“Oh, I need to hear that story,” Phoebe said, enjoying how Clio beamed and Aaron groaned.
“Right,” Clio said, clapping her hands together. “So, I must have been… five or six years old. And I found a ring of mushrooms—you know those awful-looking, fat white ones that aren’t good for eating but seem to spring up everywhere anyway? So, I found the ring, and I was certain, absolutely certain, that fairies had planted them.”
“Because fairies are well known for their horticultural practices,” Aaron grumbled—one of his vanishingly rare contributions to the conversation.
“Who knows why fairies do things, Aaron,” Clio retorted. “Anyway, I became highly focused on finding the fairies.”
“Obsessed,” Aaron said. “The word you are looking for is obsessed.”
Clio stuck her tongue out at him and continued, “Anyway, I asked?—”
“Pestered.”
“—Aaron to come search with me. He was meant to be in his lessons, and Peter—God rest his soul—was prone to followingthe rules no matter what, so we had to go around him. So, Aaron sent Peter on some horrible wild goose chase…” Clio paused dramatically. “By which I mean heactuallyreleased a goose in Peter’s room.”
Phoebe let out a surprised, utterly unladylike bark of laughter.
“Predictable chaos ensued,” Clio said, enjoying herself. “Aaron slipped out and took me on the longest, most exhaustive search for faeries. Anywhere I wanted to go, we went. He spent the whole day with me,” she concluded.
When the brother and sister looked at one another, neither of them tried to hide anything they were feeling. They both looked extremely soft.
“We didn’t find fairies,” Aaron said flatly, though it was clearly meant to be humorous, not censorious.
“We didn’t,” Clio said. Her eyes darted down to her plate, then, suddenly, her tone grew quiet. “Father was cross, though. He?—”
“That’s enough reminiscing,” Aaron said sharply. When Phoebe looked up at her husband, she saw that all of the softness of before had vanished, replaced by what she was coming to think of as his soldier’s face. “You’ve had a long journey, Clio. You should get some rest.”
Something unspoken passed between the two siblings. Phoebe didn’t know what it meant—but she didn’t try to decipher it.Some things were private. Whatever this thing was, it belonged to Clio and Aaron alone.
“Very well,” Clio said after a long, drawn-out silence. She stood, pushing back from her chair as a footman hurried forward to help her. “Phoebe, it was lovely to meet you. Aaron…”
She didn’t finish that thought. She just patted her brother’s shoulder once as she headed out of the room.
Aaron returned directly to his meal, and Phoebe followed suit. As they finished eating, they didn’t exchange another word.
CHAPTER 18
Acold wind blew in over the next few days, as if the weather itself was determined to parallel Aaron’s mood.
Ice crystallized on the cobblestones, and knife-sharp icicles hung from the eaves of the house, making every step outside treacherous.
Matters inside the house were sufficiently uncomfortable, however, that Phoebe found herself considering risking the elements at least once per hour, though good sense ultimately prevailed.
The morning after Clio’s arrival, Phoebe had resolved to revisit the… unfinished business between herself and her husband. She wouldn’t say that she wasdelightedto try to consummate her marriage with her husband immediately following the return of his younger sister, but the house was large enough, and Clio’s room was not close to the Duke and Duchess’ chambers.
But when she found Aaron, he was… polite.
It was deeply strange.
“Good morning,” he said when she entered the breakfast room, glancing only briefly from his freshly ironed newspaper.
Phoebe had been taken aback. She hadn’t expected him to make the first conversational gambit.
“Good morning,” she returned, a touch hesitantly. “I was hoping that we might… talk.”
He gave her a polite half smile, as if she were an acquaintance he’d met on the street.
“I have a number of things to do today. Perhaps another time.”
