“I slept like the dead, and my jaw hurts. What about you?”
Usually, I tossed and turned, plagued with insomnia, but not last night. I lowered my head, breathing in her scent. She smelled like vanilla and coffee.
“I slept—”
The crash of Jacob’s plate cut off my answer.
“Brutus, no! Sit,” the boy scolded the dog.
Liana straightened and slid past me, our places switched. She busied herself with heaping food onto her plate. A smile trembled at her lips as Brutus tried to scoff down Jacob’s meal.
“Both of you, out!” I commanded, pointing toward the door.
Brutus whined, licking his lips, looking wounded. Jacob huffed and tried to salvage the rest of his breakfast. He snapped his fingers, and Brutus followed him from the room.
“So many interruptions,” I grumbled, placing my plate on the table. “I can’t get any peace and quiet.” I pulled out Liana’s chair, and she slipped into the seat, unfolding a napkin across her lap.
She shook her head and speared a sausage link with her fork. “You know, for someone who complains about the noise as much as you do, you seem to surround yourself with an excessive amount of chaos.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying you actually enjoy it, and you’d miss it if it went away. Frankly, you make a terrible recluse.”
I almost choked on my eggs and pounded on my chest to clear my throat. “I am not a terrible recluse.”
“Oh, really? So you’re not planning on joining me today for a visit to the orphanage, which will be filled to the rafters with chaos-inducing little children?”
She had me there. I made a face, intending to change the subject before she made me admit she was right. Reaching across the table, I grabbed my sketchbook and opened to a blank page.
“The drawing of Ethan you showed me last night gave me an idea. What if we made one of Hendrik? As siblings, the two of you will share some common family features, and based off your description from when he was younger, as well as the man you saw in the tavern, I should be able to do an age progression that could come close.”
Her breath caught, and she paused mid-bite. “Can you really do that?”
“It can’t hurt to try. People respond better to images. It triggers their memory in a way a verbal description won’t. We can have them mass-produced. I’m sure someone at the Gazette owes me a favor for practically selling their papers for them every time I returned from an expedition.”
Liana blinked, and tears welled in her eyes. She swiped them away. “I swear I’m not crying, but yes, please. Tell me what I have to do.”
“It’s pretty simple. Start by describing Hendrik when he was a teenager. That’s your strongest memory of him. I’ll get a baseline, and then we’ll layer in the description from the tavern as well as match some of your adult features.”
“All right, sounds easy enough.”
“Just take your time.”
She nodded, closing her eyes and starting with the distinct shape of his face, the curvature of his jawline, and the composition of his facial characteristics. She described the thickness of his brow, the way his nose turned up slightly at the end, and the narrow line of his mouth.
I sketched lightly, taking into account the adjustments as she moved on to the description of his face from the tavern. She noted the blond hair that had a tendency to curl and the way it had framed his ears.
When she finished, it was my turn to study her. She held still under my observation, afraid to even finish her breakfast if it might alter her expression.
“Your eggs are getting cold,” I murmured, shading in definition with the charcoal.
“I’m too nervous to eat.” She angled her head, trying to get a peek at the portrait, but I shifted, wanting to wait until the drawing was finished before I got her reaction.
Her fingers drummed impatiently against the table. “Are you finished?”
“Almost. Just a few more finishing touches.” I sketched for a few more minutes before placing the charcoal down on the table. “Are you ready?”
“I think so. Wait.” She shook out her hands and blew a breath. “Okay, I’m ready.”
