I returned to the theater. He helped me carry my books to the counter. Only then did I realize that of course I did not carry any coins on me. Such things were beneath the heir to the throne.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I will buy the books for you, if you will buy a cup of tea and a slice of apple cake for me tomorrow at the Wand and the Willow.”
Tomorrow I have to sit all day with Father and his advisers. We decided on the day after tomorrow at three o’clock in the afternoon—and changed the locale from a busy public establishment to a scenic but rather empty stretch of the coast south of Delamer.
I cannot believe what I have agreed to, and I cannot wait for the hours to pass.
2 September, YD 1013
I was almost half an hour late to the rendezvous. But he waited for me. He even brought apple cake from the Wand and the Willow.
I had a lovely, lovely time.
4 September, YD 1013
He asked me whether Father would approve of my meeting with someone like him.
Father, of course, would be apoplectic. But I am already in love.
“It is all right,” I told him. “We will find a way.”
9 December, YD 1013
We are so happy I am afraid to write of it.
10 December, YD 1013
I should have listened to my own advice. Why did I ever mention our happiness?
17 December, YD 1013
It has been a week. I could neither bring myself to record the vision nor say anything to him about it. I love him so fiercely. I dread the future almost as much.
29 January, YD 1014
The vision has come true. I am numb with shock and misery. I had not expected it to happen so soon.
22 February, YD 1014
I am with child. Overwhelmed with joy, frozen with fear, I do not know what to do.
Titus shook. Whatever it was that he had expected the diary to reveal, it was not this.
“Your father,” said Fairfax softly.
“My father,” he echoed, his chest tight.
A loud pounding came at the front door of the lighthouse. They both leaped up. It was still dark outside, so it could not be the lighthouse keeper trying to get in, to shut down his machine and record the oil level in the fuel tank.
“It’s Kashkari. Open the door.”
“Let me check,” he told her.
He vaulted to a higher level of the lighthouse and looked out the window. It was indeed Kashkari, and he was not alone. With him were Horatio Haywood and—
Titus had to squint to make sure he was not seeing things. But standing next to Kashkari, wrapped in a thick coat, was none other than the woman of Kashkari’s dreams.
Amara.
CHAPTER 10
“DURGA DEVI, THIS IS UNEXPECTED,” Titus said coolly.
Almost coldly.
He could feel Fairfax’s exasperated glance. So Amara had once entertained the possibility of killing Fairfax rather than letting her be captured by the Bane—was he always going to carry a grudge?
Yes, he was. He would not forgive Amara for having had the thought, and he would always suspect her of wanting to get rid of the one he loved.
“It is unexpected for me too, Your Highness,” answered Amara.
“Do please come in, everyone,” said Fairfax.
And glared at Titus to move out of the way, which he did reluctantly.
They would be too crowded in the laboratory, so she ushered the visitors into the parlor of the lighthouse. Titus remained behind to execute a strong keep-away spell for the door; he did not want to be inconvenienced by the lighthouse keeper arriving for his morning duties.
When he walked into the parlor, Fairfax had already summoned a roaring fire in the grate, put the kettle to boil, and set out a plate of biscuits. Upon his entrance, Haywood rose and bowed. Titus gestured for him to be seated, reddening slightly as he did so. Were it not for Amara’s unexpected arrival, he would have gone back to the inn at some point, to keep up the appearance that he had slept there. But now Haywood must have realized that Titus had instead spent the night here.
And nobody asked whether they ought to worry about those fictional other travelers staying at the lighthouse.
Fairfax sat down next to her guardian and took his hand in hers. “Allow us to congratulate you on your marriage, Durga Devi.”
Titus’s surprise must have shown. Fairfax turned to him and added, “I’m sorry we forgot to tell you, Your Highness, what with everything else going on.”