“No.”
As soon as the word left The Dolls lip in a low, quiet voice, she immediately moved her hands up to cover her mouth.
Why did The Doll say that?
Fathers' gaze intensified, boring into The Doll’s eyes a cold fury evident on his face from The Dolls response. Opening his mouth to respond, Father questioned if he had heard The Doll correctly: “Did you refuse me?” His voice held a clear mix of pure disbelief and overwhelming rage.
The Doll felt her eyes widen as she removed her hands from her mouth with the intent to refute her refusal of what Father said. But when she opened her mouth, she found no words to defend herself.
How could she defend herself?
There was no excuse. The Doll could use to defend herself no explanation she could give beyond claiming that Father had misheard her. Claiming that Father had misheard would question Father's competence, and The Doll could never dare to do that. Panic slowly began to rise within The Doll as she desperately searched for the right answer.
The Doll had to calm down and think properly, but in the presence of Father's fury, she found herself unable to gather her thoughts. Father's presence was supposed to be one where The Doll showed nothing but compliance, yet she had in such a short time span raised her voice to him and directly refused an order from him.
Father's eyebrows rose, his impatience for a reply becoming clear to The Doll who still found herself at a loss for words. Unable to think of anything else The Doll’s eyes lowered to stare at the mattress. She sat as she said, "I'm sorry, Father.” She didn't know what else to do other than apologize for her grave mistake.
The fury in Father's eyes subsided slightly as he heard The Doll's apology. “We shall talk about your punishment for this later.” The Doll solemnly nodded her head, knowing that punishment was what she deserved for such a disgraceful action.
After The Doll made her silent acknowledgement, Father reached his hand out and roughly grabbed The Doll’s arm, pulling her off Malina's bed. In his typical cold voice, Father said, “For now we shall be off; the proper process shall be done later.” The Doll didn't resist, allowing him to drag her off the bed while Malina now sat against the wall with her head buried into her legs, breathing heavy breaths, making no moves to stop him.
As Father walked towards Malina's open door The Doll closed her eyes tightly, resigning herself to her departure from Dreadwood. Yet before Father could exit the room, a new figure appeared in the doorway, blocking his path.
The figure's perfectly trimmed beard and neat black hair looked in a similar style to Father's own, with the exception of its neatly shaved sides. He stood at a similar height to Father, though with notably less muscle mass than Father had. His expression held a cold gaze that The Doll had only ever seen matched by Father's own.
Headmaster Moris stood between the door, preventing Father's exit.
Why was the headmaster here?
Had he come to formalize The Doll’s departure from Dreadwood?
In an uncharacteristic action, the headmaster raised his hands, his skin a shade similar to Lila’s, and smiled. "Acheron, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" The friendly tone of the headmaster's voice and use of Father's given name left The Doll utterly shocked.
Fathers' grip on The Doll’s forearm tightened as the headmaster greeted him with such casualness. The Doll flinched at the thought of when she herself had once said Father's given name, vividly remembering what followed.
However, in a move that only enhanced The Doll’s shock, Father responded with a simple, “My creation is leaving your academy.” Father’s voice showed no indication of warming when responding to the headmaster, but it also lacked the coldness The Doll would expect from such a casual introduction.
The hands that Moris held up dropped down his sides when he heard this as the smile that once occupied his face disappeared, leaving only the cold expression that The Doll had grown used to. The headmaster opened his mouth to reply, and it became evident the previous warm tone had left with his smile. “We both know that wasn't part of the deal, Acheron.” The Doll found herself looking between the headmaster and Father, unaware of what deal the headmaster spoke of between the two.
Fathers' grip on The Dolls arm tightened further as she heard Father grit his teeth. "Don't speak of our deal in her presence so casually.” Fathers' voice remained level as he spoke, but The Doll noticed the tinge of frustration lacing its usual coldness.
Keeping his face level with Fathers, the headmaster sighed and said, “I can assure you I don't treat the contents of our deal with anything but the seriousness that it deserves.” He then turned his gaze from Father to The Doll causing her to stop looking between the two and focus on him.
As the headmaster stared at The Doll she noticed his face hardened more so than it had when speaking with Father as he spoke again, "Perhaps I should inform her of our deal, seeing as you seem so intent on breaking it only one week after it had begun.” The Doll took note of the fact that it had been one week since she had attended Dreadwood, feeling curiosity grow.
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No, that was wrong. The Doll shouldn't be curious about the contents of this deal even if it did involve her. If Father deemed it necessary that she should know, then he would have told her questioning his actions even further would be unbecoming.
Taking a slight step forward to meet the headmaster's gaze, Father said, “You shall do no such thing, Nero or—" Father did not get to finish the threat he attempted to deliver as the headmaster interrupted him like he so commonly liked to do.
His voice remained cold and collected, dismissing Father's attempt at a threat entirely as he spoke, “Or you will do what Acheron? Will you shut down the academy perhaps? Maybe even slay me where I stand; you are more than strong enough to do so.” Father opened his mouth to respond, but no words would come.
Was Father at a loss for words?
With Father's silence filling the room, the headmaster continued to speak, “We both know you can do nothing to stop me. It would be the doom for the both of us along with the Ashencroft lineage that you cherish.” The Doll began to feel pain as Father’s grip along her forearm grew tighter in response to the headmaster's words.
The Doll suppressed the urge to ask herself questions about what this conversation meant, knowing she had no right to question either Father or the headmaster. But despite this attempt to suppress her questions The Doll couldn't help but wonder how the headmaster had managed to leave Father so lost for words.
With his victory in the conversation seemingly secured, the headmaster began to speak once again; however, to The Dolls’ shock, it was Father who spoke first. “Even so, I cannot allow you to let my creation disgrace the Ashencroft lineage in this folly of a duel.” The Doll noticed Father's gaze shift to Malina, who still sat on the bed against the wall with her head in her knees as he carefully chose his words in such a way that didn't reveal The Doll’s inability to use magic.
The Doll had only now remembered that Father wasn't aware. The Doll had told Malina about her inability to use magic, and she shuddered at what his reaction would be when he found out.
The headmaster stepped fully inside of the room, causing Father to move slightly back in order to make space for him. Once fully inside, the headmaster shut the door behind him and said, "There's no need to speak so conservatively. I'm sure Ashencroft has already told Regius about her condition. The two share a friendship of a peculiar nature.” The phrase "peculiar friendship" caused Doll shrink back slightly as the events of last night crept back up at this far-from-appropriate time.
Fathers gaze landed back onto The Doll silently demanding confirmation as to whether or not this was true. The Doll found herself unable to respond, instead choosing to look away from his gaze, finding the ground a far more comforting sight.
This act was all the confirmation that Father needed as The Doll tensed herself for punishment. Fortunately, this punishment did not come yet, as The Doll instead felt Father lift his gaze from her as he said, “Then I will speak plainly and say I won't allow the one weakness of the Ashencroft lineage to be put on display for the entire academy.” The Doll silently continued to look at the ground, not daring to look up.
The headmaster allowed silence to befall the room for a moment before he said, “Who said Ashencroft would lose?” This question caused The Doll to look up from the ground in shock. The headmaster was aware of her inability to use magic; he made that clear in their first meeting.
So why would he imply something so foolish?
Father pulled the doll up, forcing her to stand up straight. “I say that she would lose. Look at her; she's an embarrassment who can't use magic. A disgrace.” Despite the cruelty of Father's words, his voice remained level, like one would when reciting a common fact.
The headmaster's expression changed to show a slight smile. “Metamorphosis.” He said the single word reminding The Doll of when he claimed she would go through a metamorphosis at Dreadwood.
Father responded instantly, “That explains nothing; my creation is incapable of using magic. What possible metamorphosis could save her?" As he said this, he lowered The Doll down to focus on the headmaster.
With a dissenting nod of his head, the headmaster said, “Her inability to use magic is what makes her capable of a metamorphosis. Nobody in recorded history has ever lost the ability to use magic despite still possessing a lineage magic; it's a fascinating condition.” The Doll didn't understand his words.
How could The Doll’s inability to use magic allow her to go through what the headmaster called a metamorphosis?
Before Father could raise a further question, the headmaster's smile grew wider. "I've set up private lessons for her with Madame Aziza and Jilkan, both of whom have been informed of her condition. Under their guidance—" It was the headmaster's turn to be cut off as Father let go of The Doll’s forearm, throwing her to the side, and walked closer to the headmaster, grabbing him by his dark clothes.
Lifting the headmaster off the ground, Father said, “You told someone else about my embarrassment! First the embarrassment blabs to her friend under your watch, and now I find out you informed others!” His cold voice now held even more anger than it had when The Doll defied him moments earlier. Then in a much quieter voice The Doll barely heard Father say, “I trusted you, Nero.” After saying this The Doll noticed his grip on the headmaster's clothes lessen slightly.
The Doll once again had to suppress the urge to question Father this time on his relationship with the headmaster.
Moving his hands up to Father's arm, the headmaster said quietly, “Then trust me again.” Father continued to hold the headmaster with indecision evident until the headmaster added on, “It's not as though you have a choice.” After saying this, Father roughly dropped the headmaster to the ground and backed up.
Walking past the headmaster and the open door, Father said, “One month, you have one month to produce results. I will come on the day before the duel to confirm these results.” He then looked back at The Doll and said, “The two of us are going to visit Lukaz; it would be unbecoming if we didn't check on my future son by law.” The Doll began to walk towards Father but found herself stopping.
Once stopped The Doll turned around and looked at Malina, who remained curled into a ball, not moving an inch. The Doll felt an unexplainable urge to go over and comfort her despite it going against Father's command once again. But before she could take a step forward, Father walked over and grabbed her arm, pulling her out of the room.
While they walked out The Doll vaguely heard the headmaster say something along the lines of, "What's wrong with you?” A faint worry manifested within The Doll's chest for what may happen to Malina, but this was a worry she could not act on.
The Doll didn't resist.
She could never resist Father.