Valentine caught up with Céline just outside the church. He offered her a Nutella crepe. “From the stand across from Les Deux Magots,” he said. “Your favorite, right?”

She shrugged but took what he had to offer. The first bite—warm chocolate hazelnut, sweet pastry—was as perfect as ever and made her feel like a child again.

Sometimes it was difficult to believe she had ever been young.

“You could have told me,” she said.

“And ruin the surprise?”

“Those are my parents.”

“Indeed.”

“And you’ve killed them.”

“They’re still alive, last I checked,” Valentine said. “They could probably stay that way, with a word from you. But I didn’t hear it.”

“You took a pretty big risk, not telling me the whole story. Expecting me to let you … to let them go.”

“Did I?” he said. “Or did I simply know you well enough to know exactly what you would choose? To know I was doing you a favor.”

He met her eyes. She could not look away. For the first time, she didn’t want to.

“You don’t have to admit it, Céline. Just know that I know. You’re not alone in that.”

He saw her; he understood. It was as if a muscle she’d been clenching her entire life finally released.

“A deal’s a deal, though,” he said. “Even if you got more than you bargained for. Stephen is all yours—assuming that’s still what you want?”

“How exactly would you make that happen?” she asked, clear now on what Valentine was capable of. “You wouldn’t … you wouldn’t hurt him, would you?”

Valentine looked disappointed in her. “Stephen is my closest friend, my most trusted lieutenant. The fact that you could even ask that makes me question your loyalty, Céline. Do you want me questioning your loyalty?”

She shook her head.

Then that warm, buttery smile broke over his face again. She couldn’t tell whether this was the real Valentine breaking through or the mask dropping back over his face. “On the other hand, it would be foolish of you not to ask. And as we’ve discussed, there’s nothing foolish in you. No matter what people might think. So, your answer: no. I swear to you, on the Angel, I will cause Stephen no harm in the enactment of this agreement.”

“And no threat of harm?”

“Do you think so little of yourself that you assume a man would need to be threatened with harm before he could love you?”

She didn’t answer. She didn’t need to: he could surely read it all over her face.