Page 22 of A Curse of Hope and Shadows: Part I
“Good.” She threw down a few more volumes and tossed them onto his pile before shimmying down. Her skirt caught on the final rung, and she stumbled her descent. Dimitri’s inhuman arm shot out to steady her, books crashing to the floor.
Adeline gripped his arm and held it as her heart slid back to normal, Dimitri’s eyes wide with shock or faint horror.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “This arm is much stronger than the other one—”
“I don’t mind which arm you use!” she said incredulously, and stooped to pick up the books.
“No,” said Dimitri quietly, “you really don’t, do you?”
She dumped the books back in his arms. “Shall we get you some history, then?”
He shrugged. “Pick out something on the civil war of 1766 and call it a day. I daresay this lot will take us a while to get through.”
Adeline grinned, and went to do just that. A few minutes later, they returned to his room. She seized the books from him and organised them in order of preference.
“Do you want to pick the first one we read?” she suggested.
“No,” he said, arranging himself on the chaise.
Adeline picked up the book of fairytales and started to read. For all that Dimitri had declared he didn’t care, he listened gloriously. Every so often she looked up to check that he was still awake, he was so quiet and still, and yet every time she did his face was lit with attention. At one point, she stopped to refresh herself, only to find him already pressing a glass into her hands.
Don’t stop,his expression seemed to say.Please.
They read for hours, Dimitri occasionally interrupting with his comments on implausibility, although those were fewer and far between. Adeline was just getting to her favourite story.
“And so the woman vowed that she would only marry whomsoever could retrieve the key from around her cat’s neck. The men set off at once, devising all manner of traps and tricks, but none could—”
“Why wouldn’t you just befriend the cat?”
Adeline stopped, staring at him over the volume. “You’ve read this before.”
“No, it’s just common sense! I’d befriend the cat.”
“What if the cat had better taste?”
He snorted. “Impertinent.”
“You like me that way.” The clock chimed. “I should get lunch,” she said, getting up.
“Don’t be long.”
She stopped in her tracks.
“I mean, don’t be idle. Wouldn’t want another lazy employee. Clarin is quite enough.”
“Of course,” she said, swallowing a grin. “I’ll be as quick as I can.”
Chapter Seven: Dandelions
A few days later, an impossible, sticky heat had swamped the estate, a final burst of summer before the descent into autumn. The air was crawling with it. By the time Adeline had made it upstairs with the breakfast tray, her collar was already stiff with sweat. Dimitri was half-dressed, slung across the chaise again, the curtains drawn as usual.
“I’m opening the windows,” she said, in lieu of a greeting. “It’s baking in here.”
Dimitri did not complain. “Please do.”
She disappeared behind the curtains and flung them open, whatever good it really did. The only air that spilled in was packed with heat.
She dropped into her usual chair, gasping. “The light,” she started, “it doesn’t burn you, but it does something. What is it?”
