Vivienne lifted her tea cup. “Do you remember anything about your life before the circus?”
His smile disappeared as he returned his gaze to the book. “No. The earliest memories I have are about Murdock and travelling with him. Before joining the circus, he swindled people out of thousands of pounds. After one of his deceits, we would move to another place and start again. It was horrible.”
When he didn’t add anything else, she spoke again. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. But I wonder if you have a family, parents, or siblings who are worried about you.”
“I don’t think I have. Why would my parents leave me with Murdock?”
Some words he signed were confusing for her because he was faster than she was. But his deep pain was clear.
“Maybe they had no choice, or maybe they didn’t know where you were.”
He pressed his lips in a hard line. “Murdock treated me like a beast, feeding me leftovers and locking me up in a cage when he wasn’t with me. He called me onlyBoyback then. Then, when I was thirteen, he got the idea of turning me into Lion Boy and, with Cade, put up the Circus of Curiosities. What parent would leave their child in such desperation?”
A muscle of his jaw ticked, and his nostrils flared.
She ought to change the subject. “Have you thought about what to do once you finish learning to read and write?”
“No.”
She didn’t press him, but he might become an apprentice and learn a trade, or find employment in a rich house. With his height and build, he would be an excellent footman, granted if he found an employer who didn’t mind him being speechless.
The sunlight streamed through the diamond window and lit his hair with radiance. He stared at the street outside as if mesmerised by the people walking along the pavements, the carriages, and the street vendors. It occurred to her he’d never left the captain’s flat. While the circus had still been in London, it’d only been sensible to keep him hidden, but now there was no reason to.
“Would you like to go out? Take a walk? I’m sure the captain will agree.”
He turned towards her, his chest heaving. “Yes.”
