“Well, now you do. Davina, this nonsense has to stop. I thought we discussed that.”
“It’s just a bit of fun. It’s not nearly like whatever Gabriel was involved in.”
“Davina… You’re probably right. Given your status, you’re unlikely to be killed. But wejustdiscussed your reputation.”
“I was thinking ofyours,” she insisted.
“I beg your pardon?”
“He was talking about you—Mr. Beaumont. So I goaded him a bit.”
“Davina…”
“He called you… Well, you know what he called you.”
A knot formed in my throat, and swallowing around it was nearly impossible. “I do. But, Dav, it’s not your responsibility to worry about that.”
“Ugh… Xander!”
“Yes, yes. Ugh me. I need to discuss something else with you.” Something about voicing my plans to Davina made them real in a way they hadn’t been when I discussed them with Will.
“No one was hurt. And the fire didn’t even have a chance to spread!” she blurted.
“What fire?” My hand flung nearly halfway across the carriage entirely of its own volition—fueled by exasperation with Davina.
Her spine straightened into that of the prim debutant she was capable of being on very brief, very rare occasions. “Oh, what was it you wanted to discuss?”
“No, no. Fire first,” I insisted.
“If you didn’t know about it, then clearly it wasn’t worth worrying about.”
As much as I loathed to admit it, she had a point. Some things I was better off not knowing. And all her limbs appeared to be intact. “Fine. I’ve been considering, for some time now, making a change.”
“A change?”
“The rumors are getting worse, have been for some time. Beaumont and others like him aren’t going to stop. The longer I’m here, attracting their attention… It will impact your prospects, Mother’s invitations...”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m leaving town.”
“You’re what?”
“There’s a property that Gabriel won before he passed. He gave it to me. I’m going to make it my permanent residence.”
“You’re leaving me?” The genuine hurt in her voice astonished me. I’d expected mischievous glee. Or distracted indifference as she plotted her next escapade.
“I’m leavingforyou. For mother. And for me as well. I’m tired, Dav.”
“I’ll stop! I promise. I won’t go on any more adventures.”
As much as I’d wished for that very promise for years, I hated the desperation with which she threw it toward me. “I cannot believe I am about to say this. And I will deny it to my dying breath, but don’t stop. You wouldn’t be you without a cloud ofchaos around you. Just like Mother wouldn’t be Mother without her histrionics.”
“But…”
“Maybe be more careful with the adventures you choose, though,” I added.
“Then why are you leaving?”
