“Over the telephone?”
Celine shrugged. “I might have exaggerated it a bit. You are invited, by the way.”
“I never knew you were so cunning, Celine LeBeau.”
“One of the many things those magazines fail to mention.” Celine eyed him as Bastien moved around her room, picking up random trinkets, turning them over in his hand, then placing them down again. Even Jacques hadn’t looked at her things with such fascination. She chewed on the inside of her cheek. “I told—” she started and he looked over at her, placing her perfume bottle back on the vanity. Celine cleared her throat. “Jacques—I told him about you being my model.”
Bastien did not reply. Instead, he wandered over to her bed, where Milady was snuggling into the covers, and cautiously petted her.
“He is not going to say anything, if you’re worried about that.”
“That’s not it,” he mumbled.
His voice had grown soft. Celine remained where she stood and hid her hands into the sleeves of his jacket. Something had overcome his features that she couldn’t pinpoint.
“Are you doing alright?” she prompted, true concern creeping into the question. “Monsieur Ménard’s masquerade, Maison Baudelaire…you have been acting off recently. More than usual.” Bits of information floated around in her mind, but they were pieces that didn’t fit together no matter how many times she rearranged them. “Did something happen with your grandfather?”
Bastien was avoiding her gaze. “Would you look at that,” he pointed at the box and the smushed icing on the top, “the cake apology worked.”
“Do not sidetrack.”
“I appreciate the concern, but it is not your issue to fix, Celine. I’m sorry I made it so.”
“Well…” Celine picked at her nails. “You wouldn’t intentionally muck up the competition, would you? I mean, you went out of your way to find my sketchbook and bring it back, I’m assuming what happened wasn’t intentional.”
“It wasn’t.” His fingers halted on Milady, resulting in an irritated meow. Bastien pulled his hand back. “The competition was an accident,” he said, finally looking up at her. “I should have taken it more seriously, I’m sorry.”
Celine sat beside him on the bed, taking Milady onto her lap. “What happened then?”
She could tell he was hesitating by the way his foot tapped restlessly on the floor. She nudged him to confess.
“Grandfather disowned me. The night of the party.”
“What?” Out of all the things that had crossed her mind these past few days, she had never guessed disownment. “Surely he wouldn't go that far.”
“He has already kicked me out,” Bastien went on drily. “I doubt it's that much harder to cross a name off a list.”
It didn’t excuse what he had done, but the way his situation had unraveled made her heart ache.Disowned. For Bastien to actually admit this to her…
Impulsively, Celine reached for his hand, lacing their fingers together. He had been there holding hers through every nerve-wrecking round at Maison Baudelaire; she wanted to return the favour. “We will win and you will pay him back,” she assured. Then, to cheer him up, she added, “If you promise to be a good boy.”
Bastien did not indulge her with banter. But he didn’t withdraw his hand. “And you?” he asked gravely. “Areyoudoing alright? That kiss…”
“Let’s not talk about that.”
“But—”
“Look, Bas, you don’t have to care.”
“But I do,” he insisted. “I care. I care about the competition…I care about you, too.” Taking a deep, painful-looking breath, he said: “I remember what I did at the party. I need you to know that no matter how drunk I was, I would never—”
“I know,” she said quietly. “It wasn’t what you did, rather than what you said.”
What’s one girl for another? You’re too much work, Celine. It’s not worth my time.
He stared down at his hands, his fingers still tangled with hers. “I didn’t mean those words, either. To be honest, you are one of the few people I enjoy spending my daytime hours with. Even if it is standing still and being poked with needles.” He glanced at her sideways, hoping to catch the little smile that started to spread on her lips. “That does not mean you should keep doing it.”
Celine permitted a chuckle. But she could see that whatever was weighing on his mood hadn’t lifted. “Bas…” she ventured. “If you need anything…”
