~Lucille's Point of View~

After Cyril and I had destroyed everyone else in darts, we returned to the city estate. Judith made me promise to make plans with her in the future. Once Ander's was well enough to travel, we all returned to the manor. The weather became colder and drearier. The skies were in a constant state of grey and it was almost always raining or sleeting, leading up to the ball.

I was nervous. How many people were going to be in attendance? What if I made a fool of myself? What if I embarrassed my betrothed? I frowned as this thought crossed my mind. The ball was only two nights away.

Silas was busy running errands for Lord Phantomhive, apparently, he was making good use of his skills while Anders was restricted to menial tasks within the manor. I hadn't been able to be alone with him to ask him about what happened. Due to his state of recovery, Anders mainly followed me around the manor and made himself comfortable in whatever room I was occupying. I'd gotten us each a book to read from the library before helping him to get settled into a comfy spot in the parlor next to Lord Phantomhive's study. I was attempting more research with yet another Austen novel. It wasn't helping, I was nothing like the girls in an Austen novel.

"You really enjoy Austen's work, don't you Mistress?" Anders asked with a sly smile as I folded the skirts of my pale lavender gown beneath me as I settled onto the chaise lounge next to him.

A faint blush spread across my cheeks, "N-no, not particularly."

Anders chuckled at this, "That's all I ever see you reading of late."

"It's for research." I blurted before I could stop myself and hurriedly buried my face behind the book.

"Research?" Anders threw me a curious look, his golden cat like eyes twinkling with amusement, "What sort of research?"

My entire body felt flushed hot as embarrassment wormed through me, "Focus on your own book." I grumbled.

"Mistress, are you blushing?" Anders laughed.

"I'm not!"

"Mistress, is it possible you're researching courtship?" He mused.

"It's nothing for you to concern yourself with." I strained to keep a straight face but my body betrayed me as my cheeks only reddened further.

Anders was in stitches and at this rate was going to be a detriment to his sutures, "Mistress, I find it hard to believe you weren't courted back home, what could you possibly need to study?"

There was a knock at the door and Rose stepped into the room with a curtsy, her cheeks had a slight flush of color as if she'd just been embarrassed by something, "Lucy-sama, ah, Lady Lucille, you have a guest." She corrected herself and was about to introduce my guest when she nearly toppled over with a squeak as two men pushed past her into the parlor without invitation.

I felt my stomach churn as I looked to the younger of the two men, my eldest brother, Laurent. He was in his late twenties, fourteen years my senior and had pale hair like mine that he wore in a neat ponytail, his eyes were a cold pale blue. When his eyes fell on me, his lips curled into a chilling smile. Anders looked to me curiously from the comfy chair I'd forced him to sit in and made a move to get up, but I waved him off.

My gaze flit to my brother's best friend, Edmund, a deplorable man who made zero effort to hide his true nature. He was in his mid-thirties with dark hair that he always wore shiny and greased back, and dark eyes that looked almost black. His skin had an almost sickly green pallor to it at all times, I chalked it up to him being part snake. He walked around in public making no attempt to hide that he was an assassin as he always had a plethora of weapons strapped to his person in plain view and now was no exception. He made everyone around him uncomfortable, at all times.

"There's my lovely little sister." Laurent sneered as his friend stared down Rose.

"What are you doing here Laurent?" I asked warily. Laurent was the head of all assassination requests, he was the one that decided who was next on the list for our arsenal of assassins to take out.

His eyes narrowed for the briefest of moments and I noticed him bite the inside of his cheek to keep from snapping at me. He was so much like our father, he had a wicked temper and lashed out at anyone who so much as looked at him in defiance. "Come give your brother a hug."

I'd rather roll around in broken glass and go for a swim in lemon juice. Reluctantly I got to my feet and crossed the room. He wrapped me in a bone crushing hug and I leaned into him to whisper in his ear, "Tell the worm to stop ogling my maid before I gouge his eyes out."

We broke the hug simultaneously. Laurent looked livid that I had issued him an order but didn't want me to act on it. He elbowed Edmund in the side and Rose breathed a sigh of relief as she was no longer trapped under his gaze.

"Leave us." Laurent looked to Anders and Rose with a scowl.

I folded my arms across my chest, "Don't order them around, they don't answer to you."

Laurent made a move to grab me but froze as the door between the study and the parlor swung open. Cyril stood in the doorway his dark azure eyes surveying the scene before him before zeroing in on me. My body was tense, I was prepared for Laurent to hit me and he probably would have if Cyril hadn't opened the door.

"I believe it's customary for guests to greet the Head of the Household first, or is that merely an English custom?" There was the slightest hint of annoyance in his voice as he offered my brother a polite smile.

"Ah, my apologies, Lord Phantomhive, it's just been so long since I've seen my lovely little sister, I just couldn't wait another moment." Laurent returned his smile with a sinister one of his own and I instinctively took a step back wishing I had a weapon on my person. Laurent wasn't so bad when I was younger, but the older he got the more he seemed to be turning into our father and thought himself untouchable.

Silas appeared in the doorway behind Cyril and scowled in my eldest brother's direction. He despised my family about as much as I did though he rarely bothered to hide it.

"Oh, Silas, good to see you. It was distressing to hear you'd left father's employ. Though I'm happy to hear our little Lucille will have a familiar face with her, even if you're siding with the English." Laurent smirked. What did he mean? Silas was no longer under our employment? When did that happen?

I looked to Silas curiously. Was he keeping secrets from me? Why wouldn't he have talked to me about this? What did that mean if Cyril found out about my family's connections or the reason I was sent to be his bride in the first place? My head was swimming. People under my father's employment, didn't get to walk away. Was that why Laurent was here? Was he planning on killing Silas, it would explain why he brought that wretch with him. My heart was racing and I really wished I had a weapon, I couldn't let them make a move against Silas. They were both trained assassins. Even though Silas was very skilled, he didn't stand a chance against the pair of them.

My mind was working on overdrive trying to plan out every possibility in my head if they made a move. I'd have to blow my cover and reveal my assassin skills. Silas meant the world to me, no one was taking him away from me.

"Lucy-sama?" Rose scurried to my side, I must have revealed something on my face. "You don't look well-."

"I'm fine." I composed myself as my head began to pound. "It's just a headache."

Rose frowned, "Your color is a little off too." She suddenly gasped and leaned forward to whisper in my ear so no one else could hear, "Does your stomach hurt, have you started your cycles?"

My cheeks flushed with color, "No!" I squeaked and hurriedly pushed her away from me as my face burned from the heat of embarrassment.

"Aren't you a little too informal with your mistress?" Laurent remarked and Rose shrank beneath his intimidating gaze. "Have you not been disciplined properly?"

"Leave her alone. This isn't your home, she doesn't work for you, you can't talk to her however you like." I shot my eldest brother a glare as I stood protectively in front of Rose, I wasn't going to let him bully her.

Laurent looked ready to explode, but somehow managed to keep his cool. "Father let you get away with so much." He shook his head, "I always liked the idea that women should be seen and not heard. One day little sister, you're going to talk down to the wrong man, and you'll be sorry for it." It was a threat, a very obvious threat that everyone else picked up on.

I clenched my fists at my side but composed myself with a smirk, "Do your worst." I responded with a shrug in a language my family had made up as a form of code. I'd completely mapped out what to do if he were to make his move. If he made a move, I'd shove Rose backward toppling over the chaise lounge which I knew had two pistols neatly stashed beneath, thanks to my snooping, and would have them both dead on the floor before they'd even taken their second step.

Laurent was ready to lose his composure, he hated that I was challenging him, that I wasn't backing down. My family had molded me into the perfect assassin, but they'd failed to calculate what would happen if I turned on them. As far as skill and wit, I had the upper hand, I was faster, my skills with both blade and gun were far greater than any assassin in our entire arsenal. Laurent was physically stronger and had the entire arsenal of assassins at his disposal but knew if he were to deploy them to take me out he'd suffer catastrophic losses.

My brother composed himself, slipping on his courtier's mask and laughed at this, "How I've missed you, little sister." He smiled to the others, "Forgive me, I've made you all uncomfortable. Lucille has often told me my humor will make me a social pariah, I take things too far." His smile was perfect and I knew in an instant had fooled Rose as she laughed uneasily.