It was late. Christian was supposed to be back from London. I knew he wasn’t working his supposed job as a communications director, and I was very curious about what he did with his weekday.

I didn’t hear him come in, but I heard him splash in the pool. As quietly as I could, I hurried out of bed and down the stairs. I was half-way through the dining room when I heard voices. The door between the dining room and the conservatory was open and I could hear Brandon’s voice. A few steps closer and I could make out what they were saying. Christian was in the pool and Brandon squatted on the deck, bending low to speak to him.

“No!” Christian exclaimed, failing at keeping his voice down.

Brandon’s Scottish accent faded completely as he said clearly, “You think you can make it not true by denying it? Have you looked at her? Did you look at her all those years ago? That’s not baby fat coming off her cheeks.”

Through the crack in the door, I watched Christian stand up and thump the water with his palm angrily. The splash did not hit Brandon. “I need more proof.”

“You need to tell her the truth and get her away from here,” Brandon insisted.

“And if you’re wrong? What then? What will happen then? What if I tell her what you’ve told me and you’re wrong?”

“I am not wrong!” Brandon said bitingly.

Christian shook his head. “This is too big. If you’re wrong and I have to repent and turn her loose, she won’t be able to keep the secret. No one can keep the secret and I’ll have a whole new group of devils biting at my heels.”

“Not with her,” Brandon maintained steadily. “I am not wrong and you have nothing to fear from her. She’ll be able to keep the secret.”

“It won’t be up to her,” Christian retorted, getting more heated and more contradictory.

“Someone will put her and me together in an equation, they’ll think she knows something, and suddenly she’ll go missing. You know what will happen then?”

Brandon looked away. “You don’t have to keep rubbing it in my face that I don’t have as much experience with these things. I can imagine all sorts of grizzly situations if you ask me to.”

“She deserves to have another chance at the life she has. If you’re right, waiting a few years won’t change anything,” Christian said, using the reasonable voice he sometimes used with me.

“Yes, but can you wait?”

Christian scoffed. “Why wouldn’t I be able to wait?”

Brandon looked at him meaningfully.

“We don’t talk about that. I don’t even think about that.”

Brandon chuckled. “You know what might be the most beautiful thing in the world? A beautiful woman who is not an object. She never thinks of herself as an object. She knows she is actually the only thing worth living for, worth dying for, and yet she’s not a trophy. She’s an actual force for change, like a queen on a chess board. If you’re the king, your hands are tied, but she’s going to wage war for you.”

Christian stared at him with his lips parted in disbelief. “What nonsense are you talking about?”

“Your girl. Even if you dress her like she’s a princess with a petal skirt, eventually she is going to get blood on her face and you will think you’ve never seen a woman so finely attired.”

Christian frowned. “You don’t know that.”

“I do know that. Mark my words. I warned you how this was going to unravel. Send her back to Canada at the end of the summer if you must, but you’re fighting against this unnecessarily. She’s ready. You’re the one who’s not ready.”

Christian turned toward me in the water so his chest was visible, and I felt the familiar tightening of my chest as he did so. He lifted himself effortlessly out of the water and reached for his towel. He dried his face and wrapped the towel around his neck as he stood to face Brandon. He was taller and looked down on him.

“What did she say to you that supports that conclusion?” Christian asked.

“It’s not what you think. She doesn’t understand what’s going on yet. She’s still asking questions about Damen Cross.” He left the conservatory through the door that led outside into the summer night, and Christian followed him.

I sank against the wall. The only thing that was clear to me was that I needed to get out of the dining room and upstairs to my room before anyone found me. What they said needed dissecting, but not just then. I scurried down the hall and up the stairs.