He turned to Darius. “Marrow arrived early.”
“I know,” Darius said.
“Do you know why?”
“She wants to control the room before the room officially exists.”
My father’s mouth almost curved. “Good.”
Darius blinked.
“Name a thing correctly,” my father said, “and it loses some of its shadow.”
Lady Odessa’s cane tapped from the doorway.
“Now we are getting somewhere.”
She entered wearing black with a deep emerald brooch pinned to her shoulder. Her silver hair was swept back, her mouth set, her eyes bright with the kind of anticipation that made weaker men check exits.
“Odessa,” my father said.
“Solomon.”
They nodded to one another like old generals standing on a familiar battlefield.
Lady Odessa looked at me.
“You will wear the green.”
“Apparently that has been decided.”
“It has.”
