Stellan stashed the gun and pulled his sweatshirt back on as I watched, taken aback at the abrupt change of tone. He tossed the mutilated slab of meat onto the rocks at the edge of the cliff, and a cluster of scrawny cats appeared.
“You coming, or are you going to stand there feeling sorry for yourself?” he said over his shoulder.
For once, I had nothing to say. I just frowned at his back and followed him around the rocks and up to the boardwalk.
CHAPTER 17
Once we’d gotten to the dock, I’d told Stellan I wanted to stop and get pastries, and he just shrugged and left me alone. Back at the boat, Elodie was lounging on the deck. She opened one eye. “There you are, and without either of your boyfriends. I’m sure at least one of them is looking for you.”
I glanced behind her, hoping neither of them was listening. “That’s not fair.”
“It’s true, though.” Elodie stood and crossed the deck to lean out over the railing. “I understand why they’re so fascinated with you, what with the whole savior of the Circle thing, but you’re right—it’s not fair to mess with them both, and it’s not fair to the rest of us for the three of you to be doing . . . whatever you’re doing, when you should be clearheaded and concentrating on not getting us killed.”
“We’re not—” I snapped my mouth shut. Elodie wanted an argument. “We’re on the trail of maybe the most important discovery in world history and this is what you want to talk about? I’m already bored with this conversation,” I said, stepping around her and ignoring the obnoxious smirk on her face.
“You should find Jackie, though,” she called after me. “He has that worried look on his face. I hate that look.”
Jack was pacing back and forth on the front deck of the boat, and came into the kitchen when he saw me. Through an upper window I saw Stellan sitting on the top deck, alone.
Jack didn’t ask where we’d been all morning, but the quick narrowing of his eyes said everything he didn’t.
I held out the bag. “We woke up early,” I said awkwardly. After I’d almost drowned last night, Jack and I hadn’t talked about the fight we’d had, but now it was hanging in the air. “We were taking a walk, then Stellan wanted to come back, but I wanted to get food and—” Why was I lying? “Breakfast,” I said, shoving the bag of pastries in his hands.
Jack looked over his shoulder at the giant bowl of fruit on the table, at the fridge stuffed with food.
“Colette doesn’t have fresh bougatsa.” He opened the bag, and the smell wafted through the room. “It’s phyllo dough and custard. I thought you might like it.”
The boat swayed just a little bit in the morning breeze.
After a second, Jack tossed the pastries on the table, pulled a chair out, and pulled me down into his lap. I hugged him tight.
“How are you feeling?” he said into the top of my head.
“I’m actually fine.” Surprisingly. My chest and throat were still a little sore, but running around and training didn’t seem to have aggravated it.
Over his shoulder, I saw Elodie emerge onto the upper deck and glance in at us before talking to Stellan. I got off Jack’s lap and spread the bougatsa on a plate. In a few minutes, Stellan and Elodie joined us, followed by Colette.
“I hate to break up this party, but I may have to,” Colette said, tying shut a rose-colored silk robe before taking a seat at the booth next to Stellan. “I have a film festival to attend.” Stellan rested his arm across her shoulders. I pretended not to notice. I wasn’t sure why I did notice.
“There’s nothing else to find here, anyway,” Jack said. “Is there?”
“And there’s no more time,” I said.
They all exchanged glances, and I knew they were thinking about my Saxon-imposed deadline. Even I wasn’t sure what I’d do when the clock ran out, but the more I thought about it, the more certain I was that marrying Daniel Melech or Jakob Hersch or any of the others wasn’t an option.
“I talked to Luc earlier,” Elodie said. “He’s been looking into the twin bracelet. He doesn’t have anything yet, but he thinks he will soon.”
“I hope ‘soon’ means in the next few hours,” I said under my breath. I grabbed the bracelet from the top of the fridge, where it had been sitting since we’d retrieved it from the ice bucket the night before, and spun the rings of letters, willing it to give up its secrets.
“I have to leave tonight,” Colette said. “Until then, we hope for a miracle.”