Page 101 of A Curse of Hope and Shadows: Part I
She woke just as they were putting her down, letting out a sudden gasp and shirking against the headboard when she saw Dimitri.
“It’s all right,” Adeline assured her. “You nodded off on the staircase. The Young Lord was just helping me take you back to your room.”
“The Young… Oh no! I’m so sorry—”
“That’s quite all right,” said Dimitri calmly. “You’ve been worked to the bone. I’ll leave Miss Adeline to take care of you, now.” He swept out of the room without another word.
“Oh, Adeline!” Erabella wailed. “How mortifying! I didn’t mean to—”
“It’s perfectly fine to be tired, Erabella,” Adeline assured her, resisting the urge to smooth down her hair.
Her bottom lip wobbled. “Did the Young Lord really pick me up?”
“He did.”
“I didn’t mean to startle.”
“I know.”
“He seemed nice.”
Adeline smiled. “Heis.”
“You really do like him, don’t you?”
This question, at least, was easy to answer. “Yes, of course I do.”
“Posey said—”
“In this instance, I’m really not sure I need to know what Posey said. The Young Lord is a distinctly likeable person, if given a bit of time with him. That’s all anyone needs to know.”
Erabella swallowed. “All right.”
“I’ll leave you to get some proper rest. Don’t worry about the rest of your tasks. I’ll see they’re completed.”
“Thank… thank you.”
Adeline gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder, and slipped out of the room. Dimitri was waiting for her in the corridor.
“I’ve spoken to Minty,” he declared. “I’ve demanded your company for the rest of the day, so you can take on Erabella’s chores if you must, but you’ll be excused from your own.”
She blinked at him. “Thank you.”
“You were going to try and do them all, weren’t you?”
She looked down. “Maybe.”
Dimitri half laughed, half sighed, and his gaze slid down the corridor. “So… which one’s yours?”
The first answer that came to her, the one she quickly quashed, wasWhy? Planning a late night visit?
Good Gods, what had she been reading?
“That one,” she said, as flatly as she could manage.
He nodded, staring at the door. “Is it… like Erabella’s?”
“Small? Cosy?”
