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hadn’t taken a good look at Eamon. She’d been too distracted by seeing Aidan for the first time. But she recalled his hulking size as he clung to the shadows. Had he said a word? She couldn’t recall.
    “I don’t like speaking ill of the dead,” the housekeeper said, “but the old Master Evernight was a hard taskmaster. Hard on everyone.”
    Nan opened the door and led Lu into a lovely, well-appointed room done in shades of royal blue and white. “Your room. Feel free to request any changes.” Nan bustled over to the hearth and tended the flames before turning round. “They are as different as brothers can be. They are also as close as brothers can be,” Nan went on. Her gaze grew sharp on Lu. “They’d do anything for the other.”
    “Then I shall have to get to know Eamon as well as I know Aidan,” Lu said.
    If anything, Nan’s eyes narrowed further. “That you do. Though I suggest you get to know Aidan anew. Letters take time to compose,” she said quietly. “A person can hide in the written word in a way one cannot hide in life.”
    Lu’s heart stilled, and it took all she had not to fidget under the woman’s piercing stare. She couldn’t possibly know.
    “Are you saying that Aidan hid his true nature in our correspondence?” Desperation and the need to understand more of her now-distant fiancé made her ask. In truth, Lu barely refrained from asking how Nan knew of the letters.
    Nan looked at her with genuine surprise. “Aidan hide his nature in correspondence? Never fear that, child. If there is one truth in this world, it’s that Aidan has never, and will never, lie through the written word.”
    She appeared so utterly convinced of this fact that Lu had to accept it. Lu ought to feel guilty, given her own secrets, but frustration welled within her breast instead. “Then why advise me to know Aidan better? Won’t this occur naturally? We are to be married after all.”
    Nan cocked her head and frowned as if Lu had said something daft. “A man and woman might live together as man and wife for the whole of their lives and never know more about each other than their Christian names.” She gave a small shrug. “’Tis no matter to me if that is how you’d like to live your life. I merely suggest that you try to know your new family better by asking the questions that must be asked.”
    “I never thought not to.” Honestly, what was the woman getting at? And why did Lu want nothing more than to leave this house?
    A knock sounded at the door, and a moment later, a maid came in with a tea tray.
    “Consider this house as your own,” Nan said as the maid left and she headed to the door. “No door will be locked to you.” She paused. “That said, do not go to the smithy. It isn’t safe, and I’ll not have the masters at my head should you get hurt.”
    Lu paused, holding the teapot in midair. “The smithy?”
    “Master Eamon’s smithy. He’s often at work there and doesn’t like to be disturbed.”
    “Ah, yes.” Lu poured herself some fragrant, steaming tea. “I remember now. Eamon is quite talented at metalwork.” Regret pierced her heart as she thought of the small menagerie of animals that Eamon had created and Aidan had sent to her over the years. They were now at the bottom of the sea with the rest of her possessions. Only one tiny, perfectly wrought steel lilac had survived. It lay warm and familiar against her skin, for she’d turned the piece into a pendant long ago and never took it off.
    Nan raised her pointy chin a notch. “Only Master Aidan is allowed inside. Please remember it.”
    A flicker of fear shone in the housekeeper’s eyes, and Lu went still.
    “I do not foresee any reason why I should desire to explore the smithy,” she said carefully. Lie. She’d been desperate to watch Eamon work. In her mind, he’d always been a shadowy figure. Aidan rarely spoke of him, only to say that he’d created her gifts. But they were so beautiful and perfectly formed