Chapter 11 Uh... What?

Chapter 11 Uh... What?
The room stays frozen for several long, uncomfortable seconds, the occupants exchanging nervous glances except at the center of attention right now.

Rosetta looks as if someone stuffed cotton down her throat, Rhea has plastered herself behind her parents like Amaris is suddenly contagious, and Mr. Hanxton… well, he just looks mildly inconvenienced as always but even at that, it’s still obvious some things or many things are not being said.

Amaris awaits the answer to her question.

Her smile remains politely pinned in place, but her eyes narrow just slightly.

“Can’t be what, ma’am?” she repeats softly, gesticulating with her hand in a circular motion.

Rosetta’s mouth opens , then snaps shut, wordless.

Her gaze skitters everywhere except Amaris’s face.

Rhea nudges her mother’s arm urgently, whispering something that sounds very much like “Tell her it was something you said wrongly…”

Maybe they don’t know it but their whispering is loud enough to be clearly heard without straining a single ear muscle.

Mr. Hanxton scratches his jaw and mutters, “Well… she did ask…”

Rosetta elbows him in the ribs so hard he wheezes.

Finally, Rosetta clears her throat and forces a stiff, trembling laugh. “Never mind that! You! You have asked too many questions already this morning after staying out all night! You’re being suspicious.”

Rhea nods so fast she looks like a bobblehead. “Yes! Yes! No more questions and we also won’t ask why and where you spent the whole of last night.”

Amaris blinks. “I have only asked one question.”

“And that was one too many!” Rosetta snaps, then immediately softens her voice to an unconvincing coo. “Sweetheart… darling… why don’t you go outside and… um… burn that rancid letter? Yes! Rhea’s… letter.”

Rhea shoots her mother a betrayed look. “Mum!”

Rosetta whispers sharply back, “Do you want her standing here asking why she has a wolf?!”

Amaris hears those words clear as day… what exactly is the reason behind this panic?

Rhea shuts up instantly.

Rosetta bends down and shoves a familiar irritating-smelling cream colored envelope into Amaris’s hands so fast Amaris barely registers the motion. “Take this to the firepit behind the house and throw it in, make sure it burns. Immediately, stop dawdling.”

Amaris looks down at the letter, then back at them.

None of them meet her eyes.

Her wolf tilts her head lazily inside her mind. ‘They’re hiding something. And they’re terrible at it.’

“Obviously,” Amaris replies silently before proceeding to nod stiffly. “I’ll burn it.”

“Great!” Rosetta claps her hands too loudly. “Off you go!”

Rhea opens the door as if releasing a dangerous animal back into the wild.

The moment Amaris steps into the hallway, Rosetta slams the door shut behind her with a trembling sigh.

Amaris walks outside the house, the envelope pinched between two fingers, the scent from it making her scrunch her nose but she can’t even bring her hand to her nose to cover it as it’s covered in the scent too. She throws it into the firepit and watches it burn for a few seconds.

‘Do you still want to know what makes a letter smell like that?’

“Didn’t you say it was desperation?”

‘Can you physically infuse desperation into a piece of paper?”

Amaris shrugs.

‘Rhea had put some of her essence on the letter…’ the wolf chuckles loudly.

Amaris frowns, a little lost. ”What do you mean by essence?”

‘Her woman fluid, you know? The one that flows from the hole down below…?’

Amaris gags, the disgust reaching new heights as the wolf cackles evilly. She runs to the side of the house where she finds a flowing tap of water and proceeds to scrub her skin so hard it turns a deep shade of red and pink before she is satisfied.

Only then does she return inside, where she finds the Hanxtons hastily arranged in the living room, pretending they’ve been there the whole time, trying to not show how weird the entire day is turning out to be.

The Hanxton house should sound like it always does, pots clanging, Rhea whining about something insignificant, Rosetta barking orders as if the world would crack without her shrill and rude commands to people who work for her.

But today, there is obviously a strange awkwardness in the air, a crackling tension that Amaris cannot quite name, especially as she knows that her getting her wolf today, her birthday which by the way no one has wished her for, is the main reason behind all of the awkwardness.

She pushes open the front door cautiously, hugging the walls out of habit.

Rosetta stands by the mantel, hands trembling around a cup of tea she hasn’t sipped, not far from her, Rhea sits stiffly on a stool, chewing on her nail, which she never does, because she claims it’s a “peasant habit.”

Mr. Hanxton is on the chair by the fire, half-asleep, uninterested in everything as usual.

Three wolves with three expressions and none of them looking at her, but she knows that they are all well aware that she is standing right there.

Amaris tilts her head. “You still haven’t told me—”

“NOT that darned question again!” Rosetta snaps suddenly, the cup rattling violently as she sets it down.

Amaris stiffens.

Rhea shoots to her feet like a jack-in-the-box. “Mum! Don’t yell at her!” She reduces her voice to a semi-dramatic whisper, “What if someone hears us yelling at her and reports that we’ve been mistreating her…?”

“I can hear you,” Amaris says quietly, balling her fists. They haven’t cared about that all this time, so why do they suddenly care about being heard mistreating their own servant when that is all they ever do anyway?

Rhea flinches like the words are thrown knives.

Rosetta presses her fingers to her temples and inhales sharply. “Why are you here so soon? Did you make sure the paper was really burnt?”

Amaris blinks. “Yes ma’am, I made sure the paper burnt. But since you are not answering my question, I was heading into the kitchen. That is where I wanted to go make you all a late lunch?”

“We know what you do here!” Rosetta blurts. “You… you ruin things. And break plates. And cause drama. And…”

“I haven’t broken anything in seven years!”

“THAT ISN’T THE POINT!”

‘Of course… Just what the fricking hell is going on now?’ Amaris’s wolf mutters, facepalming.

Mr. Hanxton lifts his head halfway. “Honey… stop yelling. You’re scaring even me, think how frightened the poor girl must be with all the raised voices and random whispers.”

Rosetta turns slowly toward him with a death glare. “Shut up, Porter.”

He immediately returns to pretending to sleep.

Amaris shifts uncertainly, she is obviously the victim here and yet she just has no idea of what the hell is going on.

What is wrong with them? she thinks.

Her wolf gives a soft, distracted hum. They know.

Amaris frowns inwardly. Know what?

Everything.

But before she can ask what that means, Rosetta suddenly lunges forward and grabs her by the shoulders. “You need to leave! Now!”