Thou Hast a Careful Father, Child

"Assume a virtue, if you have it not."

June 9th

The nurse had not exaggerated in the message she had sent to Adrian. Behind the door, the room was ringing with Frederick's wails. Wailing was not usually in Adrian's purview. If the nurse couldn't soothe Frederick, she went to Ann. It was only natural, Adrian believed, that a small child would be better comforted by his mother. It didn't hurt that the mother was Ann, either. Her warm touch was one of the first things that enthralled Adrian's heart when they were little themselves. Even if her warmth was now often paired with verbal kicks in the backside, it remained a marvel. Adrian didn't have a talent for warmth.

Bid Me Lurk Where Serpents Are

"Let me still take away the harms I fear, not fear still to be taken."

March 20th

Lettice Carey was home at last.

Barely more than a hundred years earlier, Carey House had been home to a noble family. When the sea swallowed most of Lady Carey's dwindling fortune, she angled for a clean fall. Nearly all of her family was sent away, their bags laden with salable goods, to begin more modest existences in places like Port Gale and Maerdilean. What couldn't be transported was eventually seized by the Council to put toward her unpaid taxes. The Council also stripped her of her title and holdings. Only two assets remained to the former Lady Carey, and she sold them both to the Capulets: Carey House and her personal store of information. She had secrets worth more than gold and knew how to acquire more. Her middle daughter had talents for both secrets and blood. Even as the Carey name faded into obscurity, a new alliance formed.

Heaven and Yourself Had Part

March 6th

"Sire and child and happy mother who all in one, one pleasing note do sing."

"I told you, it's a girl!"

"An' I told you it's a boy! Looks just like him!"

Puck threw up his hands, disturbing his currently precarious sense of balance. "What does that have t'do with anything, idiot?"

"A daughter would have my sister's eyes. They always do!" Tybalt slurred. "That one's a boy."

I Already Know Thy Grief

"Praising what is lost makes the remembrance dear."

March 2nd

After reading it a final time, Benedick tucked the page of his mother's journal back under his mattress. He had studied the page countless times since he stole it from the journal his mother left lying open the night she died. Every year, he spent hours on the anniversary of her death staring at the paper, begging it to tell him more. He hoped time would reveal something his younger self hadn't seen, some hint as to what really happened to his mother.

Wherefore Weep I Then?

Content Warnings: Click here for warnings

"But though I am a daughter to his blood, I am not to his manners."

February 17th

Wake up. 

A gray, cloudy day. What time is it? Not late enough, I know that. I could go back to sleep - no. I can't hide from this.

Get up. Feet on the floor. Now, wash up, brush out my hair, put on a dress. Three things, Cecily. Just three more things.

Someone's been in to light the fire. Should I call the maid? No. I don't want her. I don't want help.

What color do I wear today? Gray? Or black? Black. They expect black. Black is respectful, appropriate. I'll wear black for Mother. Mother never surrendered her dignity to what he was.