Page 17

“Ah,” I said, withdrawing my hand and noting not to do that again around him. He must’ve seen it as a dismissive gesture.

I tried very hard not to imagine the Duke sitting in a library, reading books by candlelight, but the image arrived anyway. So did another one. Adrien’s mother bending to kiss his cheek, requesting that he come to bed.

“A mirror or a talisman won’t reveal a ghost who doesn’t want to be seen,” I explained.

Adrien frowned. “Are you sure? The books said it would work.”

I chose my next words carefully, lest I scare him. Or worse, encourage him. “I’m sure,” I replied. “Only a dark spell can force them to become visible.”

This fact didn’t seem to discourage him at all.

“And how do you bind one? Do you use dark magick? A demon relic?”

I knew he wasn’t trying to be rude, but his question sliced against all the complicated feelings I had about my mother. Still, I was inclined to answer his question instead of brushing it aside.

“Yes, you use dark magick.” I purposefully tucked my wand away, indicating that I wouldn’t be doing any for him. “Now,” I said, standing and offering him my hand. “Let’s get you back home before your father gets worried about you.”

He stared at my open palm and frowned. “We don’t need to go back to Château du Mer.”

“Yes, we do.”

“No,” he asserted. “Papa will find us.” Then he looked sheepishly at the ground. “When I run away, Severin is the one who comes to fetch me. But this time, I know it’ll be my father. I know it. It will be like a game.”

“A game only you’ll enjoy.” I gave him a curious look. “Why did you run away in the first place?”

He glanced up, eyes wide and excited. “I wanted to find you!”

I blinked at him. “You… what?”

“I wanted to find you. To ask you to come be my nanny.”

His nanny? A hot lump formed in the back of my throat that I couldn’t explain. Before I could come up with a reason why that would never happen, Della hopped onto Adrien’s shoulder and nipped at the gold earring dangling from his ear, making him giggle.

Adrien held out his hand and whistled, and the bird hopped onto his forearm. Puffing out her neck feathers and warbling in that low, liquid sound she usually reserved for me. He mimicked it, and it sounded like the two were holding a conversation.

Some of the tension left my throat as I watched them, and a small smile rounded my lips. Della had been in a foul mood all day, pecking at my earlobe and muttering to herself, and here she was practically preening.

Without looking up, Adrien asked, “Did you ever find your Mama?”

Find her? More like I couldn’t get rid of her. But I didn’t feel like explaining my complex relationship with my mother to a child. “That is very nice of you to ask, but no. My Mama is gone.” I eyed the shop glass where she had appeared. “And she isn’t coming back.”

“She’s a ghost. Isn’t she? That’s why you were in the harbor. You saw her in that dinghy.”

I forced a smile while the memory flashed behind my eyes. “Yes.”

He absorbed this with a small nod. “My Mama is gone too. But she’s not a ghost. If she were,” Adrien said slowly, “she’d come visit me.”

I drew in a breath and held it, causing the boning of my bodice to press against my ribs. The street felt very far away. I realized there was no mother, no wife. No woman bending to kiss either of them while they read. It was just the two of them.

Della made a soft sound.

After a moment, Adrien looked up at me through his long dark lashes. “Wouldn’t she? My mother. She’d visit.”

My caged breath burned in my lungs. I forced a tight smile, for his benefit. “Of course she would.”

Silence settled between us. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a few dried berries. Della clicked her beak in excitement when I withdrew them. “Easy,” I told her, then dumped them into Adrien’s hand. Della picked at them with her best manners.

“You’re a good bird, aren’t you, Della?” Adrien said.