After Selene told her about what Tyberius said, and about the special knife, she wondered what the hell the author was thinking when they wrote this book.
There were so many aspects and features to this magic plot line and in the end they just abandoned it? They intended for Tyberius to be an important character, she could tell, for he was exceptionally handsome, but then he was just scrapped? While it wasn't a new or inventive story, Sophia would have one hundred percent preferred to read a mystery thriller about magic over a sappy love story. Clearly the author gave up on the interesting plot line and simply wrote something that they knew would sell well.
Selene tried to use her sorcery to get rid of the knife, but it seemed immune to the interference of magic, and so she simply shrugged and shoved it down Tyberius' dead throat. It would rot in there, with him, as it was unlikely for anybody to come to this house and discover the dead body.
When they walked out of the house, Elliot and James were standing there waiting. Neither of them seemed particularly concerned, as they probably knew Selene and Sophia were more than capable of handling themselves. They were, however, very surprised to see the big snake draped over Selene's shoulders.
As they boarded the carriage to head back to Boyd manor, Selene instructed Bitey not to bite Sophia, and only bite Elliot and James if they were actively trying to harm her, or were doing something suspicious. She couldn't understand Bitey, but he seemed to understand her well enough.
Sophia was thinking to herself as they rode back home. She hadn't thought much about magical beasts when she read the journals. She knew that she would be more powerful with a magical beast by her side, but the thought of having to have a pet and having to bring it with her everywhere seemed like a chore. Now that she was looking at Selene with one, however, she was rethinking it.
Something smaller and easily hidden would be good. A snake really seemed like the perfect magical beast to have. It could be hidden within your clothes easily enough, and they were deadly all on their own, even without the boost of magic. Sophia wasn't keen on lugging around something that heavy, though. Selene could do it without breaking a sweat, but Sophia didn't have the same physical strength that Selene did. Sophia would probably have to find something smaller.
She wondered where she could find a scorpion.
There was a little hubbub when they arrived home, as their parents had heard about Selene's carriage suddenly charging off. Sophia assured them that everything was fine, the horses were just strangely agitated and ran off, but Elliot was able to stop the horses and get Selene back from the carriage just fine.
It was lucky they didn't use one of the family carriages this time and it was a rental instead.
The days after the Tyberius incident passed by slowly. Sophia often met up with Julius to keep up the appearances of a lovesick couple, and Selene still had to attend those annoying balls they kept getting invited to. Cassius and Anastasia never showed up to any of them after the first few, though. Selene had properly scared them off it seemed.
Sophia was spending her free time practising more of her sorcery, as well as continuing some of the research Elena was doing. She wasn't able to invent anything new just yet, but she was getting very good at the things she was trying. Selene just liked to use sorcery whenever she was too lazy to do things by herself.
One day, just when Selene was beginning to get bored again, a letter arrived.
It was another invitation, but this time to tea instead of a ball, and it was from Anastasia of all people, for both Ellsworth sisters.
They went, obviously, mostly out of curiosity. Selene didn't want to have to spend any time with Anastasia if she didn't have to, but the invitation was just so strange that she was compelled to go.
When they arrived at the palace, they were both escorted up to Anastasia's room.
The sight that they were greeted with was very strange. Anastasia was sitting at the table, fidgeting nervously, and Cassius was there too, sitting next to her with a hardened face, and even Julius was there, though he looked a bit confused at the situation too.
Sophia took her seat next to Julius, slipping her hand in his as she did so. He smiled at her when she did so, which made Selene roll her eyes. Jesus, she was surrounded by couples.
"Why have you gathered us all here then?" Selene asked, cutting to chase.
Cassius frowned. "Unfortunately, Mother and Father requested this. They wanted us to... get to know each other, and get along."
Selene laughed. "I'm not sure that's going to be possible, Cassie."
Cassius frowned at the nickname, but Julius sniggered under his breath. "Don't you owe it to your sister to try, at least?"
Selene and Sophia shared a look. "We're not the same person, you know? My business is my business, isn't it? And who I do or don't get along with has nothing to do with my sister."
Sophia sipped at her tea politely while Cassius fumed.
The entire afternoon was a disaster. Selene kept trying to egg Cassius on, hoping to get a reaction out of him. He tried to deny her the satisfaction of rising to her taunts, but it was obvious to everyone there that he was furious. Anastasia didn't say a word, and shrunk in on herself the longer they were all there.
Eventually, it got so bad that Cassius had to excuse himself from the room, of course that only made Selene excuse herself too and chase after him.
Anastasia watched them go, a strange expression on her face.
"Julius, sweetheart, would you mind stepping out for a second?" Sophia asked.
Julius nodded, kissed Sophia on the cheek once, and then left.
Once it was just Sophia and Anastasia, Sophia smiled. "We haven't had a chance to talk one on one yet."
Anastasia looked terrified. "Y-Yes..."
"No need to look so scared. I'm not my sister, you know."
"Sorry! I just-"
"She's intense, I know."
Anastasia flushed, a little embarrassed. "I think she still likes Cassius..."
Sophia sighed. "She was obsessed with marrying him for so much of her life, but no matter what she tried he wasn't interested. So she thought if she cancelled the engagement he might finally see what he was missing, only..."
Only he found you, instead.
Anastasia stiffened. Sophia smiled into her teacup. Gaslighting Anastasia was really quite fun.
"Oh..." Anastasia mumbled.
"It did work, in a way. Getting him angry like this is the most attention he's paid her in years. And you know what they say, there's a fine line between love and hate. Passion is passion after all."
The heroine sunk further into her seat, and Sophia couldn't help the grin that surfaced. She wondered what Anastasia's limits were, and when she would reach them.