“But it would have to be our secret,” Leo said quickly, foreseeing the danger. “My grandmother can’t know.”

“A secret?” Bellamy said, tempted but uncertain.

“Ambrosine has plenty of secrets of her own,” Leo said. “It only seems fair that we have some ourselves.”

A slow smile crept across Bellamy’s face. “A secret,” she said. “All right.”

Sera squeezed Leo’s arm, then released him. “This might be a little startling,” she said. “But I promise I won’t hurt you.”

Bellamy was only allowed a moment of shock before Sera’s eyes began to glow, brighter and brighter until they burned, and Leo once again felt a gentle wind ripple over his body, freezing him in place as she drew up their veils of memory, of life. He couldn’t see them—Sera had told him that they were colorful and that his was a patchwork of grays and greens. He wondered what colors Bellamy’s veil was, and what thread Sera was plucking from it now. And then he saw, as clearly as he’d seen Sera’s memories in the theater and Rahel’s on the ship.

Bellamy was much younger, lounging in a rowboat with a man with dark blue eyes and handsome, hawkish features. One of her hands dangled in the water amid lily pads and lotus blossoms while the man rummaged through a picnic basket.

“Will you read me another poem, Hektor?” she asked.

“In a moment, my love,” Hektor replied. “I’m just looking for . . . ah! Found it.”

Bellamy giggled. “What on earth has kept your nose in that basket for so long?”

Hektor’s cheeks flushed. “I seem to have misplaced my heart,” he said, holding out his hand. “It appears to be yours now.” In his palm was a small silver ring with a tiny snail shell in its setting in place of a jewel. “Would you do me the privilege of spending the rest of your life with me?”

Bellamy clapped her hands over her mouth, tears filling her eyes. For a long moment, she did not speak. “Hektor,” she finally choked out.

“Is that a yes?”

Her eyes shone, then turned wary. “But what about your mother?”

“I’m not frightened of her.”

Bellamy gave Hektor a look that plainly said, Liar.

“Fine, maybe I am a little, but it’s my life, isn’t it? Alethea got to marry who she wanted; why shouldn’t I?”

“Oh, darling, you know it’s not the same,” Bellamy said, cupping his face in her palm.

“Is that a no?” Hektor asked, real fear in his voice.

Bellamy leaned forward so she could kiss him. “It is a yes. A thousand times yes.”

He took her in his arms and she cried against his chest. “I have never loved anyone in my life but you,” he murmured into her hair.

And then they were kissing again and the memory dissolved.