It happened on a Tuesday.
Not planned — or not announced as planned, which with Cole was functionally the same thing. He had planned it. The timing was precise, the location deliberate, the specific configuration of a man who had decided something and was executing it with his characteristic economy.
He found Luna in the east garden.
She was cutting herbs for Kira — she had started doing this, the specific domestic contribution of someone who had decided the compound was hers and was acting accordingly. Scissors in hand, the focused attention she gave to tasks she had decided mattered.
He stood behind her.
"Luna," he said.
She turned.
He held out a small object — not a box, not the theatrical version. A ring, held between two fingers. The efficient presentation of a man who had deci
