I sighed. I both agreed and disagreed. I had not had a particularly good time here—but there had been something invigorating about being on my own, chasing down my own future. Answering to no one. Still, I would do as Victor wished. I could go back knowing that he would follow, bringing my security with him. “Justine is quite unhappy here. She is desperate to be back home.”

Victor’s eyes narrowed with a twitch. “You mean back to work?”

I waved dismissively. “She does not consider it work. She adores William, and has been so good for Ernest.”

“And she has been your dearest companion.”

I looked toward the outer rooms, where Justine was waiting. She had been so good to accompany me. Without her, I never would have been able to make this trip. I had deceived her and pulled her away from the things she loved. As much as I wanted to remain and make certain Victor came back, I could not ask her to do the same. If Victor wanted me to go and Justine wanted to go, I could not justify staying. And I would have no one to help me do so. “If you think it best, I will return home for Justine’s comfort. But you must promise to write me at least once, and send word ahead when you are on your way.”

His eyes were heavy and dark with some meaning I found—to my great dismay—I could no longer read. It filled me with panic. What was he thinking? Was he upset? Was he just tired? Suddenly he was a language I did not know.

“I will most certainly send word ahead.” He smiled then, and some of the tightness in my chest released. “You will know when I am coming. I promise.”

“I will hold you to that.” I leaned over the bed to kiss his forehead. I was entirely unprepared when Victor tilted his head up and met my lips with his own. A charge passed between us, and I gasped, pulling away. It reminded me too much of the one I had received in his horrible laboratory.

Victor looked amused. “Why, Elizabeth. Have you forgotten how to kiss me?”

I lifted my chin in the air, looking down at him imperiously, but with a hint of a smile. “You had better hurry home so you can remind me.”

His laughter followed me out of the room, my steps lighter for it.

Justine stood, putting William’s mending in her bag. How she had managed to pack it, I did not know. “How is Victor?” she asked. Justine had not gone back to see him. I offered to let her, but she blushed at the mere thought of seeing her employer’s oldest son in a state of repose. What would she think if she knew how often I had shared his bed, however innocently!