“You know Max Blanck,” Pax says it rather than asks it.
William shrugs. “We do run in the same circles, yes. He has what the Germans call aBackpfeifengesicht. A face badly in need of a fist.”
Pax sits next to me, and my body warms like sitting next to a low fire. It’s still there—the mild electric field that draws me to him, a tug of gravity. An orbit.
He lays his hand over mine, and I try to read his touch. How can I be so good at telling a stranger about their dead loved ones, but I can’t tell the meaning of Pax’s hand on mine?
But then Pax eases the straps of the black satchel out of my hand. I hadn’t even realized I’d been gripping it this entire time.
“We need to figure out how to split this haul,” he says.
Right. I sigh. Business. Temporary. Bandits and whatnot.
William downs the rest of his brandy and holds up his palm. “Count me out. No evidence on me, thank you. Plus that stuff carries too much emotional weight.” He grins. “I was in it for the kicks. Never liked that asshole.”
Pax leans over, leans in, locking eyes with me. Oh, Lord, those eyes. That same disobedient curl loosens itself and fallsover his eyelashes. “Let’s get down to business. Right, partner?”
Partner. It’s what I’ve been trying to convince myself that we are: business partners only. Friends, he said. My heart drops as I reply:
“Yes. Let’s get down to business.”
After we get cleaned up, we meet in, of all places, William’s bathroom. Oh, this bathroom! All four walls are floor-to-ceiling mirrors, and the marble gleams white. Everything is so shiny and bright and the mirrors create illusions of cuts and angles that don’t really exist; I imagine this is what living inside a diamond would feel like.
And it smells light and crisp and clean—lavender, I realize. My heart pulses and I think of Daisy and me, snuggled up against Maman, who always smelled of lavender. I close my eyes and inhale deeply.
Nirav hops into the large claw-footed bathtub, fully clothed and without water. He gestures and mouths things to himself, then stands and salutes. He’s playing: rowing a boat, driving a carriage.
It’s so easy to forget he’s just a kid. I wink at Nirav. He smiles and holds his nose, puffs his cheeks, pretending to drop underwater in the large tub.
Pax has divvied up the piles of jewels and gems, all except the Hope Diamond.
“Stella,” William says, eyes gleaming. “Try it on.”
Pax’s silver eyes meet mine. I turn and sweep my hair up. He drapes the necklace over my shoulders. It weighs heavy on my heart. Literally. I have to adjust my shoulders to carry theweight of this gem. Pax leans close to clasp the necklace, his breath warm on my neck. I inhale sharply. His lips are so close to my skin. Chill bumps race up my arms.
Pax brushes—accidentally?—his fingertips up the nape of my neck. “There!”
I turn. The boys, all three, fall silent. “What?”
“It looks lovely on you, Stella,” William says, full of sincerity.
I lean around them and look in one of the mirrors. The blue gem is the exact color of my eyes, and the sparkle of the white diamond setting matches the creamy color of my skin. I look—Ifeel—like a princess.
Wow, Stella, you are beautiful.
You’re our princess, you are.
Princess of the Otherworld—ha!
“Wow,” Pax breathes. We lock gazes.
An ache stirs deep inside, a longing, like I’m missing Pax, though he’s standing in front of me. I want him to sweep me around this glittering room in that waltz, the music of our hearts guiding us.
I shake my head like I’m awakening. Partners.Friends.
Pax blinks rapidly. “I, um. We need to go, Stella.” He calls over his shoulder as he leaves the bathroom, “Bring the necklace, please.”
I unclasp the Hope Diamond from my neck. William manages to catch my eye in the mirror opposite us.
