The old woman looked at her, a knowing look in her eyes.
“Thank you,” Beatrice said.
Eugenia nodded and Beatrice stepped away from Alexander, already missing his warmth, before leading him to the door.
She held his hand as they walked to the café, and when he opened the door for her, the familiar smells hit her and she nearly started crying again. She had missed this place, even though it had only been a couple of days.
“Beatrice!” Thea exclaimed when she saw her, hurrying around the counter to meet her halfway. She threw her arms around her friend, and Beatrice melted into the hug, the tears threatening to pour out of her.
“What happened?” Thea demanded, pulling back and putting her hand on Beatrice’s shoulder.
“I got married,” Beatrice said with a dazzling smile, knowing that Thea was about to interrogate her and hoping to head it off at the pass.
“We heard,” Thea said shortly.
“I married Lord Dunham,” she said, turning and gesturing to Alexander, who stood behind her, his arms crossed uncomfortably.
Thea’s eyes widened. “My lord,” she said, bowing slightly. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“I’ve heard much about you,” Alexander said, coming up behind Beatrice.
Thea looked at Beatrice, her eyes still wide as an owl’s. “It’s a long story,” Beatrice said with a grin. “But I was hoping I could get a drink from you.”
“Of course,” Thea said, hurrying behind the counter. “What would you like, Lord Dunham?”
He turned to Beatrice and gave a slight shrug. “I don’t know what I want,” he said, “but I bet you can find me something I’ll like.”
Beatrice smiled at her husband. “You’ll like anything here,” she said. “It’s all amazing.”
“Then we’ll have to keep coming back until I’ve tried everything,” he said.
And if Beatrice wasn’t already falling for him, that statement would have pushed her over the edge.
Chapter nineteen
Alexander
Alexander was in hisstudy, still hard at work on the document full of notes he was making for Beatrice, when the door opened without a knock and his wife strode in with a grin on her face. She was followed by Guinevere, who looked slightly less excited.
“We found a book, and Guinevere has something for you to try,” Beatrice announced as Rose scurried toward her.
“You do?” he asked, not daring to hope.
Hope was a dangerous thing. If you allowed it to take root, it would grow…then leave you with nothing but ashes when it burned.
“What do you have for me?”
Guinevere closed the door of his study and looked around the room before saying quietly, “I have a potion for you to try.”
Alexander frowned at the small jar in her hand. “A potion?” he asked. “Like a magic potion?”
Guinevere shushed him. “Not so loud.”
“I will make sure nothing happens to you,” Alexander reassured her. “If this potion will fix me, then you will have my eternal gratitude.”
“I don't know if it will work,” Guinevere cautioned, arriving at his desk and handing it to him. “But I thought about the basics of your curse and how you cannot speak the words. So I played with that after reading the book Beatrice found, and came up with this potion that may help you to speak more freely.”
“Really?” Alexander asked, eyeing the jar. “I don't suppose you've tried it yet?”
