The road to the Van Brandt Estate on the outskirts of Prism was paved in asphalt that had thoroughly been painted red. Felix shuttered to think how difficult it must be to maintain such a thing let alone the cost of it. All to produce such a hideous product of self-inflation. Not even Valentina was pompous enough to insist that every stone, leaf, and twig be doused in black. Although, Felix imagined the only thing keeping her from doing so was a lack of money.

As Felix and Eleonora stepped out of their red automobile onto red gravel, they tilted their heads back to take in the tall spires of the manor's high-pitched roofs, complete with snarling painted gargoyles in the shapes of mischievous goblins, griffins, and long-bellied dragons. Everything, every square inch of the massive house was that bright, harsh cardinal red even the grass covering the lawn. Felix never thought he'd miss his family home's monochrome black.

Eleonora looked like she was having the same reaction to her childhood home as he had to his own. She took deep breaths and clenched her hands at her sides, readying herself to enter back into her mother's domain. Every muscle was tensed, her body wanting nothing more than to run away.

"It will be all right, Dear," Felix said, offering her his arm with a pretty, dimpled smile. "After all these years, I've gotten good at lying through my teeth."

"That's what I'm afraid of." She glared at him, unmoved by his dimples.

"We are equally suspicious of each other, believe me, but a promise is a promise. I will help you however I can, but we both need to cooperate with each other if we're going to get through this. She expects us to be a loving newlywed couple. We need to play the part. Take my arm, Eleonora."

She blew out a breath through her nose and took hold of his arm. Her fingers, long and elegant despite the smallness of her hands, dug into the rich, shimmery fabric of his now ruined jacket. "If I find out you played some part in this I'll rip your guts out through your nostrils." She warned him in a low breath.

"Kinky," Felix chuckled through a smirk. His laughter, however, was short-lived and never reached his eyes. "I'll remind you, Eleonora, that he nearly ran me over too...If my mother sent him, she had no qualms about killing me as well."

Eleonora's hold on his arm tightened as the severe scowl on her face melted away, giving way to the stoic mask she'd worn on their wedding day. "Well, no sense in putting off the inevitable. Let's get this over with quickly so we can go home."

"Sounds good to me." He looked over at the automobile, at the empty driver's seat. "Where did Robin go?" 

Eleonora's eyes rolled skyward. "He's around, I'm sure. My mother isn't too fond of him, so he stays clear."

"Lucky fellow," Felix said, looking up at the upper reaches of the house as they made their way up the red brick steps. Blue sky gave way to endless red and suddenly Felix wished he too he could sprout wings and fly away as the pressure of immense magic pressed down on his shoulders. At his side, Eleonora whimpered, her body stiffening, bracing against the onslaught of that sensation of outside force pressing against them, the air thick as molasses. 

"She's in a mood." Eleonora grimaced as Felix all but carried her into the manor's foyer.

Felix kept striding forward, willing himself not to react to it. He showed none of the discomfort he felt as he pretended not to feel it at all. 

 It was like being in a cathedral, Felix thought. The ceilings were so tall and the room weirdly cavernous and yet, the house felt homey, far homier than the Salazar manor had ever felt. There were actual comfortable-looking couches, little knickknacks, and vases filled with flowers decorated the tables and shelves. He could see where Eleonora got her taste for little trinkets. Although Eleonora was far more extreme, bordering on a hoarder. The house smelled like coffee and baking. Sunlight poured in through enormous windows not hidden behind thick velvet curtains, allowing the light to warm the space. A family portrait hung over the fireplace mantle. Younger versions of Charlotte and Rufus held a small Eleonora between them in an embrace. Felix gawked at it, first at how handsome Rufus was once upon a time. It took him a moment before he even realized that the two parents were not alone. They held their only child between them as if she were the most precious thing in existence, their arms around her and each other, forming a little cage of familial love. Little Eleonora was as petite as a child as she was as an adult. Tiny and bird-boned, as his mother called it, all swallowed up in endless layers of red frilly skirts, lace, and bows, her hair coiled in huge ringlets. The pout, Felix was amused to find, remained the same, unchanged by the decades since the portrait's painting. "Why am I suddenly so profoundly jealous of you?" He asked her, winning said pout in return for his teasing. It was not all in jest. He truly was jealous of her, of the much happier childhood, she must've had. He couldn't help but feel a little angry at her as well for resenting what he would've given anything to have for even a moment. 

"Appearances can be deceiving," Eleonora whispered under her breath.

"El! My Girl!" Rufus Van Brandt, Eleonora's father, poked his head out of the doorway. He came busting out of what he assumed was a kitchen with a mixing bowl tucked against his big belly, stirring away at chocolate chip cookie dough with a wooden spoon. "I'm so glad you're here! I'm baking your favorite cookies!"

Eleonora's grimace grew more severe. "Thank you, Pop-Pop, but I'm afraid I'll have to get some later. Mama's summoned us for a meeting." 

"Oh, that's too bad." Rufus hummed under the scruff of his heavy mustache. "Felix, would you like some cookies?"

Felix forced his gaze away from the absolutely hideous sweater his father in law was wearing. There was a huge striped cat eating pancakes stitched onto the front with the words, Meowy Morning!, above its head. "I would absolutely love some." Felix beamed. "We'll be sure to join you for some cookies and coffee before we leave. I'd hate for all your hard work to go to waste."

"Wonderful!" Rufus gushed excitedly. "I'll put another pot of coffee on!" He scurried back into the kitchen, almost tripping over himself in his excitement.

"Your Pop-Pop is adorable." Felix teased, fighting a laughing fit. 

"Eleonora jabbed him in his side. "Felix," she hissed. "I don't want to be here any longer than I have to be."

"Did you not see the man's face! He was so happy to see you, how can you turn him down?"

"I'd rather not disappoint him when I make a run for it as soon as I'm dismissed." She sighed, holding on tight to Felix as they ascended up the impressive spiraling staircase. "My father is a sweet man and I love him very dearly, but he tends to treat me like I'm three years old, rather than thirty. I'd rather he not embarrass me in front of you at this stage in our relationship."

"Do we have a relationship now? Funny I wasn't made aware of that."

"Stop being a cock, Peacock." 

"Have I mentioned that I prefer your true personality to the one you hide behind?" Felix said, coming to a stop on the second-floor landing. Her hand fell away from him and he tucked his hands into his pockets, not knowing what to do with them. "I enjoy spitfires."

"I'm sure you have, with the way you strut your plumage about." She said, lifting her chin haughtily as she strode ahead of him down the hallway to a pair of doors at its end, the paneling of it almost lost against the cardinal wallpaper. 

"Lovers, Eleonora, we're supposed to be lovers." Felix huffed beneath his breath, quickening his pace to follow at her side. "You do know how to play that part, don't you?"

"Of course I do." She whispered back. She pouted at him. "Fine." She grabbed his arm and looped it around her shoulders, tucking herself against his side as the doors ahead of them swung open. 

Charlotte's study was quite different from the rest of the house. At once, Felix saw the tell-tale order of the room and everything in it. The room was bare of clutter. Out of the few objects that remained, they all had their place. Pens were neatly lined up in a perfectly spaced row on her desk. The books on the bookshelves lining every wall bore labels on their spines indicating their place within the collection. There, the Prime Minister was, her fingers gliding across the spines in search of a particular volume.

"Do you have any idea how many calls I've had to make today to cover for you?" Charlotte asked without turning around.

"I imagine quite a lot more than the time I turned that Essex boy briefly into a pig." Eleonora retorted. Felix swallowed nervously. 

"Fourty-six. Half of whom were from reporters." Each syllable snapped at them like a whip. "What the hell happened?" Charlotte turned toward them, her eyes shooting directly toward Felix. "Tell me, what you know. That was your car your brother was driving, wasn't it?"

"It was. When I married Eleonora, I left it with my mother to do with what she pleased. I suppose Marcel took it out for a drive."

"Even though it doesn't bear the Aziza family color?"

Be calm. He repeated those words inwardly again and again. Dealing with an angry magician, especially a Matriarch was always frightening, but it always turned out worse when he let that fear get the better of him. "It's not unusual for him. He always wears black to a summoning. I'm sure he'd have no issue in taking my old car for a spin."

"You too seem to have an odd attachment to your old colors. You should be wearing Van Brandt red, especially within my presence."

Felix pat the small square of red fabric tucked into this breast pocket. "I'm working my way up to the full suit. We came straight from the clinic, I'm afraid I didn't have a chance to change. My apologies."  Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Eleonora staring at him. If she'd expected him to cower in front of her mother, she'd been sorely mistaken. Charlotte could be intimidating, for sure, but she wasn't Valentina Salazar. She was strict. His mother...was a monster.

As if to prove his thoughts wrong, Charlotte moved around the desk with a swish of red skirt, rushing forward in a blur and suddenly taking hold of Felix's neck before he could so much as blink.

"Stop it, Mother." Eleonora hissed.

"Quiet. I need to know how much danger you are in and if I should point some daggers toward Valentina's liver." Charlotte replied cooly. "Do you know of any reason why your family might possibly want to harm Eleonora?" Charlotte asked, pressing her fingers harder into his throat. 

Felix could feel something, a fuzzy feeling in his mind, like a feather being drawn lightly over his skin. Magic, he thought, hate burning his chest. So quick Matriarchs always were to use their power to get what they wanted, no matter what harm it caused. Words spilled from his mouth. Words he'd already repeated over and over again. He let them out. There was no reason to hold them. "I don't know. If my mother wants her dead, I have not been made aware of the plot. My mother wanted me to marry into your family. I cannot fathom how Eleonora's death would benefit me." He bore his teeth at her. "Or her." The sensation in Felix's skull turned sharper, like a fingernail picking at a scab. It stung. His eyes wanted to water, but he willed himself not to react to it. To react to pain would only make her want to hurt him more. Instead, Felix raised his hand to Charlotte's wrist and his mouth curved into a soft, becoming smile. "I would not harm a hair on dear Eleonora's head. Please, you must believe me." He chose his words very carefully, avoiding lies, which Charlotte was scrounging through his mind for. More specifically, she was looking for tells, a spike of fear and anxiety. He'd endured such invasive magic before. He knew well how to throw it off. He'd been doing it for years.

"There. You've poked and prodded enough. If you didn't find what you're looking for then kindly let my husband go." Eleonora slid herself between Felix and his mother and law, pressing a small hand against her mother's chest. Not hard enough to shove, but enough to make her move and release Felix from her hold. 

"I am satisfied," Charlotte said, folding her arms over her chest while maintaining eye-contact with her daughter. Peculiarly, Felix felt much the same as he had when Charlotte had visited the Salazar Mansion like he was watching a pair of lionesses sizing each other up. "I found no deception. It seems that if the Salazars are plotting something against us, he's been left out of the loop."

"I could've told you that without you scaring the life out of the poor boy." Eleonora scolded her mother. Felix couldn't help but wince at her choice of words. He was far from a boy, last he checked, but now his buried insecurities raised their ugly heads, making him wonder how it was that Eleonora saw him. He was a few years younger than her... Eleonora spun toward him, gazing up at him in concern, and to his immense surprise, she reached up and lightly touched his cheek in a loving caress of fingertips across the skin. "Are you all right, Darling?" She cooed over him sweetly.

Ah. It's an act, he thought. There was no way on God's green earth she'd talk to him so affectionately without at least a little sarcasm. 

Charlotte's gaze dropped to where their bodies pressed against each other. Her lips twitched, pulling one corner every slightly toward her ear. "I see you two are getting along well. How are you finding the match?"

Felix grabbed up Eleonora, holding her pressed tight against his side, surprising a rather cute squeak from her lungs. His smile flashed, but he swallowed the laughter trying to claw its way up his throat. "Fairly well, I'd say. We've been enjoying getting to know one another."

Charlotte quirked her thin eyebrow, apparently as surprised as Felix himself by the fact that Eleonora didn't immediately punch him in the face. "I won't be waiting another decade for a miracle grandchild, I hope?"

"Hopefully. We're already trying, in fact." Felix played up his sweetest coo, feeling Eleonora burning holes in his face with her eyes all the while. She was as stiff as a board in his arms, her face bright red. Yes, it was a lie of sorts, but not entirely. He was trying, trying to survive this marriage, trying to win her over. To be safe, he measured his breaths and filled his head with thoughts of rain pelting the glass of his bedroom window, calming thoughts to slow his heart and ease away any fear. 

"Oh! How marvelous!" Charlotte gasped and giggled, suddenly yanking Eleonora away from Felix and squeezing her so tightly Felix swore she started turning blue. "My sweet daughter, I'm so glad you've finally come to your senses!" She kissed her cheek and released Eleonora slightly. She still gripped her by her upper arms, her fingers dug into her red sleeves. "Had I known Salazars were more to your liking I would've suggested him a long time ago." She said teasingly. "I had no idea you had such good taste."

"What can I say?" Eleonora sighed in defeat. "He is very handsome."

"I'll have to get started on an invitation list for the baby shower, oh and we must hurry those contractors along on the repairs to Briar House. It simply will not do for you to bring a baby home to that rental of yours." Any thought about his family's possible plot to murder Eleonora was seemingly gone from Charlotte's head. 

"I'm not pregnant yet, Mama," Eleonora said in a soft and timid voice that sounded very wrong to Felix's ears. More and more the shy act she put on rang more hollow and sad. 

"You might be. Just keep at it. It'll happen sooner or later. In the meant time, it's best to be prepared." Charlotte said with that thin red smile. She grabbed Eleonora by her cheeks and smacked another kiss on her brow before turning her attention to her son-in-law. She seized him suddenly, pressing him against her with her hands at his shoulder blades, her chin propped on his shoulder. "Well done, Felix," She whispered in his ear. "I knew you wouldn't disappoint me."

God only knew how Eleonora would take those words. Over Charlotte's shoulder, Felix looked to his wife. Eleonora wasn't looking at them. Her eyes were downcast, her teeth buried in the meat of her lower lip. He prepared himself for a glare, a rake of invisible claws across his face, his mind, his spine, something, but nothing came. Nothing at all. She just looked sad. 

It was a relief when Charlotte finally dismissed them after a good half hour of gushing over imagined grandchildren. The entire time, Eleonora had sat in silence while Felix made small talk and mindlessly agreed to everything Charlotte said. Once out of her mother's presence, however, Eleonora perked up like a wilting flower in the sun. 

"I think my mother likes you more than she should. I have a good mind to leave you here with them since you seem to get along so well," Eleonora grumbled as Felix helped her back down the stairs. 

"It's called charm, my Dear. It helps me get along with everyone." Felix said. Charm, he'd learned from a very young age, could keep one alive. 

"Why did you have to tell her we were trying to have a baby?"

"It got her mind off of what happened at the cafe, didn't it? Besides, I only said we were trying, which most people would assume we were doing anyway. Most newlyweds, believe it or not, do have sex on occasion." 

"You sound frustrated, Felix? Is this the longest dry spell you've endured in your life?" She asked through a smirk. "Is your hand not doing it for you? By all means, don't let me stop you. I wasn't lying before. You can do as you please so long as my family doesn't find out about it. Believe me, I won't mind." The two of them lingered in the foyer, speaking in hushed tones. Thankfully, a radio was playing deafening classical music. A soprano belted out an aria whilst Rufus hummed along from his home within the kitchen.

"I'm afraid I'm not that kind of man," Felix said, slipping his hands into his pockets, relaxing his posture for the first time since he'd entered the house. "I'm married to you. Even if I do have your blessing, the idea just isn't appealing."

Eleonora toyed with a lock of hair, indulging her nervous habit. "If you intend to wait for me to warm to you, I'm afraid you'll be waiting forever." She said, winding the lock of hair around her fingers. "Sex has never appealed to me. It's messy and seems like a waste of time for too brief a reward."

Felix couldn't help the chuckle that shook his chest. At least he hadn't laughed as hard as he wanted to. "If that's how you feel, then, forgive me for speaking ill of the dead, but he didn't do something right." 

Eleonora's face turned as red as her dress, realizing what she'd let slip from her mouth. "I-it wasn't Charles' fault. Like I was telling you earlier, I...I just never felt any desire between us. I liked him as a friend. I've never really had any interest in romance, not even when I was young."

"You say that like you're an ancient hag. You're still young."

"I'm glad you think so. My mother thinks there's an expiration date stamped on my ass." She bit at her lip. "Did what I said make any sense to you? I can't imagine it did, you being a Salazar and all. You're all known for your beauty and...um...virility."

Ah, the family reputation. The Salazars were always the subject of the more scandalous court gossip. By the family's own design, mostly. Part of the reason they hadn't completely fallen out of the Empress' good graces was that Salazars had placed themselves more than once within the imperial bedroom over the years.

Felix nodded. "It's not unusual for certain people to have less libido than others. I don't think you're strange for that." 

"I wouldn't say I don't have any interest" Eleonora was becoming more and more flustered. Her blush was creeping into her ears and down her neck. She stared up at him like a deer in the headlights of an automobile frozen and wide-eyed. "...I mean...fuck...why are we talking about this?"

One of Felix's favorite things about working at Club Orchid was making usually stoic and calm ladies, anything but, getting them flustered and red-faced just from some suggestive words, a look, a slight touch. At the moment, he was having the time of his life, and he wasn't even trying. "You were scolding me about bringing up babies to your mother."

"Right, let's not do that in the future. She's probably already picking out names for our non-existent daughter." She took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself down and rid her cheeks of their flush. "Are you really okay, Felix? I'm sorry she poked and prodded at you."

"It's nothing I haven't dealt with before." This admittance, this hint at his past, instantly made her blush vanish and the mirth that had just filled Felix's belly turn sour. Memories shot to the forefront of his mind. Memories that lived again only in his worst dreams. He suddenly felt so cold all over. It was like he'd been doused with icy water. He clenched his jaw tight and looked away from her, trying his hardest not to feel the ghosts of that sensation, that scrape of nails against his mind. 

"Felix?" Eleonora stepped closer to him, tilting her head to meet his downcast eyes. She lifted her hand, the fingers twitching, uncertain...fearful perhaps.

"There you two are!" Rufus interrupted. He rushed them in a hurried waddle and grabbed Eleonora by the hand before she could make a dash for the door. "I just took another batch from the oven and made some more coffee. I insist you eat something before you go!" 

"Yes, Pop-Pop." Eleonora groaned with a smile on her face. She gave Felix an apologetic look.

 He just smiled one of his bright smiles that showed off his dimples again. "I am dying for some cookies."

Rufus ushered them over to a small breakfast table set aside in a little nook in the kitchen. An enormous plate of chocolate chip cookies sat in front of them along with big mugs of coffee with cream and sure set nearby. 

Felix took one bite of the head-sized cookies and unintentionally moaned. 

"I know they're delicious, but I didn't know they were that good." Eleonora snickered, gingerly sipping at her coffee with the huge mug clasped between both her hands. 

"These aren't plain chocolate chip. What's in these?"

"He sprinkles them with sea-salt at the end. It really compliments the chocolate and tones down the sweetness."

"Mr. Rufus, please, give me the recipe," Felix said around a cheek gorged with cookie. "I need these in my life."

"I'd be happy to write it down for you, although I'm sure that Robin knows how to make these." Rufus said, "Let me fetch some paper and pen. I'll be right back." He hurried from the room leaving Eleonora and Felix alone in the kitchen with only the very loud ticking of the cat-shaped clock on the wall above the table, shifting its yellow eyes and tail from side to side with each tick and the soprano singing her lungs out through the radio. 

"Do you even know how to cook?" Eleonora asked.

"Not really, unless you count making a salad as cooking, but I suppose I'd better learn. It would be nice to be able to make nice meals for our future children."

"You're on thin ice already, Peacock. Don't fall through. I'll leave you to drown." Eleonora muttered against the rim of her mug, gulping down the coffee in earnest as if it were the elixir of life. 

"Your Pop-Pop is adorable, as are you for still calling him that." Felix teased wanting to bring back that blush. 

Eleonora's face regained a little pink. "Don't make fun of me. I was a baby when I started that. I simply never grew out of it. Didn't you ever call your family members silly names?"

"No," Felix answered, licking chocolate from his fingers. "My mother wouldn't let us. We've always been very...formal with each other."

"Formal or cold?"

"Both," Felix said after a brief moment of thought. No, he couldn't think of a single instance in which he called his parents anything other than Mother and Father, although, he was sure that there must've been a time before he could pronounce such words in which he did. He simply couldn't imagine himself being that relaxed around his family, except for one. "Well...I suppose that isn't really the truth. I did use to call Marcel Marcie when I was really young for a short time. Mother made me stop as soon as she could." He looked away from her, lifting his gaze to the ticking cat clock, watching the eyes roll from side to side. "I kind of like your parents so far, honestly."

Eleonora frowned into her cup. "You don't know  my mother as I do."

"No, I suppose I don't, but your mother hugged you, kissed you, seemed genuinely happy for you. Valentina Salazar was never that kind of mother to us."

"You've alluded to her being abusive towards you and Marcel in the past...What did she do to you, Felix?" Eleonora asked worriedly, her brows pinching together.

Felix sat back in his chair, his posture tensing once again as he retreated back from her. "I'd rather not talk about it."

"If you would, it would help make it easier to understand why Marcel might've done what he did."

"I'm sorry...but no...I'm not comfortable telling you all my secrets just yet." Felix swallowed against the very desire to speak, to tell her, to tell anyone, everything he'd endured in that house. Even as a grown man, he was too afraid. 

"You know mine." Eleonora prodded. 

"Yours are...awe-inspiring and terrifying...mine are just sad, Eleonora. All you need to know right now is that there is a very good reason why Marcel and I fear her." The look in Felix's eyes changed, and though he was still looking toward the clock, he appeared to be looking far away into the distance at something he couldn't quite see clearly. "Marcel most of all."

"You're very close to your brother." Eleonora said, taking a bite from her own cookie. "That's surprising, given how much older he is than you."

"He's older, but I've always felt the need to look after him and protect him from our mother. He lost his daughter to her manipulation years ago when I was still too young to do anything to stop it. I've tried to remain as close to him and his family as I can, especially to Serafina. I was hoping to be a good influence on her, teach her a little bit of rebellion. My greatest fear is that Valentina will sink her claws into that girl's mind and twist her into a copy of herself."

"She can try to change Fifi, but she won't succeed. She has her grandmother's iron will, but she has her own wants and desires. I imagine, when she becomes Matriarch of the Salazars, your family will breathe a collective sigh of relief. The dynamics between each Salazar will shift...and hopefully, change for the better."

"I hope you're right." Felix smiled at her, grateful for this small show of kindness and understanding. "Fifi?"

"That's my nickname for her. It makes her sound like a spoiled cat, doesn't it? She can't stand it, but I thought it suited her. All the Salazars remind me of very proud and elegant house cats."

"Do we?" Felix laughed. "Do I remind you of a cat?"

"Definitely. You and Hugo are practically twins." Eleonora laughed. Genuinely laughed. Not just a chuckle, but a jovial, bellied giggle. It was the first time in their entire relationship that Felix could remember hearing such a sound from her.

Felix found himself laughing along. "Yet you call me Peacock all the time."

"Would you prefer I call you Kitty?" Eleonora propped her chin up on her knuckles, smiling her mother's thin-lipped smile. It suited her more than Charlotte, Felix thought. She was pretty when she smiled like that. Suddenly, she went very quiet, her eyes cutting away from him to the doorway that led out into the living room. The opera singer's voice was rising to its highest pitch to the point Felix could feel the vibrations of it in his chest. "Do you know what opera this song is from?" She asked.

"I'm afraid not. I prefer jazz." 

"It's from the climax of the opera, "The Foolish Empress." It's about a young empress who falls in love with a mysterious man. She spoils him with treasures and attention, giving him everything he asks her for. When he asks her for her life, she promises it happily, thinking it a proposal of marriage only to find out at the end that he was a fae in disguise. She promised him her life, and so, he took it. The opera ends with her servants finding her dead in her bed. They say it was inspired by Empress Alexandra herself, although it seems like any other fairytale to me. A cautionary tale to young women not to give too much of themselves to people who would bleed them dry. Of all the operas I've been dragged to over the years, it is perhaps the worst. There's to be a showing this Saturday, I believe, if you'd like to join me." 

Felix raised his eyebrows. "You want to go to the opera? Together?"

"Hell no, but she will be there. Empress Theresa adores the opera. She never misses an opening night. All of the main suspects will be there, in fact."

"I see. It's a good opportunity to spy." Felix smiled slyly.

"I'll remind you, Peacock, that we did make a deal. No squirming out of this one. I need a date and someone who can see in the dark." 

Felix raised his mug of coffee in a toast. "I am at your service, Madame." He agreed readily, knowing that he'd already dug his own grave. He only hoped that God would show him mercy when he was burned at the stake for treason. 

Felix looked out the window as Robin drove back up the driveway of the Van Bradt estate onto the red road that led back into the city. The ride was a quiet one with no words passing between either Eleonora and himself or Robin. The quiet now wasn't quite so deafening, somehow even relaxed.  Felix leaned his head against the window, feeling himself start to doze.

"Robin, once we return home, I'd like you to take a letter for me to House Aziza," Eleonora said, breaking the comforting quiet. 

"Yes, Miss El," Robin said, making a right turn while glancing up at the rearview mirror at Felix. 

"Don't start trouble with them," Felix begged. 

"I'm not starting any trouble. I'm merely requesting a chance to visit with them tomorrow. You did want to check in on Marcel, didn't you? Even if Marcel is family to you, I can't just show up at another High House's door without some warning." 

"I can go by myself." Felix protested. 

"I'm sorry, Felix, but I'm still not entirely convinced that you aren't in league with your family against me."

"You realize I would have died too had Marcel not missed us. Besides, your mother dug through my head earlier and told you I wasn't lying."

"A great many people have given their lives for causes they deemed worth it. What my mother found doesn't mean much. It's not foolproof if the person knows about certain countermeasures." She eyed him knowingly. "I'm going with you. End of discussion." 

Felix groaned a curse, taking a cookie from the tin Rufus gave them. He tore into it with relish, easing his irritation with salty-sweet cookies. With each step forward, it felt like he took twelve back.