“It is very gratifying to be right,” he said. Yes, she had guessed as much about him already. “Ask me something you are not supposed to ask at midnight.”
She swallowed.
“Why don’t you marry?”
“Habit.”
“That is not an answer,” she frowned. “Give me a better one.”
“It is the only one that costs neither of us sleep,” he said. “Again.”
“Then, what makes you laugh when no one is watching?”
He considered.
“Stupidity that admits it is stupid. Also, when dogs sneeze.”
She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from grinning.
“That is unexpectedly kind.”
“I am not nearly as wicked as advertised,” he said. “Last one. Ask me what you actually wish to know.”
She did not wish to know anything. She wished to be let off the tether of his attention before she made more confessions by accident. Still, the question arrived without asking her permission.
“Are you…” She stopped. “Are you very sure you can find me a husband in a week?”
He stepped back half a pace, as if to give the question room.
“Yes,” he said. “If you do as I say.”
She tried not to be offended. What she felt instead was relief.
“And if I do as I please?”
“Then we marry on Tuesday,” he said, as pleasant as the weather. “And the lessons continue forever.”
She gasped.
“You cannot keep threatening me with marriage.”
“Call it a schedule,” he said mildly. “Now, walk.”
“Where?”
“From there to the atlas,” he said, pointing with his chin. “It is astonishing how much information a person gathers when another person moves. I shall tell you what you told me without speaking.”
She obeyed, because for some reason she wanted to impress him more than she wanted to refuse him.
She tried not to arrange her steps into something artificial. She reached the atlas and placed her hand on its corner.
“Good,” he said behind her. “You told me you own your height instead of fearing it. You told me your shoes are not suited to running.”
She looked down at the slippers Violet had insisted upon.
“They are suited to looking appropriate.”
“Your feet are not for decoration,” he said. “Tomorrow, wear shoes you can flee in, or choose not to. Choice is the point. You also told me you would like to be believed when you say something costs you courage.”