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an enquiry agent?” I teased.
    He rolled his eyes heavenward. “Should art prove any more inhospitable, I well might. I am sick to death of trying to translate what I see in my mind onto canvas or marble. It’s maddening stuff. I know why all the great ones drank or took hallucinogens.” His expression turned thoughtful. “Perhaps that’s my problem. I ought to take hallucinogens.”
    “Could you wait until after the wedding, dearest? I’ve enough to worry about at present.”
    We made our way to where the Gypsies usually camped, but even if I had not known the way, the noise would have betrayed them. They were packing up, and doing it in something of a hurry. Marigold stood by her vardo overseeing the organised chaos. Children ran hither and yon while the women packed up the clotheslines and doused the cooking fires and the men prepared the horses. Marigold’s expression was inscrutable, but I fixed a smile on my face as I approached. Plum hung back, showing unaccustomed tact, and fell into conversation with one of the men about a horse.
    Marigold pursed her lips as I came near.
    “I am sorry to see you are leaving.”
    She shrugged and made no reply.
    “I apologise for not issuing an invitation to the wedding sooner.”
    Her laugh was short and sharp. “Lost the address, did you?”
    I would not be provoked. I stepped closer and she raised a brow at me in the same imperious gesture I had seen Brisbane use a hundred times.
    “I know you and Brisbane are not on the best of terms, but it would mean a great deal to us both if some of his family was here to see him wed.”
    “The signs—” she began.
    I held up a hand. “I do not care about the signs. I know what you see. And it isn’t the first time I have been warned about him. There will always be those who think to crush the happiness of other people.”
    Colour rose high in her cheeks, and I felt a little rush of satisfaction that I had scored a touch on her. But immediately the satisfaction was replaced with regret. I had not come to make an enemy of her, and I hastened to mend the moment.
    “I do not think the people who have warned me against him mean to be malicious,” I said quickly. “I believe they speak from kindness, however misguided.” The colour in her face ebbed, but her mouth was set in a mulish line. “There will always be things about him I do not understand—shadows from his past that haunt him still, dangers he faces on a daily basis. Death is as much a part of him as life is because of the work he has chosen. And because of the gift he bears, the gift which shows him things I know he would rather not see.” Her lips softened and I moved closer, my voice pitched low. “You see him as someone who has an ability you envy, but have you ever considered the price he pays for it? He is not entirely one of you, but neither can he ever be truly a gorgio , not with the second sight. He is caught between two worlds, Mrs. Lee—yours and mine—and it costs him something every day of his life. I should think for the love you bore his mother, your own sister, you could spare a little for her son on his wedding day.”
    She did not turn her head, did not look at me. She drew a deep breath and lifted her chin.
    “Alma, do not forget my green bodice,” she called, nodding to where her sister was taking down a line of washing.
    I waited, but she did not turn to me, did not acknowledge in any way that I was present or that I had spoken at all. I knew when I was beat.
    “Very well, Mrs. Lee. Then I wish you safe travels. I trust we will not meet again.”
    I turned on my heel and began to walk smartly away.
    “And all good luck to you, my lady,” she called after, her voice harsh. “You will have need of it.”
    Plum caught up to me as I strode away. “What the devil was all of that about?”
    “About Gypsies always getting the last word, blast them,” I muttered.
    He gave a short laugh. “Get used to it, pet. You are marrying