“How sweet.” I smile as I scoot Cadence’s chair back. “They have nicknames for each other.”
She rises and faces me. “You don’t actually think you aren’t smart, right?”
I frown. “Where did that come from?”
“Earlier, you said Bastian was the smart one.”
I tuck a fugitive brown strand behind her ear. “I’m street-smart. That’s good enough for me.”
“You’re way more than street-smart, Slate.”
“I wasn’t much help these past few days.” My self-esteem’s fine, but the truth’s the truth.
“Because you can’t sit still long enough.”
“Yeah. I think I’ve got ADD.” Undiagnosed because it isn’t like I ever consulted a medical professional when I was a kid. “Unless, I’m looking at you. Then I can sit and stare. And stare.”
“Not creepy at all.” She laughs softly, then presses her lips to mine.
The kiss is chaste but reaches deep and pumps up my ego.
The first time I bumped into Cadence de Morel, I thought her naïve and spoiled, interesting and the owner of a great ass, sure, but two-dimensional. Was I ever wrong. The girl’s deeper and mightier than the Verdon Gorge.
If only I had time to take her there . . .
“Come on. Let’s go check out Brume’s beating heart.”
I stow away my lancing glumness. “I’d rather check out your beating heart.”
She smiles and shakes her head as she tows me around the stacks toward the infamousdihuner.
44
Cadence
Slate’s fingers stay laced with mine as we circle thedihuner, proving to me he’s the boy I thought he was and not the one Papa wanted me to see. A boy with a kind and steadfast heart.
Speaking of hearts, Alma’s words skitter back into my mind. I squint to make out the middle of the clock-face from where I stand. Even though it’s recessed, between the waning sunlight and breadth of the magical antiquity, I can’t see much of anything.
“We need to get closer,” Adrien says, climbing over the guardrail.
Bastian follows suit. Once he’s on the other side, he carefully sticks to the meter-wide section of tiles ringing the wide, golden rim.
“I can’t get over how big this thing is.” He palms the nape of his neck, eyes sparkling as ardently as the constellation dial’s inlaid white topazes.
“Cadence, can you turn on some more lights?” Adrien asks.
Leaving Slate by the guardrail, I head toward the panel near the door and flick on the remaining switches. The bright beams aimed at the clock catch on the golden accents, making them glimmer like the lake at sunset. I’ve always found the seven-century-old relic majestic and mysterious, but now, knowing that the Quatrefoil is real, that magic is real, it has taken on a whole new allure.
“Hey, Slate, can you help me over?” Alma nods to the guardrail. “Short legs. Tall barrier.”
He hoists her up as though she weighs less than little Emilie.
Grief swallows me like the water swallowed the child mere days ago, and I shudder. I may be in awe of the Quatrefoil, but I am also deeply disgusted by its power.
“Need a leg up?” Slate asks, putting an end to my dark thoughts.
I nod. He picks me up and delicately places me on the other side, and then he leaps over.
