He glanced at the ledgers before looking at her, a smile playing on his lips. “Something tells me that you know everything there is to know about this place,” he said. “Am I correct?”
She smiled modestly. “It is my duty to know.”
“That makes you indispensable. You do realize that, don’t you?”
She shrugged. “I hope I will always do my duty well.”
He snorted. “As do I,” he said. “You’ll have to tell me all of it if this place is to belong to me. I should like to know what you know.”
She watched him as he yawned and scratched his head. “Have you decided if this place is worthy of you, then?”
He looked at her, still scratching his head. “I am not too proud to admit that yesterday was quite an eye-openingexperience,” he said. “Hearing from you and Anosia and Melaina and the other women made me see this place as something… different.”
“Different than what you expected?”
He nodded. “Aye,” he said honestly. His focus lingered on her for a moment before he continued. “I am very sorry for what I said to you yesterday. I know I have apologized already, but I will do it again. I was rude, and that has riddled me with guilt since it happened. I have asked you to stay and you have graciously agreed, so I hope that in the dawn of a new day, you and I can start again. I hope we can always be pleasant with one another. Yesterday was simply… a rough day.”
He seemed both embarrassed and remorseful about it, which made Desdra feel better about her security there. Her fears that he might have changed his mind were alleviated for the moment. In fact, she felt encouraged.
“It was a difficult day for all of us,” she said. “And with everything that happened, I’ve not yet had the opportunity to convey my condolences on the passing of your uncle. I am sorry, my lord. He was a good man.”
Jareth held up a hand to thank her. “Truthfully, I’ve not seen him in many years,” he said. “He was my mother’s older brother, as I mentioned, but he and my father never got on. I think, for that reason, I simply did not see him much when I was younger, and when I was older, the only time I saw him was when he came to London, but that stopped a few years back.”
“I know,” Desdra said. “His health was not good the last two years of his life. He did not travel any longer. In fact, he did not travel to London the entire time I have been here.”
Jareth nodded. “I thought it might be something like that,” he said. “But he sent no word to me about it, so I was unaware.”
“And I was unaware of you until he dictated the missive that you received, the one that brought you here,” she said. “He neverreally spoke of his family. You mentioned that he did not get on with your father, so mayhap that is why.”
Jareth thought on the fraught relationship that his father and Chester had endured. “Did Uncle Chester ever speak of my mother?” he asked.
She shrugged. “Once or twice,” she said. “At least, I think it was your mother. Did he have any other sisters?”
“Nay.”
“Then it must have been your mother.”
“What did he say?”
Desdra had to think for a moment. “He spoke of how sweet she was as a child,” she said. “Little comments like that. He said she loved the water. She loved to swim.”
Jareth smiled faintly. “She did,” he said. “She was a firm believer that cold water was good for your blood. She would jump into a cold river and splash around. She would try to get my brother and I do it, too, but we wouldn’t.”
“Lord Chester mentioned that you had a brother,” she said. “He called him the heir.”
“He is.”
A mischievous expression crossed her features. “He told me to tell you that you should not give your brother anything.”
Jareth chuckled. “I do not think that will be an issue.”
“You and your brother are not on good terms?”
Jareth’s smile faded. “Not particularly,” he said. “He inherited everything when my father died a few years ago and I’ve not heard from him since that time, probably because he thinks I will want a piece of his inheritance. Or money. Or something. Jasper is the suspicious type. He thinks everyone is out for what he has.”
Desdra looked at the ledgers on the table. “I think you have more than he does,” she said. “In fact, I am certain of it. No one in England, save the king and mayhap a few very wealthyfamilies, has as much as you do. Chances are that he will want some ofyours.”
“Is that so?” he said, interested. “How much do I have?”
