I sat across from her.
“That was almost friendly,” I said.
“It was supposed to be friendly.”
“It looked painful.”
She shrugged and pushed a piece of bread toward me like she had been saving it.
“You had verse-study today?” she asked.
“Is everyone reading my schedule now?”
“No. You came from the east wing, and you look almost as annoyed as after your meeting with Juno, but not quite.”
“That would be Cosima’s doing.”
“I thought so.”
I took the bread and noticed she didn’t take any for herself.
“You don’t exactly look ecstatic yourself,” I noted. “What happened?”
“Linden came to my room before breakfast.”
“What did he want?”
Delphine didn’t look at me.
“To inspect my Mark.”
The bread went dry in my mouth.
“He made me hold out my arm. Then he looked at it for so long I started hoping he would say something cruel, just to finish it.”
“What did he say?”
“Nothing at first.”
Her hand moved to her sleeve and tugged it down to cover her fading Mark.
“Then he asked whether it had brightened during the night.”
“Had it?”
“No.”
She said it like an apology.
My wrist warmed under my sleeve.
“And that disappointed him.”
Delphine nodded.
“He wrote something down.”
“And?”
