Lily darted a glance toward the framed photograph of Arabelle and Camden that proudly hung on Ara’s wall. It had been the first thing Ara had brought back in with her. Hanging the picture was more statement to the administrators than anything, Lily knew. A clear declaration that people were more important than any position.

She was glad to have provided Ara with the symbol. She’d taken it without Ara and Cam knowing it, weeks before their engagement. She’d wanted to do something to congratulate her friend on the promotion from nurse to ward matron, so she’d taken the snapshot of them smiling at each other and put them on a prettier background—London still, but in the springtime, with trees in bloom all around them and the sunlight at the perfect angle.

Mama never minded that sort of change to a photograph, one meant to better display the subjects. It was much like what she did in her paintings. It was, she would say, the use of art that she took issue with. Pleasing a friend—that was lovely. But deceiving someone, even if that someone was the enemy . . .

Lily shook off that thought and refocused on the framed picture. It made her heart happy to see it so boldly on display, no matter Arabelle’s purpose in hanging it. “If Saturday doesn’t work, just let us know when will. My mother is always happy to have dinner guests.”

Arabelle smiled and leaned against her desk. Her gaze, however, she kept leveled on Lily. “Lil . . . I haven’t had a chance yet to thank you. For what you did to help Cam.”

Lily glanced over her shoulder. There was no one about to overhear, as far as she could tell. Even so, it wouldn’t do to mix her two worlds. She slipped fully into the office and clicked the door shut. Her answering smile felt weak and shaky around the edges. “It was nothing, Ara. A simple task from the admiral. It took me but an hour.”

“Even so.” Arabelle was nothing if not discreet. She pitched her voice to a whisper. “Without your help—without everyone at the OB acting as you did—Cam could well be standing before a firing squad even now.”

Lily shook her head. “They’d never let that happen. They’re a family, and he’s one of them.”

“They are?” Ara had the most annoying habit of seeing the slightest hurts in a glance. And knowing just how to call someone on them. “You’re one of them too, are you not?”