“My father used to take us to a park near our home when I was a girl. There was a little pond at the time, and a family of ducks lived there. I used to love to feed them and tease my brother about how he must be a duck too, being named Drake as he is. Though of course he insisted it was for dragon, not for a male duck.” Dot anchored her hat to her head when a particularly strong gust of wind tore down the street, her eyes alight with memory.

Margot smiled. “I didn’t realize that was the word for a male duck in English.” No matter how fluent she thought herself, it seemed she always found out something new each day. There was always more to learn. New discoveries to be made.

Dot’s gaze remained fixed on the little sliver of green that would eventually unfold into the park. “In Spain, my grandfather and his servants actually call my brother Dragón. They refuse to use Drake—they still bear a grudge against Sir Frances Drake there, you know.”

Margot nearly choked on a laugh. “Are you quite serious?”

“Mm. The Spanish aren’t very fond of foreigners in general, and many are anti-British in particular. I daresay our mother agreed to name him that solely because she thought it would be a great joke—though it was a family name on my father’s maternal side. She was always laughing and playing jokes on us.” Dot’s sigh combined wistfulness with contentment. “I’ll never forget that about her.”

“She sounds wonderful.” Margot said no more after that. Dot went silent, her mind probably sifting through memories, and Margot saw no reason to interrupt it.

Another three minutes and they were at the park, both of them turning onto the walking path without any need for discussion about it. That was something she’d come to greatly appreciate about her new friend in their month-long acquaintance—they had the same inclinations and didn’t often have to discuss such simple things.

Eighteen. The number flashed into her mind again, for the eighth time since she first decoded that update from Thoroton for DID. She sent her eyes heavenward, along with a mental smile that didn’t touch her lips. Lord, if you call this fellow to mind every time he’s in danger, then he courts it far too often. Perhaps you ought to nudge him into a different career. But she said a prayer for the agent, as she did each time his number came to mind.

“Is everything all right?”

“Hm?” Margot blinked and realized only then that her feet had come to a halt and that her knuckles had fisted in her dress. Another blink made the itch at the back of her neck come into focus. Something wasn’t right in the scene before her. “I don’t know.”