Night of a Thousand Stars (29 page)

She handed me a sealed envelope with my orders inside. I did not open it, and when I hesitated, she looked up. “Yes?”

“Would you have given me this chance if it weren’t for who Father is?”

“No,” she said simply. “But that doesn’t mean you don’t deserve it. From its inception the Vespiary has been unique. Every member has been known to one of the seniors and recruited based upon a sound knowledge of the recruit’s character and abilities. It’s how we’ve managed a rather impressive rate of success when other offices have failed,” she finished with a note of satisfaction. “No one knows you better than your family, your friends. So long as sentimentalism doesn’t blind you to a person’s faults, that familiarity makes you the best possible judge of where to put your loyalty.”

“You’re sentimental about the Lost Boys,” I said quietly.

She considered this. “I suppose,” she answered slowly. “The Vespiary has been everything to me, Poppy. When it came time for Uncle Brisbane and your father to pass over control, I was chosen, even above my brother Tarquin, because I had the passion to make it my whole life. I never wanted a husband or children. I wanted the Vespiary. It has been everything to me, spouse, partner, child, and I have given it the best of me. I
will
give it the best of me until I have nothing left to give. And that’s why I deserved it. I’ve built it into an elite group, and I am proud of the work we have done. But don’t mistake my affection for the Lost Boys as weakness. I turn a blind eye sometimes because it suits the interests of the Vespiary not to go deeper.” Her gaze held mine with a cool detachment, and I suspected then that she knew everything about the gold, about the tangle of relationships between the Lost Boys, every secret they had tried to keep from her. She was Mother, folding up the shadows and smoothing away the things that could trouble them while they slept off the fatigues of their adventures.

I wondered for a moment if she would appreciate the comparison, but as I turned to leave, I noticed the bookshelf behind her desk. In pride of place, next to her copies of our Aunt Julia’s memoirs was a well-worn edition of
Peter Pan and Wendy
. She saw my eyes resting on the book and gave me a bittersweet smile.

“Someone has to stay home and keep things tidy,” she said simply.

* * *

I left Tarquin’s office, clutching my orders in my hand. Outside, a clergyman was waiting. He rose when I approached, lifting his hat. His hair was tousled but his chin was clean-shaven since the last time I had seen him.

“I prefer the beard,” I told him.

There was a tiny smile, almost against his will, it seemed. He flicked a glance to my orders.

“Have you opened them?”

“Not yet.”

“Egypt,” he said succinctly. “Mine, as well.”

“So you’re my senior?”

He gave a small shrug. “Perdita thought it advisable. We have already shown we work well together, and I hear you’ve learned a thing or two from Nibs.”

His tone was emotionless when he mentioned his friend. “He’s a surviving Lost Boy. Do you think he knows where the...” I hesitated and glanced around even though we were alone in the office. “Where the you-know-what is?”

He shook his head slowly. “I don’t know and I don’t care. I’ve had a chance to think it out, and I don’t want to know. It’s torn too many of my friends apart. Best to let it lie.”

I considered a moment. “I read the newspapers in July. I know Damascus fell to the French and they’re in power again. Do you know what’s become of Gabriel?”

He grinned. “He’s in the South Pacific working on his suntan. With Evie.”

“So they found their way back to one another? After all that time?” I breathed. “How marvellous.”

He looked inexpressibly sad for a moment. “Yes, they got their happy ending after all, it seems.”

I took a deep breath and made a decision. It was as much an impulse of the moment as shoving the
comtesse
off a cliff, but it felt every bit as right. “How long do you think the Egypt business will last?”

He shrugged. “Once we arrive, a week or so at most. Just a bit of information gathering and a report to write, but Perdita’s given us two months.”

“Excellent. That should give us plenty of time.”

His eyes were wary. “For what?”

“A honeymoon. I should like to go back to Syria and see if we can sniff out what happened to Stephen Baleister. Even if we can’t find the...erm, what you were looking for, at least there will be an answer once and for all about what happened to him. You’ll get your trust back in your friends. I think that’s the best wedding present I can give you.”

He shook his head. “I must be hallucinating. You just said honeymoon. And wedding present. In the same breath.”

I put a hand to his cheek. “Poor Sebastian. I did rather spring it on you. I’m proposing. I don’t want a lot of fuss about the wedding. Heaven knows I’ve been through all that before. What do you think of a nice quiet ceremony on the ship over? The captain can marry us. It will add a nice bit of romantic flavour to our cover story, don’t you think?”

“You want to marry me?” he said slowly.

I blinked. “You really didn’t know? Even after what happened on the voyage to Sidon? Really, Sebastian, I wouldn’t have done that with just
anyone
.”

A muscle in his jaw tightened. “Poppy, you watched me dismember a man. I thought that put you off me. And as far as what happened on the ship, you thought you were about to die. It does rather make one do things out of character.”

“Not me,” I said, putting both arms about his neck and stretching up on tiptoe. “You haven’t answered. Will you marry me? Or would you rather I get down on my knees to ask you properly?”

His voice was strangled. “The position does have a certain primitive appeal, I admit. But, Poppy,” he said, reaching up to take my hands in his, “I don’t think—”

I looked at him in disbelief. “Don’t tell me you don’t love me. I refuse to believe it. I’ve had months to go over it all in my mind, and I finally understand why you were so peculiar with me, so prickly. You were trying to do a job and your feelings for me were interfering. And they were interfering because you adore me,” I said triumphantly.

“Adore you? I would kiss the ground where your shadow fell just to be near you. I’ve been half out of my mind these past five months staying away from you,” he said, and my heart twisted to see him lay bare his own. “But my feelings don’t change the fact that I’ve nothing to offer you. Darling, I don’t know if Perdita mentioned it, but the Vespiary pays about as well as a button factory. They’ve always had agents with private means, and my means are slim to nonexistent. You have to know going forward that we’d have nothing except each other.” Pain and hope and joy and despair warred on his face, and I put my hands up again to cup his neck.

“Nothing except each other. And my trust fund.”

He blinked. “Say that again?”

“My trust fund. Reginald settled a trust on each of us children. He didn’t like me to feel left out, so he set aside a sum for me as well, to be paid out on the occasion of my twenty-first birthday or my marriage, whichever comes first.”

He shook his head again, as if trying to clear it. “I can’t believe this.”

“It’s perfectly true, my love. You had the sense to fall in love with an heiress, even though you didn’t know it. I think your instincts must be just as sound as mine.”

His arms went around me then, and what followed was a demonstration of affection so impassioned, I doubt the Vespiary had ever seen the like.

“Perdita is still in the office,” I murmured into his ear.

He grabbed my hand and gave me a stern look. “Then it’s a bloody good thing we’re leaving for Egypt tomorrow.”

“It is,” I agreed. “It seems your sex-tides are running rather high.”

“You have no idea,” he told me.

* * *

And so we left England for Egypt. Our assignment did not go precisely as anticipated, and there was an exchange of unpleasantries we hadn’t expected. But we met with friendship too and resolved a few of the little mysteries we had brought with us from Damascus. We did not find the gold, nor did we find Stephen Baleister or discover what had become of Rosamund Johnson. Those murky waters were left for others to plumb. But Sebastian found his trust again, and as I had told him, that was the greatest wedding present I could give him. That and my copy of
Married Love
. He laughed when he unwrapped it, but I caught him reading it that evening, and not long after, my Aunt Portia mentioned the cordial letter of thanks he had sent her. Because, as Mrs. Stopes says, “EVERY heart desires a mate.” I don’t know if that’s true—Perdita seemed perfectly content without one—and if I hadn’t met Sebastian, I might have done the same. But I did meet Sebastian, my very own Lost Boy, and that made all the difference.

* * * * *

Acknowledgments

As ever, tremendous thanks to my readers! Every day you reach out to share with me the ways you are supporting my work, and I am humbled and grateful. I am so happy to share my stories with you. And heartfelt thanks to the booksellers and librarians who share my stories with others.

I am incredibly grateful to the MIRA team for their enthusiasm and the exquisite care they have lavished on my novels. Many, many thanks to the unseen hands whose efforts are often unremarked upon but so very essential—and much appreciated. I am particularly indebted to my dynamic and inspiring editor, Tara Parsons, and her assistant Leonore Waldrip whose hard work and dedication have made this book an absolute pleasure to write.

Huge thanks to my agent, Pam Hopkins, who has given me everything a writer could ever hope for in an agent and so much more.

And thanks most of all to my family—thanks to my parents for support and endless kindnesses, and to my beloved husband, for everything and for always.

NIGHT OF A
THOUSAND STARS

DEANNA RAYBOURN

Reader’s Guide

Questions for Discussion

1. At the start of
   Night of a Thousand Stars
   , Poppy has cold feet about a brilliant marriage to an English aristocrat. She chooses to run away. What would you do?
   
2. Sebastian is a stranger to Poppy—and a man with many secrets. Why does she trust him? Would you?
   
3. Poppy feels indebted to Sebastian and travels halfway around the world to track him down. How far would you go to settle a debt?
   
4. One of Poppy’s greatest strengths is her people skills. How does she demonstrate this?
   
5. Poppy and Sebastian meet an interesting crew of characters. Who do you find most interesting? Who would you like to see more of?
   
6. Poppy has had very little interaction with her father’s large, eccentric family, yet she exhibits many of their most notable characteristics. Do you believe blood will tell?
   
7. Gabriel Starke from
   City of Jasmine
   makes a brief appearance in
   Night of a Thousand Stars
   . How would you characterize his relationship with Sebastian?
   
8. When Poppy is forced to make an instantaneous choice between Sebastian and Hugh, she does not hesitate. Would you?
   
9. Masterman is concealing a great secret. What do you make of the revelation of her true identity?
   
10. In the confrontation on the cliff, Poppy reveals herself to have certain characteristics she never suspected. What are they?
    
11. What do you think lies ahead for Poppy and Sebastian? What are their prospects for happiness in the future?
    

A Conversation with Deanna Raybourn

What was your inspiration for
Night of a Thousand Stars
?

This book is a follow-up to
City of Jasmine
, with different main characters but the same setting and a few supporting characters that will be familiar faces. It gave me a chance to visit that world again and pick up the threads of a story that reaches beyond the events of
City of Jasmine
. It was also my chance to fully bridge the divide between the Julia Grey books and my current 1920s project—something that was teased in the novella
Whisper of Jasmine
and hinted at in
City of Jasmine
.

You’ve created such a dynamic cast of characters—specifically Poppy and Sebastian. When you started writing, did you have their journeys planned out, or did they reveal themselves as you wrote? Did any of the other characters surprise you or change along the way?

Sebastian’s arc is a much smaller one than Poppy’s, and that was deliberate. I wanted to focus on her story, her changes, her understanding of her destiny and how she wants to shape it. Sebastian ended up coming out a bit tougher than I imagined at first, but as I wrote Poppy—and she kept getting stronger—I needed Sebastian to be a strong partner for her. There are some light moments between them; the opening is certainly a ’30s screwball comedy! But there are some deadly serious times as well, and I wanted them both to be able to handle those with aplomb. That meant stiffening both their spines. They encounter some truly nasty people during their adventure, and they had to rise to the challenge.

In
Night of a Thousand Stars
, 1920s Damascus is almost a character in and of itself. What drew you to this setting, and what kind of research did you do to bring this fascinating moment in history to life?

Damascus has sat at the crossroads of history for thousands of years. Conquerors and crusaders, pilgrims and kings have walked its streets, and it is one of the most evocative, magical settings you could possibly ask for. After using it for
City of Jasmine
, I wasn’t quite ready to turn loose of it, and since I had a storyline I wanted to pick up again, it seemed like a gift to be able to continue to use Damascus. I’ve read memoirs and biographies, especially those of early Western travellers such as Lady Hester Stanhope and Lady Jane Digby. Since my main character was an Anglo-American coming to the East for the first time, I needed the perspective of a somewhat sheltered and Eurocentric viewpoint being expanded and challenged.

We discover that Poppy is a member of the March family, revealing the connection between your recent historical novels and your immensely popular Lady Julia Grey series. How did it feel to finally come clean about what readers have long suspected? Can you elaborate on the ties between these two series?

It’s such a relief to finally be able to talk about it! I’ve been keeping it secret for over a year, and it’s been killing me not to share it with readers. I have dropped hints in a few of the 1920s projects, but
Night of a Thousand Stars
is the first book to use a grown-up March from the generation of characters who were children in the Julia Grey series. I have woven the two worlds together pretty thoroughly—readers still don’t know all the connections! And that’s been tremendously enjoyable for me. Some readers picked up on hints early on and began to email, asking if they were on the right track, and I’ve had a wonderful time watching them put the pieces together.

What was your greatest challenge while writing? Your greatest pleasure?

The greatest challenge is always getting into the chair. It’s very easy to get excited by a new story; it takes discipline to sit down and actually write it. At the start of a new book, I have a page minimum that I have to hit every day before I let myself get up. By the last third of a book, I have to have a page maximum so I don’t rush the ending because I’m so excited to be wrapping it up. The greatest pleasure is getting to spend so much time with characters I love. I have enjoyed every world I’ve built, and being able to immerse myself for months on end is pure joy.

Can you describe your writing process? Are you an outliner or a “pantser”?

I’m an organized pantser. I know point
A
, point
Z
, and probably
G
,
M
and
R
along the way, but how I get from each of those points to the others is a mystery to me when I start. Luckily, my books all tend to have a particular structure and in order for them to make sense, they have to have a logical progression. If I’m feeling particularly creepy, I tell people I know what the skeleton looks like, but not the hair color or shape of the nose...Those things come about organically when I’m writing, weaving in details I’ve picked up from research or collected along the way.

What can you tell us about the project you’re working on next?

My next release is another Lady Julia novella out in November—
Bonfire Night
—just in time for Guy Fawkes Day!