  &quot;I m glad to see that this garden has survived this morning s altercation,&quot; I remark airily as I slide off Excalibur s back in the Japanese garden, which looks somewhat the worse for wear, with puddles and debris everywhere, but somehow no less lovely all the same. &quot;The air is so fresh and clean.&quot;
  Dmitri chuckles warmly as he joins me on the ground. &quot;Yes. Bright with the promise of new beginnings and the joy of those creatures who survived, yet eerie with the reminders of those things that did not,&quot; he answers sagely as he picks up some of the vegetative debris scattered by the consequences of the quarrel.
  &quot;Truly, what happened to cause such an uproar? I understand why your parents were angry, but—&quot;
  &quot;Mother woke up this morning just as angry as she was when she went to bed, about how things turned out at the ball. As you ve already hea

  &quot;You want me to wear this?&quot; I ask incredulously, holding the whimsical costume of wispy silvery-blue fabric sceptically. It is rather thinner than most things I wear, and rather apt to be blown in indecorous ways by the slightest gust of wind.
  &quot;Can you think of anything more fitting for a water goddess?&quot; he counters, daring me to say what he knows has crossed both of our minds and is absolutely forbidden. I roll my eyes and take the dress into my bathroom to change. To my surprise, it actually covers as much as my usual dresses and is rather becoming, besides. I don t know that I like that, truly--won t it make this more difficult for him? But I shake off the thought; surely he knew what he was getting himself into when he picked this costume for our painting sessions. In the meantime, he has again made his challenge for me to compose for him. I will set to work w

  Thunder rattles the glass in the windowpanes. Lightning bursts in wicked, twisted spears of light across the tempestuous rolling clouds. A howling wind buffets the Berkeley mansion, yowling in the chimneys to douse the fires in the fireplaces, rampaging at the walls and gates, penetrating through every crevice. I love this sort of weather and simply draw my cloak close around me and laugh as the maids squawk and flutter about affectedly.  Tis no small storm, raging now between Zinaida, Dmitri, and Wesley. If their tempers run high enough to affect the weather like this, and after so seemingly small an issue as what Wesley walked in on earlier, I would hate to see them all truly angry. Mayhap Zinaida also rages about what happened last night. But so far no evidence of Dmitri s rage has surfaced outside. It could be that he is better at self-control than his parents, or perhaps he has be

&quot;I m glad to see that this garden has survived this morning s altercation,&quot; I remark airily as I slide off Excalibur s back in the Japanese garden, which looks somewhat the worse for wear, with puddles and debris everywhere, but somehow no less lovely all the same. &quot;The air is so fresh and clean.&quot;
  Dmitri chuckles warmly as he joins me on the ground. &quot;Yes. Bright with the promise of new beginnings and the joy of those creatures who survived, yet eerie with the reminders of those things that did not,&quot; he answers sagely as he picks up some of the vegetative debris scattered by the consequences of the quarrel.
  &quot;Truly, what happened to cause such an uproar? I understand why your parents were angry, but—&quot;
  &quot;Mother woke up this morning just as angry as she was when she went to bed, about how things turned out at the ball. As you ve already heard, she s positively livid that so many secrets she intended to keep until after our wedding have b

Chapter 25 Artistry