Page 287 of Eight of Swords, Part Two

Two boys and a girl, all around the same age, twenty or so.

The boy on the left looks like Julian.

The girl in the middle looks like Savannah.

The boy on the right is the spitting image of Danya.

All three are recognisable to Lachlan as Alistair, Ariadne and Mikhail.

At the bottom, it reads:

Ali, Ari & Mikki

Sable Key, Sept 2004 ~ Alistair’s 21st

The date is baffling to Lachlan, who would expect them to be at least in their mid-forties in the early two-thousands, but not as baffling as the joyous looks on their beautiful faces. They seem like completely different people to him, uniquely lovely and so happy to be together. It reminds him of the photographs taken of Jules, Savannah and Roman on Sable Key.

‘Yeah, that’s, um…’ He frowns, rereading the writing, which is definitely not accurate. Alistair Penhalyx is pushing seventy, no doubt. ‘We shouldn’t talk here.’

‘Just tell me, please.’

‘It’s not for me to—’

‘I trust you.’

For fuck’s sake.

Lachlan sighs. ‘Yes, he is.’

‘Why didn’t he tell me?’

‘Silly, please. Let’s go elsewhere.’

‘Does he not want me for a brother?’ the boy asks tremulously.

‘That’s not it, and we really need to move.’

‘Just tell me!’

‘I don’t know. I really don’t, and I could make something up, but I’m sick to my stomach of lying, and I could guess, but I’m usually wrong about this shit, so please… please, kid, go ask him yourself.’

‘I can’t.’

‘Why not?’

Vasily shrugs. ‘What you did… what he did to Jules—’

‘No, that’s not—’

‘It is terrible.’ Vasily closes the book, backing away.

‘Silly, that’s not how it happened.’

‘It’s OK. Thank you for talking to me.’

‘Please, just let me go get him. We can talk about it together.’

‘You should talk to Jules,’ Vasily says, book against his chest once more, but it’s Lachlan who feels like there’s a hole in his.