“Never,” I said. “I swear.”

“Do you swear upon the gods?”

“Yes.”

“Who was this person? That girl.”

It felt strange to hear Sid referred to as a girl. I hadn’t mentioned to Raven and the others that I ever thought her anything else.

It had been a mistake. I make them all the time.

Usually I see things that are not there. This time, I had not seen something that was.

But she had known what I was. She had been flirting with me.

And I had liked it. A flush in my cheek burned beneath the lamp-oil burn. A confused, private feeling bundled itself up inside me. It curled around the idea of her.

“She is no one,” I said. “A stranger.”

Raven smoothed my damp hair behind my ears so gently that I felt tired, ready to lay my head in her lap, if I dared, and sleep.

“You said the bird came to you,” she said slowly.

“Yes,” I said, and she was silent. Then she said, “Let’s keep the matter of the Elysium to ourselves.”

Of course. It would only bring unwanted attention.

“Sweet child,” she said. “I was so frightened. Do you understand why I reacted the way I did? I had thought I’d lost you.”

“It’s all right.”

“I love you,” she said.

She had never said this to me before. Her words made me yearn for her love even though she had just offered it, as if my feelings were late, too slow to believe what she had said, or as if it was only now that I had her love that I could let myself actually feel the need for it. I have someone like a mother, I had told Sid. I hadn’t been sure of my claim’s truth. But it was true. I was so grateful.

I told her I loved her, too. She guided me upstairs as though I were half my age. She tucked me into my bed, just like a real mother, and tsked when she lightly touched my throbbing cheek. “You must see to that in the morning,” she said. When she lost her temper, and hurt me, she was always so tender afterward, as though I were her treasure. It felt so good that it was almost worth being punished. And didn’t parents correct their children, so that they would learn?

She stood in the moonlight, ready to leave, Sid’s coat tucked in the crook of her arm.

“Wait,” I said. “The coat. May I keep the coat?”

A flicker of annoyance crossed her face.

“Please,” I said.

“What’s the use? You can never wear it.”

“I like it. Maybe,” I stammered, “maybe Annin could help me alter it. Dye it.”