Daydreams And Nightshade (DaN #1)

Chapter 42: Ladies will be ladies

Even with Luna's deep reluctance to the whole engagement business and disdain towards the fiancé in question, the tension in the parlor should not have been as downright scary as the Gashcrows sat down with Lucius, Luna and Anthony for tea.

"Imagine our surprise." Adrian Gashcrow smiled, looking down at his cup before addressing Lucius. "I never would've expected young Lady Hargreaves to take the initiative and invite us over."

"No need to refer to me in third person, Mr. Gashcrow, I'm right here." Luna gave him a brief, heartless smile.

Lucius cleared his throat and adjusted a sleeve on his dress.

"I'm... Honestly surprised as well, but who am I to deny Luna from meeting her... Fiancé." Lucius' smile wasn't much more genuine than Luna's, but the Gashcrows didn't seem to mind.

"So..." Adrian looked over at Anthony with a head tilt. "I'm happy to see you back, Lord Hargreaves. If I'm not mistaken I think we've met before, during the time I spent in South Kerilia long ago. Although..." He looked over at Lucius. "... You were more acquainted with Lady Cromwell's cousin rather than her back then, if I remember correctly?"

Anthony's face didn't show any sign of nervousness.

"I was. And if I remember correctly you and him were rather well acquainted as well, only you disappeared right around the time people you both knew tried to murder him."

Luna looked over from one adult to another in confusion. They knew each other? Not just since recently, but since long ago? What people? She looked over at Finn who didn't seem the slightest surprised. In fact, he seemed pretty disinterested in the entire situation.

Luna pursed her lips in frustration.

"I'm... Sorry," she said and stood up. "While the weird tension in here is intriguing I would really like a word with Finn alone."

"Without a chaperone?" Scarlet asked and tilted her head.

"My bodyguard is chaperone enough for an entire boarding school, I assure you." Luna gestured with her head for Finn to follow her. Vincent obeyed her vague orders and followed as well.

"What's this about?" Finn asked as they entered the kitchen and Luna nodded to Claude who was right in the middle of making tea to get out.

"It's about you and Noah," she said as the servant left. "And your breakup."

Finn suddenly went from an attempted polite expression to a downright bored one.

"Oh." He rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Well first off we weren't actually together, but what about it?"

"It's about your way of ending things, regardless if they were official or not." Luna's voice was strained, and Vincent looked like he hadn't quite grasped the situation. "It's about the things you said to him."

Finn scoffed, finally dropping the act of a well-mannered fiancé.

"You mean my reasons for discarding him? I was just being clear with him, because it seemed like his daft mind couldn't comprehend it otherwise."

Luna drew a breath through her nose, trying not to let her nails puncture her palms.

"So 'clingy' and 'a hallucinating disgrace' seemed like the right words to use? You think he wouldn't have gotten it if you'd been a bit smoother about it? Not to mention you said he was good for nothing but being someone's whore."

Finn put on a pitying expression and smiled.

"Well... Isn't he?"

He didn't have time to react, not even flinch, as Luna's fist landed directly against his jaw. He almost fell over but soon managed to regain his balance. He held the side of his face and looked up at Luna, eyes wide and mortified.