Roderick the Aspiring Surgeon set the book down on the nearest table-like surface, watching his dear sister as though her illness might manifest into an actual lion and shred him then and there.

He flinched at the servant’s words. Sure, he thought the same thing, but still – she was their sister!

Though an admonishment was on the tip of his tongue, he bit it back. No doubt Pearl would not be eager to replace her first servant with one of Mother’s handpicked ones.

“Ophelia came to see you, I heard,” Roderick said instead, pretending not to hear the servant. “Are things … different, now that you have your own-” retreat? hiding place? hovel? “-...space?”