Sisters Three (Completed)

19. Brenna (4/4)

"How are you, Brenna? Morna?" he asked, though by his tone he didn't really care about the answer. Morna mumbled something and Brenna just merely nodded her head.

With a glance at Morna, Robbin held out his hand to Brenna. "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

Brenna sighed but walked with him to the other end of the room where Morna wouldn't be able to hear their conversation. Brenna contemplated just sending her sister off, but thought better of it when she realized that would leave her alone with Robbin in her bedchamber.

"There's been developments on the front and our generals need us back in Anjeluund earlier than we expected," Robbin started in.

"And?" Brenna asked.

"It means we'll leave in two days, and that we can't be slowed by a carriage. We'll be taking horses until we have to cross the Pyrus. You need to travel light. Take only the very essentials."

Brenna exhaled. "But I bought a whole new wardrobe, Robbin! You just expect me to leave all my belongings here? They're brand new, and I won't have anything suitable to wear in Anjeluund if I can only bring what fits in a saddlebag."

"I'll see about buying you something when we reach the city," Robbin said. "Other than that, you'll have to do with an economy wardrobe for a while."

"Surely I can send for my trunks."

"Yes, you can send for them, but they'll be a while in coming until someone is free in our household to fetch them. Unless you have somewhere here that can spare a week to escort gowns and slippers?"

"We can hire someone."

"Listen, Brenna. Your aunts have things they can pawn to create the capital for your vanity. The Glenfarrows are funding a war from our own pockets. We're living on borrowed money as it is, and I won't beg my father to take out a loan in order to hire someone to bring your belongings."

"So I have to go without my things until someone can be found to bring them all the way to Anjeluund, goodness knows when? That's what you're telling me?"

"Yes. Exactly."

Brenna huffed, the injustice like a thorn in her side. Arriving into Anjeluund society with nothing but a dirty riding habit and whatever she could stuff into her saddlebags was not the grand entrance she'd been envisioning since her engagement. She could just see the other women laughing behind fans at the dingy little Ittalan their leader's son had dug up. Shame already flushed her cheeks, which made the prospect of a much more real shame even more distasteful. She'd be fighting an uphill battle with the Anjeluund nobles, trying to prove she wasn't a rustic simpleton, and Robbin had just condemned her to a losing battle.

Her eyes averted from his in a sulk, and she felt tears prick her eyes. She refused to cry in front of him.

"It's not the end of the world, Brenna. When we win this war and my brother is safely on the throne as king, then we'll have the royal treasury to spend as we wish. I'll buy you whatever you want." He lay a hand on her arm in a steady pressure. "But we need to be there when our generals need us if that's to happen. So in two days we ride. Light."

Brenna broke away from him to gather all her new dresses from the bed into wads in her arms. She carried them to one of the trunks she would have used, and dumped them in, careless that they would be ruined with wrinkles. She shut the top and turned back to Robbin, determined that he wouldn't see how annoyed she was. She shrugged and flipped her braid over her shoulder.

"It's no matter," she said. "I've stopped caring."