"Ettinsmoor? Is that what we're calling it now?" Imira asked.
"Better than 'the northern lands the Ettins inhabit' don't you think?" Peter asked in return.
"I suppose it's catchy," she agreed. "So what do we do now?"
Peter looked around the room...
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Three weeks.
That is how long Danielle and I managed to get along without any incidents. Longer than I expected.
At first, I believe we were genuine in our attempt at friendship. The first week went by pretty well, but ultimately it all felt forced. We were trying too hard and we both knew it. And we did try, the gods know we tried, but ultimately it all boils down to one simple fact. A fact as unchangeable as the colour of the sky or the taste of sugar: Danielle and I do not like each other. And that's alright. Honestly, I couldn't care less. I've made my peace with that.
What I have not made my peace with, however, is her relationship with my cousin. Oh, the horror! I saw them kiss once and had the urge to gouge out my eyes.
Time went by, weeks, turned into months, months turned into years and they were still together! It baffled me how they managed to do so, theirs is the strangest of relationships.
Every time he goes to Datram, he acts as if she didn't exist. Rumours of how he was seen kissing another girl or of how a maiden was spotted leaving his quarters early in the morning are quick to make their way to our court. Rumours I know to be true because sometimes I have had the misfortune of witnessing said events when I go to Datram. Rebekah has confirmed the rest. All the cavorting he takes part in. But it never extends further than his stays in Datram. No, the second he returns to Cair Paravel she goes back to being the light of his eyes, as the Calormen put it. I don't know what he sees in her.
As a fellow woman, I cannot help but feel... compassion for her. But it is a feeling that dissipates rather quickly at the first sign of impertinence from her. And she just can't help herself, can she?
I believe she must either turn a deaf ear to the rumours or she simply must not care because their relationship remains ever unaltered. Nauseating, but unaltered.
He just acts so differently when he's around her. I can't explain it, but it makes me uneasy. I get this feeling in my gut every time I see them together. She has him wrapped around her little finger and he's too blind to see it.
I tried talking to him on several occasions, but he got all defensive and left. All I managed to accomplish was to push him further into her arms.
"It's been two years, I think it is time you accept the fact that Darren, in his own weird way, loves her," Susan said as we eyed her from the other side of one of the many yards found around Cair Paravel. She is chatting with her cousin, Danisse -who I find more bearable- while Susan and I wait for Peter to be finished with his conversation with Lord Leandus, one of the most influentials fauns of court.
It's been two years and they're still together, that is a long time. "But do you honestly see a future for those two?" I just can't picture her staying around forever. "Don't you think it would be better for them both to just end it?"
