Chapter Text
By the 15 th slide with no matches, Ferdinand could see the clear frustration grow on the older woman's face, her mouth irking to the side. “Oh, I'm going to kill them just for being such a pain in my ass,” she hissed under her breath.
Ferdinand gave her a weary smile, “is there anything I can do to at least help? Like something to drink?”
She sat up, resting her eyes for a moment as she rubbed her tremble before speaking, “honestly, that sounds lovely, thank you. Did I see a bag of coffee earlier when I came in or was that wishful thinking?”
Ferdinand chuckled slightly, “no, you did. So you're to blame for Hubert's habit,” he joked, “but yes, I will brew you some,” he said, earning her thanks as he left the room as she continued her unenviable tedium. He made his way to the kitchen to start the process, now that he was out of the closed office, he could hear the conversation upstairs easily.
“Hmm… so, are you guys engaged?” Liselotte asked, sounding like she was in deep contemplation.
“Not yet...” Hubert's voice croaked back, something that made Ferdinand's face flush. Yet?
“Seriously, you moved in together without even doing that? Ugh, then if Mom or this poison does kill you, you may get buried next to The Asshole unless you go to someone else's plot – wait. Is he even in the Imperial cemetery?”
“I don't know, after the... dispute was over, I left and the next day the body was gone,”
Liselotte paused, “...you mean ol' Ermie could be at the bottom of the canal for all we know?” she asked with a snort of suppressed laughter.
“His name is on the grave, whether he's in it or not I don't have any idea,” he explained.
Liselotte let out a pleased hum, “oh yeah, what's the new passcode with engineers here in Enbarr in case I have to bug them?” she asked. When there was a pause, she let out an irritated sigh, “seriously? I'm really me – your birthday is the 17 th of the Great Tree Moon, I was born on the 12 th of the Wyvern Moon, and when we were little kids, you had the biggest crush on that Emile-guy, and when he pushed you down and called you annoying for following him around, you cried and cried – ”
Hubert grunted, “okay, stop, just... come closer,” he grumbled.
“You started it,” she snapped back, Ferdinand hearing only the faintest of whispers, unable to discern what was being said.
“Hey Hildie, brother dearest here is probably paranoid about you too, you know the drill,” she said.
“Oh, uh! U-um... my birthday is the 5 th of Pegasus Moon? Oh, wait, why did I say that like it was a question, I know my own birthday, sorry, uh – last Adrestia Founding Day, you got me those medical books from Almyra, does that count?” Hildebrand stumbled over his words.
“See? No body doubles,” Liselotte assured.
Hubert did do that line of questioning with him at times, asking a random personal question or seeing if he could recall something they said the other day. He never put two and two together to realize he was doing that out of paranoia that he was a body double.
He couldn’t help but feel rude eavesdropping, but waiting for water to boil and grinding the coffee beans wasn’t the most thrilling thing. It hit him that he should ask those upstairs if they want anything. He walked up the wooden oak stairs as he continued to listen to the three siblings.
“Okay, um, the salve is ready. It may sting a little,” Hildebrand said in a cautious voice.
As Ferdinand reached the top of the stairs, he jumped hearing a sharp hiss of pain from Hubert, followed by a loud thump, feeling the old wooden boards rumble. His normal gait turned into a speed walk as he approached the room.
The youngest Vestra was sitting on the ground, most likely the bang being him tripping, wide eyed in panic, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” He quickly rattled off.
Liselotte immediately stopped using the white magic as she ran over to the other side of the bed where her little brother was. She grabbed both sides of his face with her hands, forcing him to look at her. “Hey, hey - no one’s mad. Everything’s fine. You’re helping him, okay?” She said in a firm but much gentler tone than she spoke to her older brother. “He’s fine, right?”
She see turned to the man in the bed expectantly and when he didn’t immediately reply, in a low tone she snarled through gritted teeth, “ say you’re fine ,”
Hubert grimaced, “I’m fine - continue…” he managed to string together.
Liselotte smiled then turned to Hildebrand, “see? He’s just being a baby because of the necrotic stab wound is all,” she assured, giving him a pat on both cheeks as she released her hold on him.
“Uh…” Ferdinand finally managed to say. Liselotte turned to him, her dark eyes much more piercing now that he was looking her in the eye, “sorry, I was boiling water to make your mother coffee and I wondered if any of you would want any,”
“Yes please,” the youngest Vestra answered.
Liselotte’s nose scrunched up momentarily, “no thanks, I don’t know how these guys drink that mud water,” she said.
Ferdinand honestly wanted to thank her for having a comrade in disliking it. He forced a tired smile, “I can also make tea, I prefer that much more myself,”
“Excellent, I’ll share that with you,” she said. As Ferdinand turned to head back downstairs, she abruptly added, “I’ll help you,” she said, though it sounded much more like a declarative statement than an offer. “Hildie, do what you need, I’ll be back,” she said before following him.
“Oh, thank you, but it’d be rude to expect a guest to help,” Ferdinand said, but that didn’t seem to deter her.
“And in all those stupid etiquette classes I had to take as a kid, it’s customary for a woman regardless of her social standing to assist in tea making should there be no lady of the house or hired help,” she countered, though it was rather plain to see that wasn’t the reason she was following.
Ferdinand couldn’t help but laugh a little, “I suppose that is correct, I apologize for my impertinence,” when he turned to speak to her, he noticed her hand on the stair rail, oddly sticking out by being completely normal instead of having the skin discolored like her family.
He wanted to tease about someone born from the Vestra household correcting him of etiquette, but paused when he realized that was actually very customary of that family. While he had to take similar classes growing up, he knew Vestra children are given much more strict upbringing. After all, any mistake they make will look poorly on the emperor. He has to remember Hubert is the odd one out when it comes to heirs to that household, never embarrassing his liege, but certainly never could hold his tongue entirely.
As he reached the kitchen, the pot was whistling to show the water had boiled. Despite offering to help, Liselotte stood back out of the way. She wasn’t saying anything either. Ferdinand felt terribly anxious, feeling her eyes locked on him from behind like a hawk watching a mouse from afar as he used the ground beans to prepare the two mugs of coffee. He would have made one for Hubert, but he can barely get him to drink water as is. Hopefully he wouldn’t feel too betrayed giving some to his little brother but not him.
As he put the tea leaves in the metal steeper to place in the teapot, Liselotte suddenly spoke up, “Which of these names are wrong and why; Annegret, Mary, or Christabel?”
He nearly dropped it from the surprise of hearing those names, “wh- uh, Mary is wrong, I don’t have a sister Mary like those other two names, the third is supposed to be Nita. How… do you know their names, do you know them?”
She sighed, visibly relaxing. It seems Hubert isn’t the only one paranoid. It only makes sense, she only just met him and he was able to serve her entire family something to drink, a perfect time to poison them all. She nodded, “haven't seen them in probably 10 years, but yeah. I'd sometimes go there to stay for a few days, one part to play, one part to work,” she explained.
“...work?”
Liselotte twirled her dark brown hair around her finger as she spoke, “of course, brother dearest upstairs isn't the only person put to work by good ol' Erm as a kid,” she explained, Ferdinand noting how she called her father by name, “I was told to play with them and poke them for information. They loved to have tea parties, so we'd play that a bunch and during which I'd ask way too many questions about what your dad does at home,” she started, giving him a crooked grin as she put her two index fingers up to her dimples, “after all, who'd suspect the nosy six-year-old when they were just so cute ? I just wanted to know how alike our daddies were, plus all I got was a maid fussing at me whenever I went to play in his office to pretend to be Minister since I wasn't getting my turn as a grown up. It's not like I could understand those big words on the paper, right?” she spoke in an almost mocking manner.
“Uh...huh,” Ferdinand answered, honestly a little unnerved, learning the Vestra family sent one of their own to spy on his family. Then again, she was right, no one would suspect a little girl, even if she were a Vestra. “I, um, apologize, I didn't recognize you at first,” he said once again today. He didn’t feel as guilty as he did with the mother, all of his sisters had so many friends growing up, he could never remember all their names.
“Hm? Oh, you're fine, you weren't allowed to play tea parties with us, remember?” she said.
Ah... right, his mind did a good job at making him forget how by the age of 10 he wasn't allowed to play with his little sisters anymore, having to devote himself to his studies and activities 'suitable for a young man', according to his father. At least his mother was a huge opera fan so he could continue seeing those with her. “I'm surprised to hear that, I was certain it was only Hubert who had to perform the duties,”
“Well, with The Jackass, Bertie was always picked first, but being the official retainer meant he could get away with telling him to shove it, meaning I got dumped with the jobs most of the time,” It was hard for Ferdinand to keep a straight face knowing his sister calls him ‘Bertie’ and that they all had nicknames for each other, “So I had to learn everything he did in case he dropped dead suddenly - or if I killed him for the family title, you know how Vestra’s are. Or at least Erm, anyway-''
Wait, pause, did you just admit Ermenrich von Vestra was the reason for the tragic drowning of the original heir of that generation? How are we just moving on past that! How is this family so casual with murder!
“-But when Bertie got the title, we did work for him during the war to help since he didn’t want Hildie or me in combat. He asked us to do things in Fhirdiad the last two years of the war and send back whatever we found out,”
“One of the top generals sent his family to Fhirdiad for intelligence!?” Ferdinand exclaimed, as if the previous statement wasn’t baffling enough.
Liselotte winced a little, obviously not used to how loud he got when excited, “Who do you think got you a detailed map of the city current enough to mark where checkpoints were?” she said, “I enrolled at the magic academy there while Mom and Hildie did the groundwork mapping everything out, meanwhile I kept an ear out for anything I was hearing at the academy since its was a straight line from school to army at that point,” she explained, sighing, “all that work only for some stupid knights to set the whole damn place on fire, making it worthless,” she grumbled.
“Is that where you learned faith based magic? I was surprised to see someone from your family proficient in it,” It was standard practice within the nobility to be devout followers of the church, but it wasn't exactly a secret to see in recent generations the Vestra family distanced themselves from it, even before the strained relationship Adrestia had with the church.
“Correct. It was hard at first since I only ever learned black and dark magic, which was a pain to pretend I didn't know since dark magic is illegal in Faerghus, but I figured out how to get around the whole 'faith in the Goddess bestowing me power' thing they drilled in your head at the school,”
“Oh, did you find a deity from another faith to pray to?”
“Nonsense, I looked within and found something in life I can always rely on,” Seeing how close to her family she was, he was expecting that pleasant little anecdote, not, “ Myyyyyy- ” sigils materialized above her hands before they glowed an almost blinding light to punctuate the next syllable of, “- self ,” She grinned deviously seeing Ferdinand's surprised look, the glow quickly vanishing from her hands, “why the scared look? I'm not going to use Nosferatu on you, the vampire is upstairs after all,” she said with a snicker.
It was then Ferdinand realized all the things people said about Hubert in the academy were merely being placed on the wrong one in the family. Liselotte was a Hubert who had the same intense education of a Vestra, but the total anonymity to operate without official titles getting in her way as her mother explained how she hated going to official events, meaning the non-title bearing children weren’t required to go. No one would have any idea she was second in line to inherit one of the most powerful positions in Adrestia. She was far more intimidating than her ailing older brother upstairs. He can only hope he pays her well enough to never turn on their nation.
He pulled out a tray to put the coffee mugs and tea on, “it must be interesting to be a Vestra who only does one half of your familial expectations, since you didn’t serve the Hresvelgs directly,” he said.
In a brief moment, her eyes widened with a look of shock, but it vanished as quickly as it appeared. “I, um, did. With Greta and Heilfrid,” she said in a much quieter voice.
Before Ferdinand had the chance to put his foot in his mouth, she grabbed the tray for him, “I’ll take this to Mom,” she said.
Greta and Heilfrid were the two youngest of the Hresvelg children, only a few months apart as they had different mothers. He remembered when Greta was born and a little Edelgard dragged him over to look at how cute she was. They were last seen a few months after Edelgard left for Fhirdiad, but… they never came back like their big sister. It made sense she looked after them, Liselotte would have been a few years older than the pair, like how Hubert was with Edelgard.
He followed after her so he could apologize for such a horrible assumption, but both paused hearing an agitated, loud growl come from Hubert’s office followed by a bang. Their pace turned brisk as they both seemed to have forgotten that awkward exchange to see what was wrong. Ferdinand opened the door, seeing the older woman pacing around the room, the old heavy chair flipped to its side. He was antsy to speak, a familiar pang of anxiety stinging in his chest remembering having to approach his own mother in such a mood.
Yet it seemed such a thing wasn’t a threat to her daughter as it was to him, waltzing in and setting the tray on the desk. “Let me guess, you looked at everything you had and found nothing?” She asked.
Crescentia continued her pace back and forth in the room, her eyes closed with a scowl as her fingers rubbed her temples, “I just don’t understand, I’ve never seen anything like it before,” she hissed under her breath. “What in the world did they use, some kind of deep sea creature unknown to society?” She thought out loud.
Liselotte watched her mother, tilting her head to the side as she thought, “Subterranean fungi? Their base is theorized to be underground,” she suggested.
“See, I wondered the same thing, but fungi look different under the microscope. It's so bizarre, I never seen something with that composition before, and white magic works on such poisoning. I'm not even sure if I am seeing the complete picture – like the dried remains on the blade isn't enough to go off of,”
Liselotte began piling sugar cubes in her tea cup, to the point it was a wonder if she was merely having tea with her sugar, “so do you think as it dried up, its original composition broke down?” She said, letting her mother bounce her thoughts off of her.
“Potentially, but how, ” his mother mumbled.
Ferdinand mulled over his words carefully before speaking, “I am not sure how I can meaningfully contribute, but I'm afraid I'm at a loss as much as you are. I don't know much about them, other than they were a unit occasionally deployed during the war, but not under any of our command, only Edelgard's uncle. The spear they gave Hubert during the war is nothing like I've ever seen before. Wherever they come from, it's nothing Fodlan has made,”
Suddenly, Crescentia stopped, her eyes opening, “Nothing Fodlan has made,” she whispered as an epiphany hit her. She made a B-line back to the desk, the two other individuals watching as she put on her gloves once more before a dark magic sigil encircled her hand in its eerie dark violet light. She grabbed the weapon at its hilt with the magic enveloped hand, the knife reacting with the magic as it began to glow, the center of the blade shining intensely. From there a viscous substance excreted, Crescentia angling it downward to make sure none got on her, “A substance white magic cannot heal because it was not made by the hand of the Goddess, something made wholly by mortals, and can only be accessed by magic that defies her,” she said out loud.
“Is that even possible?” Liselotte asked.
“By the Adrestian empire right now? Doubtful, but as Ferdinand said, they have technology completely foreign to our country, potentially to the rest of the world,” Crescentia responded.
“Then... Do you know how to help Hubert now?” Ferdinand asked, though the sinking pit in his stomach knew her answer.
Crescentia had a long pause as she stared at the weapon, before admitting, “I don't,”
Liselotte frowned and stomped her foot, “then we'll figure it out,” she defiantly said. “If they can make it, then they must have some kind of antidote or spell in case some idiot in their organization gets it on themselves. We'll just go to the source,” she said.
“To Shambhala? Do we even know where it is?” Ferdinand asked.
“...I don’t at the moment, but engineers may have been able to pinpoint where they reside from the attack at Arianrhod,” Crescentia said, the magic dissipating from her hand, causing the weapon to lose its glow. She went quiet for a moment, her eyes narrowing as she plotted out their next actions. “Hubert was looking into smaller strongholds they held across the land to gather more information before commencing a wide scale assault at the home base. We cannot risk wasting time on finding one of these with only the hope they have an antidote. Lottie, you may be right…”
“We can take Hubert to the palace, I’m certain Edelgard will ensure his safety,” Ferdinand said. “I know I am a public figure, but please, let me accompany you. To merely sit and wait would drive me mad. Please, I must do something to help,” he said.
Crescentia looked at him, offering a small smile, “don’t worry, I already had that in mind. We can find ways around hiding that pretty head of yours,”
Liselotte took a big swig of her tea to finish it before setting it back on the tray, “I’ll tell Hildie what the plan is,” she said, about to walk out the door, but paused. “Oh, and don’t drink your coffee, I think you accidentally poisoned it,”
Crescentia squeezed her eyes closed as she realized she was angling the knife dangerously close to her precious caffeine, “...thank you, dear,” she said in a heavy sigh. She grabbed the rag it was originally wrapped in, tossing it to the ground before carefully laying the knife on top. “I might as well get a sample of this while I can for future matters,” she spoke to her, grabbing the box once more, pinching at the end of the small glass slides for two blank ones she always kept extra of.
Given Liselotte’s warning, Ferdinand didn’t exactly feel comfortable trying to offer any of the beverages he just made. He was trying to think of the sudden trek to Goddess knows where in Fodlan, his exhausted mind trying to plot out how long a journey would take from landmarks away from Enbarr as he did during the war. Yet all it did was serve to make his head hurt, closing his amber colored eyes as he wandered out of Hubert’s office. He went to take a seat in the drawing room as he tried to figure out what all needed done in preparation for this departure. Edelgard said she delegated all of his current tasks to the appropriate parties, but he has no idea how long he’ll be away on this journey and the logistics of his workaholic schedule was a nightmare to try and parse out to others. He was barely there for ten minutes before he heard a peculiar rhythmic knock on the door.
He got up and walked towards the front of the home, wondering if it was another friend coming by to offer their condolences. He was surprised to see Crescentia answer instead, standing behind her with his back to the staircase. It wasn’t any of their friends, it was someone dressed in Vestra Sorcerer Engineer robes.
They offered a polite smile and bowed, “good day, madam, I have been sent by-“
“Password,” Crescentia bluntly cut the man in front of her off.
His smile didn’t waver, “ah, of course, I forgot. ‘From where the crow lands, the eagle’s safety is in hand,’” he answered confidently.
Crescentia soon returned his smile, but stayed silent. It was a second later he heard the upstairs window break, sounding like the one in their bedroom. The man spun around him to look behind himself, the Vestra mother merely taking two steps to the side.
Time seemed to slow down, everything only taking place in a matter of seconds, yet felt so much more stretched out. Ferdinand heard bounding footsteps from upstairs followed by hearing Liselotte scream, “ DUCK !”
Being a general in a war for five years taught him to not overthink such a command, immediately crouching down. He heard maybe two stomps down the stairs before he heard her leap, letting out a startled yelp as he felt the young woman’s boot heel digging into his back, not expecting to be used as a springboard. He looked up, seeing the supposed Vestra Engineer reach for the weapon hidden in his robe, but was too slow. Seeing the sigil glow before Liselotte was blue, casting a black magic spell, his eyes widening as he saw the spark of ignition in her palms.
The man at the door wasn’t fast enough to react, Liselotte thrusting her palms forward as she casted a Fireball spell point blank at his head. The large explosion of flames propelled her backwards, Ferdinand making an awkward frog leap up from his crouched position to catch her before she could fling herself into the hardwood steps and potentially break her back. His arms caught her by the waist, sending them both crashing down to the ground with her on top.
Liselotte still whacked her head on the ground, but much better than the alternative, “ owww ,” she whined, reaching up to hold the back of her aching head, her sleeves burnt off from the elbow down.
Crescentia made quick work harshly kicking the scorched body to the side so she could shut the door. She stared down at the corpse that no longer had a head, letting out a low disconcerting chuckle that was all too familiar sounding, “believing the password we say in the meetings is the real one, my my, they are certainly sending their brightest after my son,” she commented.
As the floorboards creaked upstairs, Liselotte gasped and sat up off of Ferdinand, “Hildie, do not leave that room!” She yelled up at her little brother.
A stumble was heard, the large boy tried to creep out to look, “o-okay, is anyone hurt?” He called out.
“No one of significance, dear, stay with your brother until I’m up there,” Crescentia answered. She turned her attention to her daughter, “I have to say, you are quite lucky there were no passersby to witness that little show. It would be such a headache trying to cover that up, remember, magic isn’t always the solution,” she critiqued.
Liselotte narrowed her eyes at her mother, “should I wait until after you’re stabbed to murder someone more quietly? Where’s my thanks for saving your life!” She griped.
“It would have been better if you directed me to grab him, then charge down for the kill. Remember to use every asset you can in the situation,” she said. Seeing her daughter seethe, she gave her a more sincere smile, “you’re the one who wants to take over my position, would you rather me give you this advice now or get another lecture from your brother later?” She asked, then offered her hand to Ferdinand to help him up. “It would seem our location has been compromised, we must leave at once I’m afraid,” she told him.
Ferdinand nodded, “r-right. You could immediately tell he was a fake and not an engineer by just the password mistake?” He asked, staring distraught at his now blackened doorframe.
“You are trained to know the proper way of knowing the password, an easy method to weed out the fakes. If it was a mistake, well… you are warned of the result,” Crescentia explained.
It suddenly made sense why there weren’t a large number of engineers employed despite the large number of magic users within the empire given that work environment. And here he felt bad for occasionally asking someone to stay an extra hour in the office!
“If you’re not in Enbarr, then how did you know it?” Ferdinand asked curiously.
“I’m supposed to be retired, but I am still acting as an intelligence coordinator. Think of our home in Hevring as the western outpost for engineers. Lovely little coastal town while being conveniently across the gulf from Enbarr and the next county over from Arundel. Force my son to have you both come visit sometime,” she calmly explained. Crescentia started her way up the stairs, “Liselotte, get rid of the body before we leave,” she said.
Liselotte groaned, “I have to do that too?”
“Oh, but think about dear old mother’s back,” she responded as she kept walking.
Liselotte gave a half hearted glare up at her before letting another an irritated sigh, “‘my dear old mother’, as if I didn’t see her do a damn backflip to dodge an attack the other week,” she hissed under her breath as she grabbed both ankles of the body and grunt as she began to drag it down the hall.
Ferdinand awkwardly trailed behind the girl dragging the scorched corpse down the hall towards Hubert’s office, “now where is that stupid cellar…” she mumbled, looking around the room.
He was confused, “oh, is that what you were looking for? We don’t have one,” he said, yet it seemed she wasn’t listening as she was looking at the several bookcases that lined the walls.
“I wonder…” she mumbled as she walked forward to one on the wall that faced the back of the townhouse, gripping the center shelf and pulling back, letting out a small triumphant, “haha!” when she guessed correctly.
Ferdinand was stunned as he watched the bookcase swing open like it was on a hinge, noticing the dark, dingy staircase below. “Wh- …How…?” he stumbled over his words.
“Let me guess, did he pick this place, going alone first?”
“...yes,”
“Yeah, figures he’d have this hidden, probably keeps all the fun stuff down here to not freak you out,” she explained, “I only knew to try this since our old house had one like this. Hell, this actually may be the same shelves,” she commented, giving the wood of the shelves a knock before grabbing the body by one ankle to start to drag again. In her other hand, she casted a very weak fire spell, having the small flame dance in her palm to guide her way down the stairs. Ferdinand began to follow out of pure curiosity on this mystery room in his own home. She paused in her pace as she looked back, “er, you may not want to see this process,” she advised.
“Why?” he asked without thinking.
“Would you like to see the dissolving properties of organic material within a concentrated area of a Mire spell?” Liselotte bluntly asked. When there was that clear hesitation, she went back to dragging the body to this new surprise cellar. “Thought so, go get the ponies with Hildie, he knows how to steer carriages!” she shouted up from below. Ferdinand heard her start to talk to herself, “seriously, such a tiny iron tub? This is going to take forever, ugh , he obviously hasn’t used this thing before if it’s still here,” should he be taking comfort in that or not, honestly he doesn’t know anymore!
So far today Ferdinand has learned that Hubert has hid his entire family from him, hid his relationship with them, and now has a secret room that who knows what he does in there!!
~o~
Crescentia walked up the stairs, seeing Hildebrand awkwardly trying to keep Hubert from getting up and out of bed from the commotion downstairs.
“You’re really hurt and I just fixed the bandages, so stop - uh, please!” He begged his older brother.
“All is well, Hubert, Liselotte took care of everything,” his mother assured as she entered the room. She turned to her youngest child with a patient smile, “I believe it should be safe for you to go down now. Go with Ferdinand to fetch a cart, if you would please,” she kindly requested.
Hildebrand nodded, saying a small ‘okay’ before leaving the room.
She carefully inspected the broken window, seeing the black boot on the ground outside in the street, chuckling softly to herself, “your sister used one of your shoes to break the window for the distraction, didn’t she? Such a bully to her older brother,” she tutted.
Hubert was quiet, his eyes fighting to stay open from the crushing fatigue as he watched her. She could feel the unease in her son, Crescentia spoke as she gathered clothing for him to change into, “you were born on my 30th birthday, your sister couldn’t enunciate and called you Birdie instead of Bertie until she was 10, and…” she tossed the clothes next to him on the bed with a small grin, “you wanted a black Pegasus named Cobalt as a little boy. Do you still have the toy your sweet grandmother made you?”
Hubert squeezed his eyes shut and grimaced, “I take it you’re still angry,” he grumbled.
“Positively livid ,” she said, still in that patient tone.