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She considered the question for a moment. “There was Old Man Terrier.”
For a confused moment I considered questioning the name but decided it was probably a title bestowed by the local children.
“He’s a hermant,” Fergus supplied, making all three of us stare at him.
“I think he means hermit,” Costas said after a moment, clearly stifling a laugh.
Lumi rolled her eyes. “He’s not ahermit,Fergus. He just has no patience for annoying children.” Her accusatory look suggested she thought Fergus was the main problem and that she could understand how the old man felt.
“But I saw him at the manor just last week,” Costas said.
Lumi shrugged. “He used to refuse to go, but then he got that fever.”
“Fever?” I looked to Costas, who winced.
“It went through the town three winters ago. It was a new one, and my whole family had to come down from the manor and go house to house to stamp it out.”
Lumi nodded. “Ma took us up the mountain at the first talk of a new sickness, so we escaped. But when we came back, Old Man Terrier was going to the manor for checkups like everyone else.” She shrugged again.
I gulped, understanding what must have happened. After a lifetime of quiet resistance, a single illness had forced him into contact with the Constantines.
Without meaning to, my gaze met Costas’s, and I read the same sadness in his eyes. Seized by a moment of recklessness, I spoke even more openly than I had so far.
“And your family is all right with Lumi and Fergus and their mother not going for these checkups?” I asked him.
He frowned. “Their mother lives a quiet, secluded life, keeping out of notice as much as possible. I’m not sure anyone in my family even knows they exist.”
I stared at him, and he looked back, his gaze direct and open. There was no doubt Costas was different from the rest of his family, and his expression and words suggested he recognized there was something different about me, as well.
But being different on this island was dangerous. And I didn’t know how far I could trust Costas. Was he just pretending sorrow over his family’s actions in order to win our trust?
An insidious thought snaked into my mind. All it would take was a light touch, and I could make sure Costas saw me as safe and unthreatening. My power could override any suspicious word or action he might have observed.
Would it be such a terrible thing to tamper with a single morning’s memories if it meant keeping Nik and me safe? If his family weren’t above killing those who threatened their rule, then the danger was real.
But as I pictured myself doing it, every part of me rebelled. If I started down that path, where would it end? Just because I had the power to do it, it didn’t give me the right to meddle with someone else’s mind.
Instead, I would have to take a risk and choose to trust Costas.
Nik looked down at me with a question in his eyes, but I just shrugged, unable to explain myself. He might not agree with my decision—not when my safety was at risk—but that didn’t matter. At the end of the day, this was my ability and that made the responsibility mine. I would not choose to mesmerize someone just to keep myself safe.
ChapterTwenty-Nine
Costas offered to walk me back to the manor, and I put a quick restraining hand on Nik’s arm before he could protest. I could see the storm in his eyes, but I glared at him until he sighed, his shoulders relaxing. Nik couldn’t go anywhere near the manor.
“Thank you,” I told Costas, who had watched the brief interchange with far too much curiosity.
He led me back through a maze of streets, bypassing the market square, and I caught enough glimpses of movement behind us to know Nik was shadowing us. He could do that all he liked as long as he stopped at the edge of the main town, not continuing on to the manor grounds.
But when we reached the edge of the manor gardens, Costas stopped as well, looking at me ruefully.
“You should probably go on ahead on your own from here. It won’t do you any good to be seen with me.”
I raised an eyebrow, and his self-deprecating smile grew. “They tolerate me because I’m family, but you won’t win any points from association.”
I wanted to protest and tell him I would rather be associated with him than any of the rest of his family, but I wasn’t here for a social visit. Despite the guarded level of openness that had existed between us in the town, I had to remain wary.
So I merely nodded agreement and left him behind, glancing back over my shoulder only once. He was watching me go with the same curious expression he’d worn earlier.
