Page 39 of Peculiar Engagements

“Energetic,” Sabre said. “You can always just tell him now.”

“No, he prefers some level of dramatics.” Charon set his cloak down on a chair and started pacing across Laurent’s rug. “Perhaps a play. Rose could—no. No. I’ll need a barrel of flowers and access to the roof.”

Laurent nodded. “Right.”

“Or I could take him to the fountains by the Crescent Gardens,” Charon said.

“Yes,” Sabre said. “That’s an option.”

“Are you sure you’re all right?” Laurent asked.

“No,” Charon said. “And yes.” His mind was already reeling with half-formed plans. A few weeks ago, he would have approached this calmly and quietly, if at all. Now, his thoughts flitted about like an upturned cage of butterflies. “I respect your discretion in not telling Yves until I’ve arranged matters. Good night.”

“Night,” Sabre said, faintly.

Charon closed the door. Tomorrow, he would tell Yves the truth—the whole truth, even the parts Charon had been holding from himself. He’d bring him to the gardens with a cake from his favorite cafe to bribe him. Even if Yves didn’t care for him in the same way, telling him would be enough. A small part of Charon believed that the kiss they’d shared had spoken to something real—something that had been stirring inside for too long. Charon was done being sensible and cautious. He headed down the stairs with his coins clasped tight in his fist. It was time, he thought, to act a little more like Yves.

Eight

The cavalry camethe next day.

Sensibility “Sybil” Cooper, matriarch of the Cooper clan and a dominant who could put even old King Emile in his place, arrived outside the House of Onyx in the family carriage shortly after dawn. Pearl, Yves’ younger sister, sat on the driver’s bench with Harriet while Tony clambered down to approach the front door. The sturdy carriage horses eyed the House of Onyx with a casual disdain that his family rarely allowed themselves to show in public.

Yves slipped down the stairs just in time to meet Tony at the entrance. The last thing he wanted was to have half the House awake to watch his family raise a fuss in the foyer. He barely felt like checking with Laurent to see if the invitations to the next contest had been sent out, let alone like facing his mother at the crack of dawn, but it seemed that fate was determined to spit on him.

“What?” Yves asked. Tony glanced over his shoulder, and a curtain in the carriage window twitched.

“Ma says she won’t meet you here,” Tony said.

“All right,” Yves said, tired beyond all reckoning. “Tell her that’s nice of her and to have a safe trip home.”

“Darling! Cooper!” Yves winced. He hadn’t felt his mother’s particular brand of dominance in years, and it was like a firm thumb and forefinger twisting his ears until they burned. “Get in the carriage this instant!”

“I’m too busy whoring, Mother,” Yves called. Harriet snorted, and Tony pulled his cap down over his eyes. “I’m tired from being fucked by my prospective suitors all night. Come back tomorrow.”

The curtain twitched again. “Darling Cooper.”

“It’s Yves,” Harriet said, before Yves could open his mouth. She winked at him.

The carriage door swung open, and Yves stared into his own face in twenty years—beautiful and fierce, curly hair going gray at the temples, with freckles merging into splotches over her cheeks and nose.

“That’s enough,” his mother said. “We’ll meet you at the Grouse and Bee.”

“Will you?” Yves asked. “Because I don’t know how you’re going to make me come.”

Go on,he thought, glaring at his mother.Did you think I was a brat in my teens? Because I’ve been a professional for years.

His mother gave him the same sharp glare.

“The two of you,” Tony muttered, disappearing into his hat. “It’s like watching someone fight their own reflection.”

“Don’t butt in, Tony,” Yves said.

“Don’t mutter, Tony,” Sybil said. She and Yves resumed glaring at each other. “Darling. Make yourself presentable and meet us in half an hour. It’s the least you can do.”

“The least I can do after what?” Yves asked. “Escaping you?”

“Why do youdothis?” Pearl cried, throwing the reins down. “She’s never like this with anyone else!”

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