(Amelia)
I woke before him, in his bed, which had never happened.
For a moment I didn't move. His arm was still across me, heavy with sleep, his breathing slow at my back. I lay in the gray early light and let myself feel it, the strange warmth of a man who'd stayed. Then I remembered why I was there, what I'd come to do, the lie I'd told to do it, and the warmth went out of me like water down a drain.
I slid out from under his arm. He stirred but didn't wake. I dressed in the half dark, quiet as I could be, then went down to the kitchen to be a person who hadn't just upended her whole life in the night.
Emilia was already at the table.
She sat in the chair beside Nathaniel's place, a cup of coffee in front of her, and she was watching the stairs like she'd been waiting. When she saw
