. "I am sure you know plenty of dramatic stories. Do you know where I originally was on this birthday? What about what my first ball was? Do you even know where I was living, Lu?"

Lucia looked stunned for a second as though she had been hit in the face. "I- Of course, I know where you were living." She snapped back, avoiding the other questions. "You lived in the Palace."

Arianna snorted at her sister, taking a moment to eat a few bites of unappetizing food. "Hundreds of people live in the palace, Lucia. If that counts as knowledge of my life then I know where you were living too. You still lived in the duchy." She retorted. "Your first proper ball was your debutante at 13 but you had snuck into the winter ball the Grand Duchess had thrown when we were 11. You spent this birthday getting dolled up and then playing all day with my mother chasing after you to keep you from ruining your dress, before going to a party that you enjoyed for half an hour before you fell asleep in your cake."

Lucia bit her lip, refusing to acknowledge the point Arianna was driving home. Arianna continued. "You, I am sure, know about me falling out of a boat and the Crown Prince gallantly saving me. You likely do not know that it was one of his courtiers who pushed me in. I am certain you heard of me taking ill shortly after our 18th birthday, but I doubt you were aware that my illness had less to do with my health and more to do with the poison I had been fed. You heard some of the stories they told at that disgrace of a trial, and those, I believe, you knew the truth of through the Saintess. Why do you think they would be more honest when portraying me to a greater public?"

Arianna finally pushed away the bowl of stew that she was failing to make any dent in. Her stomach was simply not big enough. 

Lucia found her voice at last seemingly. "That is- I mean- I..." Despite being able to speak, she struggled to make a defense.

Arianna held up a hand this time, in mimicry of her sister's own call for a moment to speak. "I am not saying you are at fault for anything, Lu. All I wish to say is that silence can only happen when neither of us speak. I cannot be given sole blame for what happened. Maybe one day I will have an explanation for you. Maybe one day you will not require me to explain. I only hope that you will not decide my feelings for me, instead of listening to what I want to say. I could deal with my issues about the Crown Prince privately. That is not why I'm suggesting this."

Lucia gave Arianna a doubtful look. "So you are suggesting treason for purely selfless reasons then." She said, voice filled with distrust.

Arianna groaned and hopped off the chair she was sitting in, padding over to where her sister was seated on the edge of her bed, taking a moment to climb up as dignified as she was able. She was not able to be very dignified. A small part of the awkward air between them dissolved as Lucia watched her sister, almost more dress than girl, wiggle up onto the bed, before letting out a huff of exertion. Lucia bit her lip to stifle a giggle.

Arianna stuck her tongue out at her sister, settling as neatly as she was able. "Purely selfless? No. I want the jerk to suffer and I do not think he deserves to have anyone listen to him ever and I would like him to have to beg on his hands and knees in front of me. Completely selfish motives? Also no. Seeing you, Theo, and Seren come to save me, I felt awful for how I had treated you all. I may refuse to bear all the fault but I know I was not a great person to any of you. One other group that I failed though- The citizens of the empire. I may be cold and I may not have been an Empathetic Empress, but I was at least clever enough to know that they need to be happy and healthy to be productive and for the empire to function. They have no say in their leader, but I still left them in the care of Prince Dirtbag."

Lucia went quiet once more, though for once her sister seemed to have run out of things to say. They remained there for a moment, the stillness in the air building as neither of them spoke.

One beat passed. Then two. Then three, four, five, to the point that Arianna was beginning to worry that they would be interrupted before her sister would respond.

Lucia sighed as she finally accepted her sister's argument. Shaking her head to herself, she let go of Arianna's hand and threw an arm around her shoulder before falling back on the bed, trusting her superior size to pull her sister down with her.

Staring up at the ceiling, Lucia smiled slowly as an idea formed in her head. "What about Theo?" Turning her head enough to see Arianna's face, she giggled at the quirked eyebrow and spoke up before her sister asked for clarification. "Do you not think he would suit a crown?"

A matching grin grew on Arianna's face, though perhaps with more inherent malice behind it. "I knew there had to be some proof that we share blood."

Lucia clicked her tongue at her sister and knocked her foot against Arianna's. "As though the matching green hair and gold eyes left it in question."

Arianna clicked her tongue in return, trying to suppress her smile as she quipped back. "Can you really call your hair green? Its pastel-"

Before Arianna could speak further, Lucia had squawked indignantly and rolled over to tickle her sister for the offense. No longer making any effort to keep quiet, the hallway outside was filled with smiling servants as they walked past, hearing the giggles of the two girls spilling out the door.