~.✧ Austora ✧.~ [COMPLETE]

~.✧ three ✧.~

"I don't like her," Asria outright said, her arms crossed squarely over her chest the instant the door to the parlor closed behind the three of us.

"I wish I could disagree," I muttered gently, hating to say anything bad about anyone. But the Hyprettes had left a gross feeling crawling across my skin, like I needed to change clothes after being around them.

"And her Mother was absolutely awful. Ugh, I think she was trying to pierce straight through my eyeballs with her nasty gaze," Asria grumbled.

I couldn't help but laugh under my breath.

"Julietta wasn't all bad. You must see that," Braz interjected before Asria could say something else. "I think she made a good first impression, at least on Mother, Father, and Kartren. You have to admit she's quite intelligent and is very sociable."

I knew he wasn't meaning to point out any of my flaws, but it still felt like a slap in the face when he contributed sociability as one of her virtues.

"She just..." I sighed, tapping my fingers. "There was something so very... off about her. I'm not quite sure, but it was almost like she was hiding something." I wasn't quite sure if that made sense, but I couldn't express the shifts in her gaze or the off-putting air about her.

"You're too nice," Asria stated bluntly. "I hate her."

Braz shot a deathly glare at her. "We don't hate people, As."

She stood up taller. "Maybe you don't, but you can't speak for me. I have every right to feel how I feel."

Braz sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. His worst enemy was an argument so he let that line of conversation dissolve. "All I'm saying is that maybe we shouldn't be so quick to judge her. It was only one meeting and perhaps she was nervous. Perhaps that's why she acted strange in moments. I can't blame her. Not everyone is comfortable around royalty, even other gentry members."

He had a point there. But I still couldn't shake the feeling in my gut, telling me there was something different about Julietta, something that I couldn't put my finger on.

"Besides, are we going to dash Father, Mother, and Kartren's hopes so fast? Mother was absolutely taken with her and I don't think I've seen Kartren smile that much in years. This can only be a good thing."

"Unless they are deceived," I mumbled under my breath.

Either neither of them heard me or they didn't care to answer. "Well, I'm not going to the tea no matter what anyone says. I'm not going to sit around trying to act like I like people I most certainly don't."

"Asria, you can't have that attitude about this stuff," Braz answered in exasperation. "You're a princess. You have to do things you don't like because the royal family must be the best we can. We must work to be better."

Her eyes lingered on him and I realized his words were eerily similar to ones she'd been using recently. I'm trying to be better. Now that I thought about it, it did sound like a thing Braz might say. I wondered what conversations had been happening between them recently, ones I wasn't aware of.