For a split second, she thought that it might be Archer. Had he gotten sick of her avoiding him since the day before and finally sought her out?
A small thrill ran through her at the thought, one that she quickly stamped down.
But when a moment later two separate voices started a fit of giggling, Emilie knew exactly who it was who had found their way into the library.
“Be quiet, Louis,” Aurora’s voice chastised, floating on a loud whisper up through the shelves of books. “Otherwise, Faither might find us and tell us to go practice our letters or somethin’.”
“We’ve already practiced enough this week,” Louis argued with his sister.
“I ken,” Aurora answered. “Which is why we daenae want him to find us. Otherwise, we’ll get banished back to our rooms.”
They were trying to be quiet, Emilie could tell. But as children so often do, they had forgotten how easily sound carries, especially in mostly empty spaces. And Emilie was able to make out what they were saying easily.
Maybe I should speak up and say somethin’ to let them ken I’m here.
But before Emilie had a chance to do so, the twins emerged between two shelves.
As always, Aurora appeared first. She seemed to do that often, to walk in front of her brother and lead him, wherever it was that they were going.
Whether it was because she thought that she needed to protect him, or because she thought she was the boss of him, Emilie had yet to figure out. But whatever the reason, it was something that had endeared Emilie to the young girl.
Aurora was looking over her shoulder at her brother when they emerged from between the shelves. And as such, she had not noticed Emilie at first.
Louis, however, had been glancing over Aurora’s shoulder. And his eyes landed on Emilie almost immediately.
Despite how warm he had been to Emilie since she’d arrived, the boy’s face still paled when he realized there was an adult in the room. He reached forward and tugged on Aurora’s sleeve, interrupting her admonishment of him and pointing over her shoulder directly at Emilie.
Aurora turned, and the moment her gray eyes found Emilie, they narrowed.
“What are ye doin’ in here?” Aurora asked, her voice laced with a bravado that Emilie knew all too well the young girl did not feel.
Emilie took a split second to weigh her options, to explore all the varying ways that she could respond. However, she ended up deciding that honesty would likely be the best way to move forward.
Aurora struck her as a girl who would value honesty and would value not being spoken to as if she were a child.
“I was lookin’ for a nice, quiet place to hide for a bit,” she explained simply, shrugging one shoulder in dismissal of her own words. “Much like yerself, I’d imagine.”
The corner of Aurora’s mouth ticked up in a smirk at Emilie’s words, before she realized what she was doing and quickly got her expression under control.
“What do ye mean?” Aurora asked, puffing up her chest and staring at Emilie.
“I mean that I heard ye whisperin’ as ye were creepin’ in.”
Aurora blanched, and Louis looked panicked. Emilie couldn’t help but give a soft chuckle.
“Daenae worry,” she said. “I’m nae goin’ to go find yer faither. Ye’ll be safe here. I willnae tell him a thing.”
Her words seemed to be enough for Louis. Because the moment she said them, he shrugged happily and trotted past his sister. He hummed to himself as he walked toward a chest beside the low sofa Emilie was sitting on that she hadn’t noticed.
While Louis began rummaging, Aurora stood exactly where she had been, not moving an inch as she stared directly at Emilie.
For what it was worth, Emilie just held the girl’s gaze. She had hoped that, after their small stroll yesterday, some of the warmth she had gotten from Aurora would stick around. But with the young girl standing before her now, that seemed very unlikely.
“I promise I willnae say anythin’ to him, Aurora,” she promised again, dropping her voice a little as she tried to soothe the young girl standing before her. “And it’s nae even just because of ye. Although I’m certain I’d keep just about any secret ye asked me to at this point, telling would mean I’d have to talk to him. And I daenae want his grumpy mood ruinin’ me day.”
Aurora giggled despite herself, clearly liking the thought of another adult calling her father grumpy. But the moment the small bout of laughter bubbled out of her, she clamped her hands over her mouth.
She glared at Emilie over the top of her hands, but there was no real heat within her gaze.