Leo started to thank her but she was already gone. The bath felt like heaven after being locked up for three days, no matter how opulent his prison. Once he had scrubbed the travel and sweat and dirt from his skin, he padded next door to his room. A four-poster bed was hung with pale blue curtains and laid with a navy comforter and pillows; there was a thick carpet that swallowed up his bare feet and a leather armchair with a small table beside it next to a large porthole. Simple garb was laid out on the bed, pants and a shirt and vest much like what the sailors on the deck had been wearing. The pants were an inch too short, the vest a hair tight, but the clothes were clean and Leo was grateful for them.

He opened the door to the stateroom, unsure of what he was supposed to do now.

“Sera?” he called, but then the same servant girl was rushing down the hall toward him.

“Mistress Byrne is waiting for you in her private parlor, sir,” she said breathlessly. “If you will follow me.”

She led him to a small cabin with two armchairs around a table set for tea. His grandmother was already seated in one and smiled at him when he entered. This smile wasn’t quite the same as the one on the deck—there were teeth behind it. A large window let in the golden rays of the sun, which fell on oak-paneled walls and illuminated a huge portrait of a woman standing at the prow of a ship, stormy waves crashing against its hull, one hand clutching the rail like talons. The woman had Leo’s eyes and Ambrosine’s beaked nose and she gazed out imperiously over the room.

His grandmother stood. “Thank you, Mckenna, that will be all,” she said, and the girl vanished. “You look much refreshed, Leo.”

“I am,” he said, then added, “Thank you.” He still felt out of sorts around this woman, a bit like he was just a boy again. “Where’s Sera?”

“You seem quite fond of her.”

Leo tried not to blush and failed. “She’s my friend.”

Ambrosine’s smile widened like the answer both pleased and amused her. Leo wished he hadn’t mentioned Sera at all.

“Please, sit,” she said. “Have some tea with me.”

She filled the two cups as Leo took a seat in the other armchair. She added honey to hers and stirred it slowly. Leo wasn’t much of a tea drinker, so he just clasped the cup in both hands and waited for her to say something. While he was certainly grateful to be away from Rahel and the Triumvirate, and he had very much appreciated the bath, he wasn’t entirely sure about his new situation. Eneas’s warning to Agnes when he dropped them off at the Seaport still rang in his ears.