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called his own.
    Afternoon sunshine peeked through the white lace curtains
she’d installed behind the heavy gold damask draperies. The light caught on
lamp prisms and darted rainbows around the room. Brass from her father’s Indian
adventures multiplied the meager sunlight, and she let the familiar pleasures
ease her turmoil.
    She was fortunate that her grandmother had deeded this house
to her when it became apparent Aster’s presence was too dangerous to her family
for her to remain in Edinburgh. She might never have family or close human
companions, but she’d always have the serene beauty of her surroundings.
    She shuddered in memory of the smelly, anarchic Ives’
household and wondered how they had coped since the marquess’s mishap. She
hoped her warning had helped to some extent, and that Ashford would recover.
Perhaps she should write and ask how he fared. If she opened a conversation about
Aunt Gwenna’s pursuit of the new law, would that complicate the danger between
their houses?
    Usually, she had an awareness of these things, but the only impression
she experienced was of something wrong in the connection between the marquess’s
family and hers. She could not put her finger on specifics. “Danger in the part
of family” simply wasn’t enough to issue warnings, especially since Ives were
only very distant family, and she wasn’t at all attached to them.
    Nick, her footman, scratched at the door. Nick was a sturdy
young man with a thick neck and broad shoulders. She’d rescued him off the
streets when she’d seen him fling a bully into the gutter for kicking a street
urchin. His preference for his own sex was so perfectly suited to her
all-female household, she hated the idea of letting him go when the time came.
    She took the card from the salver he offered and laughed in
delight—then grimaced at the difficulty the visit caused. Emilia was one of her
favorite cousins—and thus in danger in Aster’s company. “Take Miss McDowell to
the parlor, please, and have Daisy bring us some tea.”
    A visit from her cousin Emilia should brush away an
impending fit of dismals, if her cousin remembered not to linger too long. They
were of a similar age, both still unmarried, and both independently established
outside the family home—for different reasons, of course. Emilia did not live
in dread of endangering all her loved ones.
    Today, Emilia had draped her tall, slender form in dramatic
black and violet, displaying her mourning for the late king. With her black
hair, fair skin, and high cheekbones, the effect was regal, leaving Aster
feeling like a plump, dowdy hen.
    She rushed to kiss her cousin’s cheek anyway. “You look
positively daunting today! What dragon are you about to tackle?”
    “None. I have come to tell you I have surrendered. I’m going
home to meet a gentleman Mother insists is perfect for me.” She sighed and
settled gracefully into the rattan peacock chair, arranging the turquoise and
orange pillows around her full skirt.
    “Your research?” Aster asked, taking the long wicker settee
with its parrot green cushion.
    “I need money,” Emilia admitted flatly. “The equipment required
to continue is extremely costly. A microscope alone is so exorbitant . . .”
She sighed in exasperation. “If the university would only allow me to use their
laboratories, this wouldn’t be necessary.”
    “I know. I cannot persuade the Astronomical Society to
accept astrology as a science so I might have access to their records. Men do
not approve of what they do not understand, and women are incomprehensible to
them. At least you are in a position to choose your spouse,” she said
reassuringly. “It is sad that your grandfather insisted that you be married
before you receive your inheritance, but it does give you more options than
most women have.”
    “I know.” Emilia picked restlessly at her black lace gloves.
“But no man will accept that my research is more important than sitting