Malevolence (A School for Good and Evil Fanfic)

Chapter 4

Hester woke up in Anadil's arms.

Her eyes fluttered open to a shaft of morning sunlight streaming through the curtains into the otherwise dark room, and it took her a moment to remember where she was. Then it all came rushing back: the chase, the river, the disastrous and irritating dinner with the baroness...

The baroness who was Anadil's mother.

As she slowly came to her senses, she noticed a sense of warmth against her body, pressed against the lines of her back like a puzzle piece that had been missing before now. It took another moment to notice the warm arms wrapped gently around her waist, and the soft sound of breath flowing in and out in slumber.

Hester wasn't sure whether it had been intentional or some accidental movement in the night, but she was sure Anadil wouldn't take well to waking up in such a vulnerable position. It didn't matter how much Hester wanted to stay, to feel their breaths syncing as they laid still and to enjoy the warmth and comfort that was likely to dissipate the moment they left this cocoon of bedsheets.

She shook off those thoughts, gently extricating herself from the warm arms that encircled her and smoothing her mussed hair as she stood. Her gaze turned back to Anadil, softening as it did. She looked so small in the sea of pillows, curled up with her arms wrapped around someone who was no longer there. The lines of her face had smoothed in sleep, leaving no trace of the carefully structured air of unaffectedness that she carried with her when she was awake.

Hester tore her eyes away and left the room, gently closing the door behind her. She tried to remember how to reach the dining hall, making turn after turn through the winding corridors. How many rooms does one woman need? she wondered, then wondered what laid beyond each polished door. Probably not fluffy puppies or rainbow unicorns, unless she was holding them hostage.

Eventually, she heard the sound of clinking dishes and plates from nearby, and before long, she found herself standing in front of the double doors that led into the dining hall. It felt wrong to be here without Anadil, but she'd looked so peaceful, and Hester wanted to give her a few more minutes of respite before she was forced to face her mother once again.

When Hester pushed open the doors, she expected to find the baroness eating alone. Instead, there were three other people seated at the table, talking and laughing as they ate excessively seasoned eggs, buttered pancakes, and pastries from display trays, the latter of which made Hester feel a tad nauseous. The closest patron to her was a large, burly man whose bulky muscles were causing his shirt to strain at the seams. Hester observed him from the doorway, and between the structure of his body, his incredibly hairy arms, and the way he dug into his eggs like a predator, she deduced that he was likely a man wolf. It wasn't a surprise, given that a large portion of Bloodbrook's population consisted of man wolves, and Hester's eyes slid past him without a second thought. The second patron was an elderly woman, hunched and frail. She was cackling at something the baroness had said, her mouth opening to reveal crooked, yellow teeth. Her eyes were yellow as well, large and round like an owl's, and her grey hair was plaited down her back. She was clearly a witch, one that had taken every stereotype that came with witchcraft and attempted to replicate it. And the third patron...

Hester's heart skipped several beats. The room narrowed until her vision consisted of only the one woman sitting at the baroness's right side, rigid as ever. She was making civil conversation with the baroness, though she looked ready to snap the necks of every person in the room at a moment's notice. Hester froze for a few moments, unable to process that this was real, this was happening, but eventually had the sense to begin to back out of the hall.

"Come!" The baroness's voice had Hester stopping in her tracks. She slowly turned around. "Yes, you, who else would I be talking to? Join us, don't be shy!"