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It was just another reason why I was growing frustrated. I wanted to get out there myself and conduct my own investigation, but I was too worried about Adrien to leave.

When night fell, I returned to my room and found it blanketed in darkness, save for the candlelight burning from lit sconces around the room. Adrien slept quietly in the covers. I discovered Cora sitting out on the balcony, reading a book by moonlight.

At first, I didn’t know what to think. Had she stayed only to look after Adrien, or had she stayed for another reason?

I watched her turn a page. She let out a sigh, then reached for the glass of wine sitting on the table beside her. Silently, I removed my jacket and hung it on the back of the chair, then I strode out onto the balcony. She glanced up from her reading but said nothing.

“Do you mind if I join you?” I asked.

“By all means, it’s your balcony.”

I closed the doors so we wouldn’t disturb Adrien. Then I peeked at his star chart, which was sitting on the table beside his telescope. He’d been measuring the angle of Maris’s star to Venus.

“There are no clouds tonight. The perfect conditions for making measurements,” I said half-heartedly. “You should take a look.”

Cora set down her book, humoring me, and bent to look through the scope. “They certainly look like stars,” she said mildly before leaning against the balcony and crossing her arms. “I don’t know much about the stars, truthfully. They are Diana’s magick. Not mine.”

I let out a chuckle. “I suppose not.”

Cora had a shawl wrapped around her bare shoulders to fend off the chill from the wind blowing from the west. But it did nothing to take attention away from her curves, or how beautiful she looked framed by the light of the moon.

I tried to hide my all too obvious reaction to her by penning a note on the chart, but all I could think to write was STAR.

Cora took a sip, and notes of tart white grape and fresh orange peel wafted my way. It was one of my favorite vintages.

“You must be the only person who looks up at the stars and wonders what the angles are instead of just admiring them,” she said. “Well, besides Adrien.”

I had plenty of beauty to admire, right here. I didn’t need to study the stars to be awed. However, I kept that fact behind my teeth. “Every good captain charts the stars.”

“What are you looking for up there?” she asked.

She was always doing that, questioning me in ways few did. “Oh, I don’t know. Patterns. Stories. Omens. Magick spells.”

“Honestly?”

When I glanced back at her, I could hardly breathe. I wanted her to keep looking at me the way she was now. I just wanted… her. There was no denying it. Her company. Her laughter. Her candidness. Her mouth. But I wasn’t a man who got what he wanted. Not when it came with so many complications.

“I don’t know,” I said, shrugging. Glancing away, then back at her again. “A sign, perhaps.”

“A sign for what?” she asked.

“I’m not sure.”

She smiled faintly, tilting her head back to look at the stars. “If you want my opinion⁠—”

“You know I do.”

“You’re thinking too hard about all this. Trying to force a sign when there isn’t one.”

Against my better judgment, I joined her at the rail. She offered me her cup, and after a long pause, I accepted it. Bringing the glass to my nose and drawing in a deep breath. Not just tasting the grapes, but the scent of her.

“Am I? Thinking too much?”

She nodded. “Definitely.”

I handed the glass back to her. And I couldn’t help but notice that she had placed her mouth exactly where mine had been.

“I find the best revelations happen when I’m not thinking at all,” Cora said.