As soon as Edgar had gone out of earshot, Edna sneered those words at Arabella to which she quickly replied, "It's not a peasant's task,"
In response, Edna crossed her arms over her chest and squinted her eyes, "You know, I understand groveling before the Lady and the Master. They say jump then so would I jump, but why Edgar?" her irises stalked the man's figure until he disappeared inside the mansion, "He's a nobody, just like you and I," a faint smirk appeared on her lips.
"He's not a nobody, and… You're not a nobody either," Arabella muttered.
In a snap, Edna's features twisted as she bared her teeth at Arabella, walking dangerously close to her face, "Don't you ever dare!" she hissed, "At least I can go through life without feeling the insufferable need to be liked by everyone I lay eyes on, and I never take what does not belong to me," she nodded.
In those circumstances, Arabella had been forced to lean backwards in order to escape Edna's breath, "I took nothing from you," she protested.
"Oh, but you did!" Edna came even closer, "And I shall make you pay for every last bit of it,"
Seething, the maid flipped around and walked off towards the manor just like Edgar did, leaving Arabella alone to process what had just happened.
While it was safe to say that Edna had been aggrieved since Arabella's arrival, the young woman feared her wrath unescapable.
Paying the price for something that was no fault of hers was not quite new to her, but it remained an unwelcomed experience, nonetheless.
Arabella's heart sank a little in her chest after her short encounter with Edna. She hauled her feet up the stairs to her room where a splendidly dressed table had been awaiting her. The exquisite bouquet of perfumes emanating from the food had wafted to her senses the moment she sat foot inside.
"You shall pay for every last bit of it!"
Those words whirled and swirled in her mind with every spoonful she guided towards her mouth.
Turning bitter as it traveled down her throat, each delicious bite she took sent not pleasure but torment deeper down the pit of her stomach.
All that the young woman wished for was peace of mind and safety, but it seemed the world was determined to let her taste none of the two.
A knock on the door came and freed her from the repellent daze she'd fallen into. In a haste and instead of uttering permission to enter, Arabella pushed her chair back and ran to the door.
"Edgar?" her eyes widened upon seeing him.
"Forgive me if I am overstepping, but I hope Edna hasn't said something that upset you beyond consoling," he offered the sweetest yet faintest of smiles.
"No, you are not overstepping, thank you for coming by," Arabella looked inside her room momentarily, "I would invite you to join me inside, but it would be inappropriate," her blushing face spoke volumes higher than words.
"Oh no! Of course, I understand," he waved his hands in front of himself, "I simply worried since we'd agreed to meet back in the garden after lunch and it's been two hours since then,"
"Has it been two hours already?" she turned towards her room again and went completely quiet for a good moment.
"I am afraid so," he held a soft tone, eyes slightly squinted and strictly on her.
She sighed, eying the dishes on the table in utter disbelief, "I am sorry, I must have gotten lost in my own thoughts,"
"Edna has never been the sweetest, but she is not evil or anything of the sort," he paused for a few seconds, "Don't let her words get to you,"
"Right, of course," she shook the bother off of her features and plastered a smile across her face, "Let me clean the table and tidy the dishes together and I'll join you in the garden?"
With that Arabella ran back to the table and began to put the empty dishes on one side and the untouched ones on a different one.
Edgar remained in his spot, furrowed his eyebrows then muttered, "Clean?" to himself at first before adding, "I shall wait for you here until you finish with what you need to do, if that's alright," he half asked.
Through the clinking of dishes, her voice traveled to him, "Alright, that'd be kind of you,"
"What business do you have on this floor?" a frigid, blood icing voice caused Edgar to quickly turn around.
"Master!" Edgar bowed, "I merely came out of concern and-"
"Return to your work," Silas ordered, his piercing glare lay heavy upon the young man's shoulders.
"Right this moment," Edgar faced the other way and went from whence he came.
"I am all done!" Arabella's chirping got to the threshold of the door before she did, "I…," her face fell a little when Silas' figure greeted her instead of Edgar's.
"Am I interrupting something?"
There it was again… That calm and yet cold tone Silas had used with her in the days that followed her arrival.
It was as though that thin barrier between them that had tumbled was reassembled, casting them back to the starting point.
Arabella curtsied in a haste, "No," she then looked left and right for Edgar.
"Edgar had no reason to be here,"
The glint in his diamonds told the young woman she needed to choose her next words with care, "It was my fault he worried, and merely came to check on me," eyes down cast, her throat ached all through her sentence, causing her voice to crack at parts.
Silas stepped closer to her which wrenched a slight flinch out of her, but the vampire only stopped at mere inches from her and glared down, "He is not to come near this room, ever again,"