Broaching The Subject

The dinner table was completely silent after Renard's broach of the topic the next day at dinner.

Dessi stared at Renard with a fixed gaze that would make anyone else extremely uncomfortable, but Renard remained relaxed with a rather easy expression. The look Dessi was giving him was concentrated, but it wasn't actively hostile; in fact, Renard wasn't really sure he could say what the emotion was going through Dessi's mind. Her entire demeanor was horribly neutral at the moment.

Kyrie wasn't horribly neutral though, Renard could see since he was sitting next to her that she was clenching the skirt of her dress hard, and her gaze was fixed firmly downwards. It would seem that she was just so slow to take that lesson to heart: getting Kyrie to raise her head and have a bit of confidence seemed to be an impossible task, but Renard was up for the challenge. Renard reached down to lightly pinch Kyrie's leg, and this had the desired effect of getting her to snap her gaze up with a bit of a glare towards Renard before looking nervously at Dessi, trying to gauge her reaction. While Kyrie had hoped that Renard would be the one to bring up the subject, she hadn't thought that he'd be so blunt about it! Though in retrospect, she wasn't sure at all why she hadn't been expecting that...

"You want to keep your time together a secret?"

The older woman was slow to echo Renard's words back at him, and as she looked between both him and Kyrie her eyebrows furrowed.

"I take it you came up with this idea on your own?"

"No, actually. I was preparing myself to tell them what all had happened but Kyrie here proposed this idea instead."

He so smoothly answered and turned to Kyrie that for a moment her brain wasn't quite registering what he'd just said. As the words began to sink in though, her eyes widened and she turned to Dessi with her mouth open, as if she was about to say something but just couldn't think of what to say. How... How could he? How could he just throw her out there like this?!

Briefly looking between Renard and Dessi before swallowing hard, she felt like the first thing she had to do was make it less devious than Renard had made it sound.

"That... That's not really... I didn't propose the idea! I just... I don't--"

It was clear that Kyrie was faltering to find the words to say, and while Renard watched her with something akin to amusement, Dessi leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. What was she supposed to say to this woman? Kyrie didn't want it to sound like she was being particularly malicious, she just really thought that it would be better for everyone involved to not share this around! While Kyrie continued to flounder, Dessi let out a soft sigh.

"Were you two going to continue whatever this is while Vivian and Isaac are around?"

Kyrie looked rather nervously up at Renard, hoping that he would be the one to answer this question, but he was still looking at her with that infuriating smile. He clearly had no real intention of getting involved in this conversation now that he'd started it, and Kyrie couldn't help feeling horribly frustrated and a little upset by this. She'd wanted to tackle this together with him, so that she'd feel more comfortable and confident about the fact that someone much more eloquent was also on the case. It was just her though. Her and Dessi.

Turning back to Dessi as Kyrie struggled not to cry angry tears, she stammered out a response.

"N-no... To be safe we'll only have relations when they're gone."

Both of Dessi's eyebrows shot up to hear this and as she looked to Renard for confirmation he gave a slight shrug. He was agreeing with it, but the expression on his face clearly said that he didn't really believe Kyrie would stick to it. Once again Dessi's face scrunched up, and she let out a hum of contemplation.

"You realize that keeping a secret this big is going to be horribly taxing?"

Even though Dessi was talking to the both of them, her gaze was solely fixed on Kyrie. The girl quailed under Dessi's gaze, but then she felt Renard's hand gently touch her leg. Once again looking briefly at Renard, her frustration at him dulled a little from the comfort he was offering, and she turned back to Dessi with a deep breath and a solemn nod. Dessi continued to stare at her for a few moments longer, before just letting out a soft sigh and a shrug of effective defeat.

"I'm not going to tell you what to do, but what I will say is that the path you're choosing for yourself is by far the more difficult one."

Kyrie brightened to see Dessi relenting to the idea that they wanted to keep it a secret, and she ventured another question.

"So... So you won't have another dinner like the one you had with Renard and I?"

A smile flickered onto Dessi's face.

"Not unless you guys become so much of a wreck that I need to."

Relief spread across Kyrie's features at that, and she looked up at Renard with a smile which he returned with ease. So they would be trying to keep this a secret, it was official now. Looking at Kyrie, Renard couldn't help but wonder if she was underestimating how perceptive Isaac could be; if there was even a single thing remotely off about her, he'd probably pick up on it. Still, even if there was something wrong he wouldn't necessarily go to it being that Kyrie had slept with Renard. That would probably be the last thing he'd think of just based on the personalities involved. Maybe he wasn't giving Kyrie enough credit though, she could surprise him by keeping their secret extremely well. After all, she'd kept it a secret that she was watching him in the garden until he happened to notice her eyes one night. He hadn't even had an inkling she was doing that before then. He supposed he would just have to wait and see how things ended up.

Dessi cleared her throat across the way, interrupting the look that passed between Kyrie and Renard. Kyrie startled back to attention, looking a little embarrassed for showing so much emotion in front of Dessi, while Renard looked mildly annoyed to have been interrupted..

"Don't forget that I'm here for you two. If there's any way I can make the coming days easier then please don't hesitate to come to me. I have an invested interest in keeping everyone in this house happy, including those that might not like me so much."

Giving a bit of a knowing smile to Renard and Kyrie, Kyrie couldn't help smiling back at the older woman. She'd been dreading approaching Dessi about the situation because Kyrie was sure that they were going to run into a brick wall. Dessi had made it clear earlier that the two of them would have to tell Isaac and Vivian, so Kyrie was surprised to find that she was quite reasonable about this whole thing. It was true that Dessi had the most authority in the house aside from the nobles themselves and so she could just make people do things if she wanted, but she didn't like to do that unless she really needed to. Kyrie supposed that a couple weeks ago, she'd deemed it necessary to use that authority with Kyrie and ultimately, she was glad that Dessi had made that call.

It really was wonderful to be in a household where the people in it actually cared about everyone else's well-being.

"Thank you, Dessi... I just... I don't really know what else to say."

Dessi laughed a bit at that and stood up from her chair, gathering the empty dishes closest to her as she went.

"Then don't say anything. Instead how about helping me with these dishes?"

Immediately complying with Dessi's request, Renard's hand slid off Kyrie's lap as she stood, and he leaned back in his chair as he watched the two women move.

"Well don't get up or anything, Renard."

There was clear sarcasm in Dessi's voice as she spoke, and Renard just gave the two of them a wolfish smile.

"What and miss the chance to watch you two lovely ladies? I am definitely staying right here."

Linking his hands behind his head and just leering at them now, Dessi rolled her eyes with a smirk on her face while Kyrie blushed and avoided his gaze. As the two of them went towards the kitchen, Dessi leaned in a little close to Kyrie, her voice low enough that Renard wouldn't hear.

"I'm serious though, Kyrie. You are choosing to take a much harder path. Isaac... Isaac has been longing for a steady partner for so long that you are his sole focus now. You'll need to be careful with your actions, you can't let on that anything is even remotely wrong."

Kyrie trembled a little at this warning, her face having immediately sobered up from the blush. With a brief glance back at Renard, Kyrie was soon turning herself back forward. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath for a moment, she then tightened her grip on the dishes and stood up a little straighter as her eyes fluttered back open. This time there wasn't any hesitation in her expression though.

"I understand..."

At that, Dessi shifted her dishes around so that she could pull Kyrie's head close to her to give her a motherly kiss on the side of the head.

"I wish you the best, Kyrie. I really do."

Kyrie also wished herself the best, and hopefully two wishes would be better than one.