“Altamira told me she wants to make video games when she grows up,” Mika said, sidestepping the question. “Which sounds to me like a completely realistic and reasonable dream. Surprisingly so for a seven-year-old. And it’ll probably make her a lot of money, which, speaking as someone who had so little of it at one point that I had to sell pictures of my feet to men on the internet, is very useful.”

“Rosetta wants to read books and be part of wholesome bookish fandoms.”

“Also realistic and reasonable.”

“Terracotta wants to be a Pokémon trainer.”

“Knowing her, she’ll probably find a way to make that happen.”

“Mika.” His voice was stern. Grey eyes pinned her in place. “Is this the life you would have chosen for yourself?”

“It didn’t used to be,” she said, and then blinked, flustered by how much truth that revealed. “I mean, I don’t know. There’s stuff I would want to be different, if I had my way, but there are also a lot of things about my life that I like. It’s complicated.”

“What would you want to be different?”

She shied away from looking too deeply for an answer. “It would be nice if Terracotta didn’t hate me,” she said, a cop-out if there ever was one. “Mostly because I can’t keep her safe if she won’t listen to me. And, to be perfectly honest, I lay most of the blame for her behaviour at your door.”

“Of course you do,” Jamie said drily. “Why wouldn’t your inability to win Terracotta over be my fault?”

“You’d let her get away with literal murder,” Mika pointed out. “And I say literal literally because she quite frequently contemplates my murder and I’m pretty sure you would help her hide my corpse.”

“I have been known to hide many a corpse in my time.”

“Of course you’re not taking this seriously. Like I said, you’d let her get away with murder.”

“Why do I get the feeling you don’t like her very much?” Jamie asked. A muscle twitched in his jaw, and Mika wondered suddenly if they were still talking about Terracotta.

“I like her plenty,” Mika said. “She goes out of her way to wind me up, but she’s also a stubborn, brave little girl who’d do anything for the people she loves. Why wouldn’t I like her? What I don’t like is the fact that we have very little time, she’s determined to waste it, and you’re letting her. We talked about this weeks ago. You don’t trust me, but you’re not supposed to let the kids pick up on that. They have. Terracotta knows how you feel and she takes her cue from you.”

His eyes were like metal. “I can’t make her trust you. Trust is earned.”