West tucked the message back into his vest and grabbed his jacket from the hook, following me out onto the deck. When I came down the ladder, Willa was already working on the repairs, suspended beside the hull from the starboard side. She fit the oakum into an opening along the smaller cracks, pounding it in with the blunt end of her adze.

“We’ll be back after sundown,” West said, jumping down onto the dock beside me.

“Last time you said that you didn’t show for two days,” she muttered, pulling another nail from her bag.

Whatever she wasn’t saying was alight in her eyes. She’d been granted her freedom from the Marigold, but she didn’t like the idea of me working for Holland. Soon we would each take our own paths, and I didn’t know if they would ever come back together again.

We took the main street that led back into Sagsay Holm, finding the tea house at the top of the hill in the eastern part of the village. It looked out over the water, with a view of the rocky coast.

The sign was painted in a glistening gold, hanging out over the street in an ornate, scrolled frame.

WOLFE & ENGEL

I swallowed, the knot in my stomach resurfacing. The windows reflected the buildings behind us, and I was suddenly aware of how out of place I looked among them. Windblown and sun-kissed. Tired.

Beside me, West was the same. He said nothing and I, too, was at a loss for words. By the time I left the tea house, I’d be contracted with Holland, and I had no way of knowing if the Roths would save me.

“I’m going to do this alone,” I said. The last thing I needed was West making himself even more of an enemy to Holland. I felt like I was holding my breath, waiting for the stillness around him to rupture.

To my surprise, he didn’t argue. He looked over me, through the window. “I’ll wait.”

“All right.”

West’s face was still stoic as he watched me take hold of the brass handle and open the door. The scent of bergamot and lavender came rushing out, swirling around me as my eyes adjusted to the low light.

Wood-framed booths covered in red velvet lined the wall, the expanse of the room filled with gold tables. Delicate crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling, fit with candles that gave everything the look of a dream.

It was no accident Holland wanted to meet me here, somewhere extravagant and luxurious, like Azimuth House. It was exactly like the kind of place she could have things on her terms, like always.

“Fable?” A man stopped before me, his eyes raking over my clothes.

“Yes?” I answered suspiciously.

He looked disappointed. “This way.”