My Name Is Evie

Conversation

*Evie's P.O.V*

So apparently the crow that Mother Miranda had left behind was a girl. She got very angry when I asked if she was sure. Apparently birds are very sure of their gender. Who knew?

Horse seemed to like the crow. I would have liked to call the crow, Crow, to be very on brand with how I normally named things. However she would not let me. I ended up calling her Lei like the coins that she brought me. She seemed to like that since apparently she just had a hoard of coins stashed somewhere. I had to trade something of 'equal' value to get one though.

It turns out crows did not know what equal value meant. Lei's equal value was a shiny pebble. So I would give her shiny pebbles and in return she would give me coins. I appreciated that very much because now I had a stash of them hidden under my bed in my room.

I was pretty sure that Lady Dimitrescu knew what was going on but she had never asked any questions. In return I told no lies. I had also done as she asked with getting rid of the sharp objects in my room. All of the immediately sharp ones that is. However she never said anything about dull items so I did have a dull knife stashed underneath my bed.

I was unsure if Lady Dimitrescu knew about that but I had little doubt that she did. She always seemed to know about everything that was going on. She hadn't said anything though so I assumed she was fine with it.

I was still unsure about the nature of our relationship. Her words kept coming back to haunt me and keep me awake at night. 'I would do the same thing if I found out one of my daughter's was harming themselves.' For some reason those words kept coming back to haunt me, like I couldn't rest until I knew why she said that. It's like she cared for me, like I was family to her.

It's not like she had any reason to care for me. I wasn't providing anything to her like money or sex. So why on earth did she care for me? The question ate at me until I finally decided to ask her. Although the time I chose to ask her was admittedly not the best.

However I was awake and I had finally got the courage so I did end up in her bedroom at two in the morning. I was honestly surprised she was awake because when I knocked I was trying to wake her up. However I got instructed to come inside almost immediately.

Lady Dimitrescu was sitting in front of her vanity, sipping a glass of blood wine. She was dressed in a white nightgown, one that was embroidered with roses around the edges. She had one leg crossed over the other. She glanced at me, raising an eyebrow.

"You are up late tonight," she said, like a statement which it was. I was normally asleep by now, I liked to go to bed before 12 on most nights to get a minimum of 6 hours of sleep.

"Something has been bugging me about your words from when we talked," I said, cutting to the chase as quickly as I could.

"What has been bugging you?" Lady Dimitrescu asked. She seemed a bit puzzled about what I was talking about.

"You said you cared for me and would do the same thing if one of your daughters harmed themselves," I informed her.

"Yes, that is what I said," Lady Dimitrescu said softly. "What about that bugs you so much?" she asked curiously.

"Why do you care for me?" I asked. The question came out a bit harsher then I wanted it to but I needed to know her answer. I just had to know her answer.

"What?" Lady Dimitrescu asked as she sat her wine glass down.

"Why do you care for me?" I questioned as I rested my hands on my hips. It took everything I had to not pace around, I was just so restless that I wanted to walk around. However I stood still for my own sake.

"Am I not allowed to care for you?" Lady Dimitrescu's question infuriated me.

"Why do you care for me? I don't offer you money or sex so what reason do you have to care for me," I demanded to know. Why couldn't she give me a solid answer? I deserved one.

"Is that the only way that you believe that you deserve care? If you do something in exchange for it?" Lady Dimitrescu asked. I nodded my head, my jaw ticking slightly in anger as I stood there. "That is not true, you deserve care without offering anything in return," she stated.

"That's not true," I whispered, the words escaping me before I could actually think about them fully. She raised an eyebrow which made my cheeks flush.

"You do not believe that you deserve to be cared for without offering me something?" Lady Dimitrescu asked. I looked away, my eyes burning with tears as I nodded my head firmly. "Tell that with your words then," she stated.

The words stuck in my throat as I tried to respond. My throat felt dry all of a sudden as I struggled to answer. The words were there but they wouldn't come out for a few minutes. I finally managed to get the words out.

"I do not deserve to be cared for unless I am offering something in return," I whispered the words, they felt bitter on my tongue.

"Will you allow me to care for you if I ask for something in return?" Lady Dimitrescu asked. My heart pounded in my chest as I nodded my head. Finally, something that would make sense. There was nothing I could receive without giving something in return.

"Yes," I said, the words falling from my mouth before I could stop them.

"Stay alive Evie, stay alive for me so that I can continue to care for you," Lady Dimitrescu said the words carefully. The words sank into my mind and I nodded my head, melting into the shadows before she could say anything else.