It was every question he’d ever had, answered. Questions he hadn’t even thought to ask yet. The amateur drawings and uneven lines only made him adore the encyclopedia all the more.
Kuni had done this with no help. For Graham.
He remembered the ink smudges on her fingers and closed his eyes. She had been makinghima poetry album all along. Informationhewanted. Her story, and the history of her people.
Something to remember her by.
“May I see?” Marjorie asked.
He didn’t want to let it go, but forced himself to hand over the encyclopedia.
The other siblings crowded around Marjorie’s shoulders.
“Ha!” Elizabeth pointed at a page. “It’s a ceremonial formation of Royal Guards. I’d like to challenge every one of them to a sword fight.”
Marjorie turned the page. “Oh, it’s Princess Mechtilda’s family tree!”
Graham did not even look. He’d just waved goodbye to the only princess that would ever matter to him.
“The rain,” Chloe said. “It’s easing.”
Marjorie poked an arm out from under her umbrella to test the weather. “What’s that?”
Graham glanced at the book. “It looks like a list of seasonal fruits and vegetables.”
“No.” Jacob tapped his shoulder.“That.”
Graham squinted down the Thames. Visibility was rotten, but yes, he could seesomething. Coming toward them was a little gray speck, growing bigger by the second, rising and falling with the waves.
“It’s a water boat,” Tommy said excitedly. “I think…I think…”
Graham rushed to the edge of the pier, sliding on the slick surface. The tips of his boots teetered on the last wooden plank. He leaned into the wind, squinting against the rain, and did not breathe until the gray smudge came into focus.
Itwasa water boat. A small, rocking vessel containing a tall, familiar valise and a woman wearing a traveling dress of Balcovian amaranth.
Graham’s heart banged in joyful disbelief.
When she drew close enough for him to discern Kuni’s face clearly, he saw her hands gripped a ring-shaped life buoy to her chest, and her eyes were shut tight. She looked absolutely terrified.
Kuni peeled open one eye in time to see them all watching her approach. She gave a woozy-looking smile, touched her hand to where her heart would be if a circular float weren’t plastered to her chest, and lifted her fingers to the sky.
Graham’s siblings burst out in cheers and shouts.
When the water boat finally reached the pier, the boatman helped a still-shaking Kuni up onto the wet dock. The life buoy fell from her fingers. Faircliffe dashed over to rescue the buoy and give the boatman a vail for his service.
Kuni stumbled forward, sliding on the slippery planks. She threw herself into Graham’s arms, clinging to him even more tightly than she had done to the lifebuoy.
When at last she lifted her head, she swiped at her cheeks with the back of her hands and turned toward his siblings.
“Wynchester family.” Her voice cracked. “May I please have your permission to court your brother Graham?”
“We cannot grant it,” said Marjorie. “Graham’s life is his own. You had better askhimif he would like that or not.”
44
Kuni’s stomach lurched as though her feet were still in the rickety boat and not standing on the solid dock.
Semi-solid. She could see the turbulent river between the pier’s sodden wooden slats. It was howshefelt. The illusion of being strong and whole, but with tumult churning beneath the façade if you took a close enough look.
