A fireplace big enough to step into took up the entire back wall. The flames inside clung to the last of their dying embers, casting a dancing amber light all around.

“Please make yourself comfortable,” Nyx said.

She left, and I immediately went to the built-in shelves closest to me. I pulled down a beautifully illustrated book of fairy tales and took it to the large leather couch. As I thumbed through, I gently touched the well-worn pages. Something about the look and feel and smell of old books always sparked a sense of calm in me. The books Karter had gifted me and the ones I’d found in the turret gave me the same feeling. Nyx returned a few minutes later carrying an assortment of meats, cheeses, and crackers on a large wooden cutting board. She set it on the coffee table.

“You didn’t have to do that,” I said. “You had to walk like a block to bring this to me, huh? How far away is the kitchen in this mansion?”

“You’re not hungry?”

I stared into Nyx’s face. The room was fairly dark but not so much that I couldn’t tell if she’d been speaking to me or not. She had not moved her mouth at all. I followed her amused gaze to the wingback chair by the fireplace where Marie was sitting cross-legged, a half smile painting her lips.

Nyx gave me a wink before leaving the room, closing the door behind her.

“Were you there the whole time?” I asked. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you.” I hadn’t even registered the chair, much less the beautiful girl sitting in it, when I came in.

Her silver hair was slicked up into a perfectly twisted topknot. She was wearing a pair of fitted gray joggers and a matching cropped sweater. Her skin glowed in the firelight. And her eyes . . . I was staring again. I shook my head.

“I was waiting for you to call so I could invite you over,” Marie said. “But you took your sweet time, so I had to make the first move.”

Heat rose in my face. “I was gonna call you.”

“When?” she asked, her eyes locked on mine. She sounded like she genuinely wanted to know.

“When I got settled,” I said honestly.

She seemed satisfied with my answer and relaxed into the chair. “It’s gotta be overwhelming for you, coming into possession of the house and all its—responsibilities.”

“You mean the apothecary?”

She blinked a few times, then readjusted herself in her seat. “It’s a lot of work, right? To get it back up and running?”

“Yeah,” I said. I looked around the room again, then back to Marie. “This house is amazing. I’ve seen Beauty and the Beast too many times to not have thought about having a library in my house.”