Page 39 of Margins of Love
Well, she had his grandfather’s book. The urge to give her a piece of himself made him part with his most treasured possession. There was not a line in the book he did not have committed to memory. Every word had the ring of his grandfather’s rough but loving voice. Every explanation of the myths and their symbolism had been etched in his heart.
Fave stopped and looked at Arnold. “That’s it!”
“What is it?” Arnold asked.
“The books!” Fave said as he stormed into the house with Arnold trailing behind him.
Fave burst into the library and shot to the shelf where he’d returned the books for Rachel. There were four, but he had only looked at three before Lizzie interrupted him. The day he first suspected Rachel.
“She had these books open, in this order.” He opened the books to the pages he remembered and stacked them atop each other.
Arnold looked at his poor cousin as if he had lost his mind. “And now we go stacking books like the chit because…”
“Do not call her a chit.” Fave grabbed Arnold’s collar and nearly pulled him over the table. “She is the most brilliant woman I have ever met. Ever.” He stopped when he saw Arnold’s eyes widen, then he let go.
Arnold took a few breaths, pulled his collar back and cracked his neck. “Alright, Cous. What are we looking at?”
Fave had already spread the books open and was tracing the pages with his fingers. He appreciated Arnold’s use of the pronoun “we,” and explained, “She has a habit of marking up books. She cannot help herself. The night in the library…”
“There was a night in the library?” Arnold asked.
Fave stared blankly at his cousin.
“The night in the library—” Arnold said with a nod.
Fave pressed his index finger onto a marking on a page until the fingertip turned white.
“Here it is!” He pushed the book on the left to Arnold. “This was the first one she marked. Conrad’sAlmanac of the Earth’s Crust.” Faves eyes sparkled with excitement.
Arnold shook his head. “She picked the most boring book on the shelf and marked a page at random. You are truly besotted with the chit if this put you in such a state, Cous.”
Fave growled but was undeterred.
Arnold held up his hands. “Alright, tell me more.”
“She marked up the layers of the earth. Then she went to the next book and put a mark on emeralds.”
Arnold’s eyes shot to Fave at the mention of the subject of the King’s competition.
“That is what I thought at first, as well. But she is not a spy,” Fave said.
“Isn’t she?”
Arnold waited, his left brow raised. His interest was piqued about the chance to earn a place as the King’s jeweler.
“She researched emeralds, but also sapphires and diamonds,” Fave said. “Then she looked it up in this atlas.” He turned it upside down for Arnold to see.
“Minhas Gerais?” Arnold asked.
Fave nodded. “Brazilian gems. You know the only person who has clean ones in London.”
“Pavel,” they both said in unison.
“And what about this—the significance of gems? Here, the passage on Cleopatra.” Arnold followed up.
“Oh, that is her quirk. I do not think it means anything.”
Arnold sat down and stared at his cousin, rubbing his chin. “So what do you propose we do now?”
