The Vanity of Roses - Lily White Page 0,49

and I looked at her without giving away the truth of our new game.

Gretchen stepped aside, her head snapping up to Lisbeth where she stood glaring at me.

“Well, are you just going to stand there, or will you clean it up?”

Eyes narrowed, Lisbeth turned to search the kitchen for a rag or dustpan, eventually returning to bend down and clean the eggs from the floor.

Once she was done, my elbow caught the full coffee mug as I moved too quickly, the mug tipping over to crash against the floor.

My eyes met Lisbeth’s. “Whoops.”

Gretchen glanced at me with concern on her face. “Are you feeling okay, Mr. Rose? It’s not like you to be so-“

“Klutzy?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

“I didn’t sleep well last night.”

It was a bullshit lie, of course. I’d slept like a baby. Which was odd, really. It had been years since I’d slept that soundly.

Gretchen’s stern eyes snapped to Lisbeth.

“Again, Miss Rose. Are you purposely trying to make me look bad by just standing there and doing nothing?”

I smiled at the rage shimmering over Lisbeth’s cheeks, the subtle vibration of it in her shoulders.

But like the good little servant she was, Lisbeth got down on hand and knee to clean the spill and pick up the shattered chunks of the mug.

Blowing out a breath of exasperation, Gretchen looked at me.

“What did you call me for, Mr. Rose? If it’s to return Lisbeth to training, I can certainly understand why.”

“Not at all. But she will need to eat breakfast, so I wanted you to escort her to the staff dining hall. I’ll pick her up from there.”

“I’ll do so immediately, sir.”

Before she could step away, I reached out to touch her arm.

“Oh, and seeing as how Lisbeth has been so negligent in her duties, I think an example should be made of her.”

“Of course, sir. What type of example?”

Lisbeth pushed up to her feet, her glare swiping across my face before she turned to dump the shards of mug into the trash and return the rag to the counter.

“She has a problem with dropping to the floor to clean, as you’ve seen. Claims it goes against her pride or something like that. Perhaps if she ate breakfast on the floor where everybody can see her, she’ll learn to accept it better. Maybe in the center of the dining hall to ensure every staff member has an unobstructed view.”

Gretchen didn’t drop her usual scowl, but I could see a smile in her eyes.

“You’re too kind to her. I would have fired her on the spot.”

“I’m only trying to help.”

A high-pitched sound caught my attention, the quiet shriek of rage Lisbeth couldn’t completely contain. Her face was now fully red, her eyes narrowed on me with such hatred that I could feel the slash of them against my skin.

Gretchen locked her hand on Lisbeth’s arm and shoved her toward the exit. After they stepped away, I couldn’t hear exactly what Gretchen said, but judging by the hiss in her voice, I could assume it wasn’t pleasant.

As for me, I was given a fresh mug of coffee to go with my food. Ellen’s eyes crinkled at the corners while she shook her head.

“I can’t believe you let that woman back into this house after everything she did to you.”

Giving her a shrug, I chewed a heaping spoonful of eggs and swallowed.

“She needed a job. Franklin told me she would have been homeless if I hadn’t let her come back.”

Another shake of her head.

“Your heart has always been too big, Callan. She could have been freezing and starving and I wouldn’t have let her through the door. How many beatings did you take because of her? Some years it felt like it was daily.”

Shoulders relaxing, Ellen ruffled my hair. I wasn’t a child anymore, but you couldn’t tell her that. In her eyes, I was still the small boy who would run in crying or bleeding, in need of a kind voice to listen.

“Ah, well, we shouldn’t talk about such horrible things while you’re eating. Just promise me you won’t let her hurt you again.”

“You have nothing to worry about there.”

And she didn’t.

If anything, the only person in this house that needed to worry about being hurt was Lisbeth.

Lisbeth

Callan had declared war. That’s all there was to it. The son of a bitch was pushing every fucking button he could find, and doing so with a devil’s grin on his beautiful face.

Gretchen led me to the staff dining room with the usual click of her

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