07-24-2023, 01:07 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-24-2023, 01:08 PM by Anne Carrington.)
[CW: reference to assumed rape; victim blaming]
Anne tilted her head as she listened. Had Magnus forced himself upon her? Was that what she meant? Hard to believe Mary hadn't wanted it. Anne had seen how that girl had walked around the house as she grew up into a young woman, flicking her dark hair, swaying her hips to show off her graceful form, coy looks and blushes, clearly always trying to turn heads. She had been beautiful and she had missed no opportunity to show it off. But as for Magnus, Anne wouldn't put it past him. A shadow of disgust passed over her face as unwelcome images of him and her, images she had always tried to block as soon as they appeared, flashed before her mind's eye anyway.
But when Mary mentioned never having wanted the money, Anne managed to regain control over her mind through bitterness. She had taken the money all the same, hadn't she?! She had done a lot of things she now claimed not to have wanted. Anne was dying to point that out to the younger woman, but she bit her tongue. There was too much in the game to give in to the spiteful urges the other woman evoked. Indeed, although she felt the last comment like a slap, she grimaced through it.
She looked up at the former maid with a glimmer in her dark eyes. "Well then..." she spoke quietly. "It would seem that we want the same thing. Now, I will not insult your intelligence by pretending to like you. And you certainly have no reason to like me given how I treated you then. In my defense, Magnus made me miserable every day and I lashed out at many people as a result. As for your own mistakes, you were hardly more than a child who didn't know anything, and he was a grown man and he preyed on you. You didn't stand a chance. I do not hold what happened against you. Perhaps if you too can bury the past between us, you'll let me help you?"
Anne tilted her head as she listened. Had Magnus forced himself upon her? Was that what she meant? Hard to believe Mary hadn't wanted it. Anne had seen how that girl had walked around the house as she grew up into a young woman, flicking her dark hair, swaying her hips to show off her graceful form, coy looks and blushes, clearly always trying to turn heads. She had been beautiful and she had missed no opportunity to show it off. But as for Magnus, Anne wouldn't put it past him. A shadow of disgust passed over her face as unwelcome images of him and her, images she had always tried to block as soon as they appeared, flashed before her mind's eye anyway.
But when Mary mentioned never having wanted the money, Anne managed to regain control over her mind through bitterness. She had taken the money all the same, hadn't she?! She had done a lot of things she now claimed not to have wanted. Anne was dying to point that out to the younger woman, but she bit her tongue. There was too much in the game to give in to the spiteful urges the other woman evoked. Indeed, although she felt the last comment like a slap, she grimaced through it.
She looked up at the former maid with a glimmer in her dark eyes. "Well then..." she spoke quietly. "It would seem that we want the same thing. Now, I will not insult your intelligence by pretending to like you. And you certainly have no reason to like me given how I treated you then. In my defense, Magnus made me miserable every day and I lashed out at many people as a result. As for your own mistakes, you were hardly more than a child who didn't know anything, and he was a grown man and he preyed on you. You didn't stand a chance. I do not hold what happened against you. Perhaps if you too can bury the past between us, you'll let me help you?"
