The Beautiful Ones - Silvia Moreno-Garcia Page 0,36

departure.

He had not taken more than four steps when she spoke. Her voice did not crack, but it was strained, which was always odd when it came to Valérie. She modulated herself carefully.

“Do you ever pause to think about what you are doing, Hector?” she asked.

He turned around. She was looking at him with eyes that seemed transparent, the blue of them bled out and her golden hair like a halo. The hard look of a Madonna of unkindness, a blind stone idol who did not see him yet demanded sacrifice, worship, blood upon its altar. For a second those eyes became the blue of her youth, filling with the desperate longing he had glimpsed a decade before, and which had drawn him in and drowned him.

“You are going to break one of us, and it will not be me,” she said, and he almost caught her wrist, but she pulled away—she always pulled away—and left him alone.

CHAPTER 12

Nina stood by the door of the house, looking up at Hector Auvray, and he looked down at her in return.

It was the end of the Grand Season; one could feel the electric fervor of the city dying down into its summer slumber as the moneyed families made their yearly exodus to the countryside, a pilgrimage that had been in style since the days when Loisail was nothing but narrow cobblestone streets and mud splatters.

It was also her last chance to attend a lecture by the Entomological Society at the Natural History Museum, and she intended to do it.

“Are you certain Mrs. Beaulieu said that?”

“Yes. She has a dreadful headache and she told me if I was intent on going to the museum, then you should escort me.”

“You and I out and about, and no chaperone,” he mused.

At a public gathering of this sort in the daytime, and with him sanctioned as a proper suitor, this was not a concern, although they would not be able to sup together.

“Don’t seem surprised. She knows you are a gentleman. Besides, I can show you that coin trick you taught me the other day. I’ve spent hours working on it.”

“I warn you, I know nothing of entomology.”

“It is no matter. Your one duty can be to look absolutely dashing by my side and nod your head charmingly,” she told him.

Hector chuckled and gave her his arm, both moving toward his carriage, which was waiting for them.

He came by each week to see her with his lovely bouquets of lilies under his arm and that vague melancholic air of his. His eyes looked dented and wearied, but when he smiled, she thought it magnificent, and his laughter—though scarce certain days—was marvelous.

She sat in front of him as the carriage rolled down the avenue and took out from her purse a coin, holding it up for him to see.

Hector gave her a nod of encouragement and she tossed the coin in the air. It rose but never fell, Nina holding it in place with a movement of her hand, making it float between them.

“See?” she said, triumphant. “I’ve done it.”

“Not quite. Make it be still.”

“It is still.”

“No.”

The coin was not absolutely still—it trembled ever so slightly, it dipped and rose a tad—but it was the lightest movement.

“That does not count,” she said.

“It does.”

“It can’t remain absolutely still, Hector.”

“It can,” he said. “Allow me.”

She released the coin and he extended his hand. It floated between them, but this time it was absolutely still. Then he moved but two fingers, and the coin flew to his waiting palm.

“If you are going to perform a task, perform it properly, Nina. Do not cut corners or give it a halfhearted try,” he said.

“I did try to do it properly. I spent hours practicing last night. I told you.”

“That may well be, but you must practice more.”

Nina crossed her arms. She did not like him when he was like this, and truth be told, he was a rather exacting teacher. She thought he did it to scare her off and dissuade her from telekinetic tricks, but sometimes she thought he did it for another reason altogether, one she did not comprehend.

“You can be better,” he said as if guessing her thoughts. “It is for that reason I want you to push forward.”

“Fine. I’ll practice tonight. I’ll do it so well, why … I’ll beat you at it!”

“And I’ll be very humbled.”

She smiled and looked out the window. It was a sunny spring day, and when they reached a wide avenue decorated with