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“My cousin Liza will be ten shades of green once I write to her,” I said. “She’s been trying to convince my aunt to send her on a Grand Tour for ages. I swear she’d run off with the circus if it meant visiting new countries.”
“Honestly, it’s the best way of becoming cultured.” Daciana looked me up and down, a sly smile matching her brother’s lighting her features. “I’ll write to your aunt and beg on your cousin’s behalf. I’d love to have another traveling companion.”
“That would be lovely,” I said. “Though Aunt Amelia can be a bit… hard to persuade.”
“Fortunately, I’ve had experience with difficult people.” She glanced at her brother, who did his best to pretend as if he hadn’t heard.
Thomas poured himself a cup of tea on the other side of the room, and I felt his attention on me as Daciana hugged me close. Her warmth filled the broken bits of myself with that brief contact. I hadn’t been truly embraced in a long while.
“So…” she drawled, looping an arm through mine. “How was traveling with my brother and Mrs. Harvey? Did she sip from her traveling tonic the whole time?”
“She did.” I laughed. “Thomas was… Thomas.”
“He’s a special sort.” She gave me a knowing grin. “Honestly, I’m pleased he hasn’t scared you off with his mystical ‘powers of deduction.’ He’s really quite sweet once you move past that sour exterior.”
“Oh, is he? I hadn’t noticed this mythical sweet side.”
“Aside from those walls he puts up for work, he’s truly one of the best people in the world,” Daciana said proudly. “Being his sister, I’m only partially biased, naturally.”
I smiled. I knew he was still watching, his attention a soft caress from the moment his sister hugged me, but now I pretended not to notice. “I’m curious, what else did he say about me?” I finally glanced in his direction, but he was now studiously engaged in staring into his cup as if he could read the tea leaves and divine his future.
“Oh, lots of things.”
“What do we have here?” Thomas interrupted, yanking the lid off one of the platters with a clang. “I had your favorite sent up, Daci. Who’s hungry?”
Before Daciana could offer any more of his secrets, Thomas handed her a glass of wine and ushered us over to a little table.
Daciana took a long pull from her glass, her gaze carving into me in nearly the same fashion as Thomas’s. I watched as she eyed the pear-shaped ring on my finger, one of my most precious possessions.
I fought the urge to hide my hands beneath the table, lest she take offense where none was intended. Her focus slid up to the heart-shaped locket on my neck—another token I was hardly ever without. I was not inclined to discuss my mother tonight nor allow my thoughts to stumble into those darkened alleyways of treacherous memory.
“Forgive me,” she said, “but does your affection for forensic medicine have anything to do with the loss you’ve suffered?” She nodded toward the ring. “I assume that diamond belonged to your mother. And that necklace as well?”
“How—” I shot an accusing glare at Thomas as my hand inadvertently found the heart clasped near my throat.
“Easy now. It’s a family trait, Wadsworth,” he said, spooning food onto a plate for me. “However, I doubt you’ll be as impressed by my sister. I’m much smarter. And handsomer. Obviously.”
Daciana shot her brother an exasperated look. “I apologize, Audrey Rose. I simply noted that ring and its style and assumed your mother had passed on. I did not mean to offend.”
“Your brother noticed the same thing a few months ago,” I said, dropping my hand. “It took me by surprise, is all. He’d not mentioned you possessed the same… ability to read the obvious.”
“Quite the obnoxious sibling trait.” Daciana smiled. “Has he told you anything about it?”
I shook my head. “It’s easier to pry information from the dead than get Thomas to open up about himself.”
“True enough.” Daciana tossed her head back and laughed. “It was a game we used to play as children. At dinner parties, we’d study the adults around us, guessing their secrets and earning coins to keep them to ourselves. Noblemen aren’t keen on having their private affairs made public. Our mother used to host the most thrilling parties.” She swirled the wine around in her glass. “Has Thomas ever told you—”
“That perhaps wine is not such a good idea on an empty stomach?” he supplied, clearly hoping to steer the conversation away from their mother.
It seemed fate was a fan of Thomas as a knock suddenly interrupted us. Ileana stepped in and dipped her head. “Your rooms are ready, domnisoara.”
Daciana beamed.
“It was wonderful finally meeting you, Audrey Rose.” She whispered somethin
g to Ileana in Romanian and flashed me another grin. “Oh, there may be a surprise waiting for you in your chambers. A little gift from me to you. Enjoy.”
“Perhaps I should accompany Audrey Rose back to her rooms,” Thomas offered innocently. “It would be prudent to make sure this surprise doesn’t have fangs. Or claws.”
