"What?" Her sister shrieked in response since she was the one that could actually keep up with the conversation at hand. She was immediately shushed after Briar let out a low groan. The yelling had awakened the headache again, leading the pounding in her mind into a migraine instead. The girl lowered her voice to keep herself from being reprimanded by Abigail. It actually made the next sentence feel like she was trying to keep the information from the hurting sister. "What do you mean 'he didn't know what she was'? She's not a demon as he is, right?"
The disgust passed from Nesryn and trickled down into herself like a kettle's stream into one of their mother's fancy tea cups. Effectively creating a fleeting sense of self-hate from deep within the sobbing girl. It was quick to disappear due to Briar pushing the emotion to the far back of her aching head. Though it would still linger. Ready to strike again when she would be least expecting it. As long as she was given a small reprieve, she would be happy to take on the emotion another day.
Her mother poured ice cold water over the swelling skin, forcing a broken sob out of the girl's shaking lips. She couldn't tell if it actually helped ease the pain or if it just added to the burning sensation. Never in her life had Briar experienced something like this. She was a sheltered woman. Pain was not a thing in her vocabulary excluding the expected cramps around her time of the month. For her to be put into a situation that could harm her would be her put into a situation that would make her be seen as unladylike. Even if Abigail didn't want her daughters to marry early, she wouldn't ruin the girls' chances. Especially not in front of their father.
"Nesryn," came her mother's warning tone. The twin being scolded realized this was a second strike but Briar was too far gone to notice. "Your sister is not a demon like Lord Mahlikai. She is a servant of the Earth itself. We could only wish to be as she is. What you are witnessing is her nature fighting that demon's venom." Her words were more spat than actually said. Even still, they were all a jumbled mess in the sobbing woman's ears.
Her back arched away from the white tub walls as something began to curl around her spine. Her eyes shot open and her mouth parted in a silent scream. Her mother immediately pushed the girl back to her spot molded to the heated tub's walls. She could feel whatever it was maneuvering underneath the skin, making room for itself intertwined with her spine. "S'il vous plaît expliquer," Briar gasped out in French.
Her mother had forced both of her children to learn a second language; one that she was going to try and learn with them. Briar had ultimately chosen French since she enjoyed the romance in it. Nesryn had decided to choose the same. She told Briar that she also loved the language but the woman had heard her talking to Abigail about it simply being easier for the three ladies to know the same language. It was a way for them to speak just between themselves when something private came up - especially in front of their father. When Briar got overly stressed, she tended to blurt simplistic things in this second language. It was a learning process that her teacher had burned into her memory. He would put her under enough stress that her mind forced her to come up with the answer, which made it her new coping mechanism.
Then she rambled on again through heavy sobs, "Qu'est-il? Qu'est-ce qui m'est arrivé? Pourquoi moi?" She didn't know what she was even saying anymore. She felt her head was floating in the clouds while the pain was all that kept her grounded to reality.
Abigail gave her a daughter a strong squeeze on the shoulder, which had her yelping rather than simply spitting out another question. One of the branches they saw writhing within her wrists had climbed up into her shoulder. The mother had squeezed where the sharp end had found itself and pushed it into the untouched, soft muscle. Briar would glare daggers at her mother if it hadn't been for the scream that tore through her sore throat.
"Well go on then! Tell us!" Nesryn snapped again, ignoring the sharp look the matriarch threw back her way. "You're the one that didn't notice that her lover was a demon! For all we know, you have been planning this for a very long time." Her valued sibling sneered down at the pair. Abigail hit her hard against the back of the girl's head in a disciplinary manner. Her sister had begun to whine at the violence before she came to a realization. "Wait a moment, if you said Bri was a 'servant of Earth' - whatever that may mean. What does that make me?"
Abigail hadn't expected this question and her grip tightened on her other daughter's arm while she was finally trying to rewrap her wound. The sobbing girl cried out in pain, which got the matriarch to lighten her touch. "Let's not speak of this while your sister is in pain, Nesryn." The twin tried to object but was talked over, "I will explain what she is and why, to the both of you, when she is in the right state of mind."
Her sister's lips sealed into a straight line since it was clear that their mother was not going to be handing out any more explanations until they would both be able to make sense of the answers. She finally moved forwards to try helping her mother work on Briar. The girl kept her sister still enough in the tub of cool water while her mother finished tying a clean bandage around the bloody part of her arm. They used the tub to keep her rising fever down though it didn't feel like it was helping at all. Especially not when the hurting limb was kept out of the warm liquid so they could inspect her injury.
Briar had tried to find some sort of comfort within her floating mind. It was her way of trying to escape the painful situation that a strong infatuation had put her in. What would her father think of the journey she just laid out for herself? It wasn't like any of the women there would tell him. They didn't even tell him about the glasses of his hard liquor they would take in fear of the punishment. She could use something like that now. She had heard that many war veterans had used hard liquor to hide or push their pain away. Maybe they had a different type of pain, but she was always told of its near-magical numbing ability. That was how she knew her father had some of his own hidden in the shelves of his office.
Briar wanted to just dip her head under the nice lake of the tub and let herself drown away all life's new problems and the eternal pain it was leading to. No. She wouldn't do that. She had never ran away from a problem before, especially if it was a situation she had put herself in. She couldn't start now.
The girl cried out again as her mother started massaging the throbbing arm. Something that felt completely awkward with the moving branches that found a way to stretch under every inch of her skin. It was like they were always there and had just awakened now with this new and unpleasant experience. These branches were feeling less metaphorical and more literal as time continued to pass. She had half a mind to slap away the hand that was pressing deep into where her muscles were meant to reside.
"It's alright, Briar. You just need to let go of all the pain you're feeling right now," her mother cooed unhelpfully. Did Abigail just tell her that the pain was all in her head? She was rather offended now that she thought Briar had an off switch. If that was the case, she would most definitely be using such a thing now. "Nesryn, can you go get the small jar that I keep on my vanity? It should have a glass of water by its side from the maid. Bring that too."
The younger twin took a moment to make sure that Abigail had the soon-to-be demon still in the water before she rushed away. The matriarch watched her daughter leave then pulled Briar's chin and forced her to look her in the eyes. Briar's mismatched eyes widened while she choked on her breath from the pain of the sudden movement. "You know what this means?"
"No, mama!" The girl tried to pull away, thinking she was going to be thrown into even more pain. Or her mother could be planning on killing her. She was going to be a demon. Her mother might want to get rid of her now before she is strong enough to fight back. Did Briar want that to happen? She couldn't tell anymore. Her instincts were just trying to pull her away from the woman that gave her life, so she took it as she wanted to live. For now, she wanted to live.
Abigail hushed the younger girl, easily keeping her face up close to her's. "No, no, baby. Nothing like that. You are still my flesh and blood. I would never do that to you, Briar." The injured girl didn't understand her calming tone. Her fear was overpowering. "It's not you, it's that bastard. He can't be trusted, my daughter."
Her mother wanted to kill her suitor? Not her though, so that was at least a little better. Wasn't it? No. He couldn't die. She was enduring this for him. This pain would not be for nothing. Could she kill someone she loved? Briar sobbed as she shook her head in her mother's arms. The woman wouldn't let her daughter back out of this one though. She was going to confront this new problem. The matriarch was going to drill this thought into her head now that she was vulnerable. To make sure that, even if subconsciously, it would be something she thought of.
Abigail's head bobbed as if that would stop Briar's shaking one. "You have to do this, this is who you are now. You cannot be like that demon kind. Do you understand?" The daughter seemed to cry even harder at this new line of demands. She couldn't kill anyone. That wasn't who she was. She wasn't a sinner, no matter how much her sister now thought she was. "You will kill him and you will kill anything like him. If you don't, you will live with remorse for all your waking days."
Another sob racked her body, but her mother shushed her in time for the other Blythe daughter to come back into the room with the requested items. Abigail lowered Briar back into the water as if she was the one that tried to pull herself out of the tub. When her mismatched eyes met those of her mother's there was only a warning glint. She made sure that Nesryn hadn't heard for a reason. One that Briar didn't know, but it only wanted her to avoid the quest just as much.
"Thank you, Nesryn. Hold her now while I help her take it." The girl didn't hesitate this time around to do as she was told. Briar screamed once her dainty hands planted themselves on her shoulders. Her twin looked between the poor woman and her mother.
Abigail didn't notice any of the looks the two women shared, tapping the glass jar against the edge of the half-full cup. Measuring by eye for just how much of the valerian root was to be added into the water. Even though Briar was well aware of what was in that jar, a part of her body was still fearful that this was poison that the matriarch was going to feed her.
"What is that, mother?" Nesryn asked with an uneasy look. It seemed like she had a somewhat similar idea of what could be happening. The matriarch hummed to show that she heard her, but waited until the measuring was done before she decided to answer.
"It's a sleeping drug. It will be easier for Briar to be asleep than if she were to be awake through all of this." Abigail grabbed her daughter's jaw tightly, forcing her to open her mouth. The girl tried to resist as much as possible, but ultimately the mother won. She tilted the cup up against her lips and nearly drowned her with the drugged liquid. Tears dribbled down to add a salty taste on top of the earthy root. She didn't want this. "I would never hurt my own."
She pulled the glass away from the girl's lips, allowing her to cough out the extra drops that found their way into her lungs. Abigail patted her back a few times as she leaned forward to cough up the foreign objects. Briar pulled away to stop the sting. "Please, don't," the injured woman's words were now a quiet rasp. So much screaming had her throat growing sore.
The matriarch hummed at her daughter's plea and rested her hands against the rim of the tub. Nesryn followed her lead, guessing that they no longer needed to hold Briar down. The healthy twin began to tap against the porcelain tub, "He just turned you into a demon then left you to deal with all this pain on your own?" The tapping radiated through Briar's head, sending her into a painful spiral.
"You ask many questions you already know the answer to," her mother commented as if they were just talking about the weather now. She stood to grab one of the many towels hanging in the bathroom. Her ball gown was drenched from fighting her daughter in the water just as Nesryn's dress was. Briar was pushed into the tub so there wasn't any hope that her costume would survive the night. Hopefully none of the maids would ask questions when they went to dispose of it.
"It is called a rhetorical question, mother. I am just pointing out the audacity of that demon who preached about loving her." Nesryn had followed Abigail over to the towels and she began to dab at her fabrics. The two were now conversing side by side with their backs turned away from the third Blythe woman. "It is completely absurd."
"Now, now. Don't try picking at your sister's courtships. Many men can't handle helping a woman through pain. You will see when you finally birth a child for your husband." Their mother was quick to chastise her youngest once again. "When I had you both, the only people in the room were the doctor and my head maid." Briar groaned, leaning forward heavily as her head began to feel heavy.
They both came back to the tub and they talked just a step from the sopping wet woman. "I do not wish to hear this story again, mother. You tell it every time pain or children are brought up in conversation."
"Yes, I forget my children cannot handle such talk." Briar leaned forward with drooping eyes. At this point, her forehead was already breaking the surface of the water. She was just a few inches from drowning herself and she couldn't do anything to fix it. It was as if she lost all control of her body. Abigail calmly helped her daughter to a sitting position. Her mismatched looked up at her mother as her head lolled that way. The matriarch seemed just as unhappy about having to drug her daughter as she was.
Nesryn grimaced down at the state of the older twin, "I think you've given her too much." However, the woman made no move to assist her sister in any way. "Did you forget she wasn't as used to the drug as you were, mother?"
Abigail studied her wounded daughter for a long minute like she wondered the same. "No, I think I've given her exactly what she needed. I told you, this will help her get through it all. We don't want her to wake up in the middle of the worst of it, do you? It's only been two hours since she's been home now." The mother literally waved off her daughter's concern. She casually helped the eldest sit up again as she slowly began to fall forward again.
"What of the demon?" Nesryn watched her mother as she kept a hard look on the woman that let out an extra sob at the question. "We cannot let him go reeking havoc, can we, mother?"
"He will be leaving town soon, Nesryn. That's why he decided to poison your sister. He won't be around to harm anyone in town for a very long time." The matriarch turned away from the girl in the tub to cup the side of her other daughter's lovely face. "I commend you for thinking of others, my smart girl, but none of that will be our concern. If people find out we learned of his behaviors the Blythe name will get some sharp fingers pointed our way. None of this can get out.
"Yes, mother. I trust you." Abigail smiled at her daughter's lack of trust, then turned back to give Briar a sharp glance. However, the girl's mismatched eyes rolled up into her skull. Her eyelids drooped closed and her body fell limp. Her head hit hard against the tub, letting a heavy thump echo in the room. Both of the conscious women rushed forward to assist her as her dead weight began to slip down into the bloody bath water.