Dithered Hearts by Chace Verity

Author:Chace Verity
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chace Verity

Twenty

Cynthia waited a whole seventeen minutes after Nolan and Agnes left to search for the safe.

As she’d expected, the door to their bedroom was locked. Cynthia started for the front door. There was no way they had thought to lock their bedroom window. Nolan had been smoking by the window right before they left.

As she passed Harlow’s room, the door swung open.

“Hold on!”

Cynthia stopped in her tracks. A mix of panic and intrigue whirred through her. She hadn’t seen much of Harlow since yesterday morning. Painting demanded lots of time and energy. She skipped breakfast this morning, too, to work on the house.

And, uh, because she still wasn’t sure how to behave around her beautiful stepsister, who definitely knew they had locked lips.

Harlow grabbed Cynthia by the wrist and tugged her inside the room. That display of power in no form or fashion gave Cynthia a hopeful thrill. Because Cynthia was definitely not attracted to her voluptuous stepsister.

“I have something to give Domine Cyn.” Harlow held out a sealed envelope. “You can pass it on for me, yes?”

“Of course.”

Cynthia eyed the thickness of the envelope. Harlow must have written a novel. Well, that was fair. Things were definitely complicated.

Goodness, she wished she could read it right here and learn more about what was going on in Harlow’s head.

Cynthia slipped the envelope into her pocket. It was awkward being in this room, not just because of Harlow. Even when Cynthia came in here to clean, she felt weird.

The room had been Cynthia’s old bedroom. Harlow had kept it very much the same with the musty books and shelves lined with old childhood toys. The only differences were a new quilt over the bed and the fact all the porcelain dolls had now been turned around so they didn’t face Harlow.

This space was Cynthia’s. And also not.

“Are you all right?” Harlow asked, pointing to Cynthia’s arms.

The sleeves of Cynthia’s dress covered the fresh bruises. She tugged on the cuffs. “I’m fine. What about you? Are you all right?”

“Father didn’t hurt me.” Harlow’s cool expression unnerved Cynthia. “No more than he is hurting himself.”

“Himself?”

Harlow shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“All right.” Cynthia rubbed the back of her neck. “I’m here if you ever want to talk. Um, I should go now. Return to work. You know.”

“Wait!” Harlow latched onto the sleeve of Cynthia’s dress. “There’s something I didn’t know how to address in the letter.”

Cynthia looked up at Harlow. One of Harlow’s most impressive features was her eyes. Harlow could wreck worlds with those large, expressive green eyes. “Yes?”

“In the future, when we are talking about Domine Cyn…” Harlow pressed her lips together and gestured to Cynthia. “What pronouns do we use?”

Pronouns. Harlow wanted to know Cynthia’s pronouns.

Delight and fear crashed into Cynthia. She still didn’t have an answer that felt right. What if she changed her mind later? Could she tell Harlow that she didn’t understand her gender?

“She,” Cynthia said after a moment, not quite liking that feel on her tongue.

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