“This is fascinating,” Alec said as he continued to study the parchment. “The way the story’s told here, its age—I’ve never seen anything like this outside of a museum.” He eyed me carefully. “Where did you say you got it?”

Marie reached down and snatched the paper off his desk. He winced, reaching for it.

“Be careful!” he said angrily. “It’s delicate.”

Marie handed the document to me, gently nudging me toward the door. “Thanks, Alec. You can go back to illegally accessing the MoMA’s encrypted files.”

“History belongs to all of us,” he said as we closed the doors behind us.

I looked Marie dead in the eye. “I found the key.”

She blinked. “The key to what?”

“The door in the garden.”

“You didn’t open it.”

It wasn’t a question as much as it was a statement, as if saying it to me like that would make it true.

“I did. I’ve seen the Heart.”

Marie’s eyes grew wide. “Briseis.” She didn’t have to say anything else. I could hear the disappointment in her voice.

“You don’t understand,” I said. “Everything has been leading me to it, and this document—whatever it is—is proof of that.”

She shook her head, avoiding my gaze.

“Do you want to see it?” I asked.

Marie slowly leveled her eyes at me. “You’d take me in there? Circe would never have—”

“I don’t care what Circe did and didn’t do. How am I supposed to know what she wanted? Everything she left me is a clue or a riddle or both and I’m over it. She wasn’t specific, so I’m gonna do things my way.”

“That’s not fair,” Marie said. “Your family has been guarding the Heart for generations. You’re just gonna let random people in to see it?”

“You’re not a random person. Neither is Karter. I trust you both. And honestly, this entire family has been closed off and secretive, but everybody seems to know our business. I keep running into people who know more about the house and the shop and the garden than I do.” I sighed. “Circe had her reasons for the way she did things, but I have mine.”

Frustration swelled in me. This wasn’t just about the Heart. It was about not wanting to start every new relationship with a lie. “Keeping it a secret doesn’t keep me safe. You saw that yourself.” I pulled out my phone. “And I’m gonna tell Karter. We can all go together and maybe we can figure out what to do with it.”

“No, you can’t do that,” Marie said. “You can’t show him. It’s too dangerous—it’s your responsibility and yours alone.”

I stepped away from her. “If I stay here and run the shop, if me and Karter stay friends, if you and me—”