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“What about the shadow?” Edward asked, frowning.
Ariadne shook her head. “I don’t know. He never told me. You have to understand something. My father wasn’t like you and I—he was different and most of the time existed in a place that we can never reach intellectually. As such, he often spoke strange things that made no sense to me. So I never thought of investigating.”
The mention of the shadow, along with George Davy’s notebook turning up with missing pages couldn’t be a coincidence. Something else was going on.
“What about the note you had found in your mother’s pendant?” he asked, looking at the small piece of jewelry she still wore around her neck.
Ariadne clutched at it thoughtfully. “All it said wasAll answers lie hereand there was nothing else.”
So that was a dead end. Edward continued to frown as he pieced together all the information that Ariadne had given him. There was something he was missing but he couldn’t gather what.
“You don’t have to worry about it too much. It’s my problem, I’ll fix it,” Ariadne insisted. “I’m sure you have more pressing concerns than this.”
“The safety of your life and that of your family is of utmost concern to me. You don’t have to be alone anymore, I’m here with you.”
“Thank you,” she whispered. Edward saw the vulnerability in her eyes. As far as he knew her, it was obvious that she didn’t open up so easily, so the fact that she had chosen to place her trust in him filled him with joy. Spending these stolen moments with her in the afternoon brought him more peace and purpose than anything else in his life had. All his life he felt as if he had been rushing to prove to people that he was a worthy son, student and now a politician, but none of that mattered when he was with Ariadne.
“So what are we working on for the rest of the afternoon?” he asked. His eye fell to a disassembled watch parts. “What is that?”
“A project that I’m working for someone, but that doesn’t matter. Here look.” She headed to the wall and brought over the wheeled shovel. It had been recently greased. “This is the shovel that we talked about using the other day. I repaired it.”
Edward placed his elbow on the table and watched her. Seeing her do something she was so passionate about made him happy in turn. He nodded. “Let’s talk about reforms then.”
“Of course,” she said. “I assume you enjoyed the ball last night.” When she looked at him, she had a wicked glaze in her eyes. Edward liked this playful side of her.
“As a matter of fact I did,” he said.
“I pray no one saw us together,” she said. “I don’t want them to think anything untoward about you.”
“I don’t care about that,” Edward said.
“But I do,” Ariadne said. She looked away and Edward realized at that moment that he didn’t want to keep Ariadne a secret anymore. He knew what he had to do. It was high time he spoke to his parents about Ariadne.
* * *
As soon as the carriage deposited him outside his house, Edward took a deep breath and strode right toward the library where he knew his father would be. The Duke liked to spend his afternoons in leisure and quiet reading books in the library that he had built book by book over the years. He was thorough in inoculating his reading habits into both of his children, even though nowadays Maisie was taken more with fashion than history.
Edward knocked on the oakwood door to get the attention of his father who took a few moments to look up. When he did, he simply waved him inside. “What brings you here? I thought you were out.” His voice was testy and Edward suspected if his father already had an inkling of where he spent his afternoons.
“There is something I need to talk to you about,” Edward said. Maybe there was something in his voice but his father immediately closed his book and turned his attention to him. “What is it?”
Edward took deep breaths. He remembered standing in front of his father with his knuckles bent as he wrapped his stick against it. Edward winced at the memory of the pain. But it was time to take his stand. “Father, there is someone I need to talk to you about, someone I have growing feelings for.”
“Your betrothed, I presume,” his father said. He gave him a sardonic smile. “Have your already grown besotted with her?”
“Lady Jane is a fine woman, but she is not the one I seek.”
His father looked up sharply. “What are you saying, boy?” he thundered. Edward hated it when his father called him a boy, he felt insignificant as if his thoughts and opinions didn’t hold ground against him.
Edward stood in front of his father, pulling himself to his full height. “It is Ariadne that I desire.”
“The girl from the slum? Have you lost your mind, Edward?” he bellowed.
“I have not,” Edward said. “I’m of sound mind.” It was rather the opposite. After meeting Ariadne, it was as if he was seeing clearly for the first time.
“Do you love her then?” he demanded.
Edward paused. He wasn’t certain yet what he felt for Ariadne. “I do not know what it is yet but my feelings for her run deeper than they have for any female or otherwise”
