The Detective's Damsel

xxix.

- - - - - - DECEMBER 2, 2020 - - - - - -

SOMETHING WASN'T RIGHT with Elizabeth, and it didn't take detective work or deductive reasoning to figure it out. It was the first day of the competition and while the festivities didn't begin until early afternoon, Corinna had been unable to get a single extra ounce of sleep. Her body had a schedule of its own, and she felt considerably wide-awake. Her sister, on the other hand, looked the opposite of well-rested. Her hazel eyes were rimmed with shadows that only seemed to grow darker as Corinna spoke. She'd told her sister the truth about her heritage a few days before, and though it seemed to be just as much of a shock to Elizabeth as it had been to Corinna, she hadn't seemed indisposed after learning the information. When she began to relay the details of the competition, however, and her run-in with the girls, Elizabeth began fiddling anxiously with the pages of a book, folding the corner of a page over and over before tiring and moving to a fresh page.

She was irritable, distracted, and exhausted. But why? Corinna paused. "Elizabeth, you look unwell. Is it the child?"

Elizabeth kept her gaze firmly planted on the novel in her lap. "Do you ever wonder, sister, how you would feel if our situations were reversed?"

Corinna floundered. "Of course I do."

"Do you?" Elizabeth flicked her eyes up to meet Corinna's. The brown had nearly swallowed up all the green in her irises and her eyebrows were pulled together. She wasn't just exhausted and anxious. Elizabeth was angry.

"I have been doing as you suggested," Corinna defended. "I've been focusing entirely on the mission, prevented any distractions—"

"That's interesting," her sister interrupted. "Because from what you have been saying, separating yourself from the dramatics of this world is the opposite of what you are doing."

Corinna found herself at a loss for words. "Are you saying you don't trust my efforts?"

Elizabeth snapped the book shut, startling Corinna. "How am I to believe anything when I am not allowed to step foot outside of this cell? For all I know, you could be in complete agreement with the men here, just waiting for the moment I grow ill from solitary confinement and admit to murders I did not commit. Meanwhile, you entertain yourself with female drama and male company."

She felt her cheeks heat. "Male company? Who do you think I am?"

Her sister's eyes flashed. "Do not attempt to tell me you are wary of these women for any reason other than your feelings for that man."

"Ivan?"

"No, the other one."

Knight. "What?" Corinna stammered. "Knight and I are...we are—"

"Do not play dumb with me, sister, I can read jealousy well enough." Elizabeth spat.

Corinna reeled back as if she'd been struck. Whatever had gotten into Elizabeth had made her cruel. Corinna wasn't jealous. Surely she had higher standards for herself than that. Nevertheless, her sister's opinions were quite clear. She didn't trust Corinna, which meant everything she'd been working towards, every person she avoided for the sake of the experiment... it had all been for nothing if Elizabeth didn't believe a second of it.

"How can you say that?" Corinna asked, her voice coming out as a whisper.

"As I've learned with my husband," Elizabeth said coldly, "sometimes the best deceivers are those closest to you."