“The Canner Device didn’t get switched on by accident, did it?” Carlyle asked the instant Voltaire closed the door behind him. “You switched it on before I got here, so we’d be interrupted and you could make me say you were my sensayer.”

Dominic chuckled. “You’re a sharp one. I see why Julia likes you.”

“Forcing me to say it won’t make me actually accept it.”

“Forcing thee?” A laugh rose in Dominic’s throat, thick as honey. “And what force did I use? Did I threaten thee? Did I tie thee down and beat thee?”

“No, but—”

“What other sensayer, pray tell, is capable of handling thee now? Who else can talk to thee of Bridger, miracles, and of thy fall? Wouldst thou rather return to trading lies with Julia?”

Carlyle again evaded Dominic’s eyes, gazing across the stacks of Theophrastus, St. Ignatius, and Chandrakirti. “No.”

“I can grant thee access, to this house, to Madame, to Mycroft, even to Maître Jehovah.”

Carlyle gulped. “What is Jehovah? They have a power too, like Bridger, don’t they? A second Intervention?”

A long breath. “That privilege too, to know, to speak to Him, that may be thine in time, but only here. I can be thy patron, and together we can use all the resources gathered here to guide and protect Bridger until he fulfills his Maker’s purpose.”

It was easier for Carlyle to feel strong with her eyes closed. “You know, I never expected to say this, but you’re right. I didn’t understand at first why God would show Themself to me, but you’re right, maybe we are stronger because we fell. God didn’t just show Bridger to me, They showed them to you, too. They chose us, us two.” Her cheeks relaxed, almost enough to smile. “I thought I was sent to keep Bridger away from you, but maybe not. Maybe the two of us are supposed to save Bridger from Mycroft Canner together.”

Dominic paused and let his tongue play across the flavors of his mouth, his victory. “Then turn thy tracker off.”

“What?” Carlyle clutched by instinct at the device at her ear.

“We can’t plot to rescue Bridger with Mycroft Canner listening. Turn it off.”

Carlyle hid behind her hair. “I don’t…”

“Foster, I’m not going to rape thee. It’s not even in my mind. Bridger likes thee and thinks I’m a monster. Thou art the only person in the world who could possibly persuade the boy to work with me. Thou thinkest I would jeopardize my only window to This Universe’s God just for some quick sex? Turn it off.”

“You said it again, ‘This Universe’s God.’ ” The Cousin wiped her cheeks at last, hoping, I imagine, that there would be no more tears.

Dominic fingered the ends of his own sensayer’s scarf, coarse white cloth on one side and black on the other. “Thou shalt not ask thy sensayer about his religion. That is the law.”

Carlyle sighed. “For a minute there you’d stopped being a hypocrite. You can’t just say it outright like that. You’re supposed to dodge around the question, not admit point-blank that I struck home, that tells me what you believe anyway. You think Jehovah is a god.”