Tangled Hearts

"Lara, you are eighteen years old! When are you going to start taking your future seriously?"

Lara Everhart remained calm in the face of yet another of her mother's hysterical outbursts.

"I am taking my future seriously," she said mildly as she finished packing her bags. "I'm seriously leaving."

"But Baron Smythely will be arriving tomorrow! He's quite keen on you. Really Lara, you're so ungrateful. You should count yourself lucky that so many men persue you at all, with your scandalous behavior and manner of dress. Honestly, can't you be a bit more modest? If only you were shaped like Princess Annemarie. She's perfectly proportioned."

"Mother, how can you be so naive? Men like Baron Smythely are old perverts. They like my proportions just fine, which is precisely why they want to marry me. I don't see why I need to be grateful that old men who can't even see their own genitalia should want to leer down my dress."

Lara snapped her final suitcase shut, donning her black gloves and cloak and heading down the stairs. If she had things her way, she would never set foot in this house again. She had written ahead to her cousin Caspian in Aegaera, and he had promised to procure her a house to stay in until she figured out where she wanted to go next. Three carriages waited for her out front, laden down with trunks filled with dark dresses and books.

Lara climbed into the largest of the carriages, where her massive black dog, Baby, was sitting with his head out the window, tongue lolling in excitement. He loved carriage rides.

"Lara!" Louisa Everhart stood in the doorway of her grand mansion, looking disgruntled. Lara climbed into the carriage and waved.

"Goodbye, mother dearest!" she called. "Do give my regards to Baron Smythely. Danvers, let's go."

"Very good, ma'am."

The carriage driver snapped the reins and the sleek white horses set off at a steady trot. Lara leaned her head back and petted Baby's head affectionately. She had her inheritance. She had managed to scare off all the men who came calling trying to woo her into becoming their bride. She finally had something resembling freedom. She planned to savor every moment of it.



It took her two weeks to reach Aegaera, and then she could see the spires of the castle rising in the distance. It still sometimes bothered her that her older brother, Harrison, had gone off to teach higher academia at a university here in Aegaera and Caspian had married himself a princess and now had twins. The three of them had been thick as thieves all of Lara's life, and she had imagined having both of them by her side when she made this break for freedom and independence. Instead they were both absorbed in their new lives, and even Harrison seemed to have caught a strong case of puppy love for a woman he met at the university.

Men. Useless creatures. Still, Lara couldn't help but be happy for them. They were both happier than she had ever seen them before. She knew Caspian must be mooning around with an idiotic grin over his son and daughter. She was less than thrilled to see them; she had never been keen on children. But if it was for Caspian she could muscle through.

Lara stopped at the house first to have her trunks moved in. Every dress she owned was some shade of black, wine red, or deep purple, blue or green. She refused to wear the demure pastels that were so popular in Elbis. They made her look like a delicate but busty porcelain doll. Demure and delicate were two words that had never applied to Lara Everhart.

After making sure her books and maps were neatly organized and her prized chess set was arranged neatly on the windowsill of her room, Lara made her way to the castle, Baby trotting at her heels. She found her cousin in the Mirror Room, sitting amid the piles of pillows and cushions beside his wife while they played with the babies.

"This picturesque scene of domesticity is beautiful," Lara said, by way of greeting. "I could just puke."

"It's great to see you Lara." Caspian grinned and rose to pull her into a crushing one-armed hug, his year and a half old daughter nestled in the crook of his other arm.

"Carina, this is your cousin Lara," he cooed to the infant girl. She blinked up at Lara with the same piercing silver eyes Caspian and his mother had. She had curly black hair and pink, round cheeks.

"She's...pink. And kind of fat," Lara said and Caspian laughed.

"Glad to see you haven't changed," he said.

"It's nice to see you again, Lara," Belle said, joining Caspian with another wriggling baby in her arms.

"Do you want to hold Davis?" Belle asked.

"Maybe later," Lara replied. "Congratulations on making two tiny people and pushing them out of your woman parts, by the way."

Belle looked like she didn't know whether to be amused or uncomfortable. Caspian just rolled his eyes.

"I was involved too," he pointed out.

"Yes Caspian. Congratulations to you too. Clearly your penis did a bang up job in more ways than one."

"Your family is so weird," Belle muttered.

"We're having a party tomorrow night," Caspian said, unfazed. "Well, Aegaera is. The army went in to help Farewyth fight off invaders from the Lotheasa Mountains. The invaders surrendered and we drew up a peace treaty."

"Elbis has had a bad influence on this place," Lara said dryly. "You're throwing parties for everything these days."

Caspian grinned. "Who doesn't love a good party? You should come since you're here."

Lara sighed dramatically. "Well I do liven up any party. If it'll make you happy, dear cousin, then I'll be in attendance."

"Wearing something custom made and black?" He smirked. Lara batted her eyelashes.

"What else is there?"