Papa closed his storybook. Nora went into the room and stood at his side over his shoulder.

“King?” she said softly.

“Céleste,” Kingsley said, “would you tell your Tata Elle I’m not speaking to her?”

“Papa’s not speaking to you, Tata Elle.”

Nora grimaced but tried to make it look like a grin. “Yes, I’ve noticed, baby. Can you tell your Papa he’s being childish?”

“Papa, really. You kind of are.” Céleste, almost four, had already mastered the art of the French shrug, the ever more French eyes-to-heaven look.

“I know,” he said, grinning. “I’m enjoying it.”

“Céleste,” Nora said. “You know I love your Papa, right?”

“I know.”

“You know I’d never really hurt him, right?” Nora asked.

“Right.”

“Good. Now kiss him goodnight before I drag him out of your room by his hair.”

Céleste rolled up, grabbed her Papa Kingsley by the face and kissed him on both cheeks, twice.

“Goodnight, Papa. I love you.”

“I love you too, my angel princess darling cabbagehead.”

“Very sweet. Now excuse us, Céleste. Goodnight.”

Nora grabbed Kingsley by the back of his hair and yanked him out of his little chair.

“Ow,” he said.

“Come on, Big Papa. We need to talk.”

“Help me, petite,” he said to Céleste who only shook her head.

“You’re on your own, Papa,” she said, before dramatically throwing the covers over her head.

“On my own? You’ve been spending too much time with your auntie,” Kingsley said to her as Nora dragged him into the hallway.

“There is no such thing as ‘too much time’ with me.” Nora released his hair once they were outside Céleste’s room.

“I beg to differ.”

“You’ll beg to breathe if you don’t behave. Come with me.” She slapped her thigh the way she did when signaling Gmork to follow her. Luckily this maneuver also worked on Frenchmen.

She went into the guest room she usually commandeered when she spent the night at the house—a red and gilt room that looked like the sort of place where French Bourbon kings sodomized their courtesans. This was Kingsley’s typical aesthetic.

“Sit,” she said, pointing at a Rococo chair with gilt scrollwork arms. “Speak.”

Out in the hallway, Gmork barked.

“Not you, Gmork.”

“That is the stupidest name I’ve ever heard for a dog,” Kingsley said, disgusted.

“It’s from The Neverending Story, which is a classic of German children’s literature. Show some respect.”

“Le bête noire,” he muttered. The black beast, a fancy French way of saying Gmork was the bane of Kingsley’s existence.

“My dog is not a bête noire.”

He pointed a finger at her. “I meant you.”

“What did I do this time?” she demanded.

He sat back in the chair, stretched out his legs and crossed his feet at the ankles. She straddled his calves and stood arms akimbo. If he tried to escape, he’d have to go through her first.

“Did you or did you not let a strange man into this house today?” he asked, dark eyes narrowed.