Page 87 of Duke of Diamonds
Bright green, streaked with yellow. A parrot.
Beside him, Fiona gasped.
“What in the blazes is going on here?” he barked, rising slightly from his chair as two footmen hurried to mop up the spill.
“Were the doors left open? Who let this thing in?”
He turned sharply toward the staff.
But before anyone could answer, laughter bubbled from across the table.
He looked at Fiona.
She was tearing off a bit of bread from the basket and holding it out with an expression that was far too amused for the circumstances.
“He’s my new friend,” she said. “And he’s quite partial to warm rolls.”
Isaac blinked. “You’vewhat?”
She offered the bread to the bird, who snatched it with his beak and resumed eating.
“Mozart is family now,” she said with a breezy shrug, as if discussing an old cousin rather than a creature who’d just overturned his wine.
Isaac stared.
Family?
Isaac narrowed his eyes at the bird, which now sat contentedly in the bread basket as though it had claimed it by right.
“Please do not tell me that is the name you’ve given him.”
Fiona tilted her head, arching one brow. “And why ever not?”
She turned back to the bird with fondness in her gaze. “He adores the pianoforte. Don’t you, Mozart?”
The creature ignored the tidbit she offered in favor of helping himself to the warm, untouched rolls beside it.
“Such shameless gluttony,” Isaac muttered, folding his arms as he watched the bird tear into the bread.
“Do not be unkind, Isaac,” Fiona said without looking at him.
He shifted his weight and glanced at her askance. “Of all the names in the world, you choseMozart?”
“I think it suits him perfectly.” She beamed.
Mozart squawked once, then tilted his head.
“Perfect!” the bird echoed.
Isaac stared.
The parrot repeated it, louder this time: “Perfect!”
“Good heavens,” he said. “It speaks. Of course it does.” He rubbed a hand across his jaw. “What’s next? Will he be giving recitals?”
“We are making excellent progress,” Fiona replied, eyes twinkling. “He landed atop the pianoforte after his first proper flight. I took it as a sign.”
Isaac turned slightly, watching her more than the bird now. She looked entirely too pleased with herself, like a girl who’d found treasure and meant to keep it.
