Christopher stepped closer. “You are not them.”
“I know.”
“And Julian does not need them now,” Christopher continued. “He needsyou.”
Edward laughed humorlessly. “You make it sound simple.”
“It isn’t,” Christopher said gently. “But neither is it hopeless.”
Edward’s thoughts drifted, unbidden, back to the governess. To the way she had spoken to Julian. To the calm certainty in her voice—neither defiant nor disrespectful, but earnest. As though she believed Edward capable of something better.
“I should not think of her,” he said abruptly.
Christopher’s brows lifted. “Of whom?”
Edward closed his eyes briefly. “The governess.”
Christopher went very still.
“That,” he said slowly, “is new.”
Edward’s jaw tightened. “It means nothing.”
“Perhaps,” Christopher replied. “Or perhaps it means you are waking up.”
Edward turned sharply. “Do not encourage foolishness.”
“I encourage happiness,” Christopher said quietly. “For you. For Julian. For this house.” He paused. “You are allowed to want that.”
Edward shook his head. “Wanting does not make it appropriate.”
“No,” Christopher agreed. “But denying it has not made you whole, either.”
The words landed with quiet force, and Edward looked away, chest tight.
Christopher sighed and stepped back. “I should go before you throw me out.”
Edward did not stop him.
At the door, Christopher paused. “For what it’s worth,” he added, “I think Eleanor would have laughed at that piano.”
The door closed softly.
Edward remained where he was, the echo of that dreadful music lingering in his mind—not the sound itself, but what it had awakened.
Joy. Longing. Regret.
The library felt too small all at once.
He had not meant to raise his voice. He rarely did.
That, perhaps, was what unsettled him most. Anger, he understood. Authority, restraint, distance—those were languages he spoke fluently. But the sharp twist of regret that followed? The unease that clung to him now, persistent as a burr beneath skin?
That was unfamiliar territory.
Edward turned sharply, intending to cross to the window, when the door opened behind him.
He froze.
