Page 31 of Escaping the Earl
Peregrine repeated the words under his breath. “Starlight...Well, it isn’t night and won’t be before the challenge is done, so it must be something else.”
“Yes, my thoughts exactly,” Sabrina agreed. “And it must be something you stand in front of... The fireplace?”
Peregrine automatically glanced around the dining room. The other pairs had already departed. They were alone, and the fireplace was there opposite them.
“But fire does not make anything clear. It burns and the smoke obscures.”
“Stars!” Isla said with a giggle. Both Sabrina and Peregrine glanced down at her in surprise.
“What did you say?” Sabrina asked.
The little girl tapped the paper. “Stars! I know where stars are.”
“You do? Where?” Peregrine asked.
She climbed down off the chair and started to leave. Peregrine and Sabrina followed her until they reached the music room. No one else was inside. The circular room was decorated with gold wainscoting and pastoral scenes of plump sheep and buxom shepherdesses lounging on hills. There was a large white marble fireplace, and above it was a vast mirror.
Peregrine looked around, but Isla suddenly tugged on his trousers. When he looked down at her, she pointed upward. He and Sabrina both tilted their heads back to see the ceiling, which was covered in dark-blue paint and hundreds of gold stars.
“My God,” Peregrine chuckled. “I believe we have the real genius here. Who knew the little mite was a master of riddles?” He bent to scoop the child up and whirled her around as a reward. Sabrina gave him an intense look, even as she smiled at him.
Sabrina approached the fireplace and examined around the edges. “Where’s the next clue?” She spotted a slip of paper inside the curved neck of a golden swan that was molded to the base of the gilded frame of the mirror. Peregrine and Isla joined her. He put his arm around Sabrina’s shoulders as they read the next clue together.
My arrow is sharp, and my aim is true,
But I won’t trick or deceive you.
Pale as ash when burning hot,
Yet warm to the touch I am not.
Peregrine rubbed Sabrina’s hip, enjoying the feel of her warmth against him. He was truly enjoying himself, and he could see in her eyes that she was too. There was a playful intimacy in this scavenger hunt, and he wished it didn’t have to end so soon.
“Arrows... Are there any paintings of warriors or soldiers?” he asked her.
“No, I don’t think so,” Sabrina mused. “At least I don’t recall seeing anything. Arrows would be old, so tapestries most likely, but I do not remember any of those with arrows either.”
“What of the next part?” Peregrine asked. “What is pale like ash but cold to the touch?”
“Something white,” Sabrina said confidently. “But cold, like stone. Perhaps an armory?”
“It’s possible. But is there an armory in this house?” Peregrine asked.
“No, I don’t believe there is.” Sabrina nibbled her lip. “It’s the arrow I can’t seem to place.”
“Wait...” Peregrine thought back to the tour of Lawrence’s house. “There’s a gallery of marble statues. They would be cold to the touch... What do you think?”
“It’s worth an investigation,” she agreed.
They left the music room and walked down the corridor, passing by Rafe and Vaughn, who were whispering in the doorway of the morning room. The two men stopped talking immediately when they spotted Peregrine and Sabrina.
“Papa, we saw stars!” Isla said.
Rafe narrowed his eyes. “You saw what?”
“Stars.” Isla giggled, but Sabrina put a fingertip to her lips, and Isla covered her mouth with one hand to silence herself.
“All right, my dear. Where did you see these stars?” Rafe started toward his daughter.
