He follows Alecto obediently from the cliffside back to the house. Everything in the drawing room is just as it had been when he'd run off, but at the same time it feels that everything has changed. His fingers flex, instinctively, against Alecto's hand, and he curls his wrist, as if trying to hold him back, tighter.

"Would you," he starts, with a slight stammer in his voice, but an underlying tone of unexpected boldness, "would you let me see you again, Alecto? All of you?"