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Mercury brushed his hand along her cheek. “Do you ever regret remaining behind after your mother left Aventine? You might have returned to London, made a peaceful and safe life for yourself among Society.”

“I have not regretted it for even a moment,” she said softly. “Do you regret letting me stay?”

He bent closer, narrowing the gap between them until it all but disappeared. His voice dropped to a whisper. “Not even a little.”

Mercury kissed her, tenderly and slowly, a moment of happiness and contentment in the midst of chaos and worry. Holding her and kissing her brought back to Aventine a feeling of home that had been missing from the moment the Forever Flame had stepped through the front door. And it set his feet firmly on the battle path once more. This was what he was fighting for: home and peace and a future.

“Would you two like some privacy?” Zizzy’s voice held a hint of a laugh.

Tacey actually did laugh. She tucked herself against his chest, holding tight to him.

Mercury looked over at Zizzy and grinned unrepentantly. “I have never in all my life had privacy. I’m certainly not going to start expecting it now.”

Zizzy smiled. The sight did Mercury’s heart good. The past weeks, and the past day in particular, had taken a toll on all of them.

“We had best make this trade sooner than later,” Tacey said. “And we might as well do it in here.”

3

“You said you associate your attachments with scents,” Mercury said.

Tacey nodded.

“What is the scent you associate with your Invisible attachment?” he asked.

“Honeysuckle.”

“Focus on that.”

She nodded and closed her eyes.

“Think of Zizzy. What scent immediately comes to mind? There doesn’t need to be a reason or explanation, just what you immediately think of.”

Her brow pulled in thought. “Primrose. That’s what I thought of first.”

“Focus on that as well. Both flowers, and both scents at the same time.”

“Like a bouquet.”

“A good analogy. Your bouquet is currently lilacs, which you once told me was the flower you connect to Granny Grey, and honeysuckle. Once you begin the Transferal, add primrose to your bouquet. You’ll hold all three for a time.”

Tacey closed her eyes. “I can sense the bouquet. I can’t see it or feel it, but I can . . . sense it.” The explanation ended on something like a question.

“The sensation is difficult to put into words,” Mercury acknowledged. He had struggled to describe it to her during her ghost-broker training.

“Anything else I ought to know?” she asked.

“Yes, actually. Transferals between two people who both have multiple ghosts are different from those in which only the broker has more than one attachment.”

She nodded. “You told me that when we first met, but you didn’t say how it was different.”

“The ghosts being traded will flicker while the Transferal is underway.”

Her brow pulled in confusion. “Flicker?”

“Their translucence will shift, flickering between more and less transparent.”

“Noticeably?”