“Be glad I’m choosing not to mess up your face.” She sneers. “My dear Anastasia, you are just something to fuck until he gets bored. And I have more chances of being with him than you. You are Uther Sidorov’s daughter. There is no way he will ever love you after what your father did to him. You’re just the little bitch he—”
“That is enough.” Ehlga’s loud voice cuts into Gytha’s words, an attempt to stop her from doing any more damage. But it’s too late. She’s already sliced through my heart.
Ehlga marches in from the rain and walks right up to us, her face red with fury. I’ve never seen her look so mad.
“This doesn’t concern you, Ehlga.” Gytha looks at Ehlga as if she’s shit she’s trying to avoid stepping in. “Why don’t you go and bake, or clean, or something a normal maid would do.”
“Nothing against the maids, but I am not a maid. And you will not speak to me or Anastasia like that.”
“What authority do you have to talk to me like this?” Gytha sets her hands on her hips and lifts her chin in defiance.
“Enough to throw you off the property,my dear. Desmier is like a son to me, so this is my home, andyouare just a visitor. And to address your comment about having more of a chance with Desmier, you and I both know that’s not true.”
Although my body is flustered from the jabs Gytha threw my way, Ehlga has my attention.
“I don’t know what you mean by that.”
“Of course you do, Gytha, but let me clarify what I mean. If you closed your legs and weren’t the God-awful fucking, cheating slut you are, you justmighthave had a chance with Desmier. So don’t get worked up when he’s found somebody new, someone who’s a million times better than you.”
I never knew Ehlga had it in her to talk this way—and shecansay fuck.
Gytha looks like she doesn’t know where to put her face.
“I think it’s best you leave for the day out of respect to Mrs. Volkova,” she adds, pushing her shoulders back. “I’ll also advise you, woman to woman, it’s poor taste to keep chasing a man who doesn’t want you. Especially a married one. Even you can do better than that, dear.”
Without another word, or a glance my way, Gytha walks out. I swear I catch a tremble in her step, but maybe I saw what I wanted to see.
With Gytha gone, and the roasting Ehlga just gave her, I should feel euphoric. Gytha deserved every word she got, and coming from the least likely person to talk to her that way made it that much sweeter.
But the sharpness of her sting hit me deep because she was right.
Take out the bitchiness, and she could have been Desmier reminding me that I’m Uther Sidorov’s daughter.
Before I can take my next breath, tears flow down my cheeks.
I cover my face, and when Ehlga moves closer, I break down and cry for everything.
Everything I lost. My memory, my mother, myself. The lie my life was, and the man who didn’t need to steal my heart.
The last hurts the worst because Desmier is the only person I gave a piece of me willingly.
“It’s okay, dear.” Ehlga’s voice has returned to its normal calm and warmth, but she feels far away from me. “Come, let’s go sit for a while and talk.”
I nod, and I manage to walk when she leads me out to the sunroom.
We sit next to each other on the wicker sofa, and I cry until the tears subside.
“Sometimes we need a good cry.” She strokes my hair.
“Thank you for defending me. I don’t think I could have done it even if I didn’t feel so wretched.”
“That’s okay. That was a long time coming. Gytha deserved it.”
“Some of what she said was true, though.”
“No, there was no truth to her words.”
I dab away the last of my tears with the heel of my hand and nod. “Yes, Ehlga. I’m sure you know what happened between Desmier and me.”