“There’s worse out there,” Ariadne said. If Mrs. Tula threw them out of their house…she shuddered to think of it.
“And what’s your story?” Edward asked curiously.
“What do you mean?” She didn’t meet his eyes.
“You seem different. You don’t belong here, do you?”
Ariadne sniffed. “Why? Because I seem more educated to you? My father fought hard for me, society had nothing to do with it.” She remembered how her father had gone door to door to ask about schools but most of them refused to take her when they heard who her mother was. Most people remembered the scandal of their family years after it had happened, but Edward didn’t seem to have a clue of it. Ariadne would like to keep it that way. She wasn’t ashamed of her background but she didn’t want judgment from him either.
Edward touched his jaw. “I haven’t shaved in two days. It seems like a jungle up here.”
“I can hardly see foliage,” Ariadne said. “But if you so wish to, I can help you shave tomorrow.”
Edward looked surprised for a moment but then nodded.
She held up her father’s faded-blue shirt in her hand. “Sit up, I will put this on you. We don’t want you catching a cold.”
“There is a strong draft up here,” he said, looking around.
“I know,” Ariadne said. “I’ve been trying to catch the source so that I can fix it.”
“You can fix roofs?” He chuckled in awe. “Why doesn’t that surprise me at all?”
Ariadne frowned at the tone in his voice. What did he even mean by that? She knew everything that people outside were saying about her.
Mad Davy’s daughter. Like father, like daughter.
Ariadne had shut those voices out of her mind.
Edward seemed to have caught something on her face because he elaborated. “What I mean to say is that you fix wounds and roofs and even help one shave. Is there anything you can’t do?”
“My father was a genius and sometimes his mind was his best friend and worst enemy. I had to be resourceful,” Ariadne said. Even when he was alive and well, his mind always seemed to be far away. Ariadne had learned to fill those gaps by taking up his responsibilities.
Edward didn’t look at her with pity, but with understanding as he nodded. It felt refreshing not to be judged even though she had revealed far too much to him for comfort.
She gestured at him to sit up on the bed and Ariadne drew closer, helping his arms into one of the sleeves and then the other. And then she proceeded to button him up, her stomach tightening as her fingers skimmed his hot skin.
When it was done, she stepped away. She was already blushing even at the limited contact. This was much different than caring for him when he was lost to the world. At least then she could pretend she was fixing up another one of her machines, not a human male.
“If we’re done here, I’ll take my leave for the night,” Ariadne said with a small smile.
Edward looked up at her, an unnamed emotion in his eyes. “I want you to stay.”