Christopher would do no such thing.As a child, he would have done anything to believe his mother was still out there watching over him.Even for a single day.
He stepped closer.
She turned away.
“My father told me I could always find my way home by looking to the skies.”Her voice cracked as she touched her fingers to the glass.“And so I filled the sky with things I wanted to find.”
Christopher looked out the window at the two souls holding hands high above the clouds.He imagined theywerelooking out for her.No matter what name they had.
“I didn’t mean to upset you,” he said quietly.“I was just using science.”
“When you tell me I can’t have my constellations…” She swiped the back of her hand beneath her eyes.“It feels like you’re taking away the last connection to my family.”
He pulled her into his arms and held her close as she sobbed against his chest.
“Never,” he whispered into her hair.“There’s nothing anyone can do or say to make your family stop looking after you.”
He would have held her all night long, but she wiped her eyes and showed him to the door.Either she was too embarrassed to let him see her cry, or he didn’t count as family.
He wished he could change her mind.
Chapter 11
The next morning, Gloria headed straight to the castle to apologize to Christopher for taking her emotions out on him the night before.He was not the reason her parents weren’t coming back.He was the one person she still had by her side.
She hoped she didn’t have to fight her way through a gaggle of fawning ladies to tell him so.
When she arrived inside the castle, she spied him just exiting the public dining area.She hurried to intercept him before he disappeared up the spiral stairs to the guest wings.
His eyes lit up when he saw her.“How did you sleep?”
A flush heated her cheeks.“Let me apologize for last night.My outburst—”
He brushed his fingers against hers.“Never apologize for loving your family.”
She gave him a crooked smile.“This might be the first time I take your advice.”
“Shall we try for two?”He proffered his arm.“Let’s take a promenade.”
She widened her eyes in faux shock.“You?Journey by foot?”
“Minx.”He led her out of the castle and into the sunlight.“Where’s Madge?”
At home.Gloria never brought her to the castle.Besides, it wouldn’t matter.“When it comes to you, she’s a truly terrible chaperone.”
“A hobbyhorse would do a better job,” he agreed.
She shuddered.“I hate the empty stares from their little wooden eyes.”
He blinked.“You’re scared of hobbyhorses?”
“Not scared,” she said primly.“It’s rude to stare with fake eyes.How would you like it if your guest chamber was filled with the vacant gazes of a thousand disembodied doll heads on wooden sticks?”
He grimaced.“Promise me we’ll never try it.”
She cocked an eyebrow at the insinuation that a shared bedchamber was in their future.
The sound of shouts and laughter filtered out from the woods on the edge of the castle grounds.
