He’d reached out a mental thread to see what she was thinking. Before he could gather any details, however, three things had happened, very fast. First, a biscuit had slipped from Lovisa’s fingers and slapped down onto the marble floor. Second, Lovisa had broken away from the door and fled, faster than the fox had ever seen a human move. Her feet, socked but shoeless, had made the smallest thudding noises as she ran.

Third, the bedroom door had been flung wide and Ferla had thrust herself into the aperture, peering quickly up and down the corridor with a focus and ferocity that had made the blue fox think of an avenging bird of prey. Ferla’s eyes had narrowed on the fox, then on the dry, crumbly biscuit.

Instantly, the fox had understood that things could be bad for Lovisa if her mother suspected her of eavesdropping. Without consideration, he’d begun jumping and prancing, slapping his little feet against the floor as hard as he could, trying to mimic the sound the biscuit had made before. Then, remembering that a fox was probably expected to eat a biscuit, he’d bitten down on it, which had turned out to be a true sacrifice, for it had been stale and disgusting.

Ferla’s lips had stretched into a bright, false smile. “Is there something you want, my beautiful darling?” she’d said, in that cloying voice she’d always used back when she’d wanted him to bond.

No, he’d said, responding inside her mind for the first time ever. I’ve just been out here, dancing with a celebratory biscuit. Did I bother you? I’m sorry. I’m dancing for happiness, because I’ve decided to bond to you.

The thrust of Ferla’s joy—or greed? (it was always complicated inside Ferla)—had almost thrown him against the opposite wall. She’d motioned him into the bedroom, then pointed triumphantly at his little body, for the benefit of her husband.

“It worked,” she’d said to Benni. “I told you I would make it work.”

Benni had started to laugh. “I give up,” he’d said. “You win.”

Then she’d gone to Benni and kissed him and the fox had watched the two of them come together in a heady kind of pleasure that had felt more interesting than it usually did between them, like a meeting of both trust and mistrust, mutual competition, and surrender.

And now, here he was. Tomorrow would be a long and challenging day. It was time for him to check on all the house’s secrets, and go to sleep. He jumped out of the airship, found the loose shingle, squeezed through, and began his rounds.