Relief coursed through me. “Thank you,” I breathed.
Theo shook his head slowly, watching the tremor in my fingers.
I clasped them tightly behind my back.
“You’re very convincing with him,” he said suddenly, his gaze disconnecting.
Something wretched cracked open in my chest. “I have to be. I—”
“You’ll do what you must,” he finished for me with a nod, already backing away. “And so will I.” He turned his back, headed for the mouth of the alley and all those earthbound stars in the street.
“Theo?” Polly called to his back.
“One week,” Theo said to the cobbles, and in the quiet it found its way back to us.
I waited an extra moment after he’d turned the corner, disappearing into the whorls of mist. Then I turned to Polly, took her hands in mine. “I need to ask you something,” I said, an
