I’m so dumbfounded that I almost miss Dakari’s next words. “I’m going to humour my uncle and attend a family dinner with him and the Carltons. See if I can get access to their manor again. I’m going to run it past Kyrith first. I don’t want her getting the wrong idea about me and Anthea, but they’ve upped the security since I broke you out. I don’t think I can get past the new wards unless I pretend to humour this stupid betrothal.”
“Is that safe?” I ask, stepping out from behind the bookshelf, only to be stunned to stillness by the view before me.
They must’ve found one of the widest doors in the library. A stout, circular portal to the outside world, granting a spacious view of the beach beyond.
The ocean is so blue that it redefines the word azure. White sands are already trickling over the doorstep, blown by the same soft breeze that wafts through the room, bringing with it the scent of salt, hibiscus, and frangipani. The room is awash with the sounds of some tropical paradise, and bright with the midday sun from the other side of the world.
The Arcanaeum must have helped—of course it did—because all of the books are safely locked behind new glass doors, protected from the humidity.
My hand rises to cover my mouth, but Dakari tugs it away so he can press a toe-curling kiss to my lips. “We’ll talk about it tomorrow. Enjoy your date, baby girl.”
That quickly, he’s gone, and Jasper is left kneeling beside the door to paradise. He smooths out a wrinkle in the picnic blanket with one hand, while the other rubs uncertainly at hisbeard. His gaze drops to the bowls of steaming food in the middle of the blankets.
“I thought you might enjoy travelling, but if this feels like I’m shoving it in your face that you cannae leave?—”
“It’s not.”
I’m pretty sure my heart is trying to hammer free from my body through my oesophagus.
The tight lines around his eyes ease, and he dares a glance up at me. “Then…welcome to Hawaii? Dakari called in a favour to get a door installed on this beach, and it’s pretty private.”
His head drops again, but catches at my feet, Adam’s apple bobbing at the sight of my heels.
Silently, I take a seat on the cushions, still staring at the ocean.
“Ah ken it’s not pigeons,” he adds. “But you did say you wanted to see beaches.”
And he took note, even when I was crying and broken.
“This is the nicest thing I think anyone has ever done for me.”
I freeze as a small white ball of fluff finds my lap and starts trying to climb me to reach the stray strands of my hair.
“You’re a lot cleaner than you were a few hours ago,” I say to the cat before me.
The dirt is gone from his coat, leaving it a gleaming white peppered with the faintest grey stripes. His little yellow eyes are clearer and no longer bulge out of their sockets, and his overbite has been sorted.
“I made Lambert bathe him, which he didnae enjoy. Then I fixed his infected eyes. The ears are just like that, though. Must be a breed thing.”
I frown as I trace the line of the folded triangles on the top of his head with one fingertip, only to fight back a surge of warm affection as the creature licks me.
“You’re not really going to call it North, are you?”
My brow wrinkles in disbelief. “I despise naming things, but no. Not if it were the last name on earth.”
In my day, there was a very limited pool to choose from. Saint names were the most common, but the cat doesn’t look like a Mark, a Thomas, or an Andrew. Equally, I shudder at the idea of naming him something cutesy like Mittens.
Plus, if I name it, I’m only encouraging Lambert to bring back more strays. While one cat might be manageable, he is not the type to stop there. Next, it’ll be a small dog, then a large dog. Soon he’ll be trying to convince me to keep chickens in one of the gardens or a goat in the clock tower.
Magic, I can just picture him waltzing in here with a horse and the Arcanaeum building a stable instead of letting me banish him.
I may have a soft spot for the Winthrop heir, but his impulsivity needs curbing.
“South, then?”
I scoff. “That’s almost worse than North.”
“Snowy? Fluffy? Olaf?”
