Jade said, lowering her head, “you see, Third Lady’s oracle was proven right in telling me where to find you.” She looked at her hands and at the dark, polished table. She held a teacup, though the tea didn’t taste anything like what they drank on the boats. Indian tea, they’d told her. It wasn’t unpleasant so much as completely different. The teacups themselves looked rather like the ones Mama had bequeathed her, only with rather more roses. “I don’t know what to do about the rest. The…jewel and all.” She looked up and saw a circle of their faces staring at her. There was the man with hair like light on ice, as well as the couple to whom this house belonged. They had sent their daughter out of the room, though Jade wasn’t sure why, and she’d seen the woman give the man a significant glance when Jade had explained that Third Lady was her brother’s third wife. But Mr. Jones just looked very seriously at her, and listened to her whole tale, and now sat with his hands held together on the table, just like Jade’s mother had taught her to hold her hands when praying.
