Page 89

Curieuse

CORA

Ifound Adrien and Della in Severin’s study exactly where I had left them.

Adrien was sitting behind Severin’s desk with his feet in the chair and his head hanging upside down over one arm. Della perched on his stomach, methodically stripping the feather from one of Severin’s quills.

Severin appeared to be pretending neither of them existed. Adrien sat straight up when I came in through the door, and a stack of papers went flying off Severin’s desk.

“How was tea?” Adrien asked.

I held out my arm. Della abandoned the ruined quill and flew to me. “Excruciatingly boring,” I replied.

Adrien picked up the stack of papers he had displaced, and placed them in a perfect stack back on Severin’s immaculate desk.

“I will collect him from you at seven,” Severin said.

Adrien frowned. “Why you?”

“Because I will be responsible for you tonight.”

“Where will Papa be?”

Severin’s attention remained on the letter he was drafting. “Your father will be occupied.”

“He said we’d have an astronomy lesson,” Adrien countered.

Severin blew out a terse breath. “Circumstances have changed.”

“What circumstances?”

“The sort that do not improve under interrogation.” He glanced up at me with a tight look, then turned back to Adrien. “I can collect you at six instead of seven if you want to keep testing me.”

Adrien crossed his arms. “Seven is acceptable.”

“I’m pleased we have reached an agreement.”

Severin returned his attention to his correspondence with suspicious concentration.

Whatever occupied Yves, it was none of my concern. He had a duchy to govern, a secret society to investigate, and a brother determined to rearrange the monarchy after his son’s ball. It would’ve been strange if he were not busy, but I couldn’t deny that I was just as curious as Adrien.

“Come,” I told Adrien. “We’re going to the library.”

His expression brightened. “Why?”

“Because I need to conduct research.”

“Into what?” he said, trailing after me.

“Things,” I replied coyly.

“What sort of things?”

Doing my best impersonation of Severin, I said, “The sort that do not improve under interrogation.”

We returned to the palace library, which was filled with enough afternoon light that Adrien opened his black parasol and lifted it over his head before venturing beyond the shadow of the doorway.

Adrien disappeared into the botany section while I collected maps, municipal records, and a thick burial register containing the names of every citizen interred within Valemer’s walls, searching for the best place to hold my charging circle at a table between shelves.