Page 28 of Trouble

Chapter Eleven

‘Aster,’ Emily said, knocking again. ‘I know you’re in there. Open the door.’

It was towards the end of the morning, and she had left Grace sketching a chair stacked with things she had gathered from around the room. When asked about the whereabouts of her sister, Grace had vaguely indicated that she was still sleeping – apparently this was quite a common occurrence, and likely the reason that Aster did not ever attend morning lessons. Of course, she didn’t attend afternoon lessons, either, and her reasoning for that seemed to simply be that she’d rather not.

‘Aster,’ Emily said again, knocking louder. For the love of God. She wouldn’t have bothered at all, but for the simmering rage that had kept her awake, thinking of men who tried to touch things that didn’t belong to them.

There had been a man at the mill. Older. Funny, friendly.Fatherly. He had sought her out straight away. At first she thought he was simply looking out for her, but she realised later that he had sensed her vulnerability – the fact that she had never worked anywhere like this before, that her family had recently suffered a hardship – and had seen an opening. She had quickly grown wise to him – found ways to avoid him, to ensure there were always other people around. It had never been more than a hand lingering too long on her arm, or a wink, or a quiet word in her ear that could have been construed as friendliness.

There had been the time he’d cornered her in a back room, but he’d barely taken a step towards her when they were interrupted. She felt as if she had escaped something by a hair’s breadth, and shuddered whenever she slipped up and imagined what could have been.

Oliver wasn’t some old, red-faced lech. He could only have been around Emily’s age. But Aster was sixteen and angry, isolated – convinced she knew better than everybody around her. If Oliverhadwanted to take advantage, he could not have picked a better target. There had been something very untoward about how close they had been the night before, thinking themselves safe from prying eyes.

‘I’m coming in.’

‘Desist,’ Aster said croakily from inside the room. ‘And go away, while you’re at it.’

‘I’m not visiting you because I am so desirous of your company,’ said Emily. ‘I’m coming in for one minute, and then you can sleep until Christmas for all I care.’

Aster said something very rude, and Emily opened the door anyway.

‘You cannot take a hint, can you,’ Aster said from halfway under the blankets. ‘How do you expect to teach anybody else when you have not even mastered the simple meaning of the wordno.’

‘You didn’t say no,’ said Emily. ‘You actually saidgo away, and the last time we spoke,go and fuck yourself.’

‘And yet here you remain,’ said Aster. ‘Unfucked.’

Her room was a mess. She must have banned Akia and Meera from entering it altogether, for it to have fallen into such a bad state. There were mud tracks on the rug and piles of clothes on the chairs. She had somehow removed the glass of the ornate French mirror on the dresser, and probably done something dreadful with it. Piles of rags – Emily assumed they were rags, although some of them looked suspiciously expensive – were stiff with paint, and there were stacks of crumpled artworks on the windowsill.

‘What were you doing with Oliver last night?’

Aster went very still, and then sat up, shedding pillows and blankets as she did.

‘Have you beenspyingon me?’

‘I have better things to do with my time—’

‘Clearly.’

‘I didn’t come here to be insulted. You have made it obvious that you provide delivery for that particular service. I came here to .?.?. Look, if something inappropriate is happening, you ought to .?.?. tell Meera about it. Or Akia. Your father. Anybody.’

Aster somehow looked both derisive and incredulous. And sleepy. There was a lot happening on her face.

‘Somethinginappropriate?’

‘I know what I saw, Aster, and it did not look as if you were discussing the weather. I don’t know what the two of you were doing out in the grounds, but—’

‘You’re right, youdon’tknow. And you never will. I somehow doubt you have the imagination to even attempt a guess. It is absolutely none of your business, and I’d advise you to stay out of mine from now on.’

Emily was so frustrated she could have shaken her. There was nothing in this forher. She didn’t want any part of Aster’s business!

‘Fine,’ she said shortly. ‘But please recall that I warned you, when you realise how foolish you have been later on.’

‘Oh,restrainyourself. Oliver hasn’t done anything wrong, you imbecile. And I am old enough to take care of myself. I need to go to luncheon – get out.’

So irritated she could have spat fire, Emily got out.

This was the thanks she received for trying to do something good – for trying to help somebody who had been rude to her since the day she’d arrived! Insults hurled at her by a petulant adolescent who lived in a den of cushions like an animal. She wouldn’t be making that mistake again.