Armand frowned. “That seems unwise,non?”
“Oh, it was,” I agreed with a nod. “This sect of samurai decided they wanted to send a message not just to the foreign diplomats, but to the Japanese politicians working with them. They murdered a Japanese man who worked as a translator, but the guy was apparently such a huge asshole, nobody cared.”
He winced. “How unfortunate.”
“When killing a Japanese politician changed nothing, they assassinated Heusken. It terrified all the foreign ambassadors. They realized if the samurai executed the person everyone liked, it wouldn’t be long before they started murdering the people they hated. That was them.”
“Mon dieu!”
I enjoyed more of my cake before continuing the story. “Because of that, the international ambassadors ran to Yokohama in fear, ready to call off all negotiations and pull out of the country. But the man he worked for refused to be chased out of town and let Heuksen die in vain. Because Harris resisted their scare tactics, the other diplomats returned to finish their jobs of negotiating treaties. But everything almost fell apart because of the death of a single translator. I’m excited to read more about him.”
“Maybe I should stay for the entire event tomorrow,” he told me with a smile. “If it’s any indication of the other talks, I’ll enjoy hearing about so many intriguing subjects.”
I was giddy at the thought that he might spend the whole day with me. It was so hard not to rejoice after the incredible night we had had and the amazing start to the morning he had given me. His consideration overwhelmed me, although it embarrassed me he had figured out one of my OCD habits about even numbers. But he hadn’t made a big deal about it or teased me; he had simply accommodated it not just with understanding but acceptance. It was that part of him that held my heart in his hand and put me in very real danger of forming deep feelings for him.
“There sounds like there’ll be some fun ones. Tonight at dinner, I talked to Vigo and his friend, Alain Toussaint, who also goes to Wintervale University. Alain is presenting tomorrow on depictions of the French Revolution in Japanese popular culture, so I’m curious to find out more about that.”
Armand quirked a single eyebrow upward, which was sexy as hell. “Is it such a popular subject?”
“According to Alain, there are a ton of anime, manga, and musicals about the French Revolution. He’s doing his dissertation on the topic, so I’m curious about his presentation tomorrow.”
“Is he French?”
I shook my head. “No, but his father is. His mother is Japanese.”
“It sounds fascinating. I’d like to sit in on it if you would be okay with that.”
Thinking about Armand attending the conference with me and listening to other speakers sent an exhilarating thrill through me. “I’d love that.” Not wanting to be selfish, I shifted the focus of our discussion. “What did you do today?”
“I had a pleasant conversation with Arsène, Felix, Isidore, and Wren after breakfast. After enjoying lunch on the patio, I visited Waimea Bay Beach Park. Like everything here, it was a beautiful area. It’s going to be tough for Arsène to figure out where will be best to shoot when all the locations are somagnifique.”
“I’m glad you had a nice chat with them.”
“It was most helpful, although it involved a fair amount of teasing, which is to be expected,” he said with a chuckle.
“Why expected?”
He grinned at me, which caused my heart to do a very good impersonation of hummingbird wings on fast forward. “It’s how we show that we care. They’ve never been able to tease me about wanting to be with somebody before, so they took great delight in it, before expressing how happy they were for me.”
I couldn’t figure out which part of his comment surprised me more. “Wait, you told them about me?” I hadn’t expected him to tell anyone about me, let alone his family and close friends.
“Oui, I called Arsène to discuss you. The others came in later during the call.”
I struggled to wrap my head around him calling his friend about me. What reason would he have to do that? “Why?”
“Because he was the only person who would understand my situation.”
“Situation?” The word filled me with dread. I tried not to jump to the wrong conclusions, but it was really hard to stay on my lily pad and not leap to the worst-case scenario.
The smile he gave me was reassuring. “Arsène and I both entertained ourselves with men who never mattered, because we weren’t interested in anything more.”
I nodded to show I was listening, but I couldn’t form words.
“But when Arsène met Felix, everything changed in a matter of days. He went from never spending more than a single night with someone to wanting to spend the rest of his life with a younger man he barely knew.”
Time slowed to a grinding halt as I held my breath. Was Armand saying what I thought he was? Or was I getting my hopes up for nothing? Did I want him to tell me he felt that same way about me?Yes, dear god, please!
“There was no better person to talk to about you than him.”
