eyes while she tried to think of an answer for him. “I have Traded, only I can’t Trade on purpose yet. It happens when I’m afraid. So it’s hard for me to tell what it is really like under all that fear.”
“Despite the danger from manticores, you set forth from your sanctuary without yet being in control of your Trades—dear me. Aren’t you taking unnecessary risks?”
Thalia admitted, “There’s a chance I’ll attract another manticore, yes. They tell me they are rare, but you couldn’t prove it by me. But I’ve made arrangements. I needed to see you, but I’m not crazy.”
“Arrangements. Very well.” Nutall did not look convinced. “So you’ve not quite come into your powers.”
Thalia could feel her eyebrows rise until they were all but knotted in puzzlement, but she couldn’t seem to do anything to stop it. “Oh, do I have powers?”
“You will.” Nutall’s smile this time was all crinkles and warmth, exactly the way it always ought to be in Thalia’s opinion. “You resemble your mother in more than mere looks, it seems.”
“Do I?” Thalia couldn’t help the chime her cup made when she put it back on its saucer, the trembling of her hands betrayed by the rattle of porcelain on porcelain. “How do you know about my mother? Why wait until now to tell me about her?”
“I know what your father told me, nothing more. I’ve seen only what he showed me. The wedding portrait you found among his personal effects—I’ve seen that. Your father was afraid—knowing you, with good reason—that if you knew anything more about your mother, you would be determined to know everything. The memory of that loss caused him nothing but pain.”
“Still.” Thalia swallowed hard. “Don’t I have a right to know?”
“Absolutely. But your father feared you would insist on looking for your mother’s family. Once they knew of your existence, he thought they would take you from him. When your mother married your father, her parents were furious. He was determined to protect you. I have tried to honor his wishes in every detail.” Nutall’s expression clouded. “You and your well-being were all Jack cared about in the world.”
“He cared about you too,” Thalia pointed out.
Nutall continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “Your parents met in Vienna, at the World’s Fair held there, as you know. That was a great undertaking, the 1873 Exposition. They changed the channel of the Danube to accommodate it. Foolish of them, as it turned out. The river disliked the disturbance. There was an outbreak of fever.”
Thalia said, “You make the river sound like a grumpy neighbor.”
“Do I?” Nutall went on, “Your mother was a swan maiden, one of the Danube river folk.”
“A swan maiden?” Thalia cleared her throat. “Like me?”
“Apparently so. After they married, your mother became your father’s stage assistant.” As an afterthought, Nutall added, “She had the original idea for the pigeon squeezer, Jack told me.”
“Did she?” The knowledge that her mother had helped invent magic tricks cheered Thalia.
Nutall nodded. “For a long time, they were happy on the vaudeville circuit. Their only sadness was the bad times your mother had when she was pregnant. They lost two stillborn children before you came along.”
“I never knew that.”
“Your father told me that the loss of your mother and brother only six months after your brother’s birth nearly killed him too. You were the only thing that kept him going.” Nutall’s eyes were full of pride. “You have grown into a fine young lady. Yet when you Trade, you turn into a swan. How does that work?”
Despite the terror of her Trades, despite the threat of manticores looming over her, Thalia could not hold back a wild smile. She found herself blazingly happy to be sitting there with Nutall, able to share her new truth. “I can’t explain it. I think it doesn’t matter whether I Trade or not. I am a swan all the time.”
“Dear me.”
Thalia went on, “The swan gets scared. The swan gets angry. It hisses and tries to break things.”
“You always did have a temper,” Nutall said. “From what Jack told me, so did your mother.”
“I always thought the only things I’d inherited from her were her clothes, her pistol, and her pearls.”
“She would have been very proud of you.” Nutall smiled sadly. “As proud as your father was.”
“Did he know you’re Sylvestri?”
Nutall nodded. “Jack knew all about me. He helped me elude my family. The day I met your father was the first day of my life I felt