I don’t.
I close my eyes and listen to him breathe, slowly drifting back asleep.
When I wake a second time, morning light drifts through the curtains. The bed is warm, and the space behind me is empty.
I sit up.
He’s gone.
Carefully, I slip back to my own room to wash my face and change, and then I head for the sunroom.
Anya will be up soon. I should already have her materials ready.
The door is partly open.
I hear them before I see them, Anya’s voice, and then a lower response, and I push the door open and stop.
Rolan is at the table. He’s not in his usual office clothes but in dark trousers and a white shirt with the cuffs rolled. He looks less assembled than his default, which is the closest he comesto casual. Anya is beside him, properly dressed, her hair in the neat braid Angelina does in the mornings.
There are plates on the table, toast and fruit, and they are both eating with the focused quiet of people who are comfortable in each other’s silence.
They look up when I come in.
“Ellie!” She shifts in her chair. “Come sit. We have toast.”
“I don’t want to interrupt your?—”
“Sit down, Miss Calloway.”
I move to the table and take a seat.
“I told Papa about the room.”
Unease settles in my chest. “I was going to talk to him about it. I should have done that first.”
Rolan grabs a piece of toast and takes a bite, chewing slowly.
“It’s a reasonable idea,” he says after a moment.
I glance at him. He’s looking at Anya.
“The room should have been updated years ago,” he continues. “Blue, apparently.”
Anya nods with great seriousness.
“Come to my office this afternoon,” he says to me. “I’ll give you the card.”
“You don’t have to?—”
“I’m aware.” His eyes move to mine. Brief. Clear. “This afternoon.”
I stare at my coffee, nodding. “This afternoon.”
Anya eats her toast and asks Rolan about whether sparrows can find their way home if they get lost, which leads to a small, careful explanation involving navigation and instinct.
Outside the sunroom windows, the morning is gray and the trees are bare. Anya draws a small bird in the condensation on the glass with her fingertip while Rolan answers her question.
I watch them and realizethisis the most dangerous thing in this house.
