. Breakfast was laid out in the solarium-a sun-drenched room with high, arched windo

using to look at either Beatrice or the Pretender, who

th mechanical grace and addressed Lord Thomas. "I've arrange

rply. "Haven't you h

cker. "If he is Gabriel, t

aw tightened, but

eached for his cup with unstead

ood. A tutor. One who taught Gabriel languages, history, fenci

far end of the table. "H

le at Evelyn. His voice was quiet,

own. "Then perhaps I'll s

severe, with hawk-like features and sharp gray eyes. She moved

d: Thomas, Beatrice, Julian, Evely

shallowly. "It has

im as one might examine an unfamiliar painting-s

till, calm. "Do you r

"That's not the question

le

you walked between bookshelves. And you hated w

rne's face. "What was your

beat. "Facilis

t into Hel

ed. Julian stared. Evelyn pr

a single, short n

d on him as if somet

east study. The light from the hearth bathed h

passed," she

"I knew she'd

caught. "So yo

could. Every book, every tutor, every pho

. "Then you admit i

ow what I am anymore. I came here to

d n

ow I don't know if I can wa

orgiveness. Not yet. But it was dangerous, that so

stood in the hallway just beyond

er hid old letters, documents, and one withered photograph:

tch and watched it curl int

e," she whispered. "And

through the city. He'd paid off servants, questioned neigh

to a dilapidated theater on

Pretender met with a man-older, scarred, limpin

hands. A folde

ught only

... hawthorn contracts...

le rise in

ver. It was j

ath the moonlight. The chapel had long since crumbled into ivy and stone, b

Beatrice here, whispering s

in this very spot two nights before. She

t know wh

rting to feel w

iddled with mold and ghosts, Isabella watche

ting," said

abella said. "Or burn

rded by a name long forgotten,

horne never made it p