Roslynn Griffiths is another secondary character in my upcoming book, The Deep Space Between, and this is her backstory. She is my main MC’s best friend. She is also a Selkie, so you may see a little bit of that showing up in this piece. This scene happens the summer after their first year together at boarding school. Don’t judge Roslynn too harshly – she’s just trying to survive her family.
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Meeting with the Battle Axe
The summons came after lunch. Roslynn guided Seraphina to the library before she answered it. She left Seraphina drooling over books lining the wall; her love of books definitely bordered on the odd.
She walked down the main hall of the house, preparing for what was to come. Her grandmother wasn’t always in residence at the house in the Hamptons, but when she was, everything ran to her schedule. Beatrice Griffiths was a tyrant who ruled the family with an iron fin.
This wasn’t the first summons she received, so she knew what it was about – said friend jumping up and down in the library. It wasn’t Seraphina’s fault she was a human, even if she came from a magic community family.
Roslynn was only 14, but even she knew associating with Seraphina damaged her reputation in the community. But it was her first year at human school, Seraphina moped like a sad puppy, and when Roslynn found out she grew up in the magic community as well, she just couldn’t walk away from her. No one else understood Roslynn’s 3 hour baths and obsession with the sea.
The door loomed before her. Her spine straight and her shoulders back, she sailed through the study doors ensconcing her grandmother. At her first glance of her grandmother posing by the window, the thought again crossed her mind that Beatrice watched a lot of movies when she was younger. She often stood in dramatic poses, poses you see from movies in the 1950s and 1960s, with Joan Crawford and Betty Gable. Today, she looked very much like the wicked witch in Snow White, right down to the high-necked dress black velvet dress she wore.
“Roslynn. You’re late. I requested your presence 10 minutes ago. Your behavior is inexcusable.” Her grandmother said, standing near the window.
“I apologize, grandmother. I had to direct my guest to the library. This house is bigger than hers and she would’ve gotten lost.” Roslynn murmured deferentially.
Seriously?! She came as soon as she was called. It wasn’t 10 minutes ago and they both knew it. The old bat constantly pulled this manipulative bullshit. Surviving the next 75 years with this woman would test her patience and fortitude, but in the end, she’d win if only out of spite and age difference.
“Ah, your guest. Exactly what I wish to discuss.”
“What about my guest, grandmother?” Roslynn forced out between her clenched teeth.
“Is she settling in alright? Have you provided her with everything she could need?” Beatrice raised an eyebrow, her face still in profile.
“Of course. This is not the first time I’ve brought someone home for the summer.”
“There is no need to get snippy, child. Anticipating every potential need of your guests is the proper way to be a hostess. I hope I don’t need to school you on that topic.” Her grandmother turned her head away, adding quietly, “Again.”
Roslynn tasted the salt on her tongue and almost felt the splash of the wave on her face. Her stomach clenched, but she held her face in neutral. Seraphina wasn’t worth the punishment that could follow if she lost it.
“No, grandmother, you do not. You taught me better than anyone else the best way to treat a guest.” Roslyn replied, her tone soft and acquiescent.
Beatrice sighed heavily, turning her back on Roslynn. “We are not here to discuss manners, Child.”
Roslynn closed her eyes briefly. What game was afoot now? She discussed manners and then didn’t want to discuss manners. This back and forth gave Roslynn a headache.
“What are we here to discuss then, grandmother?”
“I would’ve thought it was obvious, child. Your guest.”
Roslynn frowned. “What about my guest, grandmother? I know she is not up to our usual standards, but she is very sweet and her family was once in high standing. I do not see the harm in the friendship.”
“The harm? There is no harm, child. That is what I am attempting to tell you, though you are too dense to see it.”
“I don’t understand.” There, she said it. The dreaded words. The words that brought swift retaliation, an acerbic tone, and the most effective slicing to bits of any soul her grandmother could do. She winced, waiting for the cuts.
“That is obvious, but it does not matter.”
Roslynn’s eyes shifted from side to side as she tried not to show her confusion. Her fingernails dug into the back of her hands where they were clasped together.
“Then what does matter, grandmother?” She said, wetting her lips with her tongue. The salty air dissipated, leaving only a slight aftertaste in her mouth.
What were they really talking about?
“That your guest is happy and welcome here, always. You are never to break this friendship, Roslynn.” Beatrice Griffith faced her granddaughter and looked over her nose at Roslynn. “I forbid it.”
A small spike of anger lit Roslynn’s stomach. She hated these edicts. She wanted to do the exact opposite now – send Seraphina packing back to the school to sit there all summer by herself – when 5 minutes before she would’ve fought to allow her to stay.
“I don’t understand. She is human, from a damaged family. She has no ties, no power, and you want me to continue the friendship?”
“Yes.” Her grandmother’s face implacable to Roslynn’s scrutiny, the unexpected statement would get no explanation. At least not at the moment. “There is more to your guest than meets the eye, child. Do what I tell you.”
“Of course, grandmother.” Roslynn couldn’t win this fight, but she would eventually. “I will remain friends with Seraphina for as long as she wishes to be so.”
“Not just friends, child. You will live with her for as long as you can. I have already made arrangements at the school to move Seraphina into your room.”
Roslynn clenched her toes, the one area her grandmother could not see. She liked having her own room, dammit.
Her grandmother continued, “You will remain on intimate terms with her, if she so chooses to do so. Do I make myself clear?”
Roslynn swallowed the bile that threatened to choke her.
“Yes, ma’am. Very clear.”
“Good. Now run along and play. I find these conversations tedious.” Her grandmother turned back to the window.
Roslynn walked quietly out of the room, closing the door behind her.
What was that about? What did Seraphina have that her grandmother wanted? There was nothing there. She was a sad sack of a human who cried way too much, felt too deeply, and clung on for dear life. Roslynn already made all the decisions and it exhausted her.
Gods, and now she was stuck with her forever!
Her shoulders slumped and her head bowed, she traced the pattern in the marble floor with her shoe. What would it be like to live in a different family with a different power structure? She let the many fairy tale fantasies she made up over the years roll through her mind, pausing a moment on one where they were all dead and the freedom to do what she liked opened before her.
Her anger drained from her. Only an itch remained between her shoulder blades, but she could work with that.
There was nothing to be done for it. She and Seraphina would be besties forever. Beatrice the Almighty laid down the law and she had to lump it.
She straightened up, rolled her head on her shoulders, and then strode down the hall.
They did have fun together. Seraphina’s love of solitude gave Roslynn plenty of free time away from her. And she did help Roslynn get more on track with school, so it might work out.
She’d still ditch her the first chance she got, though; she’d just have to be smart about it.