Prologue

Prologue

At eleven years old, Richard Kingsley was discovering feelings he'd never had. For the entire journey home from Eton, he hadn't stopped thinking about his neighbour and best friend in all the world—Miss Celestina Thorpe. He bounded into the drawing room, excited to see her, only to find her sitting on the carpet in the corner with a frown.

He hesitated, not understanding why she wasn't as excited to see him, but his pause didn't last long. He couldn't contain himself.

"Celestina!" he cried, throwing his bag in the vague direction of the maid and running to her. He skidded to a stop on his knees, a foot away from her. She didn't look up. "Celestina?" he repeated. "I'm home. I'll be here for an entire week! Have you missed me?"

Celestina pouted, then swivelled on her backside to look out the window. Rain trickled down the pane, the overcast sky thunderous outside. Richard felt a pinch of fear in his chest. He'd made friends at Eton, of course, but the only one he truly wanted to spend time with was eight-year-old Celestina.

"Celestina?" he said again. "What's wrong?"

"How was school?" she asked without looking back at him. "It feels like you've been gone forever."

He chuckled. "It's only been a few weeks, silly, but it's been lots of fun. The other boys are so naughty. I have lots of tales to tell you. You won't believe the things they get up to. One boy hid a frog in the headmaster's desk drawer, and when he jumped out, the headmaster screamed like a girl! Can you imagine such a thing?"

Despite herself, Celestina glanced at him sideways, her lips pursed as she tried not to giggle. Richard knew that look well and knew he was close to winning her over. Then he only needed to find out what was wrong.

"The headmaster was so angry that the boy received ten lashes with the cane! His backside was striped like a zebra."

Celestina could no longer control herself and fell back with erupting laughter. She snorted. Richard smiled, pleased to see it finally. He did like it when she laughed. He loved it, in fact, and he knew already that he wanted to listen to that sound for the rest of his life.

"I bet he won't play with frogs again," she said, turning back to him. Her eyes sparkled with delight, and he eagerly continued with his tales, hoping to inspire further happiness in her.

"I bet," Richard agreed.

"Another friend—Andrew—tipped the contents of the chamber pot all over a passing footman in the yard."

"Ew!" Celestina cried.

"He was forced to scrub the footman's clothes clean and made to apologize. He wasn't very happy about it. He said what are servants for if not entertaining us, but I told him that wasn't a very nice thing to say. Servants are just like us but different, isn't that right?"

Celestina nodded sagely. "Daddy always says we should treat them well if we want them to treat us well."

"Exactly. And no one wants to be covered in urine, do they?"

This time, Celestina shook her head firmly. "Absolutely not. It must have been very smelly."

"It was indeed! Then, another day, Johnny, my best friend, stole a honey cake from the kitchen. We hid behind the school and shared it, and it was the nicest honey cake I've ever eaten! It was so good that we wanted another, so Johnny went in again. But this time he wasn't quick enough, and Cook caught him before he could get out again. Got him right by the scruff of the neck, she did, and you should have heard some of the words she said. Like a sailor! Mother would call her a potty mouth."

He caught his breath after letting the words stream out of him, and then he roared with laughter. But he'd been so embroiled in his story that he'd failed to notice Celestina had turned away again, this time with red cheeks and pouting lips and eyes that pooled with tears.

"Oh, Celestina?" he said. He shuffled forward on his knees. He wanted to put his arm around her, as he'd seen his father comfort his mother when she was upset, but he didn't dare. "Whatever's the matter? Did I say something wrong?"

Celestina's chin wobbled as she spoke. "Is he really your best friend? The bestest in all the world?" Her voice cracked as she spoke, her gaze firmly on the miserable weather outside.

A lump formed in Richard's throat. What a stupid thing to say! If he could have kicked himself, he would have. He hated seeing Celestina sad, and it wasn't even true! Johnny wasn't his best best friend. She was.

"No, silly," he said, shuffling even closer. " You are. Johnny's just my school best friend."

"And I'm your home best friend?" she asked, looking at him hopefully.

He shook his head firmly, his brows furrowed like he'd seen his father do. "No, Celestina. You are my best overall friend. My best friend for everything."

She turned tentatively to him. He was not quite forgiven, but she was coming around. "I wish I could go to Eton with you," she said. "Then I could be your school best friend too. And we'd have lots of fun. I'm not scared of frogs."

Richard giggled, imagining her sneaking frogs into desk drawers. Knowing her, she would do it as well. At least, she would when she was out from under the scrutinizing gaze of her parents. She was not the timid soul they thought her to be, and Richard suspected she would become quite eccentric as she grew older.

"I wish you could come, too," he said. "Then we could all be friends together. But you know they don't let girls in. It would be chaos if they did!"

She pouted again. "I know. You're right." She pulled her legs up to her chest and hugged them, resting her chin on her knees. "I do hope you won't forget me, though."

Richard scoffed. "How could I ever forget you ?" He gazed at her.

Even at that tender age, Richard understood that he loved her. It was not yet fully formed, nor did he truly understand what that meant, but he already knew he admired her and wanted to be near her as often as possible.

Celestina shrugged. Richard shuffled so that he was sitting in front of her, an idea forming in his mind, and he dipped his head, hoping to catch her eye.

"Do you want to know another thing I heard about in school?" he said in a whisper.

"Not really," she muttered. "I'd far rather you be Home Richard and not School Richard now."

"Yes, but I think you'll like this one. There's something people do when they are the very best of friends. The other boys talk about it all the time, and I even read about it in one of the adventure books we were reading, so it must be true."

Curiosity lit up her eyes, and she raised her head, her expression urging him to go on.

"It's called …" He looked around to check that no one was listening, then whispered it regardless, just in case. "It's called a blood oath ."

Celestina's gasp was just the reaction he was looking for, and he sat back on his heels with a satisfied expression.

"A blood oath? What's that?" she asked.

"It links people together forever and ever. Like real best friends. When two people's blood mixes, it binds them, and it means they will always be there for one another, no matter what."

"No matter what other friends they've got?" she asked.

"Their other friends are not blood friends."

"Or what school they go to?"

He shook his head. "No."

"And no matter where they go and what they do?"

"Bound together as best friends for eternity. What do you say to that?"

Celestina's frown turned into a hopeful grin. "I think that sounds wonderful," she said. "What do we have to do?"

Richard sat up and dug around the pockets of his shorts, his pink tongue sticking out of his mouth. It wasn't in the first, so he reached deep into the second, avoiding the bits of fluff and discarded marbles until he laid his hands on the cool metal. He triumphantly pulled it out of his pocket, holding it up in the air.

"Ah ha!" he cried. Celestina stared up at it with a mix of awe and wonder, as if she hadn't seen it a million times before.

"My father gave me this pocket knife when I first went to Eton," he said. "It's very special, which means it will help bond us even more."

"But what do we do with it?" whispered Celestina, eyes wider than he'd ever seen them.

"We cut our palms until blood flows," he said. "Then we press them together. When our blood mixes, we vow always to be best friends. And then it'll be done."

She looked terrified, and all of a sudden, Richard thought he shouldn't have said anything at all. He had been hoping to make her feel better, to reassure her, but he seemed to have frightened her instead.

"It's all right," he said, quickly shoving the knife back into his pocket. "We don't have to. It was a silly idea."

"No!" She lunged forward and pulled his hand out of his pocket, and then she pried open his fingers to get at the small silver knife. "I want to do it."

Richard grinned. She was so eager to be his friend forever, which made his insides feel very good.

"Very well," he said. "Give me the knife."

She handed it over solemnly, taking the moment very seriously. He flicked open the blade.

First, he held the knife to his palm and he looked into her eyes. "Celestina Thorpe, I hereby promise you that I will be your friend forever and ever." He expected her to giggle, but she didn't. Instead, she stared back at him, the moment between them intense and powerful. "I will always be there for you," he continued. "No matter what happens, and no matter where we are. All right?"

She bit her bottom lip and nodded, then he pushed the knife into his palm, wincing as it sliced through his flesh. He opened one eye and looked down, thrilled to see deep red, thick blood beading at the surfacing. He looked up at Celestina and grinned.

"All right," he said. "Your turn. Are you ready?"

Again, she bit her bottom lip and nodded. He could see she was frightened, but he could equally see her determination, which made him admire her all the more.

"Do you want me to do it for you?" he asked.

She shook her head, taking the knife from him. "No. I can do it."

She put the knife to her hand and took in a deep breath. "Richard Kingsley. I promise to always be your friend and never let you down."

She closed her fingers around the knife and, after a moment's hesitation, squeezed her hand around the blade. She hissed through her teeth but was brave enough to keep her eyes open the entire time. She didn't even look down at her palm. She simply held it up for Richard to take. He watched her, open-mouthed with awe, then put his hand against hers and clasped it.

"That's it," he said. "We're bound together in a blood oath for eternity."