Page 72 of Dagger’s Shield

I opened my mouth to argue, but closed it when my mother tapped my arm.

“Come,” he said, leading Dagger and me into his study.

He sat behind his desk and motioned for us to take the two chairs in front of it.

“Right before midnight, we will announce your engagement.”

“We already announced it in the caveau. We had champagne,” I reminded him.

He waved his hand and shook his head. “To tourists. The winemaking families of this valley have known you since the day you were born. They’ll expect to hear it from me.”

I looked at Dagger, who shrugged.

“Fine. A short toast,” I muttered.

He kept us another half hour, going over details I couldn’t care less about and that had nothing to do with me.

“Anything else, Papa?” I asked when he finally took a breath long enough for me to get a word in.

“One more thing. I have a very important business associate attending. Everything needs to go perfectly.”

“Who?” I asked.

“You’ll meet him at the party. His name will mean nothing to you until then.”

“Do you think he means Géraud?” I asked Dagger once we were in the bedroom.

“Could be. Although that might be too much to hope for.”

I murmured my agreement.

“Feel like taking a walk?” Dagger asked.

“Sure.” I followed him outside and over to the cuverie. “What are we doing?” I asked when he led me over to the door that opened onto the vaults.

“The other day, when I was bringing up chairs for the Christmas thing, I found a room with unused barrels in it. I thought they might tell us something.”

“More than you realize. The maker burns his stamp and the year into the bottom of every barrel. By the way, how did you know the door code?”

“I’m a spy, remember?”

“Marthe gave it to you, didn’t she?”

“Maybe,” he said, winking.

There weren’t many to count. Twenty-five in total from the last year. The invoices I found totaled sixty.

“Could some of them have been used?” Dagger asked.

“This year’s barrels won’t be used until next year at the earliest.”

When we came up from the vaults, Rémy was walking into the building.

“What are you two doing?” he asked.

“Getting better acquainted with what’s in the vaults,” I said. “As long as you’re here, I have a question.”

“Of course.”