Tangled Hearts

"How do you always beat me?" Caspian said, his tone a combination of frustration and admiration.

"Because I'm smarter than you," Lara replied bluntly. She captured his queen and declared checkmate to win her third game of chess in a row against her cousin. Some of the fun had started to go out of it. She let herself fall back, draping herself across the pillows of the Mirror Room.

"I want a ship, Caspian," she declared. "Ask Rafe to make me one like he has, with the wings on it."

"What do you need a flying ship for?" Caspian sounded amused.

"What don't I need a flying ship for?" she retorted. But she had been secretly pining for such a contraption since she'd seen the one Caspian's sort-of stepfather had built. When she was little, Lara had always envied birds more than any other animal. While other girls were competing with each other and striving to be the prettiest and the most graceful, all Lara had wanted was to sprout wings and soar away. That kind of freedom was the only thing she had ever truly longed for, and it filled her with a dull but steady ache.

"I'll see what I can do," Caspian chuckled. "Now can we please do something else? This has been enough humiliation for one day."

"Fortunately for you it's dinner time," Belle said, poking her head into the room. "And no one can beat you at eating."

"Ah, my devoted wife. She always knows exactly what to say to make me feel better." Caspian grinned and loped across the room to kiss Belle while Lara made gagging noises. Baby was lounging in the corner but his ears perked up at the words "dinner" and "eating."

Belle was still wary about letting the massive dog near the children but Baby was only curious about them, not even so much as growling when they pulled on his ears and giggled. She had more to fear from Lara, who liked to make snarly faces at them when neither Belle nor Caspian was looking. It used to make them cry or whimper when they were younger but usually now they just blinked at her like little pink owls.

"How long do you think you'll be staying, Lara?" Belle asked, and Lara let her face return to normal just as Belle turned around. She shrugged.

"A couple of months, maybe."

"She wants me to commission Rafe to build her a flying ship," Caspian said. "Where exactly do you plan on flying to, anyway?"

"Anywhere I want to. That's the point."

Anywhere that isn't with my parents, she thought. And anywhere away from all the frilly, catty, empty-headed rich girls she had attended boarding school with. She wanted to go somewhere where no one had ever heard of her and wouldn't bat an eye at the name Everhart. Maybe she would even change her last name. Or drop a last name altogether and live as a mysterious, one-named enigma for the rest of her life.

She was so lost in her musings of where she would go and who she could become she didn't even notice the knock on the door until after Belle had opened it and gave the knocker a warm greeting.

"Rhett! It's so wonderful to see you! I'm so sorry I didn't get much of a chance to talk to you at the party."

"It's all right. I didn't stay for very long anyway," Rhett said, untangling himself from her hug. "I just came by to drop off some toys I brought back from the twins." He glanced over and saw Lara, shooting her a cheeky little smirk. She stared coldly back at him.

"Well this has been a lovely get together," she said, rising from her seat. "But I'm starting to feel a bit sick from all the delicious food. I think it might be best if I went home now."

"Oh! Speaking of the food, we have some of those little cream filled cakes you love so much. Why don't you take some with you, Rhett?"

She wrapped three of the little pastries in napkins and handed them to Rhett. He lit up like a child in a candy store and Lara rolled her eyes as she tried to scoot past the two of them and make a break for the door, Baby on her heels.

"You know, it's getting pretty late. I'm heading out myself, maybe I should walk Lara home," Rhett said casually. Lara froze by the door, turning slowly to pin him with an icy stare.

"Excuse me?" she demanded. Rhett smiled innocently, addressing Caspian. "Some people are still out celebrating our victory and the soldiers can get a little rowdy sometimes when they've been drinking. A young girl shouldn't be walking around at night by herself."

To Lara's horror, Caspian nodded thoughtfully. "That's good thinking, Rhett. If you're going out that way anyway, maybe you should walk her home."

"Has everyone forgotten that I'm eighteen?" Lara complained irritably. "I don't need someone to walk me home. Besides, I have Baby. What's scarier than him?"

"It'll be safer not to walk alone," Caspian said firmly. Lara rolled her eyes so hard she thought she might dislocate her eye socket. This is what fatherhood had done to her once carefree cousin. If he didn't have a daughter of his own now they would not be having this conversation. Something she was sure Rhett knew. She shot him a look that had made young children cry in the past.

"And you think you're going to protect me?" she scoffed. "From my understanding 'general' is a title granted you out of courtesy. You're more like a talking weasel."

"Actually, that honor belongs to Alec's ferret," Rhett said calmly.

"Fine. Talking pig then. Goodnight, traitor," she called to Caspian as she stalked out the door. It didn't take much for Rhett to catch up to and keep pace with her; his legs were much longer than hers. Lara buttoned her cloak without looking at him, trying to ignore him as he munched happily on one of his cream cakes while stuffing the third one in his pocket and following her outside.

"Okay, you've made your point that you can trick Caspian into giving me a babysitter." Lara scowled. "You can go away now."

"Absolutely not. I was asked to walk a lady home and that's exactly what I'm going to do."

"Trying to win some cuff links to match your new watch?" Lara asked acidly, elbowing him out of the way as Baby loped ahead of them.

"Hey lighten up a little. I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings-"

Lara spun around and poked him hard in the chest. "Don't ever presume I need an apology from you," she said. "I assure you there is nothing you can do that would wound my feelings, General Dumbass."

Rhett held his hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay. I retract my apology, if it'll make you feel better."

Lara threw her glove at him, which he clearly hadn't been expecting. His hand shot up by reflex and caught it before a button could smack him in the face. Lara stepped closer while he was staring at the glove in puzzlement.

"You threw a glove at me?" he said. "I was expecting something a little more dramatic."

Lara tilted her head up so she met his gaze, poking him hard in the stomach again. "Trust me, you don't want to be around when I decide to get dramatic," she said, her voice low. "My form of theatrics has frightened away grown men twice your age and size."

She stepped away, her lips lifting in a smug grin. She held aloft his final cream cake, which she had snuck out of his coat pocket while he was distracted by her gloves and her poking. She slowly took a huge bite of it, tossing the rest to Baby when he wagged his tail. Rhett looked from his pocket to her.

"That was mine," he said.

"Well it's not anymore," Lara said sweetly, flicking a bit of cream from her lips. "You should know that it can be dangerous out here at night, Rhett. Drunken soldiers and pastry thieves are nocturnal. Maybe you should go home and lock the door till sunrise."

She blew him a kiss and slipped inside her house, Baby trotting after her. Then she slammed the door in his face.